Presenter: Hello everybody and welcome to our program Five minutes with a star. Today we have a well-known actor Greg Jones. Hello, Greg! So nice to see you today. Thanks for coming.
Greg: Hi everybody! It’s my pleasure being here with all of you today.
Presenter: So, your acting career is on another height at the moment. To what do you attribute this?
Greg: I think having a happy home really helps. It took me a long time for me to achieve that. I used to put a lot of pressure on myself to accomplish things: make money, gain experience. And I wasn’t a proper father and husband when I was younger. I learned a lot from my failures in the past. Now, with my wife Dina, I’ve been able to realize what really matters and devote myself to her and to raising our daughter Marilyn.
Presenter: I see. And do you keep in close touch with your older children?
Greg: Yes. Actually, Dina is the person who brings everyone together. She doesn’t have any resentment about my previous marriage. She got acquainted with my first wife, and it’s been really wonderful for me to see her be very open and want everyone to feel appreciated.
Presenter: Is it tough to raise a young daughter in your 60s?
Greg: Absolutely not! I have more time, I understand more about being a father and watching her grow up has been one of the greatest pleasures of my life. She is an amazing girl. Very bright, very spirited. It’s the first time that I’ve been really able to be the kind of father that I wanted to be, but because of my career ambitions, I never allowed myself a chance to spend that kind of time with my older children.
Presenter: Speaking about your career, what was your first big ambition?
Greg: Well, when I was younger, I wanted to become a jazz musician, which got somehow sided when I was dragged into the army. After that, it took a long time for me to get any good acting roles until I started doing westerns. It took many years, even after I became quite famous, for me to understand what I really wanted to do.
Presenter: That’s interesting. And you have any thoughts of retiring?
Greg: Age is just a state of mind. And I’m lucky as retirement isn’t in force for actors and directors. I planned on not working after I was 39. But here I am at 69 and enjoying working more today and I’ve ever done. I think I shall go on while I have all that strength and energy.
Presenter: Do you feel you’ve learned any lessons about life that you’d like to share with us?
Greg: Life really goes the way you plan it. There are good things and bad things that happen to you all the time. And you have to be able to admit that, deal with it and move on! When I was younger, I was angry at the world, always full of ambitions, but now, finally, I’ve been able to relax.
Presenter: OK, and my final question: what do you see as your biggest accomplishment?
Greg: Well, my life now is exactly how I hoped it could be 20 years ago. Lots of things are important: my 4 children, professional success. But I’d say finding a good partner in life is true happiness for me.
