So very sorry to hear about Derek’s passing. Derek was an old school Casting Director in the sense that he really loved actors and he actually went to see them in things. The theatre darling was a great love of his. That’s where I had first met him. I was in a play in London and Derek had come along to see a number of actors in it. Shortly afterwards I got an audition for Casualty and was lucky enough to book the job (3 of the actors from that play in London auditioned for the part – THAT’S how supportive Derek was of actors). Shortly after filming I began a friendship with DB (as I liked to call him). He was always very helpful to me and he recommended a couple of great agents to me. We enjoyed many theatre trips, many BAFTA screenings and many meals at Joe Allen’s together. We would spend hours discussing life, he was so proud of his family and his sisters. He loved telling me the famous actors who he had given their first job to. He was a proud man and rightly so. As well as the arts, we both shared a love of tennis. After I relocated to LA in 2013 we of course didn’t see each other as often. But when he would visit his dear sister or his lovely friend, Jane, we would see one another and discuss what we thought was good or had moved us. I shall miss seeing him in his suave black clothes. He thought he could blend in like that here on earth, it makes me smile to imagine him up in Heaven in his black clothes while everyone else is in white. God bless you DB and thank you for the memories. PH x
