Brian Cox: I think about taking it easy

New Delhi, March 29  “Succession” star Brian Cox feels actors never retire, but fade out gently. At 73, he is enjoying the peak of his career, though he sometimes thinks about “taking it a bit easy”.

After almost 60 years in showbiz, Cox won his first Golden Globe at the 77th annual award ceremony for his work on the TV show “Succession” earlier this year.

“One is always in two minds about awards. You think why to work for awards, but it”s very nice when you get them and also an award is kind of like an affirmation of your work,” Cox told IANS when asked what does his first Golden Globe mean to him.

“So in that sense, it’s an affirming of what you do, and affirming on a global scale. So anyway, It”s very gratifying,” he added.

Starting his career in theatre, Cox has carved a place for himself with power-packed performances as the anti-mutant villain William Stryker in the “X-Men” movies, the villainous opportunist King Agamemnon in “Troy”, CIA Deputy Director Ward Abbott in the “Bourne” franchise and Winston Churchill in “Churchill”.

At present, Cox, who started working in the sixties, is seen as media mogul Logan Roy in the show “Succession”, aired in India on Star World.

Asked if he plans to retire anytime soon, the Scottish actor said: “I think about taking it easier. Actors never retire.”

“I think we go on to be dropped or we fade gently out. I’m having a peak in my career. So I’m hoping to continue it for a few years. And then later on, I’ll be getting into my 80s in a few years, and think then maybe I can take it easy, and just do voiceovers,” the actor said with a chuckle.

At present, he is happy to essay the role of Logan in “Succession”, which follows the lives of the Roy family as they contemplate their future once their aging father (essayed by Cox) begins to step back from his media and entertainment conglomerate.

Talking about his role, the actor said: “Logan is a self made man. He is a man from a kind of mysterious background. We reveal that he grew up in a traumatic background. We see evidence of that with the scars on his back that he was beaten when he was young and that he had a troubled childhood. In a sense, he is a man who is a bit of a nihilist. And is really disappointed in humanity.”

“He loves his children, that”s very important to realise about Logan. He does love his children, but he feels that they are in impossible positions, and he knows that he is partly responsible,” he added.

(Sugandha Rawal can be contacted at sugandha.r@ians.in)