Actor gets big screen break aged 76

Patricia Loveland has made her major movie debut - at the age of 76 - debut in Quartet.
The film, which is on general release now, stars Maggie Smith, Tom Courtenay, Pauline Collins, and Billy Connolly as retired opera singers who annually put on a concert to celebrate Verdi's birthday and it is actor Dustin Hoffman’s directoral debut.
Mrs Loveland (pictured left), a widower who lives in Pangbourne, pursued her dream of acting with a number of theatre productions when she was younger, but it was not until she was aged 60 that she took a course at the Oxford School of Drama.
After roles in several small films and television shows she auditioned for the part of Letita, a piano player in Quartet.
She said: “It was the most wonderful moment when Dustin Hoffman himself rang to tell me he wanted me for the part. He is the most wonderful man you could wish to meet and was an absolute joy to work with - so full of energy and enthusiasm.
“He went to endless trouble to make us feel comfortable and on set he was absolutely magical. He is an absolute icon and it took a while to get over the shock of working alongside Dame Maggie Smith and the other stars.”
Mrs Loveland, whose clergyman husband died eight years ago, took her two youngest grandchildren to see the film with her in Reading.
Her three children joined her at the premier in London.
She said: “My grandchildren are aged from 10 up to 27 and they’ve all been extremely supportive. My teachers told me to go to drama school, but my parents said I should get a proper job, so I trained to be a nurse and midwife.
“I don’t know what the future hold but you never know. For now I’m just delighted to have been in Quartet.”