"I wish my mum was alive today to see what I've done."

Damian Lewis has found fame in The Forsyte Saga and Steven Spielberg's Band Of Brothers, but tragically his mother, who was his greatest fan, is not here to share in his success. ...

by Paul Simper, Best, April 29, 2003

Damian Lewis' mum, Charlotte, was not an average mother. Where other parents may encourage their children to go to colllege and get a degree, she suggested Damian consider that most precarious of professions -- acting.

With theatre experience of her own, working at the prestigious Royal Court, she said, "Look, don't go to university, chase girls, do no work and come out with a nothing degree. Go to drama school and we'll support you," recalled Damian.

He had shown a talent for performing at boarding school when he used to sing in the school productions.

"I had a sweet treble voice," he has said. Later, while at Eton, he formed his own theatre company and put on a production of Nicholas Nickleby.

With his mum and dad's financial support, Damian ended up at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, alongside fellow students Ewan McGregor and Joseph Fiennes.

He enjoyed early success in the BBC drama Warriors, in which he played a British officer in Bosnia, and Hearts And Bones, as a distraught newlywed, but his biggest break came one cold November day in 1999.

Along with thousands of other hopefuls, the young actor auditioned for the Spielberg/Hanks war epic Band Of Brothers.

Damian didn't feel particularly optimistic. The pair had already scoured America to find the perfect man to play the American World War Two hero Major Richard Winters.

What he didn't know was that Spielberg and Hanks had seen him act before in a Broadway production of Hamlet and they liked what they saw.

In a scenario straight out of Hollywood, Damian was whisked off to L.A. just 48 hours later, and spent the weekend at Spielberg's home discussing movies, football and the role he'd just landed.

For the next nine months, Damian was at the centre of TV's biggest-ever production, an £80 million war epic telling the story of the courageous US 101st Airborne Division.

his mother was thrilled and visited her son on the set. "She was tickled pink," said Damian. However for his next move she suggested he'd do better sticking to theatre than swanning off to Hollywood.

Then, when he was halfway through the shoot, Damian received shocking news. On holiday in India his parents had been in a car crash. Charlotte was dead.

She was a very loving and giving mother," said the actor at the time, "and we miss her terribly."

Despite the loss, Damian has gone from strength to strength, playing the tortured Soames Forsyte in The Forsyte Saga last year.

Now he's in Dreamcatcher, his first blockbuster, and there are rumours he may join the second series of his pal Spielberg's TV sci-fi series, Taken.

Jokingly he says he's been tipped to be the "first male redheaded film star" by Hollywood bigwigs.

"I'm just sad Mum's not around to see it all," he said.

Caption: Major Dick Winters in Band Of Brothers.

Caption: The tormented Soames in The Forsyte Saga ...

Caption: ... And possessed by an alien in Stephen King's Dreamcatcher.

Caption: As the man who gets cheated on in Hearts And Bones with co-star Dervla Kirwan.