Interesting facts about Liam Neeson

Irish actor Liam Neeson is one of the most famous names in world cinema in the past decades.

Jun 7, 2022 - 18:34
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Interesting facts about Liam Neeson

Although his action films attract the most attention, he has distinguished himself by working in the theater, and so far he has won many of the most prestigious awards in the field of film and theater. On the day when one of the most respected people in the world of acting celebrates his 70th birthday, we reveal some surprising facts about him...

He worked as a teacher and was fired for hitting an armed student

A few years ago, the actor confirmed a rumor that he worked at a school in Newcastle in the 1970s and that he was fired after hitting a 15-year-old boy who threatened him with a knife during class. “There are always problems with discipline, the problem is to calm them down before you start teaching. This kid didn't want to calm down, he wanted to disturb the class. So I approached him and asked him to leave the class. He pulled out a knife. My reaction was a blow, which I shouldn't have done, but I felt threatened” - Neeson said.

He refused to be James Bond

In the early 1990s, when Oscar Schindler's role in Spielberg's "Schindler's List" earned Liam Neeson an Oscar nomination and great fame, he was offered to be the new James Bond in "GoldenEye." However, he refused to be the successor of Timothy Dalton, so the role went to Pierce Brosnan. He then pointed out that he was not interested in roles in action movies (yes, Liam Neeson didn't want us to remember him for action scenes!), But he later admitted that he did it because of Natasha Richardson. The late actress, with whom Liam was in a relationship at the time, said she would not marry him if she became a Bond.

When he met Queen Elizabeth II, he shivered

It is little known that Liam Neeson received the Order of the British Empire from the British Queen in 1999 for his work in theater and film, and it was not awarded to him until 2002. As he later said, he was terribly nervous. “I have not been so nervous since I met Muhammad Ali. My knees were really shivering. She asked me if I was awarded for theater or for films, and I told her that I believed it was for both. She said: That's nice” - the actor recalled.

He had the saddest love story

The love story of Liam Neeson and Natasha Richardson was one of the most beautiful in the world known, and for years the couple looked so happy wherever we saw them. After several years of happiness and the birth of two children, the British actress had a skiing accident in 2009 after which she fell into a coma due to a brain hemorrhage, and was kept alive by appliances. I stood by her bed and told her, even though she didn't hear me, that I loved her. I told her: ‘Darling, you are not coming back from this, you hit your head hard. You left. We are taking you back to New York where we will gather friends and family’” - said Neeson later, who had to give the approval for turning off the appliances.