Being a heartthrob was never a part of Tom Conti's consciousness. That said, the Shirley Valentine star can nail the exact moment when he noticed his attractions had waned.

"I remember it very, very clearly," he says. "It was in a coffee shop in Hampstead, about ten years ago, and I walked past a big round table with about eight or ten girls at it. It sounds awful but one had expected a reaction, because for years I had always provoked one. But a couple of the girls looked up, saw a man with greying hair, and immediately looked back down without any interest at all. I thought, It's over'."

Housewives, however, tend to be rather more faithful in their affections. And Conti is currently charming audiences as the lead in Romantic Comedy, a role he first played 15 years ago, before the grey set in.

"It's no good saying, Oh, I think I could be marvellous in this, what an exciting role, blah blah blah,' if the audience aren't going to be entertained," he says. "So when I read a script that's always the first thing I think about. Actually it's much easier to do Shakespeare than something like this. These plays are taxing - you've got to get the timing and tone absolutely exact."

In Bernard Slade's Seventies comedy, Conti plays Jason Carmichael, a charming and witty Broadway playwright who has just met the love of his life - on the day of his wedding to someone else. Too much of a gentleman to back out at this stage, over the next decade of loveless marriage he uses his dilemma as the inspiration for a series of hit comedies. In doing so, he manages to turn everyone else's lives upside down.

"The whole play is a lesson in the construction of romantic comedies," says Conti, whose character falls for his co-writer. "Bernard does write them very, very well. I like his clarity and his imagination. His way of dealing with dilemmas of the heart is very accurate. But I think it works so well because at its core this romantic comedy is a serious play, as the best ones always are. There are so many hearts at stake."

Born in Scotland to Italian and Irish parents, Conti, now in his late-60s, has always been credited with a particular crumpled charm. "I'm tired, maybe that's it!" he laughs. "I suppose the parts I play are often slightly crumpled, and there's something interesting about the crumpled man. Maybe there's a kindness that goes with the crumpledness. I think women like kind men, and vice versa. I think kindness is the most attractive quality in anyone.

"Everyone likes romance," he continues. "That's what people think about, y'know, far more than sex. People don't go around thinking about rampant exciting sex all day long. What they do think about is someone coming into their lives who will completely adore them."

So men like romantic comedies too?

"Oh yes, absolutely," he says. "I loved all those Cary Grant and Grace Kelly, Spencer Tracy and Kitty Hepburn films. I still watch them, on a night off, at home with a glass of Bordeaux."

  • For review, see The Argus on October 31 or visit www.theargus.co.uk/stage
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