In for the High Jump ; Paul Bettany has Clambered Up the Hollywood Ladder Playing a Naked Chaucer and a Murderous Albino Monk. But Does His Latest Role - As Charles Darwin, Britain's Most Famous Naturalist and Christian America's Public Enemy No 1 - Threaten His Rapid Ascent?

Mail on Sunday › September 13, 2009

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Summary

Paul Bettany has just indulged himself. The actor has lived in America for six years. At first, he struggled to adjust. He was happy with his family life - his wife is Oscar-winning actress Jennifer Connelly and they have two boys - but he missed London; he wanted something to remind him of home. So he had his ivory- coloured 1964 Volvo Amazon shipped 3,500 miles to the US. 'It was a bit extravagant,' he smiles. 'But worth it.'

The car has been in his family since an aunt bought it new; it then passed on to his father, Thane, before being handed on to him ten years ago. 'My aunt lived in Braintree. She drove it to the shops a mile away about 8,000 times. And my dad didn't use it that much, so it's got really low mileage and it's in great nick. And I thought, "If I leave it in London, it's just going to rust away", and I couldn't bear the thought of that.

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Extract

In for the High Jump ; Paul Bettany has Clambered Up the Hollywood Ladder Playing a Naked Chaucer and a Murderous Albino Monk. But Does His Latest Role - As Charles Darwin, Britain's Most Famous Naturalist and Christian America's Public Enemy No 1 - Threaten His Rapid Ascent?

'I can't remember what it cost to ship - it was probably more than I could get selling the car - but I love the fact that it's here. It reminds me of home, of driving around London. I put US plates on it, but it's still a right-hand drive and they never see that in the States, so people are fascinated by it. And I'll tell you what, the kids and I cook chicken on the manifold. We just wrap it in tin foil and it cooks in no time. True story.'

It's also a story that illustrates rather well the ethos of Paul Bettany, the London lad who's made it big in America. His breakthrough role in the British thriller Gangster No 1 led him to ...

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