Hollywood veteran and Scots actor James Cosmo made an appearance at the Wigtown Book Festival this week to discuss his life and career
The acting legend who has appeared in more than 130 Hollywood films made a sell-out appearance during the first weekend of the world-famous book festival.
During the event, Cosmo was speaking about his new venture of working with Annandale Distillery to develop his new Storyman label whisky.
But fans also got exactly what they came for as the 76-year-old discussed the ins and outs of his lengthy career, where he has starred in everything from Braveheart and Highlander to Game of Thrones, The Chronicles of Narnia, Troy and Trainspotting.
The fact that he was a big man and an accomplished rider proved to be a huge help in his early days, but he said he tried to avoid middle-aged projects for as long as he could.
“And then I tried to deny middle age as long as possible. But it arrived anyway, and I found that you actually start to play more interesting and deeper characters. And that's a wonderful thing about being an actor, you can act until you fall over.
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There’s evidently no signs of Cosmo retiring from his passion anytime soon. He is currently appearing in the BBC thriller Nightsleeper and has a three-part series for Amazon, filmed in Glasgow, with Martin Compson called Fear.
A contrasting figure at the first weekend was Gelong Thubten; an actor-turned-Buddhist monk, whose Handbook for Hard Times offers a guide to surviving and thriving through life’s difficulties.
The monk, who spent years at the Samye Ling Tibetan Buddhist Centre at Eskdalemuir, is a world-renowned teacher of meditation.
This year’s festival features more than 250 events and activities and runs until 6 October.
Highlights of the second weekend include a festival-within-a-festival dedicated to food with demonstrations and talks.
They feature a host of well-known guests such as The Hebridean Baker Coinneach MacLeod, Scotland’s National Chef Gary MacLean, MasterChef finalist Sarah Rankin and Sanjana Modha Sanjana, creator of amazing modern Indian cookery.
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