Early Life
Oldman was born in London, the son of Kathleen (née Cheriton; b. 28 November 1919), a housewife, and Leonard Bertram Oldman (21 May 1921 – October 1985), a former sailor who worked as a welder. He has said that his father was an alcoholic who left his family when Oldman was seven. Oldman attended the South East London Boys' School on Creek Road in Deptford, leaving school at 16 to work in a sports shop. He was an accomplished singer and pianist as a child, but gave up his musical aspirations to pursue an acting career. His inspiration was Malcolm McDowell's performance in 1970 film The Raging Moon. In a 1995 interview with Charlie Rose, Oldman said, "Something about Malcolm just arrested me, and I connected, and I said, 'I wanna do that'."
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Famous quotes related to early life:
“Many a woman shudders ... at the terrible eclipse of those intellectual powers which in early life seemed prophetic of usefulness and happiness, hence the army of martyrs among our married and unmarried women who, not having cultivated a taste for science, art or literature, form a corps of nervous patients who make fortunes for agreeable physicians ...”
—Sarah M. Grimke (1792–1873)