THAT Sondheim standard I'm Still Here should be the song veteran actor Hurd Hatfield is humming right now. New York born Mr Hatfield, a resident in this country for more than two decades, suffered a serious car crash last month when his Vauxhall Cavalier veered off the broad and down a 30 foot cliff onto Ballycroneen strand near Cloyne, Co Cork.
"I was just going over to visit Sally Phipps (daughter of author Molly Keane) when this happened," explains 78 year old Mr Hurd, whose name will always be associated with the 1945 film of The Picture of Dorian Gray, in which he played the title role. "It's a miracle I survived at all, I could have come out a gibbering wreck, or if the tide had been in, I'd have drowned."
In fact, although the vehicle was effectively destroyed neither Mr Hatfield nor his Scottish Border Collie Igloo suffered permanent injuries. However, the actor had to spend a week and a half in Cork's University Hospital before going on to recuperate chez Ms Phipps near Ballycotton.
Now he's back in his own home, Ballinterry House outside Rathcormac, which he bought 22 years ago (his family originally came from Co Fermanagh).
One leg is still in plaster up to the knee, but Mr Hatfield hopes this will be gone within another week. He's not complaining to much about the lucky to be alive. Sensibly, he's taking advantage of the enforced immobility to start work on his memoirs because, as he's often obliged to point out, there's been a lot more to his life than just Dorian Gray.