The family of legendary Still Game star Jimmy Martin have spoken of their gratitude at having their beloved dad and grandad immortalised in the comedy classic.
Jimmy, who died this week aged 93, played Auld Eric Jones in the sitcom for 20 years. Craiglang cast members paid tribute to him with creator Greg Hemphill calling his pal an “amazing fella and a joy to be around” while director Michael Hines said the veteran was a “wonderful actor.”
Daughter Jennifer said her father was “sharp as a tack” until his final days in Edinburgh, and would still recite lines from plays and poems he had written.
Speaking exclusively to the Record, she said: “He was always full of life and jokes, my dad. He always recited the poems he’d written. He wrote a lot, everything from wee ditties, right up to longer pieces like plays. He always kept himself busy.
“In later years he had macular degeneration, so wasn’t as able to write as much in recent times, but he was always active, always doing something.”
Jimmy’s tireless charity work saw him rewarded with the British Empire Medal last year. Jennifer, one of his two daughters, said: “It was a wonderful day. The Lord Lieutenant and the deputy Mayor of Edinburgh came to see him, along with family and friends.
“Dad was a navy man and I think there is always that bit there. Everybody was enthralled when they played the video messages from the cast of Still Game, it really cheered him up, he was so genuinely moved.”
Despite becoming frail in recent years, Jimmy returned the compliment and sent his castmates a heartwarming personal video in return.
Jimmy said: “It was a wonderful number of years working with you. With me being the oldest guy I was the only one who didn’t go to make-up.
“All the rest of you had to go and be made up to look a wee bit older whereas I was already there. I’d that many wrinkles on my forehead they had to screw my hat on.”
Support worker Jennifer said: “That got him a big laugh and a big round of applause. It was such a nice day for him. We love seeing dad on Still Game. We are all fans of the programme. Sometimes when I’m at work people have it on the TV.
“I’ve turned around to see a younger version, a middle-aged version and an older version of my dad. It’s funny, and we are so lucky that we have that to hold on to and look back on now.
“The scene with the fire hydrant was probably his favourite. Eric went over to stop the kids playing with the fire hydrant and it went off and sent him 20ft in the air.”
Jennifer added: “Dad worked away tirelessly, doing so much for charities, especially the The Hollies community hub in Musselburgh.
“It was nice to see him being rewarded for that, not that he’d have looked for it. He was a very humble man.” Jennifer said that Jimmy, who is also survived by daughter Anne and second wife Christine, never got carried away with fame.
He started out as a fireman, working as a painter and decorator on the side. It was while decorating for actors agent Freddie Young that he was first offered the opportunity to take work as an extra.
Jimmy went on to develop an acting career which saw him appear in numerous episodes of Taggart as well as parts in Monarch of the Glen, Take The High Road, Doctor Finlay and Rab C Nesbitt.
But it was his role as Clansman regular Eric Jones in 47 episodes of Still Game which won him a place in the affections of the show’s millions of fans Jennifer said: “It wasn’t a big thing to him, fame.
“He thoroughly enjoyed meeting fans of Still Game regardless of where he was. He even met fans in New York and never ignored any of them. He always gave them his best, he was a gentleman.
“My dad wasn’t a big Hollywood actor, and to his grandchildren, Laura, Elaine and Michael, he will always be ‘the man with the golden curl’. He always spoke about how when he was losing his hair he had his wee curl at the front. They’ll always remember him as that.”
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