Brian Cox reveals his background wasn’t ‘particularly wonderful’ and says he isn’t a ‘millionaire actor’ despite Succession role: ‘I know what poverty is’

Brian Cox has said his background was not ‘particularly wonderful’ as he shed light on growing up in poverty.  

The Scottish actor, 77, is known for his role as foul-mouth tyrant Logan Roy in HBO’s Succession.

He has previously spoken about his family’s financial troubles during his childhood – with his mother at one point down to her last £10. 

But despite the unprecedented success of Succession and the fame that has come alongside it, Brian says he is not a ‘millionaire’ actor’.  

In an interview with Times Radio, he said: ‘I know exactly what poverty is. I’m not a millionaire actor. I’m just a jobbing actor who’s done quite well over the years because I’ve been long enough at it. 

Brian Cox has said his background was not ‘particularly wonderful’ as he shed light on growing up in poverty

The Scottish actor, 77, is known for his role as foul-mouth tyrant Logan Roy in HBO ‘s Succession (pictured)

‘I’m not a millionaire actor by any stretch of the imagination. I come from very poor [background]. I’m not going to go into my background, but my background was not particularly wonderful. 

‘I had no mother for most of my childhood. You know, I lived in abject poverty where that was the Damocles sword hanging over my head. So I know what that’s like.’

The star previously admitted he is in ‘constant fear of becoming poor again’ after experiencing extreme poverty as a child. 

He branded money his ‘own personal demon’ and said his ‘destitute’ childhood ‘hangs over him throughout his entire life’. 

He said: ‘I still have a fear that it’s all going to be taken away and I’ll end up in poverty again. It never leaves you. 

‘It’s like the Damoclean sword that hangs over you throughout your entire life. 

‘I never really felt it much when I was young, I was a kid and just got on with it, I was literally surviving. But as I got older I’d look at that boy and think, my God, he survived, how did he do it? It’s still a mystery to me.’ 

Last year Brian fronted two-part Channel 5 documentary, How The Other Half Live, which explored the wealth gap between the rich and the poor – as well as his own complicated relationship with money. 

He previously shed light on growing up in poverty on Channel 5’s How The Other Half Live

The Golden Globe-winning star said: ‘It’s [money] my own personal demon. After my father died, my mother discovered his bank had the sum of £10 in it. We were destitute.

‘My mother only had a widow’s pension, which would often run out before the end of the week. So I’d go to the fish and chip shop and ask if they had any scraps – the bits of batter at the bottom of the fryer – and take them home for us to eat.’ 

Brian co-created the series because, after playing foul-mouthed billionaire media mogul Logan Roy in Sky’s hit drama Succession for four years, he wanted to investigate the growing wealth gap across the world, particularly in his homeland and his adopted country America.

The result took him on a deeply personal journey that saw him go back to the Dundee home where his father met a premature death, leading to a childhood steeped in poverty after his mother had a breakdown.

Brian left home when he got a grant to study acting at renowned drama school LAMDA in London. 

Describing money as ‘the tragedy of the world’, he said: ‘Wealth is becoming more concentrated in that top 1 per cent and the rest of the world is suffering.

‘When you play one of the richest men in the world you live that life for nine months of the year where you’re in a kind of cocoon, and I feel there’s an inequity that needs to be dealt with. 

‘So this series comes very much from what I grew up with and what I saw, having been lower middle class and having a relatively happy childhood until my father passed away.

Pictured: Brian with his father, who was a shopkeeper with socialist leanings who used to allow customers to take goods and pay for them later – causing a huge rift between his parents

‘Many people don’t have the means by which they can achieve any kind of standard of living for themselves. Money is the tragedy of the world.’

Elsewhere, he said that he could relate to his business tycoon character Logan as they are both self-starters and hard working. 

The actor told Haute Living New York: ‘Logan’s not that bad. I actually have a lot of sympathy for Logan…he has these awful, entitled children, but he himself does not have that entitlement; he has empathy that his children do not. 

‘He believes that everything he’s done, he’s earned … and he’s not wrong,’ he continued.

Succession came to an end in May 2023, after four seasons.  

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