I have never experienced such rawness of emotion and energy palpable in the room that night, as guest readers shared love letters written through time, personal and otherwise, reflecting grief, passion, belief, fear, anger, sorrow, gratefulness and kindness beyond. The evening was all about true love, one path one journey and what love means to each and every one of us and on this occasion the message was in support of “Lasting Life the Simon MacCorkindale Legacy”
Planning this night and the launch of “Lasting Life Love Letters” in the United Kingdom, as anyone would know was a far-reaching climb and at the top to exceed all expectations, meant everything.
My thanks to all those who helped along the way to make this vision a reality, it’s just the beginning of a plan for future fundraising that I believe will travel the world over.
AS SHE EMBRACES A BRIGHT NEW FUTURE SUSAN GEORGE OPENS HER HEART ABOUT MOVING ON AND THE EXCITING CHANGES IN HER LIFE
Looking every inch the lady of the manor as she poses against the historic backdrop of Maunsel House, a stunning medieval mansion in Somerset, time seems to have stood still for the ever youthful Susan George.
Yet the actress is experiencing monumental changes in her personal and professional life right now -changes she talks about for the first time in this exclusive interview with HELLO!.
“I’ve turned a massive corner,” she says. “I feel incredibly excited, which I never thought I’d feel again. There’s so much more to do in my lifetime and still so much to fulfill.”
HOME SWEET HOME
Not only is Susan embracing a renaissance in her film and TV career, preparing for a one-woman stage show and completing her candid autobiography, but she is also considering a move from the wilds of Exmoor and parting with many of her Georgian Arabian horses, part of the equestrian breeding enterprise she has devoted more than two decades to.
It is all, she says, exactly what her husband, actor Simon MacCorkindale, who died of cancer at 58 in 2010, would have wanted.
Last night I was honoured to be invited to the charity dinner to celebrate the launch of Lasting Life The Simon MacCorkindale Legacy. Although I was somewhat nervous, everyone was there to celebrate Simon, raise awareness for the charity and to look to the future. It’s always good to hear lot of wonderful things about Simon, he touched many lives in different ways.
The night was rather emotional, but you could feel the love in the room for Simon and Susan as well. There was also lots of fun and some singing and dancing. It was very well organised and perfect way to celebrate the start of this new adventure.
We were given a pebble with a carved heart representing the stacked pebbles in the Lasting Life logo.
For me personally it was the best possible way to start off our year of Simon. My year just started a day early.
On Valentine’s Day international actress and horse breeder Susan George is launching the charity so close to her heart. Susan lost her beloved husband 5 years ago to cancer and Lasting Life the Simon MacCorkindale Legacy will aim to fundraise for cancer, specific needs and RAFT a 25 year established organisation pioneering medical research and changing the lives of many. Susan’s said today “The words on the homepage of the website alongside a photograph of pebbles on a beach each one holding up another, are a symbol of and what is needed in crisis times and what Simon would wish me to do in his name.”
International actress, photographer and champion Arabian horse breeder, Susan George is launching a new charity fund in honour of her late husband, Simon MacCorkindale, who died from cancer in 2010.
It has long been Susan’s dream to establish ‘Lasting Life – the Simon MacCorkindale Legacy’, a collaboration with award winning charity, RAFT (Restoration of Function and Appearance Trust) a charity which provides ground-breaking treatments for people who’ve suffered severe burns or life-changing limb loss, birth defects or serious illnesses such as cancer or bone disease.
Lasting Life officially launched on Valentine’s Day, Sunday 14th February 2016. A celebration launch event will take place on Saturday 16th April at Maunsel House in Somerset, the historic estate of Sir Benjamin Slade.
Susan George uploaded a picture to her social media showing Mrs MacCorkindale at a surprise party celebrating her 90th Birthday
It took a little subterfuge to busy around all day organising with her in the house but with my girlfriend Peggy helping me and another Ann, preparing a sumptuous supper in the back kitchen, we managed to keep the secret.The evening was a very special one and I will always remember the smile on mum’s beautiful face. My late husband Simon would have been so proud.
TRIBUTES were paid to the “shining light and life” of Simon MacCorkindale yesterday as 200 friends attended a memorial service in London.
The actor’s widow, actress Susan George, 63, said of her husband of 28 years: “He was the love of my life. He was my rock.”
Daily Mail article on Simon MacCorkindale’s memorial
He made thousands of fans over an acting career which spanned three decades, and it seemed his closest friends were keen to show the actor was still not far from their minds on Wednesday.
Friends and family of the late actor Simon MacCorkindale gathered at a remembrance service at the Actors Church, otherwise known as St Paul’s in Covent Garden to pay their respects to the talented actor.
Susan George Chats with the Café about “Straw Dogs,” Her Arabians, and the Love of Her Life
Recent interview with Susan
I met my Simon for the very first time at a charity benefit and we became the best of friends for years after. So I married my soul mate and hand through life. He was a stunning-looking man, but the true essence of Simon was his heart, acres wide and full of jewels.
Susan speaks again about loosing Simon and how she is coping with the loss
Everywhere around the house there are framed photos of her and Simon entwined in each other’s arms.
‘I feel as if it were only yesterday that he and I were sitting here together,’ she says. She stops and turns her head to gaze out of the window as her large blue eyes start to fill with tears.
Then, recovering her composure, she continues to talk about the loss of the love of her life. ‘I know Simon lives on with me in everything I do. I also know he’d never want it to be too much for me, because he had so much belief in me. Now my whole purpose in life is to follow the dream we both had. A lot of people expected I wouldn’t carry on with the horses after what happened. But I couldn’t stop.’
Simon and wife Susan both made BBC America’s list of 20 Sexiest British Celebs of Yesteryear
BBC America look at the sexiest Brits of days gone by, the stars with posh accents who have tempted us through the ages
Male No 9. Simon MacCorkindale
Talk about your evenly matched celebrity couples – MacCorkindale married Susan George, who made our sexy females list, back in 1984. The actor scored a cult following from the cancelled early ’80s series Manimal, which had the rather ridiculous conceit of a protagonist who could shape-shift into animals. MacCorkindale sold it with panache. He left us far too soon due to cancer back in 2010.
Female No 5. Susan George
One of the rambunctious beauties of the swinging ’60s. Her sex appeal was used against her to disturbing effect in a controversial rape scene in Sam Peckinpah‘s Straw Dogs.
Personally 2011 has been unequivocally, the saddest one of my life, as last October, my beloved husband, Simon MacCorkindale, lost his five-year battle with cancer. Many of you will remember him for his remarkable portrayal of Surgeon Harry Harper, in the long-running series, Casualty, but alongside his acting career, he shared my passion and worked tirelessly and tenaciously to build and promote our Arabian Stud farm and we never once stopped believing.
Susan George, who made her name as a sex siren in Straw Dogs, lost her husband, actor Simon MacCorkindale to cancer last year. Here she shares her advice on dealing with widowhood, and explains why she’s ready to start living dangerously again
THERE IS A NOTICE STUCK TO THE FRIDGE DOOR in the kitchen of Susan George’s rambling Exmoor farmhouse. From memory, it is the only thing on any surface in an otherwise immaculate room. Handwritten in capitals, it instructs: ‘Drink a glass of water every hour. Essential’ I mention it and Susan’s huge, dark eyes fill with tears. ‘I put that there to remind Simon’ she says. ‘And I will never take it down’ Simon is Simon MacCorkindale, her late husband. An internationally acclaimed actor, best known latterly for his long-standing role as consultant Harry Harper in BBC One’s Casualty, he died in her arms of cancer last year. He and Susan had been married for 26 years – he was admitted to the London Clinic for the last time straight from the luxury hotel room he had booked as a surprise for their wedding anniversary.
As she focuses on the future SUSAN GEORGE opens her heart for the first time about the loss of her husband and soul mate SIMON MacCORKINDALE
Tucked away in a remote comer of Exmoor with her horses and dogs around her, actress Susan George is busy – very busy. It may seem a strange time to take on such a heavy workload, but she’s the first to admit that it helps numb the pain of losing her husband and soulmate, actor Simon MacCorkindale, who lost his brave battle with cancer last October.
Just days after celebrating their 26th wedding anniversary, Simon died in Susan’s arms. He had fought the disease for five years, but when the end came it was swift and unexpected.
Television fans around the country were saddened by the news that Casualty star Simon MacCorkindale passed away in the arms of his beloved wife actress Susan George. He was just 58.
Brave Simon, who played Dr Harry Harper, had chosen to keep the severity of his illness a secret and tried to carry on with his life and work, as normally as possible.
He became a housewives’ favourite after playing Dr Harry Harper in BBC drama Casualty for six years. But last week, 58-year-old actor Simon MacCorkindale lost his battle with cancer and passed away in the arms of his wife, actress Susan George, 60
‘Casualty’ and ‘Dynasty’ star SIMON MacCORKINDALE 1952-2010
Wife Susan George pays moving tribute as he loses cancer battle
Much-loved actor Simon MacCorkindale died of cancer in the arms of his wife Susan George last week, at the age of just 58.
The former Casualty star died in a London clinic after a brave four-year fight against a disease that he refused to let dominate his life.
In a moving tribute to her beloved husband of 25 years, actress Susan said: “To me, he was simply the best of everything, and I loved him with all my heart He will live on in me forever”
Simon MacCorkindale, the actor and star of the BBC drama Casualty, has died at 58. The actor, who had bowel cancer diagnosed in 2006, died at the London Clinic in Harley Street at 10.30pm on Thursday, said Max Clifford, the family’s friend and publicist.
Urbane British leading man who co-starred in Death on the Nile and was a stalwart of the long-running medical drama Casualty
Simon MacCorkindale was a classically handsome, rugged and urbane English leading man who had recurring roles in the glossy US soap opera Falcon Crest (1984-86) and more recently in the long-running British medical drama series Casualty (2002-08). He appeared in more than 200 episodes.
CASUALTY actor Simon MacCorkindale has died at 58 after a four-year battle with cancer.
Simon who played dashing Dr Harry Harper for six years passed away in the arms of his actress wife Susan George in a London clinic on Thursday night.
Susan, 60, said last night: “No one could have fought this disease any harder than he did.
“He was the best of everything and I loved him with all my heart.”
