ARE great actors born, not made? Tony Britton, who appears in Somerset Maugham's The Circle at the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre next month, thinks so.

Tony, who has enjoyed a half-century association with the stage, signs up to the nature, not nurture, view.

Asked what makes a good actor, he responds: "I don't know. All I can say is that it's a very difficult thing to discuss. You can't take it apart and analyse it, but I think you either have talent or you don't."

So what did Tony make of Jeffrey Archer's abilities in his play The Accused, which toured the UK months before the now imprisoned Archer was due in the High Court to face perjury charges.

Birmingham-born Tony played the High Court judge opposite the murder-accused Archer.

Assessing his performance, Tony said: "Jeffrey's an old friend from Weston-super-Mare and it was delightful to work with him. It was a very good play and he worked extremely hard at it and did extremely well."

That was 18 months ago and one of Tony's many appearances at the Yvonne Arnaud.

From early next month, he will be on the Guildford stage again in Maugham's depiction of 1920s high society, playing the scandalous Lord Porteous, who ran away with his lover Lady Kitty.

"The Yvonne Arnaud is a lovely theatre to play," says Tony, speaking from his Battersea home. "When I was in the army I was stationed at the now infamous Deepcut barracks (currently the focus of police investigations into the deaths of four young soldiers and of allegations of bullying and sexual harassment), and on Saturday nights we all used to go into Guildford, but I don't know the town that well."

Tony says his wartime service in the Royal Artillery "was not a great struggle", his highlight being a transport officer in charge of an impressive range of vehicles.

Now in his late 70s, he pursued his theatrical leanings shortly after being demobilised, becoming assistant stage manager at the Manchester Library Theatre.

More than 50 years on and he is still treading the boards.

"I've always wanted to be an actor ever since I was old enough to know what an actor is. I've no idea where it comes from because no one in my family had been before."

With almost so many stage parts over so many years it must be difficult to recall a career highlight.

But Tony remembers: "I suppose the first highlight was when I went to Stratford-on-Avon in 1953. I was very young and I was thrust into all the young Shakespeare roles opposite people like Peggy Ashcroft and Michael Redgrave.

"Another highlight would be My Fair Lady, in which I played Higgins, and on television, Don't Wait Up" — the long-running 1980s sitcom in which he and Nigel Havers starred as a father and son who were both doctors.

"We occasionally keep in touch, we're both members of the same club (the epitome of Establishment clubs, the Garrick) but we're often not both free at the same time," he says of his co-star.

Father of television presenter Fern Britton (of Ready Steady Cook and, latterly, This Morning, Tony says each of his three children has been well and truly bitten by the acting bug.

"My eldest daughter Cherie writes and directs and is married to the actor Brian Cant, and you will hear a great deal about my son Jasper who has been at the RSC."

As for his next job, Tony is tight-lipped. He says there is "something" in the pipeline, but declines to be more specific. Judging by his crammed CV, whatever it is, he probably won't be out of work too long.

James Bowman

The Circle runs at the Arnaud from September 3-14.