Rupert Graves says his name helped him get ahead in an industry ‘populated by posh people’

‘Genuinely, it helps in this business being called Rupert,’ admitted the actor

Rupert Graves has said his “ridiculous” first name helped him get ahead in an industry “populated by a lot of posh people”.

The actor, who rose to fame in 1980s period dramas such as Maurice and A Room with a View, revealed that not only did his roles mean people made incorrect assumptions about his background – but so did his name.

“Do you know what? Genuinely, it helps in this business being called Rupert,” he told The Guardian.

“I’ve sniffed that attitude in acting: the Oxbridge thing. Making movies isn’t a cheap exercise,” said Graves. “You need money and the knock-on from that is the industry is populated by a lot of posh people. It’s very hard to break into if you’re not middle class and privately educated.”

The actor, who attended at a comprehensive school in Somerset, also admitted he “hated” the name Rupert as a child, adding: “Rupert is a ridiculous name in 1970s Weston-super-Mare. Ridiculous! It’s like being called Basil.”

In the 1987 costume drama Maurice, a gay love story in which there is a good deal of nudity, Graves played a gamekeeper who has a romance with the eponymous lead.

Recently, the actor’s eldest son got a bit of a shock when he went on a school trip to see the EM Forster adaptation. “He didn’t know I was in it,” said Graves. “He went, ‘Argh! No way!’ and ran out.”

He said that his son was thinking: “I can’t watch my dad naked on screen in front of all my mates. Can’t do it.”

Graves can next be seen in Horrible Histories the Movie: Rotten Romans which will be released on 26 July.