Clare Grogan reveals the huge debt she owes the film Gregory’s Girl

‘We have two of the brightest young stars of the United Kingdom coming up on the show,’ gushed the presenter of Good Morning America.

Sitting in the wings, having arrived at the studio in a limousine, 18-year-olds Clare Grogan and John Gordon Sinclair looked at each other and giggled.

It was but one stop on a large tour of the US, which would involve the Glasgow teenagers appearing on talk shows, from dawn until dusk, and treated like VIPs wherever they went following the unlikely success of the low-budget Scottish film Gregory’s Girl.

It is now 40 years since director Bill Forsyth shot the romantic comedy and the pair, who had just left school, found themselves suddenly catapulted to worldwide fame.

Such is the enduring appeal of Gregory’s Girl, that to this day it still stands shoulder to shoulder in the top 30 ‘best ever’ high school movies alongside Grease and Fame – and counts Hollywood legend Martin Scorsese among its biggest fans.

‘It’s a really lovely thing to have in my life,’ says Ms Grogan, who went on to juggle a hugely successful career as both an actor and as the lead singer of chart-topping 80s indie pop band Altered Images. 

‘I think the reason Gregory’s Girl still resonates with people after all this time is because it’s a story everyone can relate to… fancying someone who doesn’t fancy you back.’

Set in and around a secondary school in Abronhill, Cumbernauld, Lanarkshire, this classic portrayal of coming-of-age awkwardness stars Sinclair as Gregory, a gawky 16-year-old smitten with Dorothy (Dee Hepburn), the school football team’s female striker. 

But it is Susan, played by Ms Grogan, who finally captures his heart.

For Ms Grogan, however, the film was nearly a missed opportunity after she initially declined Mr Forsyth’s invitation to take one of the lead roles.

A regular customer at the Glasgow restaurant where she worked as a waitress after school, the director asked for her number and she declined.

‘I had no idea who he was or what he did,’ she recalls. ‘I’d been told by my mother never to give my number to strange men.

‘I was 17 and in my head I was thinking, “It’s a guy in his pants with a camcorder, so I think I will just say no to that one”.

‘But it was all very legitimate and he persevered – my goodness, thank God he did. He contacted the manager of the restaurant and she said ‘he’s a really nice man, Clare, and he is really going to make this film and I think you should meet him.’’ 

As for Sinclair, he was a member of Glasgow Youth Theatre and had already starred a year earlier in Mr Forsyth’s first – and less successful – film venture, That Sinking Feeling, released in 1979.

Ms Grogan, whose acting experience amounted to Scottish Youth Theatre shows and the drama group at her school, the all-girl Notre Dame High, in Glasgow’s West End, says: ‘Most of us involved in the film had a school background with drama clubs. We were all enthusiasts and getting to do something we loved.

‘Ahead of filming, I spent some time with Gordon hanging out in Pollok Country Estate in Glasgow just getting to know each other.’

Ms Hepburn – who Mr Forsyth spotted in a television advert – was sent to Partick Thistle FC for six weeks’ intensive football training.

Ms Grogan adds: ‘There were no rehearsals for us and, before we knew it, we were all on set getting on with it. The clothes I wore in the film were pretty much my own or belonged to my two big sisters. 

‘For me, what is so interesting about the film now is the role reversal thing that is going on because I think it was quite significant.

‘There are the boys baking and then selling cakes in the toilets, while you have the female lead playing football. There is also a scene with Dee and I in the science lab. It was really interesting in terms of it did not follow stereotypes of the time. 

‘And I still love it when people quote me lines from the film and say I used to have that bob haircut Susan had. It is touching. The bob was my idea. 

‘It is how I wore my hair anyway. I come from a family of hairdressers so we have always been quite into hair.’

To this day, Ms Grogan and Sinclair maintain a strong bond of friendship, largely due to the time they spent together promoting the movie, following its release in November 1980.

She says: ‘My friendship with Gordon happened more after the film than during it.

‘It still makes me laugh when I think about the huge promotion tour we did in the States.

‘We were given a chaperone, called Sandy, who was the bane of our lives, and we literally woke up in the morning and had breakfast interviews all the way through to late-night television.

‘Call it the naivety of youth, but we were honestly slightly oblivious of the position we suddenly found ourselves in. I suppose we took it a bit for granted. Everywhere we went, we were taken by limousine.

‘The first time we arrived at a Good Morning America studio, we could hear the presenter saying, “And we have two of the brightest young stars of the United Kingdom coming up on the show…”

‘Gordon and I would be looking around, thinking, “Where are they?”. Then we would realise it was us. It was hilarious.

‘At the same time, Altered Images took off, so I was travelling a lot around the world.

‘I would be walking down the street in New York and someone would shout, “Hey, it’s Gregory’s Girl!”. It was just surreal.’

Soon she found herself hanging out with some of the biggest bands of the day, including Wham and Spandau Ballet.

The latter’s songwriter, Gary Kemp, later admitted she had been his muse for their only number one hit, True, in April 1983.

Astonishingly, until a few years ago, Ms Grogan had never watched Gregory’s Girl in its entirety.

It was not until the British Film Institute screened the movie in London as part of its LOVE season in December 2015 and the main stars were invited for a special Q&A session that she finally saw it in all its glory.

She says: ‘It was such a beautiful event and a real family affair. With me were my husband and daughter. Gordon was there with his wife, Shauna, and their kids, and Dee was there with her older children.

‘It was probably my last chance to see it on a big screen and it was lovely to be in a room where people were still reacting to it in a positive way.

‘Our kids thought our hairstyles and clothes were hilarious but I think they loved the experience and it was great to share it with Dee and Gordon. We all had a special time.’

Nowadays Ms Grogan, whose TV credits include Red Dwarf, Father Ted, Skins and EastEnders, is based in London. She and her husband Stephen Lironi, her Altered Images bandmate and a former record producer, share their home with a 15-year-old daughter, Elle.

They adopted her as a baby, putting an end to a decade of heartache during which there was a succession of miscarriages.

Her husband now owns and runs two fashionable Spanish restaurants in the north of London – Bar Esteban, near their home in Crouch End, and Escocesa, in Stoke Newington.

Meanwhile, Ms Grogan continues to juggle TV and stage work with her music, which includes six top 40 hits such as Happy Birthday, I Could Be Happy and Don’t Talk to Me About Love.

She says: ‘Now I have a teenage daughter myself, I look back and think, “What was my mum thinking?” I came from quite a strict background but she let me jump into the back of a Transit van with boys and drive through the night to London’s Maida Vale studios to record John Peel sessions for Radio One and come home the next day for school.

‘Or there was the time I shouted, “Mum, I’m off on tour with Siouxsie and the Banshees, see you in two weeks!”. If Elle said that to me I would have a heart attack!

‘I did get the chance to ask her once before she died 12 years ago and she told me she knew it would be so much worse if she had tried to stop me.

‘It is the greatest piece of parenting advice I have ever been given.

‘I owe both my mum and dad, who sadly died last year, so much.

‘They trusted me but I do not think that came without them worrying themselves sick.’

In March this year, she had just taken a part in Neil Simon’s play Barefoot In The Park, at Pitlochry Festival Theatre, Perthshire, when, two days into the run, the venue suddenly closed due to the coronavirus lockdown.

Ms Grogan says: ‘We closed down after great reviews – that is a first even for me! At least we actually did get to do the show, but it was the first time I had come to Scotland to do some theatre in seven years, so I was pretty gutted.’

Like for many around the country, the last three months have been a period of reflection.

There was a period after Gregory’s Girl, she explains, when the first flash of fame faded and the ‘hard work’ began in earnest to establish a long-term acting career.

She says: ‘It’s a tough old game. My career started at the top, so there was only one way to go for a while. But I knew no matter what, this is what I wanted to do with my life. I do feel fortunate that I have done lots of things that have resonated with people and to still be working in the industry after 40 years is extraordinary.’

But with a smile, she confesses, it is still her role in Gregory’s Girl that has opened some of the best doors in the business.

The film has given me so much joy,’ she says. ‘It’s been an amazing calling card. I visited New York around 15 years ago with my mum, my sister, and two aunts.

‘We went for dinner at Robert De Niro’s Bar and Grill and we had a real old-school waiter who told us Martin Scorsese had his office and private screening room upstairs.

‘At which point, my Aunt Emma chips in with, “Clare’s an actress, don’t you know?”.

‘As I tried to hush her up, he offered to show us the screening room and so we followed him and were introduced to the manager, who asked if I’d been in any films he might know.

‘Again my aunt replied, “Yes, Gregory’s Girl”. He suddenly burst out with, “Oh my God, that is one of Marty’s favourite films ever!”.

‘We ended up getting a full tour of Martin Scorsese’s office and then the waiter’s cousin was asked to give us a lift home.’

She adds: ‘Not many performers get the opportunity to talk about something so special for so long but I absolutely appreciate how fondly people view Gregory’s Girl and the impact it has had on my life.

‘I never get tired of it.’