A LARGS man has told how he helped set acting legend Sir Michael Caine on the road to stardom.

Davy Andrews' extraordinary 60-year television career saw him work with screen legends including John Hurt and Peter O'Toole - but says giving the Italian Job star his big break is his proudest moment.

It came while Davy's early acting career in London's West End saw him strike up a friendship with Peter O Toole while they both starred in 'The Long and the Short and the Tall'.

Davy said: "I had a very nice little part which got a lot of attention and quite a good few laughs from the audience, which were not always intended!

"Peter became a good friend and we shared a dressing room. Michael Caine was his understudy and both Peter and I realised we had a real talent on our hands.

"We thought we had to get him on stage, so he appeared in one tiny scene which only had five lines of dialogue - yet he left the audience completed riveted.

"I was also involved in a TV play by Johnny Speight called The Compartment and we managed to cast Michael, so you could say I had a hand in getting him noticed as a very young and up and coming actor.

"I worked with Judi Dench and we went to the same drama school. Her success is well deserved as she fought hard to be a star.

"She is a wonderful actress and has a great personality.

"I knew John Hurt well and he never changed, he was always the same to his friends. I think John was one of the greatest actors we have ever produced. He outshines every person that I have worked with."

During a small gap in his career in the 1960s, Davy also became a chauffeur to the stars, occasionally picking up comedy legends such as Spike Milligan and Peter Sellars, and Likely Lad James Bolam, taking them to and from airports, nightclubs and various parties.

He himself attended many dinner parties over the years and struck up a friendship with a young Patrick Boyle.

Davy was surprised upon moving to Largs in 1978 to re-acquaint with Patrick again and had no idea that he was a viscount, and later went on to become Lord Glasgow.

Davy said: "Although we never worked together, we became good friends. Patrick was a producer and first assistant director and worked on many distinguished productions, working with a lot of famous people. We still see each other regularly and vye with each other to see who has seen the latest movie."

The actor turned producer got his first TV job in 1958 after studying at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama in London.

He produced Eastenders, Grange Hill, Hollyoaks, Brookside and River City among many dramas and documentaries - and even appeared in a BBC1 episode of Casualty,

His career began when most shows went out live, testing the skills of the cameramen to the full.

He said: "I think I had an engineering gene in my body the equipment and its complexities fascinated me. I was always in studios chatting to crews and finding things out. Eventually the BBC offered me a director's training course, which got me started on that side of things."

Davy, 83, cut his teeth on recruitment commercials for the army and navy before moving to Largs in 1978 and beginning work with Scottish Television.

He also had jobs with Central BBC, BSkyB and Granada before meeting Phil Redmond - who devised Grange Hill - at working with him on Brookside and Hollyoaks.

Davy explained: "I loved working with Phil. He was a very loyal, demanding and fantastic boss."

He has now set up a band, Hazy Days and Nights, which will be performing within the grand setting of Knock Castle near Largs on 24 February at 3pm.

He said: "We have an Indian violinist who doing electric engineering at university, a professional guitarist, who is also a teacher, and a local boy from Largs, Craig Harrison who plays electric guitar.

"We blend Scottish, Irish and English songs with gems from Europe and America. We also play some classic pop, a little country and western and even some Caribbean numbers."