Canadian actor Eugene Levy has opened up about his recent trip to Scotland revealing his connections to the Gorbals in Glasgow
Eugene Levy’s mum was born in Glasgow and grew up in the Gorbals(Image: GettyImages)
Actor Eugene Levy, best known for his role as Johnny Rose in the hit sitcom Schitt’s Creek, recently revealed his deep personal connection to Glasgow, where his mother was born and raised.
The 78-year-old actor, also known for voicing characters in Over the Hedge and Finding Dory, opened up about the emotional experience of visiting the part of the city that is connected to his family’s past.
The Canadian star’s mother, Rebecca Kudlats, was born in Glasgow where she lived in the Gorbals before her family emigrated. She lived there until her early teens, before her family left life in the Southside of Glasgow behind for a life in Canada.
Speaking on Capital Radio Scotland with hosts Fat Brestovci and Robyn Richford, Eugene reflected on his visit and the significance of seeing the place where his mother grew up. He said: “Its actually nice talking to people who know what the Gorbals is.”
Taking a quick swipe at his friends over the pond, he continued: “It’s quite amazing, you know just how many people haven’t heard of it.”
The star went on to explain how emotional the visit was for him, saying: “Being in Scotland and being in Glasgow in particular, being in the town where she grew up and going across the bridge to that area where the Gorbals once stood because it is no longer there.”
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While the Gorbals still exists today, Eugene was referring specifically to the Old Gorbals, the historic part of the city where his mother grew up.
Once home to densely packed 19th-century tenement housing, the area was known for its strong sense of community, particularly in the years following the First and Second World Wars.
Sadly the original homes, including the ones his mother would have grew up in before she emigrated, have all been pulled down and replaced with more modern flats.
Eugene continued: “It was really quite an emotional experience for me. It kind of took me by surprise a little bit.”
Eugene is best known for his role in the hilarious sitcom Schitts Creek(Image: IMDb)
When asked by Fat if it felt like a “homecoming,” he answered: “It was in a way, I think that’s what got to me, it actually did seem like a homecoming.”
Eugene has previously spoke about his connection to Scotland, with the star visiting the country as part of the second season of his series The Reactant Traveler. In the series Eugene visits remarkable hotels and areas across the world, where he explores the places and the culture around them.
In the second episode of season 2 he finds himself in Scotland, for the first ever time. Although he had grown up hearing stories about life in Scotland from his mother, he had never visited the country until filming the series.
In the show he opened up about his mother’s past revealing that his mum’s Polish-Jewish family came to the Gorbals in the early 1900’s. She lived in a 3-bed tenement in the Gorbals with her large family of 11 people.