LONDON:

Comic actor Steve Martin credits his talent and success to his father’s violent temper. Martin recounted a severe beating he got from his father when he was just nine and he then determined to become a great comedian. He fulfilled his dreams but his father did not praise him at all and finally did so when he died in 1997. Contactmusic.com quoted Martin as saying, “(He said) You did everything I wanted to do. I said, ‘I did it because of you,’ and it was the truth, although looking back I am sure that we both had different interpretations of what I meant.” — HNS