Carlyle to play celebrities' psychiatrist

Published on Wednesday 31 December 2008 09:10

THE life of a controversial psychiatrist who once gave LSD to Sean Connery is set to be made into a film.

Trainspotting star Robert Carlyle has been lined-up to play the leading role in the biopic of RD Laing – the Glasgow-born celebrity psychiatrist who was supported by the Beatles, Jim Morrison, Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes for his radical ideas and early experimentation with LSD.

Sean Connery's first wife Diane Cilento recalled how the actor was persuaded by Laing to take the hallucinogenic drug to deal with the stresses of his career.

Laing, who fathered ten children by four women and was plagued by spells of alcoholism and depression, died on a Riviera tennis court in 1989.

Carlyle is said to have harboured a long-term ambition to bring Laing's life to the screen.

Laing's official biographer, Bob Mullan, said Carlyle "has that same mixture of charm, sharp intelligence, sexiness, vulnerability and utter malevolence" that is suited to the role.