His episode of Who Do You Think You Are? opened at Tooting Bec lido in London, an island of calm where Andrew’s father was a swimming coach. It seemed that only the death of his mother, Lynn, in 2019 had shaken the scenery of this sheltered, successful and happy life. His father, Richard, came over as an absolute darling.
So to watch Andrew Garfield setting off to explore his father’s Jewish history was like seeing a teddy bear marching towards the machine guns. “We’re a very mushy family,” he said. “We’re a very easy cry, the Garfields.”
This is not to say that Andrew Garfield is in any way a wuss. Anyone who has climbed the Hollywood ladder as he has must be pretty tough. Also, although he looks like a cuddly toy, he is 41. Television viewers might remember him from the very good crime series, Under the Banner of Heaven. Or even from one series of Doctor Who. But he is a Hollywood actor really. He was, or maybe is, Spider-Man.
Andrew’s father is an American from Los Angeles, and that is where Andrew was born. But his father’s family was originally from Poland, and their surname Garfinkel.
“I feel a longing to connect with my Jewish identity,” said Garfield. He didn’t seem to know much about it. So off we went to southern Poland, to a city called Kielce, and all the horrors it contained. Kielce looked pretty grim, even now. But then we were in the poor part of town where Andrew’s great-great-grandmother and he...
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