Eric Cullen

Eric Cullen
Born Eric Robertson Cullen
(1965-07-12)12 July 1965
Hamilton, South Lanarkshire, Scotland
Died 16 August 1996(1996-08-16) (aged 31)
East Kilbride, South Lanarkshire, Scotland

Eric Robertson Cullen (12 July 1965 – 16 August 1996) was a Scottish actor who was famous for his role as Wee Burney in BBC's Rab C Nesbitt[1] Cullen was born with achondroplasia - a type of dwarfism.[2]

Early life

He was born to a single mother Margaret Sloan and was adopted by a family from Hamilton. He was diagnosed with achondroplasia at the age of seven.

Acting career

Cullen began acting at school. He started to find roles appearing in several theatre groups before appearing in several 1980s Scottish TV programmes, particularly A Kick Up the Eighties.[3] Cullen eventually found lasting fame playing the youngest son, Wee Burney, in the first three seasons of Rab C. Nesbitt.[4] However he left the series, owing to personal problems, in December 1993.[5]

Victim of Abuse

Cullen was sexually abused by a violent paedophile ring as a teenager, and since his condition meant that he looked much younger than he was, this abuse continued into his twenties. Once he became a successful actor, his abusers returned to extort money with menaces. As a result, he developed severe clinical depression.[6]

Child campaigner

Once the court case was out of the way Cullen dedicated himself to campaigning against child pornography, and to trying to bring his abusers to justice.[7] Of the three men he named as his principal abusers one, Francis Currens, was jailed during Cullen's lifetime; one, Cullen's uncle Jack Williams, was jailed after his death (both of them for a catalogue of offences including the repeated rape of young boys);[8] and as of summer 2006 one, whom Cullen named as the ringleader, has never been prosecuted.

Cullen's arrest in 1993, followed by a long drawn-out police investigation and the persecution by the press, destabilised his mental defences leaving him suicidal for many months. As soon as his prison sentence had been quashed on appeal, he began to be offered acting parts again, but he was still too ill with severe Posttraumatic stress disorder to resume work.

Death

Only a day or two before his fatal heart attack, which followed on from surgery for a twisted bowel, he had been asked to take up the role of Wee Burney again. He was however in two minds as to whether to resume his acting career or become a Clinical Psychologist specialising in the treatment of abuse victims; he already had a BA in psychology, and had been accepted to begin a more advanced course in Forensic Psychology that autumn.[9]

Acting career

References

  1. ↑ Saturday 17 August 1996 (1996-08-17). "Double curse on tragic life . Actor Eric Cullen's illegitimacy and his size tormented him throughout his career". Herald Scotland. Retrieved 2013-11-24.
  2. ↑ Saturday 17 August 1996 (1996-08-17). "Double curse on tragic life . Actor Eric Cullen's illegitimacy and his size tormented him throughout his career". Herald Scotland. Retrieved 2013-11-24.
  3. ↑ Anthony Hayward (1996-08-17). "Obituary:Eric Cullen - Obituaries - News". The Independent. Retrieved 2013-11-24.
  4. ↑ Anthony Hayward (1996-08-17). "Obituary:Eric Cullen - Obituaries - News". The Independent. Retrieved 2013-11-24.
  5. ↑ Anthony Hayward (1996-08-17). "Obituary:Eric Cullen - Obituaries - News". The Independent. Retrieved 2013-11-24.
  6. ↑ Friday 30 June 1995 (1995-06-30). "''I know what it is to scream for mercy but never to receive any''". Herald Scotland. Retrieved 2013-11-24.
  7. ↑ "More sinned against than sinner". Herald Scotland. Retrieved 2013-11-25.
  8. ↑ "Wee Burney's uncle awaits sentence after pleading guilty to assaults on three boys Sex crimes admission". Herald Scotland. Retrieved 2013-11-25.
  9. ↑ Anthony Hayward (1996-08-17). "Obituary:Eric Cullen - Obituaries - News". The Independent. Retrieved 2013-11-24.

External links

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