Russell Crowe has shared warm memories of his late friend and long-time neighbour John Laws, reflecting on their decades-long connection after farewelling the radio legend at his state funeral last week.
Speaking to Tim Blackwell on Nova FM’s Ricki-Lee, Tim & Joel show, the 61-year-old actor described what life was like living one floor above Laws for 23 years.
“My memories are not necessarily of John Laws the public figure or John Laws the man on the radio. They’re just my neighbour that I’d chat with in the car park, and he would always be asking after my sons,” said Crowe.
He recalled returning home by boat one day and spotting Laws and his wife Caroline slowly making their way up the wharf toward their apartment.
“John and Caroline were making their way up the wharf and they were walking slowly and I was looking at them going, ‘This is beautiful, this relationship that they have and here, still at their age, hand-in-hand, walking down the wall’.”
The moment took a turn when Laws’ walking stick caught on an uneven tile.
“Then John’s walking stick got caught in a tile that was just slightly askew, and he fell then. As he fell, he brought Caroline down with him, so I jumped off the boat, I ran down the wharf, over the fence.
“As I got to them, and I moved John aside, just so he was OK and then I went to attend to Caroline, and she looked up, she goes, ‘Oh, Russell, I heard you were home. Lovely to see you’ … as she’s just lying down on the ground.”
Crowe said the moment summed up the couple’s spirit: “That’s the thing with the two of them … their attitude towards life and the way to live.”
While the two men often saw the world differently, Crowe said they always enjoyed their time together.
“There’s very few things that we ever agreed on in life. We had a completely different perspective on everything,” he said.
“But that didn’t stop us from actually enjoying each other’s company, and the joy of making each other laugh.
“He was an erudite man, a man with a lot of experience, a man who was well-travelled, well-read. He had lots and lots and lots of opinions. He was a good chat, man. He was a dynamic chat.”
Crowe also honoured Laws at his state funeral at St Andrew’s Cathedral in Sydney on November 19.
“He had an eye for composition and beauty, a nose for a good story, and the heart of a lion, loyal, warm, and lived life to the full,” he said in his eulogy.
“A long, long time ago, John asked me if I could speak at his funeral. I said yes. But he just kept on living, year after year after year.
“He lived so long, I thought I might have lost the gig,” he joked.
Laws died peacefully at his Woolloomooloo home on November 9 after spending two weeks in hospital. His radio career spanned more than 70 years, beginning in 1953 when he hitchhiked to central Victoria and took a job as a general hand at a Bendigo station at age 18.
He retired for the final time last year. His wife Caroline, who died in 2022 after a long battle with ovarian cancer, remained at the centre of his life, with those close to him saying he never truly recovered from her loss.
Images: Nine
