John Goodman "Regrets Are A Waste Of Energy"

The US screen legend opens up about stardom, sobriety and growing up without a father

- Simon Button

Forty years into his career and having conquered his demons, John Goodman is feeling energised. “I’ve surpassed all my dreams,” he says with one of those trademark huge grins of his, “and the best part of it is within the last few years I’ve fallen in love with acting again.” With his heavy drinking days now far behind him, this most amiable and unguarded of interviewees admits: “I got jaded and dulled a little bit. I always liked doing it but now I really, really love it.”

Professionally the man best known for playing Dan Conner on Roseanne and for his darkly comic turns in many Coen Brothers films is in a very good place. Now 71, he’s got regular gigs on the Roseanne reboot (renamed The Conners after Roseanne herself got into hot water for an ill-advised Twitter rant) and the crime comedy The Righteous Gemstones, plus he voices cuddly Sulley on the Monsters at Work series on Disney+.

Goodman hasn’t been on stage for a while, not since he trod the West End boards in 2015 in American Buffalo and appeared on Broadway in The Front Page the following year. “But when I get the time, I’d like to start a theatre career again. It’s very rewarding. The best experience I ever had was when I did American Buffalo in London.”

As for whether he’s now got this acting thing down pat, what with everything from movies like The Flintstones to Argo and such TV shows as Sesame Street to