19.03.2024

Johnny Depp says he would ‘take a bullet’ for Gerry Conlon

Johnny Depp described his close relationship with Gerry Conlon and how he would have ‘taken a bullet’ for the man in the forward to his newly released biography.

Depp wrote the forward for his late friend who died in 2014 of lung cancer after a long and tumultuous life.

The biography, which is titled In The Name Of The Son, details Conlon’s 15 years locked in a British prison after he was wrongly convicted as an IRA bomber in 1975, his years of torture at the hand of the police, and his battle with drug addiction following his release.

Johnny Depp described his close relationship with Gerry Conlon and how he would have ‘taken a bullet’ for the man in the forward to his newly released biography

Johnny Depp described his close relationship with Gerry Conlon and how he would have 'taken a bullet' for the man in the forward to his newly released biography

In the forward Depp said he he met Conlon in 1990, the year after he was released from prison, and says that the book is ‘a story of a man I loved.’

Depp wrote the forward for his late friend Gerry Conlon, pictured, who died in 2014 of lung cancer after a long and tumultuous life

In the forward Depp said he he met Conlon in 1990, the year after he was released from prison, and says that the book is ‘a story of a man I loved.’ Depp is pictured in June at the 2017 Glastonbury Festival

In the forward Depp said he he met Conlon in 1990, the year after he was released from prison, and says that the book is 'a story of a man I loved.' Depp is pictured in June at the 2017 Glastonbury Festival

Their unlikely friendship was sealed at a Pogues concert – and Depp wrote that Conlon and his brothers looked ‘just like the miscreant, unhinged maniacs I always tended to hang out with,’ according to the Guardian.

The first time the friends had lunch – Conlon said Depp should play him in a film that was being produced, which ended up starring Daniel Day Lewis.

The film, as well as much of the book, told the story of the young Belfast man who, with three of his friends, was blamed for the 1974 Guilford pub bombings.

At the lunch, Depp said his new friend went into depth about the bombings and then about his arrest.

‘I was already n the deck wiping away tears (as was he), when he gave the first details of his abduction and torture by the British authorities,’ Depp wrote.

The pair quickly became close friends, and even went on a summer vacation with him in West Belfast in 1991.

‘Gerry had no need to convince me,’ he said about the trip. ‘Of course I was going to say yes.’

The biography, which is titled In The Name Of The Son, details Conlon’s 15 years locked in a British prison after he was wrongly convicted as an IRA bomber in 1975, his years of torture at the hand of the police, and his battle with drug addiction following his release. He is pictured center in 1989 after his sentence was lifted

Before his death Conlon left all of his private papers, correspondence and other life documents to O’Rawe. He also gave him detailed verbal accounts of his long battles with drug addiction after being freed from prison. He is pictured in 2005 with a handwritten apology from Tony Blair for being wrongly convicted

In The Name Of The Son was written by Conlon’s longtime friend Richard O’Rawe – another former IRA prisoner who spoke for his fellow inmates during the 1981 hunger strike.

Before his death Conlon left all of his private papers, correspondence and other life documents to O’Rawe. He also gave him detailed verbal accounts of his long battles with drug addiction after being freed from prison.

The book will be published later this month.

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