Home Top

'He is safe and happy, he did a good job': Family of hero British Airways pilot praise him for saving 157 passengers after he halted flaming 90mph jet in just NINE seconds on Vegas runway
Narcos at (Instagram) war! From guns and girls to big cats and big piles of cash, El Chapo's sons spark social media battles between Mexican cartel members showing off their sickening wealth
U.S. hostage Kayla Mueller had her fingernails pulled out before being repeatedly raped by ISIS leader: Yazidi sex slave reveals torment of aid worker's harrowing final months after she was forced to be the secret wife of Al-Baghdadi
Teen who was controversially jailed for having sex with a 14-year-old girl who lied about her age could be taken off the sex-offender list
Caitlyn Jenner breaks her silence about fatal car crash and voices her fears over being sent to Men's County Jail while revealing she does not regret transitioning
Erin Brockovich claims EPA 'lied about millions and millions of gallons of toxic water' which spilled into rivers last month
Pastor and seminary teacher who was outed as an Ashley Madison 'cheater' commits suicide because he carried too much 'shame'
Nick Gordon denies causing 'wrongful death' of Bobbi Kristina and insists he tried to give her CPR
Why you want to grow older in Switzerland...but not South Africa: Report ranks world governments according to how they're coping with ageing populations
What the globe REALLY looks like: Interactive map reveals how traditional atlases have got it wrong - and how the US, India and China can ALL fit inside Africa
Hillary gets her groove on for Ellen as she joins Pink and Amy Schumer on the chat show in first of major media appearances
Jeb Bush uses 'Late Show with Stephen Colbert' appearance to promise civility in Washington while Donald Trump continues to troll him
Now Hillary APOLOGIZES for email lapses and says 'That was a mistake, I'm sorry about that, I take responsibility' - just days after refusing to fall on her sword
Carly Fiorina thumps Trump for being too nice to Democratic front-runner and says he should 'throw a little more heat Hillary Clinton's way'
Hungarian camerawoman is fired after deliberately TRIPPING migrants fleeing police - including a father carrying his terrified young child
Syrian refugees have turned Greek island Lesbos into a war zone, residents claim, amid fears ISIS is using the crisis to enter Europe
Lilas, 2, suffered horrific burns at the hands of Assad's bombs in Syria. Now she is among thousands of starving migrants trapped on Greek island
'Europe cannot house all the misery in the world': EU chief pledges to tighten borders but warns continent must help those fleeing ISIS
White House says it's 'actively considering' new measures to help Syrian refugees - but won't say if more migrants will be allowed into the US
ISIS kidnaps 127 children in Mosul intending to turn them into blood-thirsty killers
The long, hard road to Budapest: Why hundreds of migrants are fleeing police and trying to march 110 miles to the Hungarian capital in the desperate hope of reaching Western Europe
Heart-warming moment a German toddler handed her sweets to a refugee girl who had just arrived in her country
Was NASA scientist spying for China? FBI investigate after professor who worked on Mars project mysteriously resigns and leaves the U.S. amid concerns he leaked defense secrets
Revealed: Spygate was far worse than first thought as Patriots staff 'stole playbooks from rival teams and Roger Goodell helped them to cover it up'

'This is my way of acknowledging him': Nicole Kidman pays tribute to her late doctor father who urged her to take on West End role as pioneering scientist

By Danielle Gusmaroli for Daily Mail Australia

Published: 17:36 EST, 8 September 2015 | Updated: 18:21 EST, 8 September 2015

View
comments

She has spoken at length and with much heart about the love she has for her late father Dr Antony Kidman and how lucky she was to be his daughter.

And as actress Nicole returns to the West End stage to play a female scientist in Photograph 51, she honoured his memory telling the audience: 'This is my way of acknowledging him.'

The emotional Oscar winner, who makes a comeback to the London stage after seventeen years, told a public preview: 'He knew I was going to do it so I like to think he is somewhere offering support.'

Scroll down for video

In memory: Nicole Kidman told a public preview of her West End play Photograph 51 that she accepted the role of pioneering scientist in honour of her late father and people who quietly go about their work in science

Close: Dr Antony Kidman, a clinical psychologist, died almost exactly a year ago after suffering a heart attack in Singapore. Pictured with Nicole in Palm Springs in January 2005

According to the Daily Telegraph, the 48-year-old went on to say her father, who died on 12 September last year, encouraged her to take the lead part as Rosalind Franklin, who has a crucial hand in identifying the structure of DNA.

The publication reports the Australian actress addressed the audience at Noel Coward's theatre saying she was 'nervous' about returning to the West End but wanted to highlight the work of scientists 'who quietly go about their work.'

The mother-of two, married to country singer Keith Urban, spent much of her formative years in laboratories with her father, a clinical psychologist who died of a heart attack while visiting his younger daughter Antoni and her family in Singapore.

Preview night: The Oscar winner, seen leaving Noel Cowards theatre on Monday, gave a nod to her erstwhile father before greeting baying crowds outside

Big news: Photograph 51 is the name given to an X-ray image taken by a researcher at King’s College London, which revealed the double-helix shape of DNA

Nicole has been planning her return to London theatre for some time, saying last year: 'Life and other work have conspired to keep me away, but I’m determined to make at least one of the proposals work.'

She will portray a scientist in the Anna Ziegler show, which officially opens on September 14, who shines a torch on inequality suffered by women in science.

Photograph 51 is the name given to an x-ray image taken by a researcher at King’s College London, which revealed the double-helix shape of DNA.

In character: Nicole sports a darker wig and a pair of glasses and dons Fifties garb to portray Franklin

Overlooked: Franklin, portrayed in the play by Nicole, was the chemist overseeing the original discovery, but has been relatively overlooked by history

It was a crucial starting point for research by Francis Crick and James Watson, who identified how DNA was structured.

Franklin, portrayed in the play by Nicole, was the chemist overseeing the original discovery, but has been relatively overlooked by history – while Crick and Watson won the Nobel Prize along with fellow researcher Maurice Wilkins.

Franklin’s work was never formally recognised before her death to cancer in 1958.

Setting the record straight: Franklin’s work was never formally recognised before her death to cancer in 1958

'I was drawn to the idea of this brilliant woman working on the front lines of science at a time when massively huge discoveries were being made,' Nicole told the Daily Telegraph.

The Australian star often pays heartfelt tributes to her father as she continues to come to terms with his death.

During the church funeral service, as husband Keith performed an emotional acoustic version of Amazing Grace, she told a silent congregation: 'I am one of the lucky ones, I am a girl, a woman, raised by an extraordinary man.'

She went on to say the 75-year-old patriarch was not only her father, but a thinker, her confidant, her friend, her protector and a gentleman.