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Hailed as one of the greatest actors and the brightest of gems of all time in the world of acting, Daniel Day-Lewis is a talent unparalleled. From his method acting to his uncanny ability to disappear behind his roles and become one with his characters, the actor deserves all the credit in the world for his unforgettable performances.

Whether he is playing Christy Brown, an artist with cerebral palsy, in My Left Foot, the menacing oil tycoon Daniel Plainview in There Will Be Blood, or Honest Abe in Lincoln, the actor has always delivered performances that hit right in the hearts and remain in our minds for eternity to come.

One of the best, if not the best, actor of all time, Daniel Day-Lewis | Credit: Gangs of New York / Miramax

While he is notorious for taking long gaps between films to immerse himself in characters or recover from them, it...

The man, often hailed as the greatest screen actor of his generation, is famous – some say notorious – for his obsessive attention to detail in building character. His latest role, playing Abraham Lincoln, is no exception

Thick mud and blood mingle in the opening scenes of Steven Spielberg's latest film, Lincoln. In a brutal demonstration of what happens when politics fails, bodies pile up across a boggy battlefield. The rest of the film, also full of dark and muddy tones, looks steadily at how politicians might end or prolong such a grim civil war. And at the heart of the matter, trying to abolish slavery and adorned with a representation of one of the most famous beards of all time, stands Daniel Day-Lewis.

In playing the revered 16th president of the United States, the 55-year old actor adds to the series of New World archetypes he has tackled on screen.

Tamasin and Daniel Day-Lewis hand over poet laureate's archive including manuscripts and letter from Wh Auden.

Wh Auden did not want to appear condescending but his criticism of Cecil Day-Lewis's poem would certainly appear to be crushing: "You are not taking enough trouble about your medium, your technique of expression," he wrote, adding that one line sounded as if Day-Lewis was waiting for his tea.

The letter, from around 1928 or 1929 when both poets were still in their 20s, is one of many to appear in an extensive literary archive that has been donated to Oxford University's Bodleian Library by Day-Lewis's children, the actor Daniel Day-Lewis and the food writer Tamasin Day-Lewis.

The library will on Tuesday host a symposium celebrating the life and work of the former poet laureate and marking what Chris Fletcher, keeper of special collections, said was an extremely generous gift.

"It is a wonderful archive...

Poets, actors, authors all under one roof

On 9 May 1972, a headline appeared in the London Evening Standard: "Poet laureate recuperates at the Amis' home." The poet laureate in question was the great Cecil Day-Lewis, laureate since 1968. The Amises' home was a house called Lemmons, on Hadley Common in Hertfordshire, off at the end of the Northern line near High Barnet.

Already living at Lemmons were Kingsley Amis; his wife, the novelist Elizabeth Jane Howard; Howard's mother, Kit, a former ballerina; Howard's brother; and the painter Sargy Mann. Day-Lewis had arrived to stay at the house in April 1972 with his wife, the actor Jill Balcon, and their two teenage children, Tamasin and Daniel. Amis's children from his first marriage – Philip, Martin and Sally – were also frequent visitors. It seems likely that for a brief period in 1972, Lemmons was the most brilliantly creative household in Britain. It was also one of the most unlikely.

Daniel Day-Lewis sees his new movie Nine as a fitting tribute to his late mother, because she was delighted to see her son starring opposite Sophia Loren.

The Oscar-winner was devastated when his beloved mum, actress Jill Balcon, passed away in July at the age of 84.

Day-Lewis admits she was delighted when he landed the lead role in Rob Marshall's cinematic musical, because the legendary Italian actress had been hired to play his onscreen mum.

He says, "My late mother was a very original and interesting character. Sophia Loren, who played my (screen) mother (in Nine), made my real-life mum very excited just before she died this year."...