Mark Rylance gives his Tony Award to a Wiltshire man

Actor Mark Rylance is giving his Tony Award for his part in Jerusalem to the man who inspired the play.

The actor said he thought Micky Lay, the 71 year-old builder who inspired his character Johnny "Rooster" Byron, deserved it.
Rylance, 51, who beat Al Pacino to the 2011 award, has had the Tony engraved with the words "To Micky and Scotty Lay from Mark Rylance".
It will be presented later, to Mr Lay and son Scotty, in Pewsey, Wiltshire.
The fictional village of Flintock, in Jez Butterworth's stage hit play Jerusalem, is based on Pewsey, where Butterworth lived for a while in the 1990s.
In June Rylance, the BAFTA award-winning actor, won the 2011 Tony Award for best actor in Jerusalem.

Mark Rylance

In an interview, he told broadway.com he wanted to give the Tony "to the guy in Wiltshire [Micky Lay] who very much inspired Jez to write the play".

He said: "I think he'd really like it. He was very generous with me and invited me into his house and talked with me for six hours or so on different occasions about his life as a Romany Gypsy man in England.
"And I think without those interviews I wouldn't have found such a thing.
"So I think he deserves it."
Last week, the award was handed over to a "surprised" Jerry Kunkler, who runs Mr Lay's local pub, in New York.
Mr Kunkler, landlord of the Moonrakers, in Pewsey, had been watching the Broadway production of the play when he was invited backstage to meet the cast.
"I went to America to watch the play and Mark Rylance gave it to me then," he said.
Award 'a secret' "He gave it to me in a bag and said it was a present for Micky and he'd had it engraved for him.
"I was terrified going through customs with it."
Until now, Mr Lay has had no idea he is to be presented with the award.
"I couldn't say to him - here have a pint, oh and by the way here's a Tony" said Mr Kunkler.
"So I've kept it quiet and told him to make sure he's around on Thursday."

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