My own Hollywood ending is beyond my dreams

SCOTS actor Brian Cox says he's been given a second chance at happiness thanks to his stunning young wife - and his "little weapon of mass destruction".

The 57-year-old star of X-Men 2 says his new-found happiness is all down to 31-year-old German actress Nicole Ansari and their toddler son Orson.

Cox has revealed how he fell madly in love with Nicole after a chance meeting in Hamburg.

And the big-screen legend revealed how after first meeting Nicole he had to wait an agonising EIGHT years before he finally got his girl.

Brian, who is currently enjoying a break from filming Troy with Brad Pitt, said: "I met Nicole when I was in King Lear in Hamburg. She was a young actress who was studying in Hamburg. I met her in a social situation.

"On that first meeting we spent about three hours just talking. There was definitely a connection between us from the start, but I had to wait another eight years before I met her again."

Dundee-born Brian couldn't believe his luck when he received a surprise love-letter from Nicole while starring in a Broadway play in 1998.

On the same fateful night a love-struck Nicole sprinted all the way along Broadway just to see him in action.

He revealed: "It was very romantic really. I saw her after the show and then we got together. At first it was hard because we were both travelling around so much.

"But I knew after that second meeting that things were going to get serious between us."

Within a few years Brian had whisked Nicole off to Las Vegas for a fairy tale wedding.

The couple were over the moon when Nicole discovered she was pregnant less than a year later.

Brian, who split from his first wife after an 18-year marriage, is clearly devoted to both his wife and their baby son Orson, now 15 months.

He refers to Orson as his "little weapon of mass destruction" owing to the carnage he creates wherever he goes:

"He's a little hellraiser. He keeps us both on our toes."

Brian - who also has another son Alan, 32, and a daughter Margaret, 25, with his first wife - added: "I do feel like I've had a second shot at happiness, at a family life, and it's something I value very much.

"My wife is wonderful. Nicole and I are really good together. And she's such a good mother, very natural.

"We are both chaotic people but we both understand the nature of the job and that's why it works.

"You don't know when you are going to get a call to go and do a film in Malta. That's why it's so important to put down your roots.

"We have a home in LA and a home in London, as well as family in Scotland. People always go on about actors and actresses not necessarily being a good combination, but the truth of the matter is they are the best combination.

"That's because they do understand each other. Nicole is the only one who can possibly understand.

"It's so much easier this time around than it is when you are younger. I was so ambitious when I was young and it was hard to make ends meet in those days. That was definitely a pressure on my first marriage.

"Nicole and I didn't plan to have Orson - it was just one of those things that happened. It didn't look as if it was going to happen because I was getting older and older. But I always thought I was going to have more children."

And he reckons the 26-year age difference between him and his wife is a recipe for success.

"No one really makes a big deal about the age difference between us. It's so common nowadays.

"Most people who are on their second or third marriage are usually with someone 10 or 15 years younger.

"I feel sorry for women in one sense because men can go on having children forever and women can't. So their biological clock finishes at a certain point.

"By the time you get to my age you've knocked around and you know what your priorities are. You are not being cock of the walk or puffing up your chest. You're more confident in your stride. You can take your time more. You don't have to work so hard.

"One of the problems with my first marriage was that it was a struggle to make ends meet because I was trying to do theatre and trying to do good work. It was a tough life."

Although he and Nicole live in Beverly Hills in Los Angeles, he is a regular visitor to his beloved Scotland.

"I miss Scotland more and more as I get older. I still feel very much part of Scotland. Really, it's the land. My auntie used to live in Edinburgh so I came here first of all when I was two.

"Yet sometimes when I come to the city I still feel the sensation of hairs standing up on the back of my neck. It still excites me.

"There is still something about it. People come and go, but the land stays the same.

"My wife loves Scotland. When she first came here I remember we were up in Ullapool and she got out and said: 'Can't you feel it? It talks to you.' She didn't know Scotland at all. She just felt there was a vibrancy about the place. And I thought that was amazing."

One of Scotland's most respected actors, Brian has starred in big- screen hits such as The Ring, L.I.E, spy adventure the Bourne Identity and more recently as Stryker in X-Men 2.

At 57 he's hot property in Hollywood, renowned for his ability to play evil villains such as Hannibal Lecter in the Silence Of The Lambs prequel, Manhunter.

After 40 years of acting he still relishes every new part, and despite being a cinema legend, he still loves theatre work.

"As actors, theatre is our domain. The Americans and the French are the real masters of the cinema. In Britain it's all about the theatre.

"However, unless you are in the West End the reality is that theatre doesn't pay the bills."

Brian is about to go back to Malta to continue filming his latest Gladiator-style epic, Troy, in which he plays a giant Greek warrior whose arch enemy is Brad Pitt.

It takes a lot of probing before the modest Scot will admit he's struck up quite a friendship with Hollywood's dishiest star.

And it seems Mr Pitt - who Brian reckons is a "canny lad" - was somewhat in awe of the big Scotsman who boasts a glorious 40-year repertoire.

Brian revealed: "Brad said to me that he was very familiar with my work, that he'd known it for some time. We also had the same accent coach.

"He told me that he came to see my one-man show a few years ago. I was quite flattered."

He added: "We haven't acted together yet, but I spent an afternoon with him and we really hit it off.

"We hung out together in the make-up room and we just chatted about shared passions that we have. I have a passion for architecture and so does he.

"He's such a lovely guy. He's very smart and very bright - just a very charming fellow. He's a canny lad.

"We both love spaces and we were talking about buildings and so on. So we were swapping ideas about buildings.

"He has such a huge status now, but in spite of that he is just a very ordinary down to earth guy."

So isn't Brian's wife a little bit envious that he's getting up close and personal with Brad Pitt?

"Not at all," Brian chuckles: "But I hear Jennifer Aniston is very jealous of my wife."

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