He was 13 when he left his Yorkshire home to figure in one of the landmark movies of the 1970s.

Michael Kirkby spent 14 months filming Bugsy Malone at Pinewood Studios in London.

Now, 34 years after the film was released, the song and dance man has returned to the gangster musical which formed such a central part of his childhood.

For the first time, he’s producing a stage version of the show. Later this month, it will be staged at Guiseley Theatre.

Michael, from, Liversedge, was part of a cast made up entirely of children. A teenage Jodie Foster, who would later go on to become a global movie star, played the female lead.

Michael took the part of Angelo.

“Looking back, it was a fantastic experience,” he said.

“I used to do a lot of TV at the time and it didn’t mean as much then, as it does today.”

Michael was a product of the Jean Pearce Stage School at Horsforth and was a regular on Yorkshire Television’s Junior Showtime for much of the 1970s.

“We used to sing and dance with many of the big names of the day, like Bernard Cribbins, Billy Dainty, Stan Stennett and Anita Harris,” he recalls.

“Then, I had an audition for a part in Bugsy. Alan Parker, who wrote and directed the show, had trawled through scores of schools, looking for the right youngsters to appear in the film.

“A lot of the time, he went round classrooms. He had an idea in his head of how he wanted people to look.

“We spent 14 months at Pinewood in total. We had schooling down there, such as it was. My mum was a bit worried about letting her 13-year-old go down to London. My father was all for it.

“We were just kids enjoying ourselves. We didn’t realise that we were going to be part of a bit of film history,” he said.

With half of the cast British and the other half American, Michael says there was an element of ‘them and us’ on set.

“Jodie Foster was fine. She was just a teenager like the rest of us. But the Americans were a bit of a novelty,” he said.

Bugsy Malone opened to critical acclaim in 1976 and has been a firm favourite ever since. But Michael’s version, which opens at Guiseley Theatre on Monday, February 22, differs from the movie in one major way.

Adults will take the main parts.

“We’ve still got to figure out how we’re going to have a major fight with the splurge guns, bearing in mind that the costumes have got to be ready to be used each night. But it’s been great fun to be associated with Bugsy once more,” he said.

Michael, who works as a decorator, has spent many years as a leading man on the amateur stage across West Yorkshire since his film debut.

But the opportunity to turn professional never quite happened. A few years ago, he was offered a contract to appear alongside Tommy Steele in Singing in the Rain and Half a Sixpence only for both productions to collapse through a lack of investment.

Bugsy Malone runs at Guiseley Theatre from Monday to Saturday, February 22 to 27 (7.30pm) with a matinee on Saturday, February 27 (2.15pm). Tickets, £8-£10, from: 0845 3705045.