Emma Thompson has accepted Academy Awards, Baftas and even a damehood over a glittering career, but there was one offer she had to turn down.

The actor says she once got asked out on a date by Donald Trump on the same day her divorced was confirmed.

Thompson said she was in her trailer filming Primary Colors in 1998, a political satire based on Bill Clinton’s presidential rise, when the phone rang.

“It was Donald Trump,” Thompson told an audience at the Locarno film festival in Switzerland, where she received the Leopard Club award for career achievement.

“He said: ‘Hello, this is Donald Trump.’ I thought it was a joke and asked: ‘How can I help you?’ Maybe he needed directions from someone.

“Then he said: ‘I’d love you to come and stay at one of my beautiful places. Maybe we could

See Full Page