LONDON Actor Russell Crowe has apologized for the tongue-lashing he gave a British television producer who cut a chunk of his 'best actor' acceptance speech from a delayed British awards show broadcast.

The New Zealand-born star, who shoved and cursed Malcolm Gerrie at a party after the British Academy Film Awards in London last Sunday, apologized to the producer in a weekend telephone call, a spokesman for Gerrie's Production Company told Reuters on Monday.

"He said his language had been excessive and yes, he was still a bit sore (that his acceptance speech had been cut) but he understood that Malcolm had a job to do," the spokesman said.

Crowe's angry outburst after the BAFTA's -- Britain's equivalent of the Oscars -- was reminiscent of his ***"Gladiator"*** role.

He also apologized to Gerrie's family for the press intrusion after the incident.

"He asked if he could make up for the doorstepping and spoke for 15 minutes to Malcolm's son, Oliver, who was thrilled," the spokesman said.

He added that Gerrie was delighted by the apology and there were "no hard feelings".

Gerrie raised Crowe's ire when he cut his recital of a poem by Patrick Kavanagh from the tape-delayed broadcast of the awards ceremony.

Crowe carried off the prize for best actor for his role as a schizophrenic mathematician in ***"A Beautiful Mind"***, raising the prospects of repeated success at the Oscars themselves.

Last year, Crowe won the Academy Award as best actor playing a Roman general turned warrior-slave in ***"Gladiator"***.