Oscar-winning actor Kevin Spacey has told a jury he was “somewhat intimate” with one of his alleged sexual assault victims but denied assaulting him in a “violent, aggressive, painful way”.

The Hollywood actor began giving evidence from the witness box at Southwark Crown Court on Thursday, when he said he was a “big flirt” and felt “crushed” that the man would “stab me in the back” so many years later.

Spacey is accused of “aggressively” grabbing his first alleged victim’s crotch while driving him to a showbiz party in the early 2000s.

The defendant said the incident “never happened” – adding: “I was not on a suicide mission.”

Spacey also told the jury that allegations made by a second man he allegedly met in a West End theatre in the mid-2000s were “madness”.

The actor is accused of grabbing the man’s crotch “like a cobra” after making a “barrage of vile comments”.

Responding to the alleged “hardcore” comments, Spacey said: “I never said any of the things that he claims I said to him and wouldn’t and never have to anyone in my life.”

Denying the allegations against him made by the first alleged victim, the defendant told the jury: “He was a lads’ lad. He was funny and charming and flirtatious.”

Spacey said he touched the complainant in “romantic” and “intimate” ways.

He said he and the alleged victim did not take things further because the man “made it clear that he did not want to go any further and that happens at times and you just respect how far someone wants to go”.

Spacey said: “I can’t remember specific conversations we had but I remember the tone, I remember the atmosphere, I remember the laughter.

“We had a very fun time together.”

The actor accepted touching the man but said: “It did not happen in a violent, aggressive, painful way.

“It was gentle … and it was in my mind romantic.”

Asked by his barrister if there was any reluctance from the alleged victim to his advances, Spacey said: “No. The only thing he made clear is he did not want to go any further than we were going and I respected that.”

Questioned whether the man had said anything after Spacey had touched him, the defendant said: “I think he said things like ‘this is new for me’ so I think that he may have been surprised by his reaction.”

The actor denied he had almost made the complainant “come off the road” after the alleged “aggressive” grab, saying: “That never happened. I was not on a suicide mission.”

Asked how he felt after the alleged victim made allegations against him, the House of Cards and American Beauty star said: “I was crushed.

“I never thought that the (man) I know would (so many) years later stab me in the back.”

Mr Gibbs then asked Spacey about the man he allegedly met in a West End theatre.

Questioned on why he believed the allegations to be “madness”, the actor said: “It never happened.”

Asked to respond to the man’s allegations of “vile comments”, the Hollywood actor said: “I never said any of the things that he claims I said to him and wouldn’t and never have to anyone in my life.”

He told the jury that he did not recognise the complainant “at all” when showed a photograph of him.

Asked what he remembered of that day, Spacey said: “Not a great deal.”

The defendant, standing trial under his full name Kevin Spacey Fowler, was labelled a “sexual bully” when proceedings began last month.

The 63-year-old denies charges including sexual assault and indecent assault, which are alleged to have been committed between 2001 and 2013.

Spacey pleaded not guilty in January to three counts of indecent assault, three counts of sexual assault and one count of causing a person to engage in sexual activity without consent.

The two-time Academy Award winner also previously denied four further charges of sexual assault and one count of causing a person to engage in penetrative sexual activity without consent.

The trial continues.