Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
An actor who trained at RADA, served as a WWII bomber pilot, was shot down and held as a POW, and made his West End debut five weeks after starting in rep.
On the island
In conversation
Presenter asks
0:29Why did you want to be an actor? How did that come into your system?
Well, when I left school … I don't know. I was very unhappy at school … [I] was sent to the psychoanalyst, as a matter of fact, are trying to sort our head out. And she suggested that … the stage, you see.
Presenter asks
0:58How did you set about it?
Well that I applied to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts … and managed to get in, but I only lasted one term because they wrote from my mother … and said that, you know, much as we like the little fellow, he's wasting your money and our time. Take him away.
Presenter asks
2:11You had three years in a prison camp. How did you occupy your time in the camp? Were there any theatricals?
They were theatricals, they built a theatre and I applied for a part and I was given an understudy. That's a bit rough.
Presenter asks
When you returned to London, when you were repatriated, you still hadn't made your professional debut in the theatre then?
No, I went to see Oliver Gordon at Windsor, who was running Windsor then … I got what they call compassionate exit from the Air Force … So I got out sort of a month or two, I suppose, before … I managed to get into this repertory theatre, but I played the old man and the drunkard … and then almost instantly Windsor came along and asked me to go there. I did two plays at Windsor, and then Tennants took me in the guinea pig, the Criterion, where it went for a year and a half. So I was in the West End five weeks after I started.
Presenter asks
7:47You must have played in innumerable films by now, some here, some in America. Which ones do you like to remember in particular?
Station Six Sahara with Ian Bannon … from that I got my breakthrough in films, which was nothing but the best with Alan Bates … then an Alphi and all those other things. Some nice exotic locations … I recently won in Canada about f six months ago in Montreal called Daddy Kravitz which has had rave reviews … I have written in a cameo in it, but it's a great deal of fun.
Presenter asks
9:15You've played leading roles in first-rate productions, but somehow you've never stayed in one place long enough to be recognised as a top-ranking star. Does that worry you?
It doesn't worry me … the only thing that has stopped me from being a top-ranking star is my desire to be, which I've never wanted … I like an anonymity and I like sort of in a sense being an amateur … I love my freedom, and I hate the demands that are made on you if you really … I think the price is too high, quite honestly.
“I was very unhappy at school and was sent to the psychoanalyst, as a matter of fact, are trying to sort our head out. And she suggested that … the stage, you see.”
“Some of the crew suggested paddling what four hundred miles to Norway, and I regret to say I said, Well, why don't we all just sort of get ashore and have something warm to eat? It wasn't very bold and brave.”
“When the great ones nod, you your whole career is changed. And I went to New York and played that at …”
“I like an anonymity and I like sort of in a sense being an amateur.”
“I think the price is too high, quite honestly.”