Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
American singer and actor, popular worldwide in concert, cabaret, records, and films including Carmen Jones and Island in the Sun.
On the island
Eight records
The keepsakes
The book
Not recorded.
In conversation
Presenter asks
1:33How does the idea of that loneliness strike you?
Well, I don't think that it's something that I would want to have uh for too long a period. But with the with the hectic pressures of uh uh my popular life as an artist, uh ... I would look a bit forward to being cast away on a desert island to be quiet for a few weeks. Just for a few weeks. After that? Maybe a few days.
Presenter asks
4:46What was your ambition when you were a little boy?
Well, of all little boys, I had many, many ambitions, but I think the most burning of all was to be a jockey.
Presenter asks
5:22What gave you the bug to get into the theatre?
I think it was because I found that um ... It was a medium that fascinated me. I loved the idea of make-believe in a way. ... But mainly it gave me an opportunity for expression, self-expression. And uh it fulfilled all of my creative desires.
Presenter asks
The luxury
Michelangelo's statue of David
Well, something that I just saw on my visit to Italy, uh, in the city of Florence, I think I'd like to take Michelangelo's statue of David.
We see many fine Negro actors in the theater and in the films; we don't hear much about Negro playwrights. Why is that?
I think that in all the fields we are ... probably ... one of the weakest as far as legal representation is concerned, at least in America, is in the field of uh playwriting. Although uh there have been some authors like Langston Hughes who's very popular who has written for the theater and things produced. ... But uh there's not a great abundance of them because prior to this the opportunities were not many.
Presenter asks
18:51What luxury have you chosen to take on the island?
Well, something that I just saw on my visit to Italy, uh, in the city of Florence, I think I'd like to take Michelangelo's statue of David.
“I found that um ... It was a medium that fascinated me. I loved the idea of make-believe in a way. ... But mainly it gave me an opportunity for expression, self-expression.”
“I found that I couldn't find great dimension in the music. The sources are very limiting. ... And uh there are many artists who do it and do it quite well. But for myself personally I found it ... not fulfilling at all.”
“to perform for the people of Britain has been an enormous, enormous experience. ... Really has totally overwhelmed me, really.”