Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
An actor known for exceptional work in television, film, and theatre.
On the island
Eight records
Well, we start at Saint Martin's School of Art, really, circa nineteen fifty nine.
Piano Concerto No. 2 in B-flat major, Op. 83
Sviatoslav Richter, Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Erich Leinsdorf
This was uh Grimsley School of Art period, s slightly later than the Lead Belly one, through a girl who was um at that time training to be a concert pianist.
Well, the third record actually comes from about that period,'cause uh we did Little Malcolm in Dublin to begin with, before we came to the Garrick, at the Dublin Festival. And it was there that I met my friend Gareth Brown, who introduced me to Irish music, which I've been very fond of ever since.
La Traviata: Addio del passato
This is um My attempt to get to know opera really, which wasn't very successful, because being as I I like the storyline and I like the lyrics and so on, uh the the big trouble I find with opera is that they're so utterly ludicrous. However, In this effort I did come across one piece that I adore, and I've chosen the final area.
Because I mean it it was the period of the Beatles. Had to be I mean uh th th the whole of the sixties was an extraordinary decade, and even though I I stood somewhat outside of it, in terms of the psychedelic experience of the sixties was not really my scene. But there was a a lot that went with it, so I have to include a Beatles. But I'm delighted to choose this one because actually I was there when it was being part of it was being made.
The South WindFavourite
Well, I'm going to go back to Ireland again, as I frequently go back to Ireland. And this is a record actually that I recently given for my birthday. And it's off an album called Tin Whistles, and the whistles are played by my friend Paddy Maloney.
This is a record by a friend of mine. I hate to leave him out. And it'd be very annoying if I did, anyway. And it's by Eric Clapton. And I'd like to dedicate this to my wife.
Piano Concerto No. 21 in C major, K. 467
Vladimir Ashkenazy and the Philharmonia Orchestra
Well, I'm going to finish on Mozart, because I rather suspect that that is one record that uh you could probably never tire of.
In conversation
Presenter asks
0:38How well could you adapt yourself mentally to a desert island existence?
I I can't imagine uh the idea of going there and wanting to get off it, so therefore I think I would have to adapt pretty quickly, I think.
Presenter asks
4:40At school, what did you want to be?
I wanted well, from the age of nine, I wanted to be an actor. Really, from the first time that I went onto a stage. I I don't think I ever thought there was such a thing as a professional actor, or if I did, I didn't know what it meant.
Presenter asks
5:42Did you start to paint at that time?
I had always enjoyed painting, through the always inadequate art classes that one had at that time in the various schools that I was at, and also Stephen Shepherd, who used to teach me when I was at my prep school. had remained a friend. He interested me and got me extremely interested in painting itself, though I'd never really taken it seriously until I went to art school, and and in many ways I'm very glad I did it, because it created an interest which I never lost.
The keepsakes
The book
The Complete Works of Lewis Carroll
Lewis Carroll
I'd probably take the complete works of Lewis Carroll, if I'm allowed to do that.
The luxury
the one thing I think I probably would miss would be a pillow. So I take a pillow.
Presenter asks
You like to build up a character from your own impression, is that right?
Well, I wouldn't say that exactly. I like to work from the script. Generally speaking, the writer has done a great deal of research. And if he is a good dramatic writer, he's written in such a way that it is intended for the imagination to take over. I don't personally find that by reading a lot of books about a character that it it in fact helps to make the imagination fly. I th this is entirely my way of working and um I find it works for me. Leave all that sort of stuff to the writer.
Presenter asks
17:04Playing a homosexual [in The Naked Civil Servant] can be dangerous for an actor. Did you find that people thought this must be for real?
I've been asked, yes, they said, you know, John, are you in fact you know one of them? And I say, well, God, if I was one of them, I would have had a lot less trouble in my life, I can tell you. But I don't think so, really, because I remember Robert Bolt wrote me a letter afterwards saying that after the the initial shock of the subject matter in the first five minutes It became a story about the tenderness of the individual versus the cruelty of the crowd, and I think that's basically what people got from it, rather than an essay on homosexuality, which I don't think it was anyway.
“I like to think that I sing, but nobody else agrees.”
“acting was the first choice, but my parents strongly believed that I should have something to fall back on, as it were, and those were the days when one was obliged to take notice of your parents.”
“I don't personally find that by reading a lot of books about a character that it it in fact helps to make the imagination fly.”
“Richard [Burton] was not the sort of person that everybody thinks he was. He wasn't the great s swashbuckler. He was a very sensitive, extremely well read, interesting man.”