Please note that some of the additional information provided here by the journalist named below may not be accurate, so it should be treated with caution.
Saturday, 8th September, 1973
Sex appeal? It’s really so simple –
says the man who has more of it than most
It was a relief to see that the hair was as dark, thick and curly as ever that the black, bull moustache still swept as arrogantly across his face as ever. Rumour is that Peter Wyngarde is to play the Yul Brynner role in The King And I. And Brynner, of course, went bald for the part.
Peter, I’m pleased to say, is keeping his hair on, and he looked amused at my concern.
“I’m just going to have it tied back” he explained, “and with the make-up it really looks very own oriental.
“I’m very excited about this part because it’s different from anything I’ve done before. And, of course as I’ve been identified as Jason King for so long now it will be a refreshing change.”
It is hard to imagine the seemingly slender, elegant Wyngarde in the mighty Brynner role. At least it is until you take a closer look at the physique underneath the slim fitting wool sweater and the hip hugging grey trousers.
For he has a surprisingly powerful build. In fact, in the days before television’s Jason King he played Petruchio in The Taming Of The Shrew and wielded a very successful sword in Cyrano De Bergerac.
And he was only a young boy when he was captured by the Japanese in Shanghai and survived for years in a concentration camp. That’s how tough he really is…
“I have always believed in keeping myself in shape,” he says. “Ever since the mid-50s when I was in a play and a Hollywood tycoon turned up in my dressing room says said that he wanted me to play Alexander the Great in a new epic movie.
“He told me to get my haircut and build my body up, so I signed on at the gymnasium where I worked out twice a day for six months.
“Then Richard Burton was picked for the party instead”.
Later, a world tour of Duel Of Angels with Vivien Leigh followed, and Peter was such a success that he worked constantly for the next few years.
“Mind you, there is exercise and exercise… and I don’t believe in overdoing it,” he added cryptically.
It was in 1967 that the idea for Jason King was born and Wyngarde became a star right from the moment this series it the television screens.
And this is what brings us to the other quality which is essential for the role of the King of Siam… sheer, undeniable, raw sex appeal. All of which – as his fan mail shows – Peter Wyngarde possesses a plenty.
A group of Texas school girls claimed that he is ‘The Guy They Would Most Want To Be Lost In Space With’ and the dozens of proposals that find their way into his mail every week come from places as far afield as Fiji and the South of France.
“Women cannot bear not to be wanted, you see. I’ve watched it happen over and again. You look a girl up and down, appraising face, figure, legs the lot and then turn back to your drink or whatever you’re doing, and a couple of seconds later she’s right there beside you.
“And she wants to know why it is that you didn’t follow up that first glance. So then, maybe you are interested and you take her out a couple of times.
“And, again, if you get caught up in other things for the next few days and don’t telephone, she’ll be right there wondering why.
“The sad thing is, he went on, “that it isn’t always a deliberate attempt to intrigue the girl. It’s simply that men have so much more on their minds apart from love.
“It was Byron who said: ‘Man’s love is of man’s life a thing apart. ‘Tis woman’s all existence’. And there’s a lot of truth in that.
“A man can love a woman without thinking of her every waking moment. You see he has time for the football match, or a game of darts in the pub, or a drink with the boys. And it’s something that women just don’t understand”.
The King of Siam has countless wives to contend with, but Wyngarde was married only once in his early 20s. It lasted less than five years. Now he contemplates marriage only occasionally.
“It’s when I’m not working and I get bored and I tend to become involved.
“There was a girl I met in Australia last year who came very close to making me think that waking up and looking at her every morning for the rest of my life would be the most marvellous thing in the world”. And what happened?
Again that smile. “I fled and woke up to look at the sunrise over Bali instead”.
It was a good answer, I thought.
Interview by Mary Kaye.
PETER WYNGARDE: The Official Website 