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.
Friday, 29th November, 1974
Jason: The Man Who Will Go One Step Further Than Anyone Else
Peter Wyngarde had a twinkle in his eye and a cold in his nose. He picked the cold up in Bury St Edmunds and was very sorry about that, because he is very fond of Suffolk and was afraid the cold would put him off that particular part of the country in future.
To counteract the infection he was drinking a raw egg mixed with honey and, like the good son he assured me he was, he downed his medicine without a murmur. Though he did follow up the egg and honey within an equally therapeutic glass of whiskey.
Peter and I were talking in his dressing room at the Theatre Royal, Nottingham, where he has recently been appearing in Noël Coward’s Present Laughter, a play in which he was both directing and taking the lead part.
He isn’t easy to interview – first because he is so devastatingly attractive, and knows it in the nicest possible way – and secondly, because you’re never quite sure if he is laughing at you or not. Come to think of it, the was a third distraction. He wore a loose purple bathrobe and even the hairs on his chest crinkled with insatiable good humour.
It wasn’t difficult to see why a group of Australian girls had appointed him “The man they’d most like to lose their virginity to.”
Peter knows his attractions, play on them quite shamelessly, has a great fund for enjoying life to the utmost, and when he gets into trouble is inclined to run home to mum in Scotland and say, “You know all men are little boys at heart, don’t you?”
When I suggested that women fawned on him too much, he said quickly, “Actually, it gets a lot more physical than mere fawning. On tour I was sleeping peacefully in my hotel bed and two maiden ladies
rushed into my room and flung themselves on me. At 9:30 AM in the morning. What did I do? I defended myself, of course…”
But if you ask Peter Wyngarde who is the great love of his life the answer is immediate. Yousef. That’s the Afghan Hound who accompanies him on most of his travels and is the only creature permitted to permanently share his bed.
“I’m not saying that he’s less trouble than a woman, or even less temperamental. But he is an easier companion!”
Yousef is at present in Scotland being “doctored” by Peter’s mother. “The poor animal got some infection that meant he kept “going”. Whether he was sitting on my settee or someone’s lap, he just made puddles. It was awfully difficult for him and some of my friends began to object. The vet said Yousef wouldn’t recover.”
Peter was alarmed and telephoned his mother in great distress. “She knows I’m never depressed about myself, so when my sad little voice drifted over the phone she said, “it must be that dog that’s upsetting you.’ When I told her my tale of woe she told me to send Youssef to her immediately, and never mind what the experts said. After a few weeks of her treatment (she feeds him bran) he’s now so lively and bouncy that I’m going to have to put him on a slimming course.”
Yousef, says Peter, is good for him. “We talk all the time. I flatter him outrageously – you have to flatter Afghans – and he retorts by admonishing me. He has a peculiar way of growling, ‘Arrrr’, that reduces me to submission.”
Peter thrives on work, adores working under pressure, and is stimulated by women, the theatre, animals – almost anything that sets his imagination working.
As far as women are concerned his reaction is typical. “The physical thing is great, but you still got to find something exciting to talk about over the breakfast marmalade.”
He hates drab people. “There’s too much greyness in the world. That’s why I love playing in Present Laughter – it’s gay, and the characters refused to be daunted by circumstances. They plays life for laughs.”
He disagrees vociferously when I suggested that too much imagination might lead to neurotic behaviour. “Nonsense,” he said breezily. “Imagination is the greatest gift of the gods. You can’t have too much.”
That’s why he feels that Jason King, the character he played on television with such visual and sensual impact, hasn’t even begun to realise his potential.
“I like Jason’s flamboyancy – the fact that he will go one step further, both emotionally and physically than anyone else.”
So the Peter Wyngarde imagination is being concentrated on Jason King’s future. “I think it would be rather lovely to have a Puma as my assistant in the show. I’ve always fancied owning a real wild animal and Pumas don’t eat people until they’re at least three years old. And then I’d train him only to eat directors!”
Peter isn’t quite as tall as you’d imagine, but he automatically becomes the centre of attraction. “Only when Yousef isn’t around,” he declaims modestly. “I often have to say to him during photographic sessions, ‘Down boy.’ There’s only one star in this family!”
Interview by Valeen Marriot.
PETER WYNGARDE: The Official Website 