“Watch that young man. He is the best emerging actor in the country!”

Sir Tyrone Guthrie – Theatrical Director

Quality Street

Buxton Playhouse Theatre – 1946

Character: Ensign Blades

When We Were Married

Character: Gerald Forbes

The Embassy Theatre, London. July 1946

Pick-Up Girl

Character: Door Attendant/Policeman Owens/A Young Man.

British National Tour – Autumn/Winter 1946.

N.B. In earlier performances of ‘The Pick-Up Girl’, Peter was billed in the role of “The Door Attendant”, but was later credited in the part of both ‘Policeman Owens’ and ‘A Young Man’.

Present Laughter

Character: Morris Dixon

British Tour – Autumn 1947

Macbeth

Character: A Messenger/A Murderer

Colchester Repertory Theatre. February 1948

Deep Are The Roots

Character: Chuck Warren

Colchester Repertory Theatre. March 1948

The Winslow Boy

Character: Dickie Winslow

Colchester Repertory Theatre: 1^st – 6^th March 1948

The Government Inspector

Character: Osip

Royal Court Theatre, York. May 24^th, 1948

Julius Caesar

Character: Julius Caesar

Royal Court Theatre, York. May, 1948

Residents Only

Character: Mr. Maydigger

Royal Court Theatre, York. June 1948

The Devil’s Disciple

Character: Chaplain Brundenell

Royal Court Theatre, York. June 1948

Fly Away Peter

Character: Pan

Colchester Reparatory Theatre: January 1949

The Importance Of Being Ernest

Character: Algernon Moncrieff

Colchester Reparatory Theatre: 14^th – 19^th February 1949

Rope

Character: Kenneth Raglan

Colchester Reparatory Theatre: 21^st – 26^th February 1949

Othello

Character: Sylvius

The Embassy Theatre. June 1949

N.B. Part of the Repertory Theatre Festival, held at the Embassy Theatre, Swiss Cottage, London between 31st May and 24th June, 1949. Companies from Bristol, Glasgow, Manchester and Nottingham took part. At the time, Peter was with the Nottingham Theatre Trust, based at the Nottingham Playhouse.

The Paragon

Character: The Unknown Man

Colchester Reparatory Theatre. January/February, 1949

As You Like It

Character: Oliver

Theatre Royal, Windsor. March, 1949

Tobias and the Angel

Character: Raguel

The Playhouse, Nottingham. April, 1949

By Candle Light

Character: Baron Egon Von Felsen. 

The Playhouse, Nottingham. July, 1949

Above: Peter with Jenny Harvey in ‘By Candle Light’  

The Apple Cart

Character: Nicobar, The Foreign Secretary

The Playhouse, Nottingham. July 1949

The Winslow Boy

Character: Sir Robert Morton

The Playhouse, Nottingham. July 1949

Fresh Fields

Character: The Chinese Servant

The Playhouse, Nottingham

The Merchant of Venice

Character: The Duke of Venice

The Playhouse, Nottingham

Shadow and Substance

Character: A Young Clergyman

The Playhouse, Nottingham

Othello

Character: Cassio

The Embassy Theatre, London. May-July 1949 

The Happiest Days of Your Life

Character: Dick Tassell

The Richmond Theatre. January, 1950

The Long Shadow

Character(s): Miles & Piffard

The Richmond Theatre: January, 1950

Lovely To Look At

Character: Edward Winthrop

Richmond Theatre: February 1950

Edward, My Son

Character: Sergeant Kenyon

Richmond Theatre. February 1950

Mountain Air

Character: George Beesdale

Richmond Theatre. March 1950

P.C. 49 – The Case of the Shocking Shadow

Character: Andre Cheval

The Richmond Theatre. May 1950

The Magistrate

Character: Captain Horace Gale and Mr. Wormington

Richmond Theatre. May 1950

Claudia

Character: Jerry Seymour

The Richmond Theatre. June 1950

Goodbye Mr Chips

Character: Mr Chipping

The Richmond Theatre. July 1950

The Man From Toronto

Character: Robert Gilmour

Richmond Theatre, October, 1950

Someone At The Door

Character: Bill Reid

Richmond Theatre. October 1950

Bonaventure

Character: Willy Pentridge

Richmond Theatre, October, 1950

Above: Peter as Willy Pentridge, with cast in Bonaventure

Mr Gillie

Richmond Theatre, November, 1950

Character: Tom Donnelly

Hamlet

Character: Voltimand/Third Player

The New Theatre, Bromley. February 1951

N.B. This production of ‘Hamlet’ at the New Theatre, Bromley, was produced as part of the Festival Of Britain celebrations.

Loaves and Fishes

Character: Bertram Railing

The New Boltons Theatre Club, London. March 1951

The Taming Of The Shrew

Character: Tranio

The Marlow Theatre. May 1951

Ten Little Niggers

Character: Phillip Lombard

The Grand Theatre, Southampton, August 1951

French Without Tears

Character: Hon. Alan Howard

The Grand Theatre, Southampton, August 1951

The Happy Family

Character: Herbert Filch

The Grand Theatre, Southampton, September 1951

Love From a Stranger

Character: Nigel Lawrence

The Grand Theatre, Southampton, September 1951

Murder Without Crime

Character: Matthew

The Grand Theatre, Southampton, October 1951

Black Coffee

Character: Inspector Japp and Sir Claude Amory

Grand Theatre, Southampton, November 1951

Young Wives Tale

Character: Victor Manifold

The Grand Theatre, Southampton, November 1951

They’ll Arrive Tomorrow

Character: Jonah

The Irving Theatre, London. June 1952

Above: Peter as Jonah

The Loyal Traitors

Character: The Communist

The Arts Theatre, London. January, 1953

September Tide

Character: Evan Davies

Marlow Theatre, Canterbury 

No Laughing Matter (A.K.A. ‘Histoire de Rire’)

Character: Gérard Barbier

The Arts Theatre, London. July, 1954.

Above: Peter (Centre) in ‘No Laughing Matter’

The Enchanted (A.K.A. ‘Intermezzo’)

Character: The Ghost/A Young Man.

The Arts Theatre, London. March 1954

Above: Peter (centre, on steps) as the Ghost of a Young Man in ‘The Enchanted’

Saint Joan

Character: Dunois

The Arts Theatre, London. September 1954

Above: Peter (right – in full armour) as Dunois

Journeys End

Character: Stanhope

The Irvine Theatre. July 1954

The Good Woman of Setzuan

Character: Yang-Sun

The Royal Court Theatre, London. October 1956

Above: Peter (lying) as Yang-Sun

Duel of Angels

Character: Count Marcellus

British Tour. April 1958/59

Above: Peter as Count Marcellus with Vivien Leigh

The Taming Of The Shrew

Character: Petruchio

The Old Vic, Bristol – February 24th – March 10th, 1959.

N.B. Recorded and shown by ITV (T.W.W.) in an edited 60-minute version on March 26th, 1959.

Above: As Petruchio in ‘The Taming of the Shrew’

Cyrano De Bergerac

Character: Cyrano

The Old Vic, Bristol – May 1959

Above: As Cyrano in ‘Cyrano De Bergerac’

Duel of Angels

Character: Count Marcellus

American Tour. 1960

Above: Peter with Mary Ure in ‘Duel of Angels’

King John

Character: King John

The Mother House, London

The Merchant of Venice

Character: Shylock

The Mother House, London

Macbeth

Character: Macbeth

The Mother House, London

Night Conspirators

Character: Werner Loder

Regional Tour, 1964

Above: Peter as Werner Loder, with Sally Home

Time Remembered (A.K.A. Léocadia)

Character: Prince Albert Troubiscoi

New Theatre, Bromley. September 1964

The Philanderer

Character: Leonard Charteris

The New Theatre, Bromley. June 1965

The Spies

Character: Chrystal

Richmond Theatre, May 1966

The Servant

Character: Barrett.

The Yvonne Arnaud Theatre, Guilford. September/October 1966.

The Duke of York’s Theatre, London

The Two Character Play

Character: Felice

The Hampstead Theatre Club. December 1967

N.B. The world premiere of the play was on December 11th, 1967.

Above: As Felice in ‘The Two Character Play’, with Mary Ure

 The Duel

Character: Nickolay von Koren

The Duke of York’s Theatre, London. April 1968

Above: Peter as Nickolay von Koren

Butley

Character: Ben Butley

The Metro Theatre, Melbourne, Australia. April 1971.

N.B. The production of ‘Butley’ at the Metro Theatre, Melbourne, was the World Premier of Charles Dyer’s play.

Above: Peter as Ben Butley

Mother Adam

Character: Adam

Regional Tour. August-November, 1972

Above: Peter as Adam with Hermione Baddeley as his mother

The King and I

Character: The King

The Adelphi Theatre, London.

British National Tour: October – December, 1973

Above: Peter as the King of Siam

Present Laughter

Character: Garry Essendine

British National Tour. Autumn 1974

N.B. Peter also directed this play.

Dracula

Character: Vivorde Szekels/Count Dracula

British National Tour. Spring 1975

N.B. This play was written by Peter Wyngarde

Present Laughter

Character: Garry Essendine

The Yvonne Arnaud Theatre, Guildford

28th October to 15th November, 1975

N.B. Peter also directed this play.

The Merchant of Venice

Character: Shylock

British National Tour. March-April, 1976

Also directed by Peter Wyngarde

Dear Liar

Character: George Bernard Shaw

The English Theatre, Vienna. July, 1976

N.B. Play had to reopen in September to accommodate both the public and subscribers of the English Theatre who missed it earlier in the year.

Above: As George Bernard Shaw in ‘Dear Liar’

Anastasia

Character: Prince Bounine

The Cambridge Theatre, London. September 1976.

Above: Peter as Prince Bounine

Big Toys

Character: Richie Bosenquet

The English Theatre, Vienna. July, 1977

N.B. European premier. Directing, casting and male costume designs by Peter.

The Merchant of Venice

Character: Shylock

The English Theatre, Vienna. August, 1977

N.B. Directed by Peter and recorded at the English Theatre, Vienna, by Austrian Educational Television

Above: Peter as Shylock

Deathtrap

Character: Sidney Bruhl

Tour of Southern Africa 1978

Underground

Character: Alexander Howard.

The Royal Alexandra Theatre, Toronto, Canada. March-May 1983

British Tour

Above: (From left to right): Alfred Marks, Peter, Elspeth March, Eric Carte and Raymond Burr.

Light Up The Sky

Character: Carlton Fitzgerald

The Old Vic, London. September 1985.

Aladdin

Character: Abanazar

His Majesties Theatre, Aberdeen. December 1984/January 1985.

Babes In The Wood

Character: Sheriff of Nottingham.

Richmond Theatre. December 1985/January 1986.

Guilty Conscience 

Character: The Prosecutor

The Theatre Royal, Windsor. June/July 1986.

Wait Until Dark

Character: Harry Roat.

The Mill Dinner Theatre, Sonning, UK. July 22 – August 22, 1989.

National Tour, South Africa. 1989

The Hilton International Hotel, Singapore: August 26th-September 2nd.

The Regent Hotel, Kuala Lumpar: September 4th-27th.

The Travel Lodge Hotel, Papua New Guinea: September 22nd-October 7th.

The Siam InterContinental, Bangkok: October 9th-13th.

The Nile Hilton, Cairo: October 18th-23rd.

The Jordan InterContinental Hotel: October 25th-28th.

The Athens Hilton, Athens: October 30th-November 3rd.

The InterContinental Hotel, Dubai: November 6th- November 13th.

The Hilton International Hotel, Manaman: November 15th-20th.

The Hilton International Hotel, Manaman: November 15th-20th.

The InterContinental Hotel, Muttrah: November 22nd-27th.

The InterContinental Hotel, Abu Dhabi: November 30th-December 4th.

The InterContinental Hotel, Al Ain: December 6th.

Above: As Harry Roat with Helen Gill in ‘Wait Until Dark’

As You Like It

Character: Duke Frederick

March/April 1988

UK National Tour

The Country Wife

Character: Jack Pinchwife

The Mermaid Theatre, London – December 1990

Above: Peter as Jack Pinchwife with Fenell Fielding as Lady Fidget

The Cabinet Of Doctor Caligari

Character: Doctor Caligari

The Playhouse Theatre, Liverpool – September 1995

N.B. Peter appeared in just one half of the opening night performance of ‘The Cabinet Of Doctor Caligari’ at the Playhouse Theatre in Liverpool on Tuesday, September 19th, 1995, before withdrawing from the show with a serious throat infection.

---

WYNGARDE PRODUCTIONS

Long Day’s Journey Into Night

Produced and Directed by Peter Wyngarde.

The Bristol Old Vic. March 17th – April 7th, 1959

---

DIRECTED BY PETER WYNGARDE

Time And The Conways

The Yvonne Arnaud Theatre, Guildford. December 1975

---

READINGS

A Celebration of Tudor Verse

Bishop Stortford Town Centre (Various locations)

23rd, 24th, 25th & 26th September, 1970

Peter with the other actors that took part in the performances, including Madeline Smith and Susan St. George

Water, Water Everywhere

Royal Pavilion Music Room, Brighton. 1974

(Part of the Brighton Festival. Theme: The Sea)

Click below for…

---

© Copyright The Hellfire Club: The OFFICIAL PETER WYNGARDE Appreciation Society: https://www.facebook.com/groups/813997125389790/

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.

---

Broadcast: BBC Radio 4 – August 1994

The programme opens with a sound bite from the Jason King episode, ‘A Red, Red Rose Forever’,

Voice of Fan 1: “I just remembered him as a quintessential English gentleman; a sort of James Bond character but as it was on TV, it was so slightly cheaper value. I also remember him wearing all the fab gear”.

Voice of Fan 2: “Jason King would usually pull up in a flared car of some sort – the tyres would be flared, and he’d sort of waft out, keeping his hand on his head to keep his wig in place; his moustache would be vibrating succulently. He’d have a bird on his arm and be smoking a corduroy cigarette. He’d usually be wearing some sort of double-breasted affair and fantastic shoes, no doubt”.

Voice of Fan 3: “He got the clothes. He got the girls. He was the man!”

Voice of Host: “Even though they were knee-high to a grasshopper when Jason King graced our screens, these guys do remember him. Fab! Jason also had a way with words”.

Voice of Fan 2: “I recall he had a thing of ending every sentence with, ‘Do-dee dee-dee’“ [1]

Voice of Host: “As well as being Prince of mix and match. No wonder as the release date of Jason King on video nears, that so many people remember the flamboyant adventurer and notorious lover of women who could solve crimes even Interpol battled with”.

Voice of Fan 2: “I remember he was in this love-scene with a famous actress at the time, and I remember him saying to her, “You really turn me on,” and her replying, “You’re really fab!”

Voice of Host: “Everyone at the time looked like him; you could hardly walk down the street without tripping over a droopy moustache. Peter Wyngarde is the actor who played this Sultan of style”.

Peter: “I thought the funniest thing of all was the fan mail you got from girlfriends and wives, saying things like: ‘My husband looks exactly like you,’ and you’d get this photograph of him and he’d look like Godzilla. It was absolutely unbelievable!

“There was this man with more hair on his head than anybody has ever had in their lives on top of their head, and a moustache that went down to their knees. It was unbelievable. They also had these great grinning teeth. And they’d say, ‘Could you sign his photograph – not my photograph – his photograph. People exaggerate what they think they see”.

Voice of Host: “And what about the clothes?”

Peter: “The idea was to give me more height, so I double the height of the collar and I made it much higher, that’s all it was. And instead of a tie which I believe displays a person’s personality; if you look at the people that have little tiny knots you know what else they have which is tiny! You know there’s no freedom and that they are so introverted they almost disappear into themselves,

Voice of Host: “He would often draw designs for his suits on brown paper which were sent to his own tailor. the pink high-neck shirt with gigantic matching tie bursting out from the jacket of the caramel suit; the high waisted trousers and the snooker players waistcoats. He was busy on set as there were at least eight changes of clothes per episode from Tweedy suit to sheepskin jacket to tight jumper; powder blue suit in the morning, red kaftan at night. Ohhh, the flick of his jacket as he strolled across the parquet floor to tick off a villain. The way the trouser leg hung just so”.

Peter: “I think you’ve got to dress to make yourself look better, if possible – to make the body look better. The fact that I used a riding jacket of the 18th Century gave it a kind of elegance in a very masculine way, which I was also after, you know, so that the jacket became longer, the trousers became narrow, and I wore riding boots, so you had this wonderful line. It was an elegant line; it had something, and I was doing alright in my private life with this, so why not use it in my public life. It was a very classic line”.

Voice of Host: “So what happened to the suits? Apparently, some were just given, so always look out when trawling the charity shops, you may get lucky and find a genuine Wyngarde suit that he’d once given to Oxfam. There’s even a rumour that an original pair of Jason King trousers are doing the rounds at various raves”.

Peter: “I can’t find any now as they’ve all disappeared with different people. Sometimes I’d say, ’Where’s that lovely steely grey one? I haven’t seen that for ages”.

Voice of Host: “Would you recognise without any shadow of doubt one of your suits?”

Peter: “Immediately! That’s why I knew when I went to Germany, France, Sweden and I’d see ‘Jason King Suits’ in shop windows, I said: ‘That’s not my suit!’  But everyone says it is. ‘No. It’s terrible. This is wrong, this is wrong this is…’ I could tell right away. They didn’t know the cut. The secret was the cut. I know that secret to this day so if I’m kidnapped, you know what happened.”

Voice of Host: “With Jason, the dandy writer of crime fiction who had better brains than all of MI5 put together, surely, he should have moved from crime into a fashion slot or joined the style police and kept the colour wheel firmly on beige”.

The world of cheese certainly won’t let him be forgotten.

Voice of Retro Clothes Shop Owner: “We have a screen that shows a photo’ of Peter Wyngarde around every 5 seconds to subliminally entice people into our 1^st floor shop”.

_________________________

Notes:

[1]: Don’t remember that one…!

---

© Copyright The Hellfire Club: The OFFICIAL PETER WYNGARDE Appreciation Society: https://www.facebook.com/groups/813997125389790/

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.

---

December 1974

The Bravo Truth Game

Peter Wyngarde makes a surprise confession: “I’m waiting for my third great love!”

Why does he sometimes dream at night of a James Bond character who looks just like Jason king? Why can’t he stand women who don’t have a sense of humour? And why does he consider it important that a man is able to fib convincingly?

Question: Are there any experiences in your life that you’d rather have missed?

Peter: None at all. Every experience, even a bad one, has its advantages.

Question: What is your greatest talent?

Peter: Energy and concentration.

Question: What about faults?

Peter: I’m too impatient an easily hurt.

Question: What do you think about marriage?

Peter: I was very young when I married and it went wrong. I think that everyone should be in love at least three times. Unfortunately, this wouldn’t be possible if you were wearing a wedding ring.

Question: Have you already at these three loves?

Peter: I’m still waiting for the third!

Question: What is your favourite food?

Peter: Fresh fish and lots of salads.

Question: Favourite drink?

Peter: French country wine.

Question: What quality do you appreciate most in a woman?

Peter: Humour. If a woman can’t laugh, she’d get on my nerves!

Question: What quality do you consider most important in a man?

Peter: To charmingly unconvincingly tell fibs!

Question: What is your favourite book?

Peter: The one I’m reading at the time.

Question: Who are your favourite favourite composers?

Peter: Beethoven, Mozart and Schubert.

Question: Favourite actors?

Peter: Laurence Olivier, Marlon Brando I’m Vivien Leigh, who died much too young.

Question: Do you have a dream part?

Peter: I dream of a part much along the lines of James Bond but not so terribly serious, more playful Jason King.

Question: Imagine you were living on a desert island for a year and you were only allowed to take three things with you. What would they be?

Peter: Three women a cool blonde, a fiery black haired one, and a gentle brunette.

Question: Have you been telling the truth in this Questionnaire?

Peter: If I said yes, you think I was lying. Therefore, I shall say no!

---

© Copyright The Hellfire Club: The OFFICIAL PETER WYNGARDE Appreciation Society: https://www.facebook.com/groups/813997125389790/

Seeing things in black and white

On Sunday 6th April 1980, at the Gate 2 Cinema in Notting Hill, London, The Guild of British Camera Technicians arranged a showing of The Innocents, the black and white, Cinemascope production, directed by Jack Clayton. Its distinguished cinematographer, Freddie Francis who had, at the time, recently completed shooting another black and white production, The Elephant Man, kindly made himself available for a question-and-answer session after the showing. The following is a transcript of that session in relation to The Innocents:

F.F.: What a terrible dupe that print turned out to be. I’m glad my operator Ronnie Taylor was not here to see what they did to his work. I myself am a very non-technical person – I love taking photographs but I don’t know what goes on when they prepare a film for television. What I cannot understand, because I am a very simple soul, is why they didn’t come to someone like Jack Clayton, or even Ronnie for advice when converting from film to television. Then we wouldn’t be subjected to watching such atrocities as we just have done. However, bearing in mind that was not a representative copy of the film, if anyone has any questions at all please go ahead.

Q.: Was it all shot on PLUS X?

F.F.: Yes, I can’t remember using any faster film.

Q.: What about the interiors – were they shot in an actual house?

F.F.: No, they were all shot at Shepperton. The interesting thing was it was the early days of Cinemascope, when there was all sorts of rules and regulations set out. Some of you may remember the days when you couldn’t get closer than 10 feet. Of course we did, by shooting some of the interiors at 16 and 22. As you can imagine, it got a bit warm at Shepperton.

Q.: You were working for depth a lot weren’t you? Even though I hear you couldn’t always see the person on the other side of the screen?

F.F.: Yes, this was a trouble. One of the great things that we achieved for the first time with great depth of field and these panning and scanning people in their wisdom shows you one person at a time.

Q.: Who were the two focus pullers, do you remember?

F.F : Yes, I do. Ronnie Maasz and Bernie Ford.

Q.: Can you explain to people who don’t understand about the setup, just how the two focus pullers work?

In those days you had a combination lenses such as with Panavision etc,; then you had an anamorphic, which was a separate entity, mounted on the front of the camera, in this case an BNC Mitchell. You want to pull focus on the anamorphic lens as well as on the standard lens; therefore you needed two focus pullers. I don’t know how that sound used to cope, with all the dialogue going on between the two focus pullers! However, it seemed to work.

Q.: Did you use a filter at all?

F.F.: Well, this is a terrible thing, something about the picture projection that makes me angry. We had to make the film in black and white which was fair enough. Then, because the film was financed by 20th century, we ought to make it in Cinemascope. Both Jack Clayton and myself felt the Cinemascope was a terrible format for this picture. You are now going to be saying, why am I beefing about it being shown in 1.85? Well, as we had to make it Cinemascope, we had to do something to make it interesting. So I devised a special front, in addition to the anamorphic and standard lens. It involved the use of graduated filters – two filters being slid in from either side. This enabled us to filter, or graduate off, the sides of the picture. Although this sounds quite normal now, it had a wonderful effect with this film, because you were never quite sure what you could see at the sides due to the gradual diffusion at the edge. This greatly enhanced the claustrophobic feeling of the picture. Unfortunately, here today you didn’t get that effect except on the odd occasion. One terrible example is where we have a wonderful two-shot in centre frame (with the edges going off) and they have decided to frame up one person – on the wrong side of the screen. Nevertheless, we had these filters made up, with the special front, and this enabled us to change them during the actual shot, bringing them in and out. I don’t know which of the two focus pullers was responsible for that. On the side of the screen which you missed today you would have seen all of this – I would like you to see it properly someday.

So, in answer to your question, yes we were using filters throughout. Sometimes even painting filters as we went along, to give special strange effects.

Q.: The effect with the candle – was that one of your made-up filters?

F.F.: We just had nets on – we didn’t know about such things as ‘star filters’ in those days. In fact, another problem we had to face was the fact we were shooting interiors at 16 and 22, so the candles presented a bit of a problem. We were shooting single wick, and double with candles. In fact at times we even went up to five wicks, which meant that the candles were more powerful than the lights at times!

(VOICE OFF, A NOTE OF PATHOS: Can we go back to shoot interiors at between 16 and 22?)

As a matter of fact, Tim, (who is working with me on my next film) and I were discussing the film with the director. It is to be in two parts – with long flashback sequences; we have a modern part and a period part. I’ve just agreed with the director that we are going to shoot the period part (which is 75% of the film) at as wide an aperture as we can get. (Groans).

Q.: Why have you decided to do that?

F.F.: I can’t tell you too much at the moment because you are not supposed to know about it! Let’s say that it is a film within a film, and a period section has to be very romantic, whilst the present day is harsh. The type of stylised romantic lighting I have chosen for the 100 years ago part, requires a wide-open aperture. Also, I feel that in the good/bad old days of film, shooting wide open gave a romantic aura to a film.

I remind him of all this when he is grumbling about his lot – imagine trying to work with two focus pullers!

When I started there were all sorts of strange lenses i.e., Astro lenses, which were F2 this was great because everything seemed slightly soft, so therefore, everything looked equally sharp. I personally think that since then lenses have been getting awful, because they are getting too sharp, but that is just my point of view!

Q.: In the shot by the lake, in the rain, with Miss Jessel out in the reeds – when the Governess asks, “Where’s Flora? – did you use a filter on that; the background looks more contrasty.

F.F.: I am going back 20 years, but I am pretty sure that we didn’t shoot that it was a made up shot in the foreground. People were put in afterwards. The lake stuff was shot without filters to the best of my recollection.

Q.: The background looks like it has been taken with a longer lens than the foreground. The closer figures looked normal.

F.F.: I am sure that this was a made-up matte. In other words, we shot the background as normal and then the matte was made as late as the editing stage. In fact I don’t even know where that happened.

I do know the lake stuff was shot without filters because it was mostly bad-weather stuff anyway – and that is the stuff you can’t filter. There comes a time in B/W as you know, where you are wasting your time because there is nothing to filter.

Q.: Looking at The Innocents I think that it would have lost something if made in colour. It cries out for B/W.

F.F.: I can’t agree with this. We’ve just made a film The Elephant Man in black and white, and because it was turn of the century everyone thinks B/W is its medium. However in retrospect one wonders what could have been done in colourful stop I only said this because on the film I’m just about to do (in colour) people keep asking me “do you think we ought to do it in B/W?”. People seem to have a preconceived idea that the films made around the 1800s should always be made in B/W. I like them in black and white, but I think a good job can also be made of them in colour.

Q.: Why was this one made in B/W, was it a studio decision?

F.F.: I’m almost certain, it was the studios decision. But remember that in those days the decision was usually whether it could be made… in colour. B/W at that time was more or less the norm. The big castle came with Cinemascope. It was a very intimate story with a small cast of players, and everything everyone thought it was wrong to do it in Cinemascope. Recourse if you took 20th Century’s money, you took those Cinemascope anamorphic lenses as well. You had no way out. Which is why we designed our system of lenses.

Q.: Paradoxically now it is almost more expensive to make things in B/W is it not? Unless you print on colour start. In fact I believe Kodak or stopping the run of B/W.

F.F.: Tim and I have had so many problems on this film with B/W you would think it was something new. I sometimes get the impression and maybe I should have my solicitor that could call out ‘we don’t want films in B/W.’ We had complete and utter non-co-operation. We got to the stage where there was not a single usable 1000 feet roll of B/W in the world. So Kodak said, could we carry on with 400 feet rolls – which we did. However, eventually the wasn’t even 400 feet B/W PLUS X left – or any PLUS X left at all. Then someone there had the effrontery to turn around to say to me – “Why can’t you use Double X?” To which I replied, we can’t use Double X because I don’t want to use it AND we just happened to be in the middle of sixteen sequences which we have already shot in PLUS X. So they had to go back to recoat some. And the stock they’re coated was at least twice as fast as a stock we had been shooting on – so a great time was had by all!

Q.: I got that feature 35mm B/W is nothing to Rochester – very small part of the total output. The Motion Picture represents such a small percentage of the world demand for 35mm B/W you think the massive use in the amateur/stills field would guarantee that there should be a huge amount of PLUS X available all the time, on tap, ready to use.

F.F.: I think that all I was quoted at Rochester, they don’t coat it over here at all so I understand. So, it’s quite a drama now to shoot on B/W.

Q.: But they do talk about printing on colour stock.

F.F.: Of course. Our release printing is going to be done on Gaevert. I do feel that Brian is right – certain films do call for B/W, and I think you should be able to choose. The guy who is responsible for setting up The Elephant Man – Mel Brooks, is a great one for B/W.

Q.: How does working with B/W on The Elephant Man compare with working back then on The Innocents with B/W? Were there any essential differences?

F.F.: Well all our recent stuff went to Denham labs (about whom I can’t speak highly enough) and they had trouble on The Elephant Man because all the B/W equipment was out of date. however, Denham did a wonderful job with the processing, but I was surprised at the lack of grain on the PLUS X now, not that I thought it was ever excessive. The quality that Denham got out of PLUS X was amazing.

Q.: I suppose that the main differences now are in the lenses, there being so much faster. I can’t remember many then that were as fast as current Panavision lenses.

F.F.: Oh no, no.

Q.: And obviously light souses have changed, too, haven’t they?

F.F.: Yes, of course. I haven’t photographed a film since Night Must Fall and they have changed tremendously. One of the things I did notice coming back to photographing films after such a long lay-off is the sparks[1]. situation. At the time we shot The Innocents everyone had sparks from the studios, but now it’s all freelance and everyone is on their toes. I found the sparks were absolutely fantastic compared to what they used to be. This was very heartening, and certainly made life easier for me. Now you have a light for everything you may need – it’s horses for courses, you can pick and choose lights for any situation. However, in those days you had just the ordinary studio light; 2K’s and 5K’s and brutes, and that was it.

Q.: The shot of Deborah Kerr going up the stairs with the candles, when she is on the first part of her search, she goes through about five or six keys; was that just from one or two sources flagged off, or was each section keyed separately?

F.F.: It is hard to remember what I do recall is that I had a wonderful gaffer/sparks called Maurice Gillet, who I am sure you all know is tremendous. I know there were men on dimmers all over the place – we’ve got a man on a dimmer hidden in a grandfather clock. The answer is to be that there was lots and lots of tiny sources for that shot.

Q.: How long was the shooting schedule?

F.F.: About 10 weeks, which indoors days was a fairly long schedule.

Q.: was it shot in 1960?

F.F.: Yes.

Q.: Do you think the studio exteriors were more successful in B/W than they might have been in colour?

F.F.: I think that there is no difference (in quality) with interiors exteriors. B/W or colour. But if it’s a case of matching, if you have to match locations in the studio, I think you stand a better chance with B/W. Did I made that terribly complicated? We had a few exteriors which was shot at a place called Brighton Park[2] which we then had to match on the silent stage at Shepperton and I think that it was easier in B/W than it would have been in colourful. A strange answer to your question. It’s not whether it is easier. In B/W or colour to match exteriors in a studio the great problem relates to whether you have space or not.

Notes:

[1]. A lighting technician on a film set.

[2]. The outside location shots on The Innocents were actually filmed at Sheffield Park.

Click below for more on The Innocents…

---

© Copyright The Hellfire Club: The OFFICIAL PETER WYNGARDE Appreciation Society: https://www.facebook.com/groups/813997125389790/

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.

---

Sunday, 28^th November, 1971

He’s not just a pretty face – he’s great over a hot stove too!

Sexy he certainly is. With hardly a day passing without him receiving at least a few dozen proposals of marriage, a large smattering of decidedly improper offers and great sacksfuls of letters telling him he’s gorgeous. He has even outstripped Paul Newman in poster popularity as a world heart throb.

But when I called on Peter Wyngarde it wasn’t to make a grab for his trousers and, honestly, that’s what happens to him all the time, and I didn’t ask him to autograph the top of my tights and that, too, is a common request.

Instead, we chatted at his London bachelor flat to discuss his prowess as a cook.

As television’s hairy hero Jason King, now promoted from a bit part in Department S to solo starring in a series all of his own, Peter’s private life interest in food is pretty serious. But as he said, sprawled like a broody marjah on a much-cushioned settee, “Truth is people only seem interested in my sex life. Women just want to take me to bed. And men want to know where I get my suits cut.

“I suppose the fact that I’m quite a good cook doesn’t fit in with the sex image. Well, I mean, what woman would dream of being carried off into the night by a fella who’s been up to his elbows in flour!

“It is a great relaxation for me,” he said, only just managing to find enough give in his skin-tight trousers to enable him to cross his legs.

“The thing is I’m a split personality over food. On one hand I’m hooked on the health food bit you know, nuts and whole wheat and all that. At least once a day I tried to eat a purely healthy, vegetarian meal. But then for my other meal I adore exotic food.

“I also love cooking for my friends, giving lavish dinners which might take hours and hours to prepare”.

As might be expected, Peter is a very unconventional cook. Like many things he does he creates on a whim and swears that he has never referred to a cookery book in his life.

“I do tend to add ingredients just as I fancy,” he said, “I don’t like rigid planning.”

He likens cookery to the way he chose his dog. “One day I woke up and decided to have a dog and I wanted to name him Yousef,” he explained.

“Incredibly that day I heard of a superb litter of champion Afghan Hounds. So I went along to have a look and there were these twelve puppies in the one litter. I stood there facing all 12 of them and yelled ‘Yousef’ and, you know, one toddled over to me. That was the one I went home with. Of course, I admit I was lucky with Yousef. But mostly my cooking works out on that principle, too.

“But, seriously, I think the secret of success with everything, cookery or what have you, is to be adventurous; a bit of a gambler. In that respect Jason King influences me tremendously. Though he’s only a fantasy character he has a lot to offer in real life”.

For a start he’s not hung up on the age bogey. “Now, I have noticed that young people never think about age. It’s only the old ones that mention it. They’re the ones that count birthdays and wonder constantly if someone is 30, 50 or 106.

“It’s the old ones that make the rules about what is the right behaviours for certain ages. In fact, age is all in the mind”.

As it happens, Peter wouldn’t pinpoint his own age accurately. He explained that his mother had confused his passport with his brother’s and he wasn’t sure whether he was four years younger or older than his brother.

He would not, however, say what he was four years younger or older than. “I really have forgotten all about it,” he said.

In some branches of his private life, though, Peter is not so forgetful or casual. He has organised himself very well with two cars, a Bentley and a Bristol, a London flat, a home in Spain, and odd bits of property all over the place.

“I am,” he said, “a pretty self-sufficient person. I’m quite happy to go for days even weeks without seeing a soul. I’m looking for an isolated cottage right now so I can do just that.

“You see, I don’t consider getting married. I was once and it was disastrous. Matter of fact, I learned to cook when my wife left me. But I must admit that it was only when I became Jason King that I learned to cook well.”

Interview by Patricia Boxhall.

---

© Copyright The Hellfire Club: The OFFICIAL PETER WYNGARDE Appreciation Society: https://www.facebook.com/groups/813997125389790/

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, 29^th 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.”

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.

---

© Copyright The Hellfire Club: The OFFICIAL PETER WYNGARDE Appreciation Society: https://www.facebook.com/groups/813997125389790/

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.

---

October 1996

Back in 1970, Peter Wyngarde was a household name as TV sleuth Jason King. Today is an idol of musical exotica thanks to a remarkable solo album.

He’s acted alongside Vivien Leigh, and was once tipped as a second Olivier, during a remarkably successful stage and screen career throughout the 50s and 60s. Then, in 1968, Peter Wyngarde was invited to play the part of crime fiction writer Jason King for a new television series called Department S. Two series later, King had his own show: the plots became more outrageous, as did Jason King’s wardrobe and haughty manner.

Back then, he topped ‘Sexiest Man’ polls, and was mobbed by thousands of fans as he touched down in Australia. Today, Wyngarde’s Jason King is equally irresistible as the most perfect embodiment of the reborn Easy aesthetic. Which is why EMI’s Sound Gallery schemer, Tris Penna, invited the man who was once King to write something for the sleeve of the second volume of the Sound Gallery; a tribute to legendary TV theme orchestrator, Laurie Johnson, penned in a manner that suggests the intervening 25 years had done little to cramp Wyngarde unique lyrics style: “Even them that are totally improbable/he manages is to invest with Emmy possibilities/And entirely personal, that’s quite indominable/Jason, Kingable.”

again,” he smiles. “Jason King was very much a romantic extension, a magnification of me anyway. I rewrote the scripts and developed the character to suit, and lived it 12 hours a day for four years.”

I don’t have a modern-day equivalent of Felicity Kendal or Diana Rigg to offer as sacrificial fodder for the patter of Jason King’s unflappable seduction techniques, but I do have in my bag one highly cherished copy of Peter Wyngarde’s album recorded for RCA in 1970. When I first purchased the record, it was worthless. Advertising in this magazine for one in better condition in 1986, I happily forked out £15. Now, no dealer would stick a copy out for less than £200. Why? It’s a masterpiece of fine, pseudo psychedelic orchestrations and impeccable bad taste; of the double-entandre, where symbolic fantasy collides with real-world impropriety; and of a lifestyle so preposterous that it’s barely recognisable.

Cherished by the Exotic and Easy crowd, the Peter Wyngarde LP has also found favour in other circles, according to the man who could charm the pants off a nun. “I heard it enjoyed a huge cult following amongst modern-day hippies who got stoned to it in Amsterdam,” he says. The record has even inspired several tributes, most notably Breadwinner’s ‘Give Us A Light, You Bastard’ private album, taped in 1990, which boasted three songs – ‘If Wyngarde Was A Woman’, ‘Hey There, Petter (sic) Wyngarde’ and ‘Jason Kinky Winky’, all performed in the manner of the great man’s own LP.

So out on a limb that it could easily have been recorded by a Martian, the Wyngarde album actually shares something in common with one or two cherish rock records. ‘God Save The Queen’, ‘Give Ireland Back To The Irish’, ‘Relax’ and ‘Hi, Hi, Hi’ all met a frosty reception when it came to getting radio play. But it’s with a wry smile that Wyngarde recalls that his entire album was banned from public dissemination.

the infamous ‘Rape’, suggests that RCA got more than they bargained for after giving Wyngarde carte blanche for the record. It’s no more than they deserved, insist Wyngarde, who later discovered that the record was intended as a tax loss. “When they discovered that it wasn’t a tax loss but a tax gain, it floored them!”

Wondering what the legion of admirers, many of whom showered Wyngarde with suggestive letters, would have made of it only enounces the listening experience. The record opens with the sound of inane laughter, which gives way to a savage funky drummer rhythm, topped with a tumultuous horn arrangement. The mood distinctly changes as Wyngarde prepares to welcome his unsuspecting visitor –  a candle is lit, some champagne is opened and he lights the first cigarette of the evening, while humming in French to himself.

If this don’t sound like your average celebrity record, then what follows over the next seven or eight minutes is palatable only in its sheer perversity. One is reminded of Dali’s reaction to the murder of his friend, Lorca, during the Spanish Civil War: “Olé!” Could hardly be deemed etiquette.

Neither was the notion that Jason King (Wyngarde makes that it’s King during the piece) might indeed be a potential rapist. But that’s exactly what unfolds, as an idealistic dream-seduction sequence is brutally shattered by the return of those menacing horns. Enter a transformed Jason King, growling “rape” like a rabid, salivating werewolf intent on devouring the microphone, a scream and a Gregorian chant pile on further layers of unlikeliness. ‘King’, ever the international playboy, then offers a bizarre gazetteer of rape around the world, before a conciliatory “which makes the whole thing rather nasty, tasteless and rather hasty, but as Jason King would say, it depends so much on what you… fancy.”

It’s just possible that what starts out as ”a pleasant evening… and a few surprises” is in fact a savage satire on smooth man. However, Wyngarde feels no compunction to defend the song. “Is it politically incorrect?” he enquires. “Why is it politically incorrect? I’m sure rape is not frivolous, but it’s not intended to be physical rape. It’s about all different kinds of rape within marriage, rape of different countries, even.

“We’re now talking everything so literally, lacking the humour which is so vitally important. The reason why George Bernard Shaw worked as a socialist is simply because he made it funny. Even when things are horrible, you cannot talk about them. That’s what the Victorians did.

“All the problems of the world are because people don’t laugh. That’s much more dangerous. My album to be heard all over the place. Is totally fun.”

No question about the total fun of ‘Hippie And The Skinhead’. Inspired by a letter to The Sunday Times, in praise of Skinhead culture over “dirty” hippies. Wyngarde came up with an extraordinarily delivered tale of an encounter between gay long-hair Billy and a queer-bashing skinhead named Kenny, outside a public lavatory in Piccadilly.

Well the song ends up with the discovery that Billy is in fact an ample-chested woman in drag, Wyngarde insists that if he wrote the song today, he would have had them “going off into the sunset together,” adding that attitudes have “all changed now”.

Though the album’s appeal is largely down to the meeting of Wyngarde’s fertile imagination and its relationship with the Jason King persona. Peter is generous in his praise for his collaborators, Vic Smith and the Valverde brothers, who co-produced the record and co-wrote the music.

The Valverdes were Maltese brothers who went out as a guitar-playing due. “They first raised the idea of making a record.” Wyngarde recalls. “I wrote lyrics for some songs of theirs, which they then toured with. But I didn’t take them very seriously until this offer came up. And I was literally sitting on the loo listening to some of the tapes they’d sent me, when I started to write material for the record. It’s the best place for concentrate.”

The finishing touches were all put in place by Vic Smith, which also brought his ‘Neville Thumbcatch” song (previously covered by The Attack) with him for Wyngarde to cover. “He put the record together brilliantly,” says Peter, adding that the LP took about a week to complete at London’s prestigious Olympic Studios.

Wyngarde’s place in popular culture’s cult corner is assured by his crazy record and the creation of the Jason King character, now enjoying a new lease of life on Bravo, which is currently re-running episodes of Department S and Jason King.

We all know that Jason King remains an exceptional symbol of Easy elegance. But back in the days of extended sidies and slim-fit blazers, did Wyngarde’s bachelor pad really swing to the sounds of Roy Budd, Burt Bacharach and those other lords of leisure sound? “Of course it did,” he says, “Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head” was a great favourite of mine”.

Work hasn’t been so easy to find post Jason King, but Wyngarde still retains an exceptional fondness for the crime-writing sleuth he created: “Millstone’s the wrong word. You create something and it’s like a child in millstone. He’s a lovely character.” Of course he’s maverick, sense of humour an’ all.

Interview by Mark Paytress.

---

© The Hellfire Club: The OFFICIAL PETER WYNGARDE Appreciation Society: https://www.facebook.com/groups/813997125389790/

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.

---

September 1972

Peter Wyngarde Or Is It Really Jason King?

Spend an evening with him and decide for yourself who is influencing whom and, at the same time, discover the vulnerable side of this colourful actor.

“Are you ready for a couple of parties tonight in Kilburn and South Ockendon?” That assured voice that needs absolutely no further description to viewers of Department S. He said it as if rare magic awaited in these two exotic locales. “Debbie wants to come too,” he went on, “and as a blonde in a chiffon see-through blouse might amuse them, maybe we should take her. But this time we’ll have to take a dictionary for her to study in the car. Otherwise, it takes so long explaining the meaning of every other word”.

It was raining heavily when I reached the Wyngarde flat, on the ground floor of a Georgian house in London’s fashionable Kensington. Debbie – a breath-taking if more than slightly dizzy model in her early 20s opened the front door – hurriedly kissed my cheek and rushed back to the lounge where Peter was lying across a buttoned leather couch looking tanned and terrific. The tan came from two months in Australia where his series has topped everything else in the ratings. It wasn’t too difficult for him to look terrific as our favourite blonde laid herself beside him, closed her eyes, and wrapped her arms around him as if every moment had to be savoured.

I began wondering if playing Jason King on the show was really just Peter Wyngarde playing himself, when his large Afghan hound, Yousef, trotted forward, grabbed a mouthful of Debbie’s black crepe trousers and started pulling determinedly. Diverting his attention, Peter produced a rubber ball, threw it in the corner and the four legs shot quite determinedly after it.

“Let me get you a little drink,” offered Debbie, “‘cause I need another little gin”.

On the coffee table I notice to copy of ‘Which?’ magazine in which the Consumer Association reports on products they have tested each month. “I’ve been reading all about witches lately because my aunt was one,” Debbie said. Peter started an explanatory sentence and then stopped as if realising that it wouldn’t really help.

Yousef had begun running around the room as if it were a greyhound stadium, and lamp shades were rocking precariously.

Peter led him away before throwing a white feather boa over Debbie’s shoulders and whisking us through a few yards of torrential rain to his Bentley. We’d been driving several minutes before I realised that the amply-filled gin glass was still being nursed lovingly in her hands.

Party No.1 in Kilburn was being given by a young man called Brian Chatham who ran a pop group called Flaming Youth[1] that Peter raved about. The first Wyngarde LP was issued recently, mostly comprising of his talking – with the exception of one track, a French number, which revealed an equally impressive singing voice. Peter is considering several offers to perform in cabaret, with Flaming Youth lending moral support.

We didn’t stay long at the first party. For as I interviewed a shapely Bunny Girl about the Playboy club, Debbie was refilling her glass enough to make a formidable stain when she emptied gin and tonic by accident – she solemnly assured us – down another model’s red dress.

“Shall I drop you off at your place now?” he questioned when we were back in the Bentley, holding the wheel with Jason King decisiveness. Debbie whispered that she was perfectly alright as she cuddled closer to him.

Party No.2 took some finding. We finally located it on the ground floor of a block of flats in South Ockendon; it was being given by Danny someone, Peter’s painter and decorator.

“It’s a bit of a safari,” he explained as we arrived, “but I’ve been invited to five previous excitements there and never made it. If I don’t this time, someone is bound to accuse me of being too big time to bother”.

Debbie might have been Brigitte Bardot for the impact she cast. Within two minutes, a dozen tough-looking males in suits were listening to her hold forth as she stood sipping from the same glass in the kitchen, directly beneath a bare 150-Watt bulb. Various other gentlemen of the parish dragged their nervous, but excited, wives into the Wyngarde presence stating: “When you’re on she won’t leave the telly alone”. After this had happened a dozen times, Peter began to wane visibly, I was chatting to a local welder about a little period during which he had been detained in Brixton Prison, when Peter pleaded in a desperate voice: “I must go soon and make sure Yousef takes those powders for his stomach disorder”.

We found that, for some obscure reason, Debbie was standing on the kitchen table demonstrating a dance routine she had performed on a TV commercial recently. A selection of heavily-panting young men were watching her every movement as Peter folded his arms, leaned against the door and almost yawned as he inquired: “Do you plan to stay, Madam, or do your entire act?”

Distant thunder sounded ominously as we finally drove off, most of the party goers were standing on the curb in the pouring rain waving to us. “It was fun,” Debbie sighed before falling asleep, and I eased the glass from her fingers.

When we stopped at her block in Chelsea, Peter gently lifted her into his arms and carried her upstairs. Then we drove back to his place and he made coffee.

“I often feel I’d love children,” he continued slowly and thoughtfully, but I’m so set in my ways I wouldn’t be easy to live with now. The only marriage that I could see working for me is where we lived in our own separate establishments and came together for a few days a week. I’ve had my freedom for so long that I relish it more than anything. Also, I’m far more suspicious of women than I used to be. I’ve been let down by them in the past and it’s left me hesitant now of getting involved”.

In the past he’d mentioned a girl he’d been in love with, and an affair that lasted three years[2]. I asked him if he was thinking of that time and the actress, who we’ll call ‘Elaine’.

He nodded and studied the ceiling a while: “Maybe I’ve been too career minded sometimes. I’ve never hesitated to do acting jobs that took me away for months on end. Elaine was in a long run in the West End while I recorded several TV plays in New York, and the day I returned she went on tour for months. Many actresses seem to tell themselves that their love-life is something that they can come back to, and devote time to, when they are big stars. Our relationship was a fatal combination as I was probably telling myself the same thing.

“I’ve read about, and can understand, the strain of wartime marriages and the problems couples had staying faithful to someone they didn’t see for months, or even years, on end. One needs to be very undersexed to stay faithful to someone who is out of sight for long periods. She hasn’t made it big yet, but she could still do it. Luck is such an important factor in show business”.

Peter eyes were closed and I waited for him to continue. He didn’t and, eventually, as I crept away, I felt that his memory of it was slowly diminishing. For as I open the door and faced the early morning rain, his regular breathing told me he was asleep.

Interview by Mike McGrath.

_____________________________

Notes:

[1]. Flaming Youth were a British rock band in the late 1960s. They are now remembered as Phil Collins’ first band to have a professional recording deal.

[2]. Peter is referring to his relationship with Vivien Leigh.

---

© Copyright The Hellfire Club: The OFFICIAL PETER WYNGARDE Appreciation Society: https://www.facebook.com/groups/813997125389790/

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.

---

January 1998

To Play The King

I think my mother wanted twins you know,” Peter Wyngarde laughs. “That would explain why she called me Peter-Paul”. Whatever the truth behind his claim, Wyngarde certainly leaves you with the impression that even as a child he was a larger than life character. “I was an outrageous little show off!” he says grinning. “A precocious, hideous little child!”

Born in the French town of Marseille in 1933, Wyngarde’s childhood was anything but conventional. At the age of six he found himself a ‘guest’ in Japanese Prisoner of War Camp, and it was here that he discovered the love of performing that has stayed with him since. “I remember the camp doctor: he was a marvellous fellow who would read stories to the children in the camp, Wyngarde recalls of his time in captivity. One was Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. I was so taken with it that I decided to dramatises it for the monthly camp show.

“At this point in my play I returned the rabbit to the cardboard box I used as a hutch, and then got up from behind the table having become this horrible raving monster that was Mr Hyde,” Wyngarde continues gleefully. “To this day I don’t know if it was because of the Japanese belief in ghosts or what but the commandant looked at me as if I’d gone mad demented and then run away! It was wonderful but the best thing was nobody in the audience knew all this drama was going on backstage.”

Premonitions of success

From this original introduction to the world of acting, Wyngarde went on to become an established stage and screen performer with guest appearances in numerous series and television plays. That all changed in 1969 when he found himself cast in as the hero in an ITC series.

“I remember I was on tour in Wales with an American play called Pick-Up Girl,” Wyngarde says, launching into another anecdote. “I was understudying the lead at the time and I remember I went to see a Welsh clairvoyant with a girlfriend. The first thing this woman said was very strange. She told me there was somebody on my right shoulder looking after me. Now my father had died about a year before and she described him absolutely perfectly, then she said, ‘Very soon you are going to be in front of millions, not hundreds, not thousands but millions – millions and millions of people are going to be watching you.”

To play the fop

Not long after this prediction, Wyngarde found himself appearing at the Duke of York theatre in London in checkoffs The Duel[1]. Shortly before it opened he was approached by producers Monty Berman and Dennis Spooner to appear in the new television series Department S. Wyngarde’s initial reaction was muted

“The last thing on earth I wanted to do was a television series,” he says. “I don’t know why – I’d already done two. One was called Epilogue to Capricorn which is a title I’ve always remembered because I liked it so much. The title didn’t have anything to do with the story we just made it up as we went along. That was tremendous fun, it was a Cliff-hanger you see and you never knew what was going to happen next. Eventually in the penultimate episode I was blown up. By the last episode the audience couldn’t wait to see if I’d survive. Of course I came back wounded and bandaged appropriately – and as attractively – as possible.

“Anyway I was in a bit of a state after the first night of The Duel,” Wyngarde continues. “I remember I’d thrown a party to celebrate the opening and invited Monty Berman. After a first night the newspapers arrive in the early hours with the reviews. I’d learned that reading reviews caused one to change one’s performance, therefore I never read my own reviews. I warned the rest of the cast about this saying, ‘I didn’t want anybody to tell me what the notices are. You can all read them while I go off to the toilet and type myself but when I come back I don’t want to know anything about them.’

A change of heart

“I came back about half an hour later and had never seen such terrible faces,” Wyngarde chuckles. “I didn’t need to read the notices! As it happened it was totally untrue, the notices were actually terribly good, but the cast was so determined not to show they were happy that they had me thining, ‘Oh my God, we’re going to close tomorrow’. There and then I got hold of my napkin and I wrote on it, ‘I PETER WYNGARDE AND PREPARED TO DO YOUR NEW TELEVISION SERIES. SIGNED PETER WYNGARDE. I PASSED IT TO MONTY BERMAN AND THAT’S HOW I GOT THE PART IN DEPARTMENT S.”

Wyngarde had no idea just out important that 14-word napkin was to become. In the meantime, a lot of work still had to be done to create the character of Jason King. Unlike today’s television dramas which are all well scripted in advance, Wyngarde was given carte blanche to invent his own character.

“The original fellow was to be a professor but that wasn’t for me,” he recalls. “So I went to Sevenoaks to stay with friends – Michael Bryant and his wife – for the weekend. I told them that I had to come up with a name for this character. By the end of the weekend I had thought of Jason, Michael’s wife at thought of King, and Michael had come up with the Bentley as the only car this character would be seen in.”

Jason King also became famous for his highly fashionable – if somewhat outrageous – clothes sense. When he stops laughing at the memory, Wyngarde confirms that he himself has to admit responsibility for choosing the coughs, shirts antis worn on screen.

Sex appeal

Whatever you say about his dress sense though, Wyngarde or at least Jason King topped a poll which voted him the man most Australian women would like to lose their virginity to.

“I didn’t know about that at the time of course, Wyngarde says with a chuckle. I’d been asked to launch the new Channel 7 in Australia as apparently I was the most popular character around at the time. When I boarded my plane for Sydney I saw these five guys and it was obvious from the long blond hair and clothes that they were a pop group. I was in my usual torn jeans and tatty old T-shirt -that’s how I normally travelled. After all, if you have to change into suits five times then the last thing you want to wear the rest of the time is a suit. So there I was in this tatty gear hiding behind a pair of dark glasses,” Wyngarde continues. Nobody recognised me. I thought it was wonderful. As we were about to land I looked out of the window and I saw millions of women. I immediately assumed they were waiting for the pop group. I never thought for one moment it had anything to do with me.

“I sat there thinking, those poor little buggers are going to be killed,” he laughs. “I watched them leave the plane and followed a short distance behind. Suddenly I saw these screaming women surge forward. I did a detour thinking they’d continue after the band, but when I looked back they weren’t going for those five guys at all. They were going for me!

“Well they got me to the ground, tore my clothes, cut my hair, and landed me in hospital for three days,” he concludes with the wince. “Everything was cut and I still got a scar to prove it. It was as if I was a feast… to be eaten raw. It was terrifying.”

Going solo

This popularity was a sign of things to come. After 28 episodes of Department S Wyngarde was offered a second series. This time, however, it was to be called simply Jason King, and was to star him alone. However, Wyngarde reveals that one person in particular wasn’t as an enamoured with the character as the public.

“Lew Grade, who was then out of ITC, phoned me up,” Wyngarde explains. “I thought he was going to tell me they were not repeating Department S. When I went to see him he said to me, ‘I don’t like you. My idea of a hero is somebody blond with blue eyes, like Roger Moore. You with your funny dark hair, moustache, and terrible clothes are not my idea of a hero at all, but my wife loves you, so you have to do another series.

“At that point I had no idea they were going to drop Joel Fabiani and Rosemary Nichols, my Co-stars in Department S,” he continues. “That was a shock and I objected – I said I wouldn’t do it unless the other two were reinstated. However, it was explained to me that dropping them was mainly a question of expense. I could either have better stories and locations on my own, or the other two back and studio-bound stories.

“So I was really sort of blackmailed because I knew we had to go out on location to make the series work,” Wyngarde argues. “Having said all that, I don’t think the 26 Jason King episodes were as good as the Department S ones they are the better type of story.”

Whither Wyngarde?

“In fact, the script on this occasion was a bit tricky,” he says. “We changed a lot of the lines – some of them were a bit corny. I found the idea of the story fascinating and that was what appealed to me. Once you have the idea you can take it from there and rewrite the dialogue.”

Wait a minute. Actors rewriting the script? Laughing, Wyngarde explains that this is the reason people don’t employ him.

“Directors are terrified of me when I do rewrites,” he chuckles mischievously. “They think I’m going to take over, and I usually do. I think you have to do that but nobody else thinks so, especially not the directors!”

Interview by Liam-Michael Rudden

____________________

Notes:

[1] In fact, The Duel was staged 22 years after Pick-Up Girl

---

© Copyright The Hellfire Club: The OFFICIAL PETER WYNGARDE Appreciation Society: https://www.facebook.com/groups/813997125389790/

In 2014, Peter recorded a 24-minute interview for the US blue-ray release of Burn Witch Burn – A.K.A. Night of the Eagle. This is a transcript of that interview.

“When my agent sent me the original script, then called Burn, Witch, Burn, I didn’t like it very much. It was very much in the not-as-good-as-Hammer-film category and frankly I threw it out of my window! The Innocents had received considerable critical acclaim – and my performance as Peter Quint in particular – so I was a bit cock-a-hoop and another horror (but not nearly as good) on top of two others I was offered brought about this suicidal career abandonment.

“More in pique than anger I left my flat and walked down the High Street where my action was confirmed when I was recognised by several passers-by, convincing myself that I’d made the right decision in turning down Burn, Witch, Burn! Actors are such insecure creatures that a look of recognition from a complete stranger meant more than a serious analysis of an author’s hard-earned book.

“And then the object of my whole change of plan appeared suddenly before me. It was smiling at me in the courtyard of a famous brand of motor car’s showroom. It was also the most beautiful sports car I had ever seen in my life: The hand-built 2-litre Bristol 405. I fell in love and simply had to have it. The builder and designer and former racing driver Anthony Crooke didn’t need to give me any spiel – I was convinced. The price at that time, exorbitant for any car, was £5,000 17sh and 6d! I asked if I could use his phone and called my bank. I had £12 10sh 0d in my account. I then called my agent [and said] ‘Dennis, you know the script you sent me called Burn, Witch, Burn? Well, I’ll do it for £5,000 17sh 6d! Call me back on…’ and I gave him the number of the showroom.

“At that time that was a hefty amount for an unknown – remember Vivien Leigh got £12,000 for Gone with the Wind, and it was a good half hour later before I knew I was doing the film. Luckily I had a wonderfully sympathetic and clever director in Sydney Hayers who endeared himself to me forever when he said ‘You know just ‘cause I don’t speak posh like you doesn’t mean I ain’t educated – I’m a BA Cambridge, ya know!’ Together we had a go at the overloaded script and hopefully brought it to its final cult version.

“Poor Mr Bloch, I believe, had the same treatment with Psycho by Sir Alfred Hitchcock, which means his is the real credit, as a film script is simply a blueprint for a director to interpret. A bit like a menu, which the chef’s brilliance concocts and we enjoy according to our tastes.

“On a more pragmatic note was the horrifying experience I underwent with the eagle. I thought as my other co-star in the film [after Janet Blair] was the eagle I would like to introduce myself. So I went up to the third floor of the building we were using as dressing rooms at Elstree Studios.

“I knocked on the door and heard a grunt which I discovered later to belong to the trainer. I said I was playing the professor who encountered the eagle and wanted to meet her/him if it were convenient. The dressing room was opened after the sound of a bolt and key being dislodged and I was confronted with a huge pair of talons the size of two of Mike Tyson’s fists holding onto the gloved hand of his/her trainer. (I never found out what the sex was). The bird was hooded and the trainer’s face obscured by the door. It had a 3ft wing span, as the trainer informed me, and was a Golden Spanish Eagle. In spite of appearances [he said] it was one of the gentlest and well-behaved birds he had ever trained. He then tickled it under its enormous and frightening-looking beak and made purring noises before inviting me to do the same.

“I thanked him but declined, making some pathetic excuse about my lunch being served, which was a cue for him to suggest I fed the bird. It was then that he opened the door further to reveal his face and a dark cavern where his right eye had once been. His right hand produced a chunk of raw meat, which he shoved at me to take as he removed the bird’s hood.

“’Put it on me hand,’ he gruffly ordered in a thick Scots accent. ‘Quickly,’ he added, ‘or it’ll think yer hand’s for afters!’

“I didn’t need much encouragement and as the bird started tearing into his lunch I thanked the trainer and made a swift exit.

“When I did the series Department S and later Jason King I had the best stunt double in the business, Paul Weston, but on the Eagle I was still a vain, hot-headed and stupid young actor. I’d never seen an actor show real fear on the screen. So, in spite of meeting my co-star briefly I decided I would do the scene when the (now) giant eagle flew down from the top of the school building and attacked me.

“I’d asked Sydney to position the camera so it caught the real emotion as the bird came for me. A steel frame was put in front of the cameraman, Frank Watts, to protect him but I had no such defence. Instead a huge chunk of steak was strapped to my back as I lay behind the statue whose head the bird toppled on its thunderous descent on me. Can you believe anybody else but an actor being so stupid?

“Needless to say we only had one take and if the insurance company knew the film would’ve been cancelled. I took full responsibility and of course the crew were thrilled. They were getting the real McCoy. Frank, who worked on both series afterwards, said he’d never been so scared, so you can imagine how I felt.

“But the eagle was, rightly, the real trooper in spite of not having been fed for four days. It made straight for the camera, got its talons into the meat which looked like my back and left the shot as professionally to the applause of the cast and crew!

“The last day of shooting – the burning of the house – was a traumatic experience. As Janet (Blair) and I watched she was called urgently to the phone and, as the flames rose to the challenge of a sudden gust of wind, I saw a very white-faced Janet moving towards me and I just managed to hold her as she collapsed.

“Her husband in Beverly Hills had phoned her to say their house had just burned down to the ground. Thank God her children were safe. She caught the next plane for L.A.”

---

© Copyright The Hellfire Club: The OFFICIAL PETER WYNGARDE Appreciation Society: https://www.facebook.com/groups/813997125389790/