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, 18th December, 1971
The King Holds Court
Jason King is a smart dresser. So is Peter Wyngarde. They have other things in common. “King is an adventurer,”said Mr Wyngarde, in his rich Christmas pudding voice. “It’s all the things that most people would like to be, including myself but don’t, or can’t because they have a mortgage to pay and a job to hold down! What makes him human is that he can laugh at himself – he doesn’t always win!”
Winning for Peter Wyngarde has not come easily. For years he made a good but unspectacular living from parts in television plays and series such as The Saint, The Baron, The Prisoner, The Avengers. He appeared in numerous stage plays – heavy classical roles in Shakespeare, comedy and thrillers. Women posted fan letters by the thousands when he played the tragic part of Sydney Carton in a television production of A Tale of Two Cities. They were grief-stricken when Carton nobly sacrificed his own life at the guillotine to save the young hero. But still no one really recognised that Wyngarde was ideal for the kind of sleek sleuth he now presents in a TV series Jason King, the follow up programme to Department S.
Peter Wyngarde now lives in the basement flat in Kensington, London, that is crowded with knick-knacks an antiques.
He seems to enjoy his life. He gets a lot out of it and he gives a lot back. He paints to help him relax and he draws caricatures during breaks on set. “I draw the crew, other actors, anybody who is around.” Does he show his subjects the result? “Oh,” he ponders, wiggling his moustache. “Only if I know there won’t be hurt by them”.
He treats success modestly and still seems overwhelmed at being recognised.
What’s it like to have complete strangers rushing up to you? “Abroad it’s quite fantastic,” he said, his eyes twinkling as he answers the question. “They scream and run after you, the traffic stops, they grab your hand and pump it up and down, somehow managing to slap you on the back at the same time. It’s impossible to go into a restaurant without being aware that every mouthful is being watched!” He laughed. He has a generous laugh.
“Do you know…” he continued, “it was getting so bad I decided to go out in disguise. I was staying in a hotel in Australia. I put on a false beard, flattened down my hair and wore a pair of granny glasses!” He was looking mischievous now, the master of disguise, the actor acting to save his privacy. “I was sure I wouldn’t be recognised, but I’d only gone a few steps when my instinct told me I was being followed. I ran. They ran. I dashed into the hotel service lift. They followed. They were two girls and they thrust their autograph books at me. I signed one and then signed the other, I asked them how they’d recognise me. There was a silent. Then in a kind of flat, voice, one of them said, ‘Oh, it’s not John Lennon!’
Just the kind of situation Jason King will get himself into and out again!
Interview by Cathy Cox.
PETER WYNGARDE: The Official Website 
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