1967

HALF A SIXPENCE…Elstree Studios.

Directed by
George Sidney

Writing credits
(in alphabetical order)
Beverley Cross book
Beverley Cross screenplay
Dorothy Kingsley adaptation
H.G. Wells novel "Kipps"

Cast
Tommy Steele ... Arthur Kipps
Julia Foster ... Ann
Cyril Ritchard ... Harry Chitterlow
Penelope Horner ... Helen
Elaine Taylor ... Victoria
Grover Dale ... Pearce
Hilton Edwards ... Shalford
Julia Sutton ... Flo
Leslie Meadows ... Buggins
Sheila Falconer ... Kate
Pamela Brown ... Mrs. Washington
James Villiers ... Hubert
Christopher Sandford ... Sid
Jean Anderson ... Lady Botting
Allan Cuthbertson ... Wilkins
Aleta Morrison ... Laura
Gerald Campion ... Fat Boy
Deborah Permentor ... Young Ann
Jeffrey Chandler ... Young Kipps

I meet Tommy Steel. He was discovered singing in the 2I’s Coffee bar in the fifties... A good old Cockney Geezer… Looking back to 1959 I worked at the 2 I's Coffee Bar with Terry Young and the Teens, (yes I was still a teen in 1959) and top of the bill was a guy called Vince Eager and he was very good. A few weeks later we played at the Metropolitan Edgware Rd and we closed the first half of the show. Top of the bill was Mr Issy Bonn...(1893-1977) and he had all the old girls (including my mother) crying when he sang......''My Yiddishe Mama''..

QUATERMASS AND THE PIT……MGM Studios

Director:
Roy Ward Baker

Writer:
Nigel Kneale (original story and screenplay)

Genre:
Sci-Fi | Horror

Cast
James Donald ... Dr. Mathew Roney
Andrew Keir ... Prof. Bernard Quatermass
Barbara Shelley ... Barbara Judd
Julian Glover ... Colonel Breen
Duncan Lamont ... Sladden
Bryan Marshall ... Captain Potter
Peter Copley ... Howell
Edwin Richfield ... Minister
Grant Taylor ... Police Sergeant Ellis
Maurice Good ... Sergeant Cleghorn
Robert Morris ... Jerry Watson
Sheila Steafel ... Journalist
Hugh Futcher ... Sapper West
Hugh Morton ... Elderly Journalist
Thomas Heathcote ... Vicar

My first horror film.. I was to work with this director many more times.

Quatermass and the Pit

I got a call from Central Casting to go to MGM Studios in Borehamwood, Herts to do a few days on this film movie. I was used as as a workman digging out some Underground holes in a tube station (studio).After some time one of the other extras finds some odd things and digging comes to a stop. A couple of days later I'm back on the film as a possessed man. All we had to do was walk around the tube station as if we were Zombies..
My wife said ''No change there then''

THE MAGNIFICENT TWO… Pinewood Studios

Director:
Cliff Owen

Writers:
Peter Blackmore (screenplay)
Sidney Green (screenplay)

Cast:

Eric Morecambe ... Eric
Ernie Wise ... Ernie
Margit Saad ... Carla
Virgilio Teixeira ... Carillo (as Virgilio Texera)
Cecil Parker ... British Ambassador
Isobel Black ... Juanita
Sue Sylvaine ... President's Daughter
Martin Benson ... President Diaz
Michael Godfrey ... Manuelo
Henry Beltran ... President's Son
Tyler Butterworth ... Miguel - President's Younger Son
Sandor Elès ... Armandez (as Sandor Eles)
Andreas Malandrinos ... Juan (as Andrea Malandrinos)
Victor Maddern ... Drunken Soldier
Michael Gover ... Doctor

This was my first time working at Pinewood studios (Home of the Bond films) and I'm going to be playing a soldier for a couple of days. About twenty of us were kitted out as soldiers and taken to Black Park which is just behind the studios...
We spent the first day firing our guns and running about the trees and bushes. I got to meet some of the other extras and they had been in the biz for a long time so I stayed at the back of the shots. One guy I was teamed up with was Phil Parkes and he set me straight on what to do in shot. I got to work with him many more times...Thanks for looking after the new boy Phil.
On another day about twenty scantily dressed girls turned up up dressed as troopers..... I was looking forward to the hand to mouth combat...(it didn't happen)
I did get to work with Eric and Ernie many years later on a live kids show....CBTV......

TWO A PENNY…Director…James F Collier…
Cast Inc…Cliff Richard…Ann Holloway…

BILLION DOLLAR BRAIN…Michael Caine in his third outing as Harry Palmer.

Director:
Ken Russell

Writers:
Len Deighton (novel)
John McGrath (screenplay)

Cast:

Michael Caine ... Harry Palmer

Karl Malden ... Leo Newbigen

Ed Begley ... General Midwinter
Oskar Homolka ... Colonel Stok (as Oscar Homolka)
Françoise Dorléac ... Anya (as Francoise Dorleac)
Guy Doleman ... Colonel Ross
Vladek Sheybal ... Dr. Eiwort
Milo Sperber ... Basil
Janos Kurutz ... Latvian gangster
Alexei Jawdokimov ... Latvian gangster
Paul Tamarin ... Latvian gangster
Iza Teller ... Latvian gangster
Mark Elwes ... Birkenshaw
Stanley Caine ... G.P.O. special delivery boy
Gregg Palmer ... 1st Dutch business man

Was down at Pinewood for a week of night shooting on this with big crowd scenes.
It was set as a barn dance / hoedown and we were all dressed as Cowboys / girls.
Michael Caine again was playing Harry Palmer and it was a fun weeks work.
It did seem strange getting back home at 7am and going to bed only to get up in the afternoon and do it all again....But I was learning more about filming....

CARRY ON.. FOLLOW THAT CAMEL..Pinewood Studios

Director:
Gerald Thomas

Writer:
Talbot Rothwell (screenplay)

Cast:

Phil Silvers ... Sergeant Nocker
Kenneth Williams ... Commandant Maximilian Burger
Jim Dale ... Bertram Oliphant 'Bo' West
Charles Hawtrey ... Captain Le Pice
Joan Sims ... Zig-Zig
Angela Douglas ... Lady Jane Ponsonby
Peter Butterworth ... Simpson
Bernard Bresslaw ... Sheikh Abdul Abulbul
Anita Harris ... Corktip
John Bluthal ... Corporal Clotski
William Mervyn ... Sir Cyril Ponsonby
Peter Gilmore ... Captain Humphrey Bagshaw
Julian Holloway ... Ticket Collector
Larry Taylor ... Riff
William Hurndell ... Raff

  My first Carry On film and had a week or more as a Legionair trapped in the desert of Pinewood studios. A new member of the cast for this one was the great Phil Silvers from Bilko fame.
Always hard not to laugh at the jokes and cast while we're doing a take and a pleasure to be a small part of it....
This sure beats working at the timber firm......

THE PRISONER…Cult TV series with Patrick McGoohan... I worked on about six episodes. (A day here a day there)

THE CHAMPIONS…Made at A.B.P.C. Studios Elstree... The Lovely Alexandra Bastedo.
I worked on six–eight episodes...
While on this job I got to meet one of the guest actors for this episode,Mike Pratt..
A couple of years later I was to work with him for a full years on the show Randall and Hopkirk ..

The Champions
That's me, second from the left, in an episode called 'Twelve Hours'

THE AVENGERS & THE SAINT…Same Studios…Worked odd days...


The Avengers, episode 'Split', with Nigel Davenport

MAN IN A SUITCASE… Richard Bradford. Made at Pinewood. Worked on two episodes.
One with a young Donald Sutherland...

Man in a Suitcase

ENEMY OF THE WORLD…(Doctor Who, with Patrick Troughton) Lime Grove BBC...

A CHALLENGE FOR ROBIN HOOD…Director…C. Pennington-Richards…Pinewood…
Cast Inc…Barry Ingham…Peter Blythe…
Spent a few days romping around Sherwood Forest (Black Park) throwing custard pies at the bad guys.. (Don’t ask me why)

THE SAINT...Episode title....Legacy for the Saint.....


This was made at Elstree Studios on a nearby location...
I look so young and thin back then dressed up as a security guard (r) about to be kidnapped and bundled into the back of a waiting van. I was very new in the biz at this time....  

NEXT - 1968

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