1984
LASSITER…Director
Roger Young…
Cast Inc…Tom
Selleck…Jane
Seymour…Bob
Hoskins…
I film for about a week
down in the dock area of
East London so we can
capture London in the
1930s.. I didn’t
have a lot to do but I
did have a long chat with
Sammy Pasha who stands in
for Bob Hoskins. Sammy
came to my house a couple
of years ago to read a
script I was writing with
Bob in mind.
Bob didn’t like it
and it’s still doing
the rounds. (One day
perhaps)
The script is called
‘’Looking For A
Rainbow’’ and
it’s my story of
what happened thirty
years after the Great
Train Robbery of 63…
It’s a story that
should be told.
TOP
SECRET…
Directors:
Jim Abrahams
David Zucker
Writers:
Jim Abrahams & David
Zucke
Cast
Val Kilmer ... Nick
Rivers
Lucy Gutteridge ...
Hillary Flammond
Peter Cushing ...
Bookstore Proprietor
Jeremy Kemp ... General
Streck
Christopher Villiers ...
Nigel 'The Torch',
Resistance Leader
Warren Clarke ... Colonel
von Horst
Harry Ditson ... Du
Quois, Resistance Member
Jim Carter ... Déjà Vu,
Resistance Member
Eddie Tagoe ... Chocolate
Mousse, Resistance Member
Omar Sharif ... Agent
Cedric
Tristram Jellinek ...
Major Crumpler
Billy J. Mitchell ...
Martin, Nick's Manager
Major Wiley ... Train
Porter
Gertan Klauber ... Mayor
of Berlin
Richard Mayes ... Comrade
Biletnikov, Russian Tenor
I was
booked for a couple of
days to play a straight
faced German and a very
good actor (Warren
Clarke) was to be my
boss.
The directors of this
film had already shown
their comedy worth with
all the Airplane films in
the USA.. So it was gag
after gag in this film
too.
I don’t know if this
was Val Kilmer’s
first leading role but he
certainly went to the top
in his later films..
The scene I’m in
goes something like this.
Warren is checking
Val’s papers on a
train and this is set
during WW2.
After the dialogue scenes
between them Warren and I
get off the train and
wait for the train to
pull out.. We stand on
the platform.
The train doesn’t
pull out, the directors
think it’s funnier
if the platform pulls out
instead.
(British Rail should make
note of this as it saves
on crowded trains.)
Warren and I did work
together again over the
years.
SUPERMAN
3 Director
Richard Lester…
Cast Inc…Christopher
Reeve…Richard
Pryor…
Filmed for one day down
at Battersea South
London.
We had huge cranes on set
and I really did see a
man fly. (c/o Kirby
wires).
Richard Pryor was not too
keen to be hoisted into
the air but we had stunt
doubles for all the main
artists so there was no
hold up in production.
Christopher took to it
like a duck to water
after all this was his
third outing as the Caped
Crusader..
It was a warm and sunny
day and I thought to
myself this is what
filming is all about.
1984…Director
Michael Radford…
Cast Inc…Richard
Burton…John
Hurt…
Filmed for one night at
Alexandra Palace North
London.
My job that night was
mainly as public liaison
helping the A.D.s get
nearly a thousand
Supporting Artists onto
the set when they were
called.
(A lot of them were not
professional extras and
didn’t have much of
a clue about the film
game).
I think they were paid by
raffle ticket but one of
them won a new car so the
winner went away very
happy. The others can
tell their grand children
they had a day on a movie
set. (That sounds like a
good idea for a story)
This was to be Richard
Burtons last film and the
end of a great career.
John Hurt stole the
show…
BLEAK
HOUSE…Director
Ross
Devenish…BBCTV…
Cast Inc…Diana
Rigg…Bernard
Hepton…Frank
Windsor…Denholm
Elliott…
I worked a couple of
weekends on this and was
dressed in different
guises in this Dickensian
era of old London..
We filmed some of this at
a place called Lincolns
Inn Fields W.C.2 London.
This part of London is
still very old fashioned
and during weekdays
it’s busy with
office workers but at
weekends it’s dead.
So from Friday night the
Art dept and set dressers
can transform the place
back a hundred years or
more.
(A rubber tree over a
parking meter, some
compost over the dreaded
yellow lines and of
course some horse drawn
carriages discreetly
hiding things that
can’t be moved.
I am thinking back to one
Saturday and, as I was
walking about the street
set, we heard a muffled
bang and the street
pavement seemed to shake.
It was about 5 o clock in
the evening and I’m
sure that was the Harrods
bomb.
Harrods was about two
miles away.
OSCAR…Director
Henry
Herbert…BBCTV…
Cast Inc…Michael
Gambon…Norman
Rodway…Emily
Richard…Robin
Lermitte…
Another chance for me to
work with the cream of
the acting profession..
I don’t have to do
much but just fill in the
gaps in some of the
scenes.
Is that me going out of
the door in the
background or is that me
passing the main cast in
the foreground..
Whenever you film big
scenes you can’t
just have four main cast
just doing lines, you
have to fill the set with
lots if activity.
Although the viewers
shouldn’t be looking
at the background artists
they are part and parcel
of the scene..
I’ve been up the
front as a cast member in
many productions but
I’m just as glad of
a days work as a
Supporting Artist.. (The
only difference is the
pay slip).
Michael Gambon and I are
to meet up again on The
Singing Detective in a
couple of year’s
time..
COLD
WARRIOR…Director…Brian
Farnham…BBCTV…
Cast Inc…Michael
Denison…David
Swift…
I’m in the cast as a
black cab driver and I
get to kill the punter in
the back of the cab..
(Not a smart move on my
part as I don’t get
to take the fare money)..
The episode is called
‘’What’s
Good For General
Bullmoose’’..
BIG DEAL…Director
John
Glenister…BBCTV…
Just a day on this
playing the second punter
but I get to meet up with
some old mates. Stewart,
Tony, Derek, Ridgewell
and Alan who is better
known as a stuntman.
All I had to do was play
some poker which in my
time I was quite good
at..
See
the YouTube clip
MAGNUM
P.I…STAR
TOM SELLECK…
Tom Selleck was over here
to film this episode in
London and I was booked
as a plain clothes cop..
We did a few days in the
Bayswater area of London
but it was nothing much
to shout about.
This is the time I had a
row with my good friend
Vincent Winters for which
I am still sorry.
THE
OPTIMIST…Director
Peter Ellis…Channel
4
Cast Inc…Enn
Reitel…
Again chasing people
around hotel corridors in
the Bayswater district..
(It’s funny that you
work on a location and
within weeks you’re
back at the same place on
a new production).
MINDER…Director
Tom
Clegg…Thames/Euston
Films…
Tom’s got me back to
play a spiv selling dodgy
jackets in a pub.
When I get to the
location in Stockwell
South London I find
I’m in a pub I used
to play rock and roll
with my band twenty five
years before.
But it’s all
changed. There’s no
more sawdust on the
floor, they’ve got
fitted carpets and posh
seats.. (It used to be a
bit of a rough house in
the old days.)
In the scenes I was in
I’m trying to sell
Dennis and George a dodgy
looking jacket but
they’re having none
of it. They only had to
look round the bar to see
what the other punters
looked like with the
jackets on.
I kept looking around
expecting to see people
from the pub that I knew
in the 50s, but it
wasn’t to be.
I had many happy nights
in there belting out
Buddy Holley numbers and
people dancing. It was
called my youth.
NEXT
- 1985
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