- 07/07/2025
Category
🎥
Short filmTranscript
00:01No, I killed both of those critics. I shot them. They're both dead now, God rest their souls.
00:07No, I mean, what do you say about being bald and voiced like a con?
00:13There's nothing I can do about either, so we'll skip that. I mean, what else?
00:17Except that it's earned me a very good living.
00:19I think that all actors are on the verge of a certain madness. I think Olivier put it in a different way.
00:33It's a volcano that you have inside you. I know I have a volcano, and perhaps my eruption comes out as being funny.
00:46And so, and the characters I was being offered were neurotic. They asked me to be the neurotic policeman,
00:56the policeman who was fighting against all odds, you know?
01:02And so, and I then was being employed because I was coming over, hopefully as straight,
01:10or my comedy, I attack as a totally straight man.
01:22You see, comedy in pictures is very difficult. There is no audience.
01:28And if you rely too much on the in-joke, maybe during the rehearsal period, or on the last rehearsal,
01:39putting in something which you are not going to do on the take, and you get big laughs from behind the camera,
01:46then comes the take. It has total silence. You've got this enormous lens looking at you, and nothing.
01:52And a lot of actors panic. They go, Christ, it's gone. What it was that you had during that rehearsal.
02:00It's all of a sudden like playing to an empty house in the theatre.
02:03And that's, that's, that has got a lot of control. You have to have an enormous amount of control.
02:09But I usually, I try and not play any of the scene for all it's worth until the very final rehearsal,
02:18and then ask the director to tell the crew that if they feel they want to laugh, then laugh.
02:25And then I like to shoot the scene immediately after that.
02:29Because I can remember, as long as it's not an in-joke, as long as it's within the context of the, of the scene,
02:35in the back of my mind, I know that it worked.
02:38Now if there isn't, if the, if the, if the crew don't laugh, I rely on that an awful lot.
02:42Because after that first rehearsal, and if it's, um, accepted in total silence, all that, all going,
02:49what's he, you know, picking their noses and having a look at it, I think we're lost.
02:52There's something wrong with the scene.
02:54The enjoyment of going to the cinema and hearing 700 people just falling apart is marvellous.
03:07I mean, don't get quite the same sort of thing in drama.
03:11In the theatre you do, because you can almost hear that from them, if you, if you've got them, really got them,
03:18and play with that, that's marvellous.
03:21But in pictures I don't get that.
03:23I had nowhere near, I, I, I love make, I love making people laugh.
03:29I really enjoy that.
03:31I think I must have been born making people laugh.
03:36I'm sure my mother, when she saw me for the first time, must have wet herself.
03:40I mean, I was the ugliest looking child that ever existed.
03:44I hadn't really progressed much instead.
03:46But I had tufts of hair coming out.
03:48These two things here, totally more, but two big tufts of hair.
03:51I mean, I think my mother, my father would have liked to have sent me back.
03:55I was very thin, I was terribly shy.
04:04That's again is another cliche, most actors are.
04:07And I think it was my revenge on people for making me shy.
04:16You know what I mean?
04:18I had no, I had nothing else.
04:21I, I, I was so bashful, and still am.
04:27And I'd say, it's a sort of revenge.
04:30I say, right, you can't, you want to make me feel this awful.
04:35Now watch this.
04:37And my, my, then I may come laugh, and I'm accepted.
04:40And I'll never forget Hitchcock giving me his direction to me.
04:52From the third row of the stalls of this mock-up of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art,
04:57he wanted me to kiss Jane Wyman to such an extent to make Michael Wilding jealous.
05:03And Michael Wilding had come in to watch a little play.
05:08And I kissed Jane Wyman on the, on the rehearsal.
05:13Nothing.
05:14There was no reaction from her, no reaction from me,
05:17and certainly no reaction from Michael Wilding.
05:20And this voice said,
05:23I will have to go again, he said.
05:27Lionel, I'm getting a virginal kiss from you, he said.
05:32Have you had no experience of kissing girls?
05:35Yes, Mr. Hitchcock, I said.
05:38He said.
05:39I've got Michael Wilding here, he said.
05:42He's sitting like an undercut custard.
05:45You're giving him no chance of a reaction.
05:48I want you to kiss her, he said.
05:51I want him so, I want him so jealous,
05:55and so aroused by the kiss that you give her,
05:58that you pepper the stage roof with your, with his fly buttons.
06:03I said, oh, charming.
06:05He said, right, action.
06:07Well, the set fell apart.
06:10Michael Wilding slipped off his seat.
06:13I kissed Jane Wyman with, rocking with fear and laughter.
06:18And he made me do it six times.
06:21And he had a terrible trick of talking to him, total gibberish.
06:25So after about the third take, he said.
06:27Hold it a minute, hold it, hold it.
06:29I came on the stage.
06:31And he said.
06:33When I say, look, I wanted to just, I didn't mean it.
06:38Well, basically the whole thing was, he said, all right, Lionel.
06:43I said, yes.
06:44He said, what did I say?
06:46I said, the slightest idea.
06:48He said, why can't you be honest?
06:50Right.
06:51He said, no point talking to him.
06:52We'll do it again.
06:53And you were, but he was, that was his joke.
06:56He thought that was hysterical to see actors suffer.
06:59He loved that.
07:01The old devil.
07:02God rest his soul.
07:06They were testing actors for a picture called Bawani Junction,
07:12that George Cukor was going to direct.
07:15And I was in a khaki uniform.
07:18But only shooting over the back.
07:20And they were testing actors for the Indian part,
07:23which eventually a great mate of mine, Francis Matthews got.
07:26Or they were testing wardrobe for Ava Gardner.
07:29And they were, they weren't testing any actors for a particular part
07:35called Captain Macaulay.
07:37No, McDaniel.
07:38He was originally called Macaulay.
07:40And I talked to my agent about it.
07:44And he said, darling, I don't think there's a hope in hell.
07:46But still, you know, I'll put a word in.
07:49And one day, Irene Howard, bless her heart.
07:54Leslie Howard's sister, who was top casting woman.
07:58I think she's since retired.
08:00Suggested that they put the camera round on me.
08:03And let me play the scene.
08:05On an ad lib scene.
08:07With the girl that I'd been testing for Ava Gardner's wardrobe.
08:10She became a coat hanger actress.
08:12And they tested me for this part.
08:16It was a rather strange,
08:18well, sex maniac actually turned out to be.
08:22Floppy officer.
08:25And they sent this test to Kukor by plane the next day.
08:31And within eight hours, the phone went and I landed myself as really very, very, very good part.
08:39And it was the turning point in my career.
08:41Because once the British directors and producers heard that I had done a Hollywood-based movie.
08:48I mean Metro, we went to Pakistan.
08:51And working for such a master of the screen like Kukor.
08:54My kudos just, oh, it soared.
09:00On the floor of Cinecita Studios in Rome, I had to do a nine-minute master scene.
09:11With all the dialogue.
09:13Walking around these nuns with Audrey.
09:16They're all looking at slides, I believe.
09:19And I walked the scene very quietly with Fred.
09:24Or sat down.
09:25I think we sat down.
09:26And Audrey sat by the side of us.
09:28And he said to me, Lionel, what sort of actor are you?
09:32An intelligent actor or an intellectual actor or an instinctive actor?
09:36I said, well, I'm certainly not intellectual.
09:38I'm certainly not intelligent.
09:40But I know I'm instinctive.
09:42And he said, then do you like a lot of rehearsal?
09:45I said, I've never been asked that by a director in my life.
09:48I've never been that kind.
09:51And I said, I'm not really very happy about rehearsals.
09:54I find that I do my best work on the rehearsal.
09:56And when it comes to the take, whatever little instinctive things I was doing,
10:00I was not enjoying myself as much as I was.
10:02He said, fine.
10:04So he said, but do one more walk around.
10:06But I don't want anybody to stop talking.
10:08I don't want anybody to stop working.
10:10The hammers were still going.
10:12Lighting was still going.
10:13And Audrey sat in.
10:15And I just talked it through with Fred.
10:18And he said, I want to go for a take.
10:21We didn't even go for a take.
10:23I mean, it was very unfair on the camera boys.
10:25Except, I mean, they had quite a nasty tracking thing to do.
10:29On a dolly, actually.
10:30There wasn't track.
10:32And I did this.
10:37We went for a take.
10:38And the gods were with me.
10:41And my wheels were running right.
10:43I was in the right box.
10:45Zinnemann put me in exactly the right beautiful working conditions.
10:51I was excited.
10:52It was like a first night.
10:54And we did it.
10:55And he printed it.
10:56And we didn't go again.
10:57We came in on some close-ups.
10:58And a marvelous understanding of actors, Zinnemann.
11:04Very few directors have that rapport of putting you into the right cotton wool.
11:14He doesn't get into the car with you to drive it.
11:18He just tells you to start off in this gear and take it easy on the hill, on the bend.
11:23He's...
11:24And just...
11:25And a lovely thing he does behind camera.
11:28When...
11:29Because I...
11:30When I'm working, I'm always having a little look.
11:32A little...
11:33Just in the corner of your eye.
11:34And he's...
11:35He's rather...
11:36You know, when they're playing bowls.
11:38And the green.
11:39And when the bowl is gone, you'll often see people following it as if they...
11:43They really are...
11:44Can help to guide it.
11:45Well, Fred does that.
11:46He's...
11:47He's...
11:48He's so with you.
11:49When you're working.
11:50Marvellous.
11:54I'd been a great admirer of Peter's for years.
11:56And I used to go to see goon shows.
12:00And we became great mates.
12:03And that was the very first one up the creek.
12:06Val Guest directing.
12:08And Peter had...
12:11Then...
12:13That...
12:14Enormous concentration.
12:17And he had a volcano.
12:19In him.
12:20You could see that.
12:21We as actors could see it.
12:23I...
12:24I don't think the audience has ever saw it.
12:25I...
12:26But it's only because I knew...
12:27On his rehearsal period.
12:29The agony he was going to get it in and get it right.
12:32So it looked as if he was making it up as he went along.
12:34So it looked totally ad-libbed.
12:36Peter never ad-libbed in his life.
12:37People used to say,
12:38Oh, a marvellous ad-libber on the screen.
12:40But he didn't.
12:41That...
12:42I mean, he may...
12:43If he was sitting here now, he'd say,
12:45Well, I did lie.
12:46But I...
12:47He didn't.
12:48He worked at it.
12:49He didn't want you to know that he'd worked at it.
12:51He did a lot of homework, that boy.
12:58I don't know how true it is, but I...
13:00I believe one of the producers originally thought that they were going to make The Trials of Marty Wilde.
13:05But that could have just been a very cruel joke.
13:08However, they offered me the part of Lord Queensbury.
13:12And that was a risk on their part.
13:15Because I had never played anything like that before.
13:18And I love...
13:19I really love that.
13:25Oh, dear.
13:27Yes.
13:28I thought that was going to be a lot of fun.
13:32It eventually became slightly traumatic inasmuch as that Mr. Hope, who...
13:38Bob Hope, who starred in it,
13:41with Anita Ekberg.
13:42I was playing Anita Ekberg's father, believe it or not.
13:45Bob's scriptwriters were always wanting to change his scenes.
13:52Which I was unaware of when we first started.
13:56Because I believe I started most of my stuff with Anita.
14:00And, as you know, you get a call sheet at the end of the day's work with your scene numbers that you're going to do the next day.
14:07Which I'd become totally used to by now.
14:10I'd been in pictures, I suppose, about ten years by then.
14:14And I used to go home, read my scene numbers, learn them, then have my supper and go to bed.
14:20To my horror.
14:21The very first time it happened, it was three in the morning, the doorbell went...
14:26I went downstairs and there's a chauffeur and a car and an envelope.
14:31And he said, these are your scene numbers for tomorrow.
14:33I said, that's very sweet of you, but I've got them.
14:35Well, you know, it is three in the morning, I'm getting up in three hours now.
14:38He said, no, no, Gav, he said, these are the rewrites.
14:45Oh, I see, really.
14:48I opened it and the scenes that we were going to do that next day were totally new.
14:54So, like a fool, I sat up and learned these new scenes.
14:59There's nothing worse than unlearning a scene.
15:01If you've learnt a scene and then you've got to relearn it, some of it's almost identical.
15:06Well, I have to tell you, that continued for nearly eight weeks.
15:10And I put up with it like a fool instead of saying, this has got to stop.
15:14I'm not getting any sleep.
15:15Sometimes it was four in the morning.
15:16Sometimes it was when I got to the studio and in makeup.
15:19And they'd say, rewrites.
15:22And I can't work like that.
15:26I used to have a four and a half hour makeup every morning.
15:28So I'd leave my home at half four in Beverly Hills, drive to the studios to Warner's,
15:34get into the chair to be ready by upper state for work.
15:38And the makeup man would start on me with the latex and God knows what,
15:44and the ears and the nose padded and the eyes.
15:47Then he would take a break with me asleep.
15:49And he'd go off and have a large Rivas Regal in his coffee, leaving me in the chair asleep.
15:55Then he'd come back and do the next two hours, finish me off.
15:58So the crew, and indeed other than Richard Harris, the other actors had never seen me as me.
16:07And one day I turned up to take my son to see a marvelous snow scene with Vanessa coming through the snow on the stage.
16:15And I got to the studio door and there was the usual security man with a gun there.
16:21And he said, hold it, Buster, where's your pass?
16:24I didn't have a pass.
16:25And I said, don't be silly.
16:27He said, no.
16:28Hey, sweetie.
16:29Never mind about being silly.
16:30There are no visitors.
16:31I said, I'm not a visitor.
16:32I'm connected with the picture.
16:34Let me see the first assistant.
16:36I walked on the set and they were lighting.
16:38And I called the first assistant over and I said, Ken, the security man won't let me in.
16:43He said, well, I'm not surprised.
16:45He said, who the hell are you?
16:47And I said, I'm Lionel.
16:48He said, Lionel Hope.
16:49And I said, Jeffries.
16:50He said, I don't know who you are.
16:53I said, I'm King Pelennor.
16:56And the set fell apart.
16:58I mean, this first assistant actually said, fellas, look.
17:02And they, this makeup man used to do the most amazing makeup, right down to every fingernail
17:09and crinkle.
17:10They didn't know.
17:11They had no idea.
17:12I was actually, the security man took the gun out.
17:16Hysterical.
17:21That was the longest picture I've ever been on.
17:24Uh, I was, although I was being paid and I have no right to complain, but I will because
17:31it, it was seemed to be interminable.
17:33I got through, uh, four uniforms.
17:36I got through three pair of army boots, just worn out.
17:41This was including the rehearsal period, of course.
17:43So we were, I was, it was about a year and three, a year and three months.
17:46Very successful box office picture.
17:48And I'm remembered a lot still.
17:51It's very, very strange.
17:52I can go shopping and there'll be a six to 18 year old, 19 year old, 20 year old girl
17:57with her own children will say, your grandpa pops.
18:01Today, I'm remembered much more by, um, funnily enough by that picture.
18:07Films became, became part of me at, at school.
18:15Um, I couldn't wait to get my hands on a camera or, and my pocket money was spent on buying
18:22a cassette, a film when the old days, you took a proper little cassette, you slipped
18:26into the pathway.
18:27So editing became part of me, telling a story.
18:31Even just a day at the zoo had to have a story.
18:35And so when the railroad children, when I eventually presented that to Brown Forbes,
18:42bless his heart, he, he said to me, who's going to do it to?
18:46He said, we're going to make it.
18:48Delphont's agreed.
18:49We're going to make it against all odds.
18:51Because at that time, I mean, it was the sex and violent picture really high.
18:56And I said, well, I'd like to try.
18:58And he said, I see absolutely no reason why you shouldn't.
19:00I wasn't aware that that's the danger.
19:07I became aware perhaps of a little of technique on my third and fourth pictures.
19:11But the first picture, I went in with Wellington boots.
19:14And I didn't care if we made any mistakes.
19:17I, I just wanted to tell that story.
19:20If I hadn't told it, I'd have died.
19:21I mean, I think you should have that passion.
19:23That was an exciting one.
19:28Little Len Frederick.
19:31I think it was her very first major film part.
19:35And she had that volcano that we were talking about.
19:39Um, uh, uh, being very placid.
19:42But when she has the scene where she thinks that her brother is burning to death,
19:46by God, the eruption that came from, she was only 16.
19:51It's rather interesting about child actresses.
19:55Uh, Jenny Agata had that as a, as a child and still has.
20:00She's one of the very few who has managed not to be aware of her technique as a child,
20:06like Shirley Temple and Hayley Mills.
20:09Although Hayley, again, has turned in some pretty marvelous performances, uh, later,
20:13and certainly in the theater.
20:15But they become, either they read their own publicity,
20:17but they become, they, they, they're hearing about how clever they are.
20:21Then they start working on a style.
20:23Lost.
20:24All that marvelous magic that they had as a child.
20:27Like Jenny.
20:28And Lynn.
20:29They, they, uh, they've developed.
20:33But very few do.
20:34Very few do.
20:36Well, we really had to get our skates on with that.
20:42Uh, we, uh, all location to start with up in Yorkshire.
20:47I think round about October, we were really asking for trouble,
20:51but God smiled on us.
20:53And we had four, I don't know how many weeks,
20:56let's say four weeks, four weeks of uninterrupted sunshine.
20:59It poured with rain the day before we started shooting.
21:02It poured with rain the day we wrapped.
21:05The, the evening we wrapped, the skies opened.
21:08Marvelous.
21:09But a great experience for me, that was, uh,
21:12to work with a funny little actor called Tommy Pender,
21:15who we discovered in the East End of London,
21:17and a little girl called Samantha Gates.
21:20Uh, and I had the chance to work with one of my heroes,
21:24James Mason, who was a joy, total joy,
21:27and Bernie Cribbins, who had been so marvelous as Mr. Perks
21:30and the Railroad Children.
21:32Great memories of Water Papers.
21:35Wombling Free was, is, is, was, uh, very sad.
21:41It was one of the most difficult pictures I ever had to work in, direct,
21:45simply because of the Wombles figures themselves,
21:48poor souls inside the skins.
21:51It's not been shown.
21:52For some unknown reason, the rank organization, in their wisdom, uh,
21:58gave it, I think, a week in London and took it off and said it made no money.
22:03So, well, obviously didn't make it.
22:05They put it at one single cinema here.
22:07No publicity, as far as I can remember.
22:09I certainly was never asked to promote it.
22:11And it's gathering dust, which is a great shame because,
22:14other than Disney films, which I certainly don't knock,
22:17because they do, uh, they do fill this enormous gap for children.
22:23Not just children, but grandmas and grandpas,
22:26who don't go to the pictures anymore because, basically,
22:29they're either confused or embarrassed.
22:31And I would like to try and get the confidence back of people,
22:35based on what I've done in the past, Railroad Children,
22:38London, et cetera, to try and get the confidence to leave the,
22:42the television set and come out to the cinemas.
22:45It's a difficult job.
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