CALLAN 1974 - This
was the second time I worked with Edward
Woodward, the first in a TV series where
I played a butcher. Edward was a pleasure
to work with but we did have one nasty
moment when I had to slap him across
the face and instead of missing him
I actually hit him and knocked him out
of his chair. I apologised profusely
and fortunately Edward was not too hurt.
FRANKENSTEIN AND THE MONSTER
FROM HELL 1973 - One of my
favourite films and one in which I gave
one of my best acting performances.
The doyenne of Hammer film directors
Terence Fisher directed and Peter Cushing
was making his come back film after
going through a long period of bereavement
after the death of his wife. Madeleine
Smith and Shane Bryant co starred and
I reprised the monster role giving me
the doubtful honour of being the only
actor ever to play the Hammer monster
twice. The action took place in an asylum.
When I did the Horror of Frankenstein
the make up for the head piece took
2 1/2 hours every day to be fashioned
by make up expert Tom Smith. In Monster
from Hell the whole make up was done
with a mask and the body built up on
a wet suit that took only 20 minutes
to apply. Eddie Knight was the make
up man.
WHITE CARGO 1973 -
This was filmed originally as ALBERT'S
FOLLIES with Ray Selfe directing and
David Jason starring. To put it bluntly
it was not a good movie and did nothing
to further David Jason's career. We
filmed at Twickenham sudios and David,
Ray and the rest of the cast were fun
to work with. This is another film that
is on late night TV as 'White Cargo'.
BLACKSNAKE 1973 -
This is a film I did for Russ Meyer
who was famous for his soft porn movies.
Blacksnake was a departure from the
porn as he decided with the advent of
A Clockwork Orange that violence was
the big thing and sex was out. We filmed
in Barbados with David Warbeck playing
the lead and Anouska Hempel as the lustful
plantation owner, Percy Herbert the
plantation boss and myself as the Duppie
who was the deaf and dumb, castrated
ex lover of the female lead and the
brother of the male lead! All I did
in the movie was run through the scenes
frightening the natives to death and
back to the plantation fields. The film
came out in various disguises, Blacksnake,
The Whip, Duchess of Doom, Sweet Susie
she aint no Lady and eventually Slaves.
The film was the beginning of a friendship
with Russ that lasted many years.
VAMPIRE CIRCUS 1972 - This to me was one of the best ever
of the Hammer Horror movies. Directed
by Robert Young it had advanced special
effects of people changing into animals
and vice versa and also was one of the
most sexually explicit movies for its
time. I played the part of the circus
strongman and got my back blown out
with a shotgun blast prepared by special
effects master Les Bowie. Adrienne Corrie
was the female lead assisted by Lala
Ward and a young Lynne Fredericks. A
good movie spoiled slightly by Hammer
refusing to give Robert Young more time
to complete the film as he wanted. When
working for Hammer, it is to a budget,
financial and time and there is no question
of running over.
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