Trivia/Anecdotes

"Nobody fled the building"

Ken Russell's THE DEVILS gets standing ovation at Film Festival

SHETLAND'S first ever film festival, Screenplay, has proved to be a big success despite its main filmmaking influence not being present.

Ken Russell sent his apologies through festival curator Mark Kermode who promised that there would be many other enjoyable moments.

The festival began on Thursday night with a highly praised screenings of short films made by local youngsters. Kermode interacted with them well and responded positively to their work.

This was followed by the BBC programme Reichenbach Falls. Afterwards, Amanda Millne had an open discussion with the films director and producer on the trials of getting it to the screen.

An up and coming filmmaker with strong Shetland connections Douglas MacKinnon (his mother was born in Yell) was the star on Friday night.

He presented his Bafta nominated, true life film, "The Flying Scotsman" about Graeme Obree who made a bike out of washing machine parts and won a championship.

Saturday's programme started with two classic children's films, "Yellow Submarine" and "Mary Poppins", which delighted youngsters at a sold out screening.

Cartoonist for the Beatles unusual foray to Pepperland, Mike Stuart, answered questions from Mark Kermode about his work on "Yellow Submarine" and as chief animator on "Pink Floyd's The Wall".

Ken Russell may not have been at the festival, but his spirit dominated with the rest of the weekend being taken up with a retrospective of his work.

His sweeping body of movies was fully investigated by his long term collaborator and editor Michael Bradsell. Films included Tommy, The Devils and Women in Love.

Donald Anderson of Shetland Arts said: "Although Ken Russell was not there for the festival, Mark, Mike and his biographer Linda Ruth Williams had so much information about him and understood what he was like as a person.

"It was great to hear about him from people that really knew him well."

Russell's highly controversial "The Devils" was famously cut by censors when it was released in 1971 due to its sexual and violent content, it was shown at Screenplay in a directors cut.

The shocking film was guaranteed to get a reaction from the audience as most of Russell's work does. At the weekend, the film which has been described as "grotesque" got a standing ovation.

Mr Anderson said: "The reaction to The Devils was fantastic and it is a great film. It is not easy entertainment, but a very great piece of art.

"Nobody fled the building or complained. There is no doubt that some of the film is really challenging, but it is not presented in an exploitative or gratuitous way."

The success of the first Shetland film festival means there are high hopes for it to continue as an annual event.

Organiser Mr Anderson added: "I think what was great about the film festival, was that over the whole piece it had a really good attendance. What was also good was that it wasn't just the same audience coming back.

"It was great for this first Shetland film festival to have reached such a broad spectrum of people."

Michael Parkinson interviewed both actress Wendy Richard and Irish comedian Patrick Kielty on his Parkinson chat show. Both guests recalled their encounters with Oliver Reed...

Michael Parkinson: Alright? We had a spectacular, this is the first time we've met on television, since we first met on television in these very studios a long time ago. Do you remember?

Wendy Richards: Yes, yes. I'll never forget it. To start off there was Roy Kinnear, Henry Cooper and myself and Michael and Oliver Reed was one of the guests. So we were all sitting in our pecking order and we knew Oliver was going to come on next. And he didn't come on from the side, he punched a hole in the set! And I thought it was part of the programme till I saw Michael's face and then I thought hang on we've only done part one and what's going to happen for part two. And then you saw poor Henry sitting there and Oliver took a swing at him, Henry ducked and I swear my eyelashes sort of fluttered, he was that close. What a night!

Michael Parkinson: I know, he was a mad man. And he's had him too.

Patrick Kielty: I had him on a chat show in Belfast once. And he was drinking from lunch time and we couldn't book anyone else because it was in Belfast and it was live and it was my worst moment on television. He's just bought a castle in Ireland and so my opening question was, "How long have you been here?" And he said, "Young man, how long is your dick?"

David Hemmings Vs Oliver Reed

Richard Luck 30 May 2007, 3:00 PM

In his final interview, Blow Up star David Hemmings explained how he almost came to blows with best mate Oliver Reed while making The Prince And The Pauper, showing today on Channel 4 at 9.25am.

David Hemmings was cut from a different cloth. Benjamin Britten's boy tenor of choice, Hemmings grew up to be the darling of 1960s cinema courtesy of his starring roles in Blow Up and Barbarella. Then, after years of directing TV shows like 'The A-Team' and 'Airwolf', he returned to the big screen, delivering strong supporting performances in Gangs Of New York, Last Orders and the Mean Machine remake.

With his rich voice, ripe sense of humour and bank vault of solid-gold anecdotes, this writer was thrilled to sit down with the great man while he was in Sydney to shoot the Frank Sinatra biopic The Night We Called It A Day. Forgoing dinner in order to enjoy a longer chat and an extended puff on his beloved cigars, David Hemmings spun great tales about everyone from Mr T and Leonardo DiCaprio to Richard Harris and Jane Fonda. However, his favourite stories concerned his much missed best mate Oliver Reed.

"I've a thousand great tales to tell about Oliver," chuckled Hemmings in tones that suggested he marinated his larynx in brandy. "I think my favourite is about the time we were making The Prince And The Pauper with Dick Flesicher in Hungary. Oliver was in great form back then - really living life to the full. So there we were one morning, shooting a scene where he had to beat me up in the back of a horse-drawn carriage. When Olly fought, he really set about you. And, to make matters worse, I'd just nicked his bird!

"So Richard Fleischer shouts 'Action!' and the next thing I know, I'm out of the carriage and sprinting off the set with my trousers falling down and Oliver in hot pursuit, his sword out of his scarab. Crazy!"

Of course, David Hemmings has now been tragically been reunited with his fellow hellraiser. One can but hope that somewhere a celestial pint is being raised as Messrs Hemmings and Reed prepare for round two.

In his award winning Radio 4 Comedy Old Harry's Game, Andy Hamilton plays Satan who rules over modern day Hell populated by famous figures from the past. With his assistant demon, Scumspawn, they recall the arrival of Oliver Reed...

Scumspawn: Umm...
Satan: I don't like the sound of that 'Umm', Scumspawn. That's the same 'Umm' you came out with moments before you told me that we'd just taken delivery of Oliver Reed...
Scumspawn: Oh yes!
Satan: And that he'd drunk the Lake of Fire. Do you remember that?
Scumspawn: I remember the belch...
Satan: Oh yeah. He was like a human flame-thrower, wasn't he?

Beyond Our Ken

Ali Catterall 5 January 2007, 11:38 AM

Ten things you never knew about the "padre terrible" of Celebrity Big Brother.

3) The late Oliver Reed once challenged Russell to a duel with five-foot long broadswords in order to get in character for a script Ollie had written about the murder of Thomas à Becket. As Russell recalled, "I knew that I'd have to fight him properly otherwise he'd kill me. So we were duelling and I brought the blade down with all the force I could muster. It crashed across his chest, tearing open his shirt." Oliver looked down to find a sea of blood and bare flesh. 'Excellent,' he roared" and removing a stuffed parrot from a Victorian glass dome on the fireplace, threw the parrot onto the blazing fire and put his bloodied shirt under the dome as a memento.

...

7) A lot of people have heard the story about Oliver Reed having a quick 'J Arthur' to increase the size of his member before nude wrestling Alan Bates in Women In Love. However, as leading producer and Reed associate Rick McCallum explains, few know the full extent of the tale. Recalls McCallum," The problem was that, around the time the film came out, Alan Bates had come out as an active homosexual. So no sooner would Oliver arrive on set with an engorged erection than Alan would become aroused. Oliver would then take one look at Alan's impressive package and his wood would wane. It took hours for the men to reach a stage where each were happy with their equipment and Ken Russell could get on with shooting."

SIN ON SATURDAY (1982)
BBC SCOTLAND

IT'S THE FALKSTER again, as Bernard, moonlighting from his pretend secret base in NOW GET OUT OF THAT, prepares to do a live eight-week summer fill-in for Parky with a chat show line-up of the usual suspects examining a different misdemeanour every week. Yes, that's an eight-week fill-in. Not seven. Because, of course, there's that well-known "eighth" deadly sin, "Getting Away With It". Anyhow, thanks chiefly to a pissed-up OLIVER REED disrupting the proceedings in predictable style, the thing was pulled after two weeks and Getting Away With It had, indeed, got away.

In the 1960 film "The Sword of Sherwood Forest", Oliver Reed's voice is not heard; he's dubbed throughout by another (anonymous) actor.

OLIVER REED

THE polished oak door at the front of the imposing mansion didn't have a bell to ring, or even an intercom.

Instead, visitors announced their arrival by using the door knocker - a massive brass penis that swivelled on hinges, attached to two equally impressive testicles.

I'd heard of a doorknob - but this was taking the p***.

What kind of person lives in a house like this?

I give you - Robert Oliver Reed. The irrepressible Ollie had finished recording his latest film, The Bruce, in Scotland. The film's press people had offered me an exclusive interview with the acting legend.

I lifted the giant penis and knocked twice. Dogs began barking and, after a few seconds, I heard the bolts being slipped behind the oak door.

"Good afternoon, Mr Reed. My name is." "F*** off!" And Ollie slammed the door in our faces.

Oliver Reed was waiting for us with a maniacal grin on his face. His eyes were red and his hair flattened.

I began by handing him a present I'd bought the previous afternoon.

According to reports, Ollie was going to attend a Scotland v Ireland rugby match at Murrayfield before the premiere of The Bruce. So, I had brought him an official SRU Scotland top.

Then, suddenly, he charged at me like a raging bull. I'm not exactly a butcher's pencil, so I readied my sixteen stone to meet Ollie's run.

Whack! In a blurred instant, I was flat on the floor with a giggling Ollie sprawled on top.

"What a f*****g tackle! Eh? Now, it's your turn to tackle me," he laughed.

I'd never played much rugby. Certainly not one-a-side and never against a semi-blootered international film star ... in his own drawing room.

In the 1995 film "Funny Bones", most of Oliver Reed's part was removed during editing.

Publican 'to excorcise ghost out of Southsea pub'

A Southsea publican, Janice McCormack, plans to call in an exorcist after a ghost apparently kept topping up regular's drinks.

The 60 year-old landlady, who runs the pub with husband Patrick, claims spirits are costing her a fortune after the beer-loving ghost continues to give away free beer.

She said the poltergeist, nicknamed 'Reedy' after legendary actor and drinker Oliver Reed, has been haunting her pub, the Apsley House in Southsea, Hants, after she took over the lease a decade ago.

But since the start of the year, it appears the generous ghoul mysteriously been filling regulars' glasses.

So frustrated at the ghost's actions, she plans to purge the pub of the spirit by holding a séance. Mrs McCormack has already spoken to a number of experts in the spirit world about removing her awkward regular.

"I know it sounds very strange, but people's pints keep getting topped up," she said.

"They pop to the toilet or put their pint down for a second or two, and when they turn around there is an extra inch of beer."

She said the spectre's sympathetic re-fills are hitting her in the pocket.

"My regulars love it but it is costing me because people are drinking less," she said.

"We are getting more people through the door but it seems to be people expecting a cheap, never-ending pint.

"It is all a bit strange and it is driving me round the bend a bit. It makes stock take an absolute nightmare."

The Apsley was formally a Victorian girls school before being used by boozy city councillors as their offices and was only turned into a pub in the 1960s.

Regular John Sanders, 27, said: "I will certainly miss old Reedy because he always keeps me topped up.

"It is a novelty but if the pub is going to lose money then perhaps he'll have to move to a different one.

"You were always guaranteed a hangover when you drank in the Apsley - and you'd always have money left in your pocket for a kebab on the way home."