Gerry Sundquist

[Mr Flash]

Just a quick mention that Don’t Open Till Christmas is being shown on the Paranormal Channel this Saturday Night (23:00-01:00)

[MallenGirl]

I recently found this through a Google search. Since I do regular searches on the subject I do not know why I did not find it earlier.



I have been a fan of Gerry for more than twenty years, kind of like you described it, EllyMack. Though I discovered him later than most of you. I have never seen the many articles and pin-ups that must have been there in the teen-mags at the height of his success when The Mallens and Great Expectiations were on TV. Does anyone remember what was written about Gerry at that time?



EllyMack, first I would like to encourage you to build a web site on Gerry's memory. And then, for you and whoever is interested: The Last Days of Pompeii is available on DVD in Germany, and, apart from the German language, it has also the English language on it. Search for letzten Tage von Pompeji, and take care that it is the 2008-edition. There are a number of scenes cut out, but not so many as on the 2007-edition, which must have been awful.

[Amethyst_Isle]

I remember seeing The Music Machine in the cinema it was hailed as The British Saturday Night Fever,starred Gerry and Patti Boulaye but sadly it was not to be.

[EllyMack]

name='Amethyst_Isle']I remember seeing The Music Machine in the cinema it was hailed as The British Saturday Night Fever,starred Gerry and Patti Boulaye but sadly it was not to be.

Thing is, it's actually quite a watchable film, naff though the plot may be.



There's one little comedic moment in it, where Gerry has to emerge from behind a piano in a dance studio wearing some sort of leotard come jumpsuit, in predictably embarrassed fashion. There are similar little moments in other films and I often wonder whether, had circumstances been otherwise, he wouldn't have become a successful sitcom actor.



Ah well ...

[Ali M]

name='EllyMack']Thing is, it's actually quite a watchable film, naff though the plot may be.



There's one little comedic moment in it, where Gerry has to emerge from behind a piano in a dance studio wearing some sort of leotard come jumpsuit, in predictably embarrassed fashion. There are similar little moments in other films and I often wonder whether, had circumstances been otherwise, he wouldn't have become a successful sitcom actor.



Ah well ...

Elly...I have to ask...you wouldn't be able to post a picture of that leotard scene?

[Hackett]

I remember him being touted for one of the leads in a film of the Kray twins. With of all people Hywel Bennett playing the other twin. I thought it was great casting at the time what with one of them born in Manchester and the other in Wales and of course for twins the 11 year age gap was going to up the make-up budget.

[EllyMack]

name='Ali M']Elly...I have to ask...you wouldn't be able to post a picture of that leotard scene?

I would love to be able to capture some stills from some of the DVDs I have, but strange as it may seem, I don't know how to do it. I'm not even sure I have the software or where to get it if I haven't.



Of course, any advice would be welcome.

[miger]

Ellie,

VLC player is a free to download program that plays DVD's , and other media files---------it also has a 'snapshot' feature where it takes a picture of a frame you are viewing and saves it.

it's here: VideoLAN - Free and Open Source software and video streaming solutions for every OS!

[EllyMack]

Thanks miger. I've bookmarked their site and will have good shufty at the weekend.

[CaptEmzIThink]

oooo - glad I found this site. I had such a crush on Gerry. I was about 12 when I watched Passion Flower Hotel -hahaha what can I say - but i'm sure that film kicked my hormones into action. He was gorgeous - I read about his death about 7 or 8 years ago - I was absolutely gutted. I sound really pathetic but you couldnt help but goggle at everything he was in, 'Last Days of Pompeii', 'Great Expectations', 'Hunchback of Notredame'. At least there is more and more stuff about him on the the net now - once there was hardly anything!! Have to say that - dont laugh - Hunchback of NotreDame was such an inspiration to me - I thought Lesley Anne Down was the most beautiful woman in the world - I wanted to look like her, I wanted to be able to act like Anthony Hopkins (well at least we share our birthday on New Years Eve) and I wanted a fella like Gerry. Strange thing is - ever since I have always gone for the big blue eyes and the most gprgeous long eyelashes ever!!! There its taken me a long time and I got it out of my system - plus when I mention him to people - no-one has a clue who I am going on about!!!!! First post on here - sorry!!!!!!

[EllyMack]

That's alright, Emz. He's the reason I found this forum too, and I'm jolly glad I did. I first learned of his death in around 2003 when I decided to look him up on the internet, as you do. Like you, I was gutted. More than gutted, his death really got to me and I still don't know why. It's been a kind of unofficial mission since to make people aware of him and remember him. I have pictures of him on my desktop and screensaver at work, and on my phone. People ask who he is and I tell them and sometimes they do remember him. It's what I call an 'Elvis thing' and where I used to feel a bit embarrassed about it (I'm nearly 50), now I'm not. In fact, I feel proud to have watched him.



I'm something of a musician, and wanted to compose something to his memory. But I'm a lousy composer and it would have been more of an insult than a tribute. What I did do was write a teen novel in his memory, and which will be dedicated to him if I'm ever lucky enough to have it published. I'm also working on an idea for a memorial website. I'm finishing off a degree course at the moment, but will hopefully be able to make a proper start on the project in a few weeks.



Incidentally, I would welcome ideas from anyone as to exactly what format the site should take - forums/message boards, biographical stuff etc etc - and what the look and feel of it should be. I don't want to do anything cliched or morbid. Neither am I an expert in the web design game, so it won't be anything fancy either.



Cheers for now.



E

[Ali M]

name='EllyMack']Incidentally, I would welcome ideas from anyone as to exactly what format the site should take - forums/message boards, biographical stuff etc etc - and what the look and feel of it should be. I don't want to do anything cliched or morbid. Neither am I an expert in the web design game, so it won't be anything fancy either.



Cheers for now.



E

Elly, your idea is wonderful. I would recommend that you look at the memorial site that was created for, Gerry's TLDoP co-star, Nicholas Clay. It is very tasteful and there is a memory book for fans to post their thoughts and comments. Go to Dandalf the Dragon The site's creator seems to do a lot memorial sites for various people.



Also check out the IMDb site under Gerry Sundquist. You may have done this already. His entire filmography is listed. There is also a message board with some interesting postings. One from a relative of Gerry's.



Good luck!

Ali

[EllyMack]

Will check out that first site you mentioned, Ali. Thanks. I've done the IMDB route, and there's a useful article in Wikipedia as well. I'm also in touch with a user here who knew him at school.



Also, every so often I check out search engines for anything new coming up about either Gerry or his brother. Sometimes it returns a useful result, such as this site, for instance.



Cheers

E

[Ali M]

name='Hackett']I remember him being touted for one of the leads in a film of the Kray twins. With of all people Hywel Bennett playing the other twin. I thought it was great casting at the time what with one of them born in Manchester and the other in Wales and of course for twins the 11 year age gap was going to up the make-up budget.

Interesting point, Hackett. The film was made in 1990 and starred real life brothers Gary and Martin Kemp (lead singer for Spandu Ballet). However, it would have been very very interesting to see what the makeup dept would have done with Gerry Sundquist or Hywel Bennett. Especially since neither one looked anything like the other or the original Kray brothers.



Cheers,

Ali

[Lord Brett]

name='Ali M']Interesting point, Hackett. The film was made in 1990 and starred real life brothers Gary and Martin Kemp (lead singer for Spandu Ballet).

Sorry to be pendantic, but Tony Hadley was/is lead singer with Spandau Ballet. Martin Kemp played bass guitar, while Gary was guitarist and wrote the songs.

[Lulu]

name='EllyMack']That's alright, Emz. He's the reason I found this forum too, and I'm jolly glad I did. I first learned of his death in around 2003 when I decided to look him up on the internet, as you do. Like you, I was gutted. More than gutted, his death really got to me and I still don't know why. It's been a kind of unofficial mission since to make people aware of him and remember him. I have pictures of him on my desktop and screensaver at work, and on my phone. People ask who he is and I tell them and sometimes they do remember him. It's what I call an 'Elvis thing' and where I used to feel a bit embarrassed about it (I'm nearly 50), now I'm not. In fact, I feel proud to have watched him.



I'm something of a musician, and wanted to compose something to his memory. But I'm a lousy composer and it would have been more of an insult than a tribute. What I did do was write a teen novel in his memory, and which will be dedicated to him if I'm ever lucky enough to have it published. I'm also working on an idea for a memorial website. I'm finishing off a degree course at the moment, but will hopefully be able to make a proper start on the project in a few weeks.



Incidentally, I would welcome ideas from anyone as to exactly what format the site should take - forums/message boards, biographical stuff etc etc - and what the look and feel of it should be. I don't want to do anything cliched or morbid. Neither am I an expert in the web design game, so it won't be anything fancy either.



Cheers for now.



E

Hi, I've just found this by accident - I thought I was the only one who remembered Gerry Sundquist so it's been interesting to read these posts! I first saw Gerry on T.V. 30 years ago when I was 11 and I fell in love with him and never forgot him! I was absolutely grief sticken when I found out about his death and I thought it had to be a mistake, at first, especially as he took his own life - I thought that surely someone like him wouldn't kill themselves! But of course it isn't a mistake. It took me a long while to get over it and I thought it seemed daft to be so devastated at the loss of someone I never even knew! Anyway, I too wanted to do something to ensure that his memory was kept alive, so I was glad to read EllyMack's suggestion of setting up a memorial website or something, so I wish you good luck with it! I do have a couple of interviews/magazine articles from around 1979/1980 that I could copy/type out for you, if needed.

[Gnome]

name='Lulu']Hi, I've just found this by accident - I thought I was the only one who remembered Gerry Sundquist so it's been interesting to read these posts! I first saw Gerry on T.V. 30 years ago when I was 11 and I fell in love with him and never forgot him! I was absolutely grief sticken when I found out about his death and I thought it had to be a mistake, at first, especially as he took his own life - I thought that surely someone like him wouldn't kill themselves! But of course it isn't a mistake. It took me a long while to get over it and I thought it seemed daft to be so devastated at the loss of someone I never even knew! Anyway, I too wanted to do something to ensure that his memory was kept alive, so I was glad to read EllyMack's suggestion of setting up a memorial website or something, so I wish you good luck with it! I do have a couple of interviews/magazine articles from around 1979/1980 that I could copy/type out for you, if needed.

I'm sure a few of us would be interested to see vintage interviews/articles, and no doubt Ellymack will be in touch to check if yours are already in her collection, so please get typing...

[Ali M]

name='Lulu']Hi, I've just found this by accident - I thought I was the only one who remembered Gerry Sundquist so it's been interesting to read these posts! I first saw Gerry on T.V. 30 years ago when I was 11 and I fell in love with him and never forgot him! I was absolutely grief sticken when I found out about his death and I thought it had to be a mistake, at first, especially as he took his own life - I thought that surely someone like him wouldn't kill themselves! But of course it isn't a mistake. It took me a long while to get over it and I thought it seemed daft to be so devastated at the loss of someone I never even knew! Anyway, I too wanted to do something to ensure that his memory was kept alive, so I was glad to read EllyMack's suggestion of setting up a memorial website or something, so I wish you good luck with it! I do have a couple of interviews/magazine articles from around 1979/1980 that I could copy/type out for you, if needed.

LuLu, I am so glad you found this site as well. It is touching that so many of us admired Gerry and were very saddened by his death. For a while I thought I had to be the only one in the world. So glad there are others. You mentioned an interview that you had a copy of. I would love it if you could post it. I have been trying get my hands on a copy of a 1980 magazine that had a two page article on Gerry. I mentioned it to EllyMack when I saw it on ebay UK. Unfortunately, when I went back to the site the magazine was no longer posted. Hopefully EllyMack was able to buy it.



Again, good to hear from another fan of those big blue eyes

[Lulu]

Hi again,



I've just had a quick look what I have in the way of magazine articles or snippets. There is a longer feature and interview in a 1979 edition of 'Film Review' magazine about Gerry's role in 'Music Machine' plus other features/interviews in July 'Film Review', Photoplay magazine and 'My Guy' magazine too! I have a 1979 edition of 'Jackie' but there isn't any text - just a centrespread photo!! I will see what I can do re: typing out features. It might be best if I gave you the 'gist' of the articles and type out the facts, background info. on Gerry, as covered in features and then also type Gerry's interview snippets word for word. So I will get onto it in the next week or so when I have time!

So glad to know that there are others out there with such fond memories of Gerry - isn't it sad that he doesn't know that we all still remember him after all this time? Presumably you have the T.V. episodes (on DVD) that he has featured in - 'The Mallens' and the Space 1999 episode of 'The Dorcons' where he has a leading role? Also if you don't have 'Music Machine' (on video so I haven't watched it for a year or so!), there are a couple of clips on YouTube as well as the 'Hunchback of NotreDame'. One of the only things I haven't seen is the episode of 'The Bill' he was supposed to have been in in 1992. Has anybody seen that? Hopefully Ellymack will have time to sort out some sort of website tribute. I would have liked to have done it myself but have no idea how to build websites! Back soon,

Lulu.

[Ali M]

Hi Lulu,



That would be very much appreciated! The Film Review Mag was another one I did try to order. Would you be able to scan any photos from those articles? I hope I am not being cheeky and asking a lot. I know we would all love to see them.



Cheers,

Ali