The world of Michael Winner - Britmovie

julian_craster · 21-11-2007, 09:43 AM

THE INDEPENDENT
21 November 2007 09:40

Michael Winner: Behind the scenes

Since he bought the palatial house he grew up in, Michael Winner has installed a few toys of his own – not least a Jacuzzi, pool and cinema room

Interview by Tessa Williams-Akoto

Published: 21 November 2007

The house is already on tours of London's most important Victorian buildings

I used to get rather annoyed when people said I inherited this house. I wish I had – it would have saved me a lot of money. The truth is that in 1972, my parents moved to France, and since there was an enormous gift tax in those days, I bought it from them.
Back then, the house consisted of one flat and two other rent-controlled flats. On top of that, the lease was only 17 years. I managed to negotiate a new one until 2040, but I have decided that I will be leaving the house to the nation – as a museum.

It was once the home of a Victorian artist called Sir Luke Fildes, and was built a well-known domestic architect, Richard Norman Shaw. Where Fildes's studio was is now my bedroom. Edward VII called it one of the finest rooms in London.
The house is already on tours of London's most important Victorian buildings – I often see 20 or 30 people outside, with someone talking, probably a load of drivel, outside the front gates.

One of the first things I did was put in a cinema. Before DVDs came on the scene, I had a real projector running 35mm film. I used to get all the films ahead of distributor time. The walls are decked out with black and white photos from my films. From Sophia Loren to John Cleese and Charles Bronson – the only portrait that isn't from my own productions is a signed photo that I bought of Marilyn Monroe. You see it as soon as you come in the door.

The cinema does feature in my new book, Fat Pig Diet, as it is incredibly handy to have something to take your mind off eating in the evening. After the cinema, I decided to put in a swimming pool, a Jacuzzi and a mini-gymnasium. I thought it would be nice to have a swim occasionally, I had the space and, thank God, I had the money to do it!

Although it looks a great house for parties, I never have any. I'm a total recluse. I'm at home at least four nights of the week.
When I moved in, I got Tessa Kennedy to help me to do it up. I wanted it to look like the house of a country vicar – of course, she did it very posh and it looked quite over the top. I said, "This is not a country vicar's house – this must belong to one who won the lottery." A lot of the rooms I have since changed from how Tessa originally designed them.

There are nine toilets and seven bathrooms – because I'm a bachelor, I don't need many bedrooms, but you could quite easily have 15 if you wanted to. At the moment, there are three bedrooms in active use – one for the housekeeper, one for me and one for Geraldine in case I snore too much. I'm not sure when we will get married. I acquired a fiancée. I said, "Geraldine, darling, it's taken me 71 years to get a fiancée – so don't hold your breath for the wedding!"

We have quite a lot of staff – two dailies, a live-in housekeeper, a gardener, a chauffeur and a cook. When I lived here with my parents, my bedroom was what is now the kitchen, and the walls were covered with pictures of me and lots of the stars. Me and Nat King Cole, me and Bob Hope. As a young boy I had a column in 17 local newspapers, which allowed me to meet and interview all the stars.
There are many things I love about this house. It has great space, the rooms are enormous. It has a five-car garage and the garden is wonderful. It is a very livable and comfortable place. I have the best neighbour in the world: Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin. And I'm right next door to the park.

Geraldine and I watch a lot of movies. I'm a member of the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and I vote for the Oscars, so they send us zillions of DVDs. A new batch has just come in. The last film we saw was Waitress, which I really enjoyed. I also love old black-and-white films. I don't find the current standard of TV comedy very exciting. My best friend John Cleese is extremely funny and I loved Michael Crawford in Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em. But they're all trying to be too clever now. I can't stand all these reality TV shows – a chef shouldn't be a celebrity, he should be in the kitchen with his mouth shut.
I'm the greatest collector ever – if you look around the house, every wall is packed with paintings. I have an enormous collection of children's books – originals by Arthur Rackham, some of Winnie the Pooh, and Dulac. I also have two portraits of myself, one by Peter Edwards, the other by Anne Mackintosh.

I wouldn't want to own another house. The maintenance on this house is quite enough! And I love hotels, I love luxury hotels. They can worry about the roof leaking and the plumbing. One of my favourite hotels is La Reserve de Beaulieu in the South of France. This house has 47 rooms and it takes 168 lightbulbs just to light the outside. God knows how many are in the rest of the house.

Since writing my diet book, I have become very health-conscious. I don't tend to cook at home that much, but I do make a fantastic scrambled eggs – in a frying pan, oddly enough. When I told Ava Gardner that I made them like that, she said Frank used to make them in exactly the same way. I can't sing like Sinatra, but I can do eggs like him.

The film director and producer and restaurant critic Michael Winner was born in 1935 in London, the son of a property investor. His latest book is The Fat Pig Diet. He lives near Kensington with Geraldine Lynton-Davies, his fiancée and on-off girlfriend of 40 years.

Hackett · 21-11-2007, 01:48 PM

Not everyones favourite But I have always enjoyed reading about and listning to Mr. Winner. I enjoy his films as well, not all, but most. I admire his fortitude and the fact that as an Englishman he has made some great westerns. Always a good turn and long may he continue.

orpheum · 21-11-2007, 02:02 PM

Most of his films would qualify for the worst 10 british films ever.You could say he reached his peak with Some Like It Cool and from then on it was downhill.

oxfam1uk · 21-11-2007, 04:54 PM

Quote:

Geraldine Lynton-Davies, his fiancée and on-off girlfriend

Not a mental image that I wish to retain ! Didn't Jenny Seagrove live with him for many years? What did she see in him?
Well, "Hannibal Brooks" might be a passable war film, but "Passing Shots" has got to be the most unfunny comedy ever. There were only two substantial reasons to watch that film, and Nicola Bryant had both of them ...

batman · 21-11-2007, 05:00 PM

Hannibal Brooks is a good film. Of Winner's output I also like The System, The Nightcomers and Lawman.

However bad Parting Shots is (I haven't seen it) it surely cannot be as awful as Bullseye!

Bats

oxfam1uk · 21-11-2007, 05:17 PM

The most depressing thing about "Parting Shots" is that it has an astonishingly good cast (John Cleese, Bob Hoskins, Diana Rigg, Ben Kingsley, and many more) yet the script is completely flat and unfunny.

There is an enduring mystery here: how did Michael Winner persuade these big names to take part in his turkey? Did he refuse to show the script to any of them ("Trust me, darlings, it'll be wonderful !!!). Or does his luxury home have a cupboardful of embarassing material with which to blackmail actors !

Mr Cosmo · 21-11-2007, 06:57 PM

I always remember that line from HAVE I GOT NEWS FOR YOU from a few years back where they quoted Michael Winner who said "Every morning when I wake up I take a few steps to the edge of the balcony, look at the world and think how lucky I am". Angus Deaton added "Take another few steps and think how lucky we'd all be!"

AdrianTurner · 21-11-2007, 07:02 PM

The thing youhave to understand about Michael Winner is this: by and large, actors simply adorehim because he worships themand indulges their every whim. I believe both Brando and Burt Lancaster called him their favourite director (Clive James's acid profile of Lancaster in North Face of Soho has some pricless Winner stuff). Crews, on the other hand, tend not to like him as is famously short-tempered and rude to them. Another thing: Winner is incredibly good company - he can anecdote with the best of them - and he can be seriously generous with his cash. I also think he's a brilliant and incorruptible restaurant critic and one of Britain's most complicated "celebrities." Once in the 70s, when I was managing a cinema, I personally found him obnoxious but on subsequent occasions, all brief, he seemed rather pleasant.

D Cairns · 21-11-2007, 10:50 PM

PARTING SHOTS is maybe even worse than BULLSEYE! although maybe not quite as creepy.

Movie stars like Winner, ordinary actors don't, because they get treated like the crew, ie abominably. He has the reputation of being a bully who is simply smart enough to know he can't get away with pushing around anyone more highly-paid than himself. You can see just from the roles that the lesser-known actors get that they're not valued. Marina Sirtis, an unknown at the time of THE WICKED LADY, has to be naked in EVERY SINGLE SCENE she's in.

He has presided over a few entertaining movies, but I would question whether his direction actually adds to them. In anybody else's hands, Winner's best films would be -- better.

batman · 21-11-2007, 11:17 PM

IIRC he once made a statement that "a team effort is lots of people doing what I say" or something like that.

I think his directing style never really evolved from the 60s. Even in later efforts such as Bullseye and Dirty Weekend the framing of shots was much the same as he used in films like Hannibal Brooks. He is also over fond of 'zoom' shots, a technique he used to irritating effect in Firepower and again in Bullseye.

I don't think Parting Shots is going to be on my "DVDs I want for Xmas" list.

Bats.

dremble wedge · 21-11-2007, 11:27 PM

Winner's CV is pretty solid up until the mid-70s but there's not that much that's impressive after that (although I have a fondness for The Big Sleep)

Hackett · 22-11-2007, 12:22 PM

His film "THE JOKERS" 1967 was always being asked for on this site. Up there for DVD release with "ROBBERY" and "MELODY". Sure he has made a couple of stinkers, who aint, but he must be more popular now? he's got thinner.
Another reason I like him is because he gets up a lot of pompous peoples noses just for being successful and making a few bob. And long may he continue to do that.

Azanti · 24-11-2007, 11:15 AM

Big fan of Hannibal Brooks.

Can't comment on Winner personally as I have never met him, though I dare say a pint and a meal with him would be a good laugh. As for the rest of his films, most are dreadful

Mr Cosmo · 25-11-2007, 06:42 PM

A few years back Chichester Film Festival had a Michael Winner day. If my memory serves me correctly it went like this...

12:00 The Jokers
14:00 I'll Never Forget Whatsisname
16:00 The Nightcomers (uncut version)
19:00 Michael Winner in person doing q & a
21:00 Chorus Of Disapproval
23:30 Death Wish

My son and I were the only 2 ever-presents for the entire day. All the films (except DEATH WISH) had some very positive points and CHORUS OF DISAPPROVAL went down very well and got a lot of laughs. The man himself was very entertaining and told some good stories and answered all kinds of questions (although some people there obviously only knew him as a food critic). He even answered my question about THE COOL MIKADO which has to be the worst film ever made and autographed my copy, but he clearly wished that the film had been buried and forgotten!

Windthrop · 25-11-2007, 07:51 PM

I think the last Winner film worthy of any serious consideration is A Chorus of Disaproval. I am a fan of Alan Ayckbourns plays (SJT is a not too far away) and when I saw the film at the cinema I thought it quite good despite the dreadful reviews. I had missed the play at Scarborough and caught it nearly 15 years after seeing the film. I am probably alone in saying this but I thought the film improved on the its source material. The real weakness in the film is Jeremy Irons overplaying apart from that it is not bad at all. I don't think the play is one os AAs best but Winner caught quite well (using Scarborough) the small town provincial atmosphere. AA doesn't like the film but I think it captures the provincial dysfunctional lifes of his characters quite well.

21-11-2007, 09:43 AM	#1
julian_craster has no status. Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Isle of Foula, UK Posts: 1,537 Country: iTrader: (0)	The world of Michael Winner THE INDEPENDENT 21 November 2007 09:40 Michael Winner: Behind the scenes Since he bought the palatial house he grew up in, Michael Winner has installed a few toys of his own – not least a Jacuzzi, pool and cinema room Interview by Tessa Williams-Akoto Published: 21 November 2007 The house is already on tours of London's most important Victorian buildings I used to get rather annoyed when people said I inherited this house. I wish I had – it would have saved me a lot of money. The truth is that in 1972, my parents moved to France, and since there was an enormous gift tax in those days, I bought it from them. Back then, the house consisted of one flat and two other rent-controlled flats. On top of that, the lease was only 17 years. I managed to negotiate a new one until 2040, but I have decided that I will be leaving the house to the nation – as a museum. It was once the home of a Victorian artist called Sir Luke Fildes, and was built a well-known domestic architect, Richard Norman Shaw. Where Fildes's studio was is now my bedroom. Edward VII called it one of the finest rooms in London. The house is already on tours of London's most important Victorian buildings – I often see 20 or 30 people outside, with someone talking, probably a load of drivel, outside the front gates. One of the first things I did was put in a cinema. Before DVDs came on the scene, I had a real projector running 35mm film. I used to get all the films ahead of distributor time. The walls are decked out with black and white photos from my films. From Sophia Loren to John Cleese and Charles Bronson – the only portrait that isn't from my own productions is a signed photo that I bought of Marilyn Monroe. You see it as soon as you come in the door. The cinema does feature in my new book, Fat Pig Diet, as it is incredibly handy to have something to take your mind off eating in the evening. After the cinema, I decided to put in a swimming pool, a Jacuzzi and a mini-gymnasium. I thought it would be nice to have a swim occasionally, I had the space and, thank God, I had the money to do it! Although it looks a great house for parties, I never have any. I'm a total recluse. I'm at home at least four nights of the week. When I moved in, I got Tessa Kennedy to help me to do it up. I wanted it to look like the house of a country vicar – of course, she did it very posh and it looked quite over the top. I said, "This is not a country vicar's house – this must belong to one who won the lottery." A lot of the rooms I have since changed from how Tessa originally designed them. There are nine toilets and seven bathrooms – because I'm a bachelor, I don't need many bedrooms, but you could quite easily have 15 if you wanted to. At the moment, there are three bedrooms in active use – one for the housekeeper, one for me and one for Geraldine in case I snore too much. I'm not sure when we will get married. I acquired a fiancée. I said, "Geraldine, darling, it's taken me 71 years to get a fiancée – so don't hold your breath for the wedding!" We have quite a lot of staff – two dailies, a live-in housekeeper, a gardener, a chauffeur and a cook. When I lived here with my parents, my bedroom was what is now the kitchen, and the walls were covered with pictures of me and lots of the stars. Me and Nat King Cole, me and Bob Hope. As a young boy I had a column in 17 local newspapers, which allowed me to meet and interview all the stars. There are many things I love about this house. It has great space, the rooms are enormous. It has a five-car garage and the garden is wonderful. It is a very livable and comfortable place. I have the best neighbour in the world: Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin. And I'm right next door to the park. Geraldine and I watch a lot of movies. I'm a member of the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and I vote for the Oscars, so they send us zillions of DVDs. A new batch has just come in. The last film we saw was Waitress, which I really enjoyed. I also love old black-and-white films. I don't find the current standard of TV comedy very exciting. My best friend John Cleese is extremely funny and I loved Michael Crawford in Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em. But they're all trying to be too clever now. I can't stand all these reality TV shows – a chef shouldn't be a celebrity, he should be in the kitchen with his mouth shut. I'm the greatest collector ever – if you look around the house, every wall is packed with paintings. I have an enormous collection of children's books – originals by Arthur Rackham, some of Winnie the Pooh, and Dulac. I also have two portraits of myself, one by Peter Edwards, the other by Anne Mackintosh. I wouldn't want to own another house. The maintenance on this house is quite enough! And I love hotels, I love luxury hotels. They can worry about the roof leaking and the plumbing. One of my favourite hotels is La Reserve de Beaulieu in the South of France. This house has 47 rooms and it takes 168 lightbulbs just to light the outside. God knows how many are in the rest of the house. Since writing my diet book, I have become very health-conscious. I don't tend to cook at home that much, but I do make a fantastic scrambled eggs – in a frying pan, oddly enough. When I told Ava Gardner that I made them like that, she said Frank used to make them in exactly the same way. I can't sing like Sinatra, but I can do eggs like him. The film director and producer and restaurant critic Michael Winner was born in 1935 in London, the son of a property investor. His latest book is The Fat Pig Diet. He lives near Kensington with Geraldine Lynton-Davies, his fiancée and on-off girlfriend of 40 years.

21-11-2007, 02:02 PM	#3
orpheum is wishing he were sitting in the 3/9s at the Odeon Temple Fortune Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: London Posts: 1,302 Country: iTrader: (4)	Most of his films would qualify for the worst 10 british films ever.You could say he reached his peak with Some Like It Cool and from then on it was downhill. __________________ Welcome To Highbury The Home Of Football

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21-11-2007, 01:48 PM	#2
Hackett has no status. Senior Member Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: England Posts: 765 Country: iTrader: (0)	Not everyones favourite But I have always enjoyed reading about and listning to Mr. Winner. I enjoy his films as well, not all, but most. I admire his fortitude and the fact that as an Englishman he has made some great westerns. Always a good turn and long may he continue.

21-11-2007, 05:00 PM	#5
batman is not The Night Stalker Chief Member OBME Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Norwich Posts: 15,129 My Mood: Country: iTrader: (10)	Hannibal Brooks is a good film. Of Winner's output I also like The System, The Nightcomers and Lawman. However bad Parting Shots is (I haven't seen it) it surely cannot be as awful as Bullseye! Bats

21-11-2007, 05:17 PM	#6
oxfam1uk is Too hot Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Saffron Walden Posts: 179 Country: iTrader: (0)	The most depressing thing about "Parting Shots" is that it has an astonishingly good cast (John Cleese, Bob Hoskins, Diana Rigg, Ben Kingsley, and many more) yet the script is completely flat and unfunny. There is an enduring mystery here: how did Michael Winner persuade these big names to take part in his turkey? Did he refuse to show the script to any of them ("Trust me, darlings, it'll be wonderful !!!). Or does his luxury home have a cupboardful of embarassing material with which to blackmail actors !

21-11-2007, 06:57 PM	#7
Mr Cosmo has no status. Senior Member Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Ambrosia Posts: 357 Country: iTrader: (2)	I always remember that line from HAVE I GOT NEWS FOR YOU from a few years back where they quoted Michael Winner who said "Every morning when I wake up I take a few steps to the edge of the balcony, look at the world and think how lucky I am". Angus Deaton added "Take another few steps and think how lucky we'd all be!"

21-11-2007, 07:02 PM	#8
AdrianTurner has no status. Member Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Go-Between country Posts: 80 Country: iTrader: (0)	The thing youhave to understand about Michael Winner is this: by and large, actors simply adorehim because he worships themand indulges their every whim. I believe both Brando and Burt Lancaster called him their favourite director (Clive James's acid profile of Lancaster in North Face of Soho has some pricless Winner stuff). Crews, on the other hand, tend not to like him as is famously short-tempered and rude to them. Another thing: Winner is incredibly good company - he can anecdote with the best of them - and he can be seriously generous with his cash. I also think he's a brilliant and incorruptible restaurant critic and one of Britain's most complicated "celebrities." Once in the 70s, when I was managing a cinema, I personally found him obnoxious but on subsequent occasions, all brief, he seemed rather pleasant.

21-11-2007, 10:50 PM	#9
D Cairns has no status. Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Edinburgh Posts: 470 Country: iTrader: (0)	PARTING SHOTS is maybe even worse than BULLSEYE! although maybe not quite as creepy. Movie stars like Winner, ordinary actors don't, because they get treated like the crew, ie abominably. He has the reputation of being a bully who is simply smart enough to know he can't get away with pushing around anyone more highly-paid than himself. You can see just from the roles that the lesser-known actors get that they're not valued. Marina Sirtis, an unknown at the time of THE WICKED LADY, has to be naked in EVERY SINGLE SCENE she's in. He has presided over a few entertaining movies, but I would question whether his direction actually adds to them. In anybody else's hands, Winner's best films would be -- better.

21-11-2007, 11:17 PM	#10
batman is not The Night Stalker Chief Member OBME Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Norwich Posts: 15,129 My Mood: Country: iTrader: (10)	IIRC he once made a statement that "a team effort is lots of people doing what I say" or something like that. I think his directing style never really evolved from the 60s. Even in later efforts such as Bullseye and Dirty Weekend the framing of shots was much the same as he used in films like Hannibal Brooks. He is also over fond of 'zoom' shots, a technique he used to irritating effect in Firepower and again in Bullseye. I don't think Parting Shots is going to be on my "DVDs I want for Xmas" list. Bats.

21-11-2007, 11:27 PM	#11
dremble wedge is receiving parcels Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: derbyshire Posts: 1,393 Country: iTrader: (0)	Winner's CV is pretty solid up until the mid-70s but there's not that much that's impressive after that (although I have a fondness for The Big Sleep)

22-11-2007, 12:22 PM	#12
Hackett has no status. Senior Member Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: England Posts: 765 Country: iTrader: (0)	His film "THE JOKERS" 1967 was always being asked for on this site. Up there for DVD release with "ROBBERY" and "MELODY". Sure he has made a couple of stinkers, who aint, but he must be more popular now? he's got thinner. Another reason I like him is because he gets up a lot of pompous peoples noses just for being successful and making a few bob. And long may he continue to do that.

24-11-2007, 11:15 AM	#13
Azanti has no status. Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: London Posts: 128 Country: iTrader: (0)	Big fan of Hannibal Brooks. Can't comment on Winner personally as I have never met him, though I dare say a pint and a meal with him would be a good laugh. As for the rest of his films, most are dreadful

25-11-2007, 06:42 PM	#14
Mr Cosmo has no status. Senior Member Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Ambrosia Posts: 357 Country: iTrader: (2)	A few years back Chichester Film Festival had a Michael Winner day. If my memory serves me correctly it went like this... 12:00 The Jokers 14:00 I'll Never Forget Whatsisname 16:00 The Nightcomers (uncut version) 19:00 Michael Winner in person doing q & a 21:00 Chorus Of Disapproval 23:30 Death Wish My son and I were the only 2 ever-presents for the entire day. All the films (except DEATH WISH) had some very positive points and CHORUS OF DISAPPROVAL went down very well and got a lot of laughs. The man himself was very entertaining and told some good stories and answered all kinds of questions (although some people there obviously only knew him as a food critic). He even answered my question about THE COOL MIKADO which has to be the worst film ever made and autographed my copy, but he clearly wished that the film had been buried and forgotten!

25-11-2007, 07:51 PM	#15
Windthrop has no status. Senior Member Join Date: May 2007 Location: North Yorks Posts: 4,876 Country: iTrader: (0)	I think the last Winner film worthy of any serious consideration is A Chorus of Disaproval. I am a fan of Alan Ayckbourns plays (SJT is a not too far away) and when I saw the film at the cinema I thought it quite good despite the dreadful reviews. I had missed the play at Scarborough and caught it nearly 15 years after seeing the film. I am probably alone in saying this but I thought the film improved on the its source material. The real weakness in the film is Jeremy Irons overplaying apart from that it is not bad at all. I don't think the play is one os AAs best but Winner caught quite well (using Scarborough) the small town provincial atmosphere. AA doesn't like the film but I think it captures the provincial dysfunctional lifes of his characters quite well.