Film stars offscreen interests

[dremble wedge]

Originally Posted by JamesM Donna, you have posted in your first month a third of my total in four years!!!

Donna will be catching up with Bats soon!

[CaptainWaggett]

Originally Posted by hankoler prunella scales loves narrow boats and owns one together with her hubbytimothy west.

I recently saw them looking round SS Great Britain in Bristol (excellent, BTW especially if you're with kids) so I guess they like all things watery.

[christoph404]

Being a bit of a smudger myself (thats photographer btw) Im always interested to find that quite a few stars are interested in the medium. Peter Sellers was a camera and photography nut, he always had to have the latest gear and had a 16mm camera which he used for his home movies. I've seen a few of his stills published and he took some loveley photos of Britt, but I guess it would be hard not to take a good photo of her!
Kubrick was a keen photographer before becoming a full time film director and there is a published book available of his early photos, as you would expect they are excellent. Sammy Davis Jr was another keen photographer, he documented his life and there is a fascinating and very hefty book of his life in his own photos available, lots of backstage and informal stuff with the rat pack and a fascinating look at showbiz life in vegas from an insider.
Jeff Bridges always makes a photo journal of every film he makes, he uses a panoramic camera, (think cinemascope but even wider) to produce stunning black and white images. At the end of filming Bridges publishes his work as a limited edition book at his own expense and gives copies out to the cast and crew. Much of his work has been commercially published in several books and his prints are exhibited and sold through specialist photo galleries.
Dennis Hoppper is another published photographer as is LOTR star Viggo Mortensen and I believe Yul Brynner was a keen smudger as well. Seems like a logical hobby for people who spend their lives surrounded by the art and mechanics of recording images on film, must be a nice change to be the photographer rather than the subject.

[maturin]

When Cilla Black visited my school speech day she showed great interest in an exhibition of my photos in the school library.
Nice, but I always wished I'd taken up etching.

[davidb]

eric clapton - fishing and it was the mess he got into whilst pursuing his hobby one day ,to the amusement of other fishermen ,that made him clean up !

[Moor Larkin]

Patrick McGoohan was noted in more than one interview for writing a lot of poetry, whether rhyming or blank verse is his forte was never mentioned. As early as 1963/64 he was noted for making his own films. One interview had him on the set of Dr. Syn, filming the film being filmed.................

Maybe one day he'll put out a dvd...............

[davidb]

Originally Posted by francesgumm Why did the miserable sod agree to the interview in the first place? Celebs, dont you just love 'em?

van morison enjoys being a miserable sod i think ! its his offstage pastime

[Rob Compton]

As I've learnt from this site, Peter Cushing was an accomplished amateur artist - and probably had many other interests as well

rgds
Rob

[christoph404]

Originally Posted by davidb eric clapton - fishing and it was the mess he got into whilst pursuing his hobby one day ,to the amusement of other fishermen ,that made him clean up !

Eric Clapton is another photo geek! I bumped into him at a specialist Leica camera dealer in London a while back, we had a brief conversation possibly more on account of the attractive young lady I had with me ( a model friend) than an interest in chatting to me about lenses!! A few days later I saw a photo of him in the paper with an article making fun of him because he had his new Leica camera and the photo showed him attempting to take a picture with the lens cap still on, a bit unfair really because a Leica has a direct viewfinder rather than thru the lens viewing so the only thing to tell you that the lens cap is on is a flashing red light in the viewfinder, I have a leica and everyone else who has one is always putting the camera to their eye with the lens cap on, one immediatley takes it off of course and hopes that no one saw you trying to take a pic with the cap still on poor Eric got caught out at the wrong moment, the newspaper would never show his reaction a split second later when he realised the cap was still on.

[davidb]

Originally Posted by Rob Compton As I've learnt from this site, Peter Cushing was an accomplished amateur artist - and probably had many other interests as well rgds Rob

peter cushing was once on jimll fix it as a celebrity guest because he wanted a rose named after his late wife ,my perception of him changed then ! no more hiding behind the sofa ,what a nice guy ,were flowers an interest of his as well ?,theres bound to be some cushing fans here wholl know ,

[davidb]

Originally Posted by christoph404 Eric Clapton is another photo geek! I bumped into him at a specialist Leica camera dealer in London a while back, we had a brief conversation possibly more on account of the attractive young lady I had with me ( a model friend) than an interest in chatting to me about lenses!! A few days later I saw a photo of him in the paper with an article making fun of him because he had his new Leica camera and the photo showed him attempting to take a picture with the lens cap still on, a bit unfair really because a Leica has a direct viewfinder rather than thru the lens viewing so the only thing to tell you that the lens cap is on is a flashing red light in the viewfinder, I have a leica and everyone else who has one is always putting the camera to their eye with the lens cap on, one immediatley takes it off of course and hopes that no one saw you trying to take a pic with the cap still on poor Eric got caught out at the wrong moment, the newspaper would never show his reaction a split second later when he realised the cap was still on.

from reading erics autobiography he seems to have lots of interests ,cars ,swiss watches etc etc ,spending his money ! seems to be the main driving force

[716Jones]

I'm sure I read somewhere that Boris Karloff used to knit when he wasn't filming. (or did I just dream that)

[john audley]

I know where this thread is coming from but I always feel that the person on the screen (i,e., ones favorite character) should stay as one sees them rather than their off screen persona. For instance, Rock Hudson was a great draw on screen with a great persona that would be totally ruined if the real truth was told during his fame days.

[batman]

Bob Crane (Hogan's Heroes) had some unusual hobbies.

[CaptainWaggett]

Originally Posted by john audley I know where this thread is coming from but I always feel that the person on the screen (i,e., ones favorite character) should stay as one sees them rather than their off screen persona. For instance, Rock Hudson was a great draw on screen with a great persona that would be totally ruined if the real truth was told during his fame days.

I like to think that audiences now are sophisticated enough not to expect their favourite actors to tell lies in order to maintain their careers. Sadly the media doesn't give us the benefit of the doubt.