Douglas Wilmer - Stage Whispers

[Windthrop]

Actor Douglas Wilmer has published his memoirs - http://www.amazon.co.uk/Stage-Whispe...7018694&sr=1-1



The book isn't a conventional bio although it does deal with his own slightly turbulent private life but is just as much about the people he has met during his years in the business with chapters on films and actors - Charlton Heston, Alec Guinness, Olivier and many others. There are fine vignettes of Burton, Harris, Rex Harrison and others. There is as you would expect a good section on Sherlock Holmes and the problems with the BBC TV version.



DW doesn't mince words and is quite outspoken about his co-stars and doesn't like insincerity or 'side' which makes for a very lively and informative book. Well worth reading for it's frankness and candour and DW's analysis of actors techniques.



The memoir ends on a bright note with DW happy in his third marriage and long retirement in Sussex.

[Gerald Lovell]

Actor Douglas Wilmer has published his memoirs - http://www.amazon.co.uk/Stage-Whispe...7018694&sr=1-1



The book isn't a conventional bio although it does deal with his own slightly turbulent private life but is just as much about the people he has met during his years in the business with chapters on films and actors - Charlton Heston, Alec Guinness, Olivier and many others. There are fine vignettes of Burton, Harris, Rex Harrison and others. There is as you would expect a good section on Sherlock Holmes and the problems with the BBC TV version.



DW doesn't mince words and is quite outspoken about his co-stars and doesn't like insincerity or 'side' which makes for a very lively and informative book. Well worth reading for it's frankness and candour and DW's analysis of actors techniques.



The memoir ends on a bright note with DW happy in his third marriage and long retirement in Sussex.

I have long admired Douglas Wilmer - he was my "first" Sherlock Holmes - and was lucky enough to get an autographed copy of this. A very interesting read, but I thought it needed a stronger handle on it by the editor.

[flynn]

i look forward to reading it.though it is a bit pricey.

i will see if i can Half Inch one out the Library.

[Windthrop]

i look forward to reading it.though it is a bit pricey.

i will see if i can Half Inch one out the Library.

Well worth a read - my library ordered it in specially for me

[waldo_lydecker]

Many thanks for the alert - I would have missed this otherwise! (It's £12.31 at ASDA, by the way.)

[Cooper S]

I love his brief but entertaining appearance as a psychiatrist in the UFO Tv series. I expect he wouldn't mention it in the book, but he manages to effortlessly walk away with the scene !

[John Hamilton]

Just ordered this on Amazon. Met Wilmer at the Bray Studio day a couple of years ago, I found him caustic and businesslike - I suspect he was getting a bit annoyed people asking him about Fu Manchu and The Vampire lover- but I'm looking forward to learning more about his career on the stage

[waldo_lydecker]

I enjoyed this. There were some nice little observations and anecdotes about other actors, such as Rex Harrison, Richard Harris and Richard Burton. It's a strangely (non)edited book - you'd expect someone to have prompted Wilmer to discuss his Holmes series in more detail, and there are many seemingly arbitrary italics all over the place! But a good little read.

[Windthrop]

Just ordered this on Amazon. Met Wilmer at the Bray Studio day a couple of years ago, I found him caustic and businesslike - I suspect he was getting a bit annoyed people asking him about Fu Manchu and The Vampire lover- but I'm looking forward to learning more about his career on the stage

He regards the Fu films as a bit of an embarrassment

[waldo_lydecker]

Most of his projects seemed to be recalled in this way:



1. He mentions the subject and a few of the cast.



2. Then he says 'So far so good...'



3. Then someone joins the cast that he dislikes or thinks is unsuitable, or the director says something with which he disagrees, or just decides he made a mistake agreeing to do the thing in the first place.



4. He grumbles.



I actually found his moans quite amusing, and most of them make sense, but my goodness he didn't seem to enjoy much of what he did!

[John Hamilton]

True, but also vast more entertaining performances from Karloff's gloriously reptilian (and just a little gay) Fu and Loy's leering nymphomanic daughter; Lee and Chin are both saddled with underwritten parts and come across as wooden

[Gerald Lovell]

True, but also vast more entertaining performances from Karloff's gloriously reptilian (and just a little gay) Fu and Loy's leering nymphomanic daughter; Lee and Chin are both saddled with underwritten parts and come across as wooden

I recall Christopher Lee saying his performance had to be wooden and generally facially immobile, or else his eye make-up would have fallen off!

He also had great fun when Tsai Chin found it very difficult to pronounce "Essex marshes" without sounding obscene!

[Windthrop]

I recall Christopher Lee saying his performance had to be wooden and generally facially immobile, or else his eye make-up would have fallen off!

He also had great fun when Tsai Chin found it very difficult to pronounce "Essex marshes" without sounding obscene!

Am surprised other things didn't fall off given that it was a Harry Alan Towers production



In the first one a late 30s car changes into a 20s one when it crashes

[Gerald Lovell]

Am surprised other things didn't fall off given that it was a Harry Alan Towers production



In the first one a late 30s car changes into a 20s one when it crashes

The last of the Fu series (in which Richard Greene appeared as Nayland Smith) are even more rocky in their settings, with switches between the 1920s and 1960s depending on the stock footage/costumes available. I think Douglas Wilmer was relieved to be out of them by that point!

[Windthrop]

Mr Towers was planning another Fu flick at the time of his demise and it is still 'development' according to IMDB. Towers could well be inflicting another prize turkey on us from beyond the grave

[windthorpe]

I live in the small town in which Douglas lives. I work in a small gaurage, and the other day he came in. I asked him about his role as sherlock homes, he said 'about 1000 years ago. Great to see him, he's 92.

[CaptainWaggett]

Most of his projects seemed to be recalled in this way:



1. He mentions the subject and a few of the cast.



2. Then he says 'So far so good...'



3. Then someone joins the cast that he dislikes or thinks is unsuitable, or the director says something with which he disagrees, or just decides he made a mistake agreeing to do the thing in the first place.



4. He grumbles.



I actually found his moans quite amusing, and most of them make sense, but my goodness he didn't seem to enjoy much of what he did!

I read it recently and your summary is almost entirely accurate except you forgotten to mention his puzzlement that he was a tv and stage star but mysteriously wasn't playing leading roles in Hollywood

[didi-5]

Odd though - he clearly was good enough to move into films but as with many others it just didn't happen. He does seem a rather dismissive grouch though!

[waldo_lydecker]

I read it recently and your summary is almost entirely accurate except you forgotten to mention his puzzlement that he was a tv and stage star but mysteriously wasn't playing leading roles in Hollywood

Yes, quite right! I suspect we'd get more from DW if someone sat down with him and recorded conversations about each project and then published the transcripts. Even after the lawyers had gone through it I'm sure it would be full of great anecdotes.

[Tigon Man]

Yes 'Stage Whispers' was a strange little book. I believe DW had gained the reputation of being difficult and it does show in the book. He does seem to have fallen out with many of his contemporaries, mostly directors. Sadly he comes across as rather grand and a little pompous in 'Stage Whispers'.

Still one of our most watchable actors though, last night I caught him last night as Van Dusen in The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes. Come to think of it, he was grumpy in that as well...