TALKING WITH DAVID FROST {...TALKING WITH DAVID FROST}: SIR JOHN GIELGUD (TV)
Summary
One in this series of interview programs hosted by David Frost. This edition features a discussion with actor John Gielgud, taped at the London Playhouse Theatre. Gielgud begins by telling how the influence of his great aunt, the famous actress Ellen Terry, caused him to want a career in the theater, and how his first acting jobs were obtained through family connections. He admits that his early years on the stage were marked by vanity and conceit; he was happy with his voice but uncomfortable with his stage presence. He pinpoints how and when he first realized he had reached stardom and names the actors he emulated. The program focuses on Gielgud's complex relationship with fellow actor Laurence Olivier, chronicling their rivalry and contrasting strengths and weaknesses on stage, Olivier's early and swift successes in film, and Gielgud's friendship with Vivien Leigh. Gielgud discloses that theater authorities worked to have him released from active duty during World War II without his knowledge. He then discusses his fear of acting in motion pictures; his first movie, "Who Is the Man" (1924); and the problems he had with Alfred Hitchcock and Peter Lorre in filming "The Secret Agent" (1936). He describes working with Marlon Brando in "Julius Caesar" (1951) and the public and media hysteria over Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor during the 1964 Broadway production of "Hamlet." Following a brief description of his partnership with Ralph Richardson, he explains why he accepted a small role in Gore Vidal's "Caligula" and his feelings on meeting Bob Guccione. Gielgud then touches briefly on his work in "Arthur," "Brideshead Revisited," and "War and Remembrance" and on the reasons behind his lifelong ambition to play Prospero. Finally, he discusses his reasons for not wanting children, gives his theories on actors who continue working in their old age, reveals the role he is proudest of, and expresses his thoughts on death and the afterlife. Gielgud ends the program by reciting from his favorite passage of "Hamlet." This program is closed-captioned.
Cataloging of this program has been made possible by the Bell Atlantic Foundation, 1999.
Details
- NETWORK: PBS WETA Washington, D.C.
- DATE: July 24, 1992 10:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 0:57:45
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: T:56619
- GENRE: Talk/Interviews
- SUBJECT HEADING: Actors; Interviews
- SERIES RUN: PBS - TV series, 1991-
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- John Florescu … Executive Producer
- David Frost … Executive Producer
- Robert Muller … Coordinating Producer
- Wallace Westfeldt … Producer
- Tricia Pombo … Associate Producer
- David Wilson … Associate Producer, Reporter
- David Frost … Host, Interviewer
- John Gielgud … Guest
- Marlon Brando
- Richard Burton
- Bob Guccione
- Alfred Hitchcock
- Vivien Leigh
- Peter Lorre
- Laurence Olivier
- Ralph Richardson
- Elizabeth Taylor
- Ellen Terry
- Gore Vidal