Cult movie star and character actor Harris Walker being interviewed on tape by Nolan Hendricks, circa 1988/89. Interviews later released with full permission of Harris Walker for a project by Nolan called Conversations with Harris.
The tape picks up where it left off, but Sam Westwood is now joining them.
Nolan: What
really fascinates me about 'The Pale Horse' is Christopher Lee as Mr Venables.
Sam: Harris and I can
both attest that Christopher Lee is a great guy. And he was brilliant in that role. He took that because he wanted to do something
other than a Hammer movie for a change. And--I
don't want to give away the plot but he still got to play a pretty shady character.
Harris: That's my favourite of Sam's 60s films.
Sam: It had a really amazing cast. Sort of a mish-mash of stage actors and horror icons.
Nolan: Adrienne Corri, who played Thyrza Grey--
Sam: She did
both live theatre
and horror films. Eleanor Bron, who played Poppy Stirling had also been in 'Help!' with The Beatles and 'Bedazzled' with Dudley Moore and Peter Cook--
Harris: When I worked with Vincent Price he had just done
'Madhouse' with Adrienne Corri. That was a
really--It was a
disgusting movie but you couldn't look away from it. And I liked the whole plot concept.
I'd say she was up there with Vincent Price
and Peter Cushing
and Christopher Lee. Or at least she
should have been
equal to them.
Nolan: I remember her best from 'A Clockwork Orange'
Harris: I never liked that movie. Visually it was
stunning, though.
Sam: I found it really dark.
Nolan: Sam, during the 'Pale Horse' shoot, you did a session with
David Bailey who was a very popular fashion photographer--
Sam: Yes. Twiggy dropped by and appeared in a few shots. I just wore what suited me and
wasn't particularly comfortable when people paraded me around as a style icon or a sex symbol. It was weird. That said, the shoot with Bailey was fun. But I was also on set
a lot and I did a favour for Edward O'Malley and did two days on 'Nothing Lasts Forever'. I almost burned myself out. That would worry Dick Clayton so he'd try and talk me out of taking on too much at once.
Anyway, I didn't
really relate to the fashion crowd but Twiggy is an incredibly nice person who I worked with again years later.
Harris: I liked Twiggy. She was different. She is
very bright but did you ever see that interview footage where
Woody Allen tried to make her look thick?
Nolan: No, but I
have heard about it.
Harris: He asked her about philosophers, you know to try and set her up. It was her first trip over here. As someone who got treated like a dunce, I felt
really bad for her.
Nolan: You had a walk-on role in 'Annie Hall'--
Harris: Yeah but that
doesn't mean I
like his humour.
Sam: Harris and I
both know what it's like when people try to make you look like an a**.
Harris: We
both went through that. I was perceived as being a good-looking guy with no brains who was a complete weirdo. Possibly unstable
and a drunkard. Parties were
brutal. That was like the two years of high school I missed right there.
Sam: If
I was with him, Elizabeth did this too, if one of us were with him and we felt he was being dismissed, we would make sure he was part of the conversation. Eventually, he learned to do it on his own without us.
With me, I think people just wanted to tear me down because they felt like I was living a lie.
Harris: Because Sam had a reputation for being
really, really nice, it was impossible to find any unflattering stories about him.
Sam: My ego doesn't need to be inflated, Harris--
