House Of The Seven Gables (AIP/International Classics, 7/1971)
Directed by Michael Armstrong
Screenplay by Patrick Tilley (Based on
The House Of The Seven Gables by Nathaniel Hawthorne)
A Samuel Arkoff Production
Cast
Martin Landau as Colonel Pyncheon/ Judge Jaffrey Pyncheon- A jurist and aspiring politician who lives comfortably out of town. Bears a strong resemblance to his ancestor Colonel Pyncheon. Both are revealed to have been ruthless when the Judge shows up via flashback.
Siân Phillips as Hepzibah Pyncheon- The current resident of the house.
Jill Haworth as Phoebe Pynchon/ Alice Pyncheon- A distant relative. The customers at Hepzibah's shop love her and she manages to rouse Clifford from his depressive state. Haworth also portrays Alice whose ghost haunts the House of the Seven Gables. Alice appears via flashback in a story Holgrave tells Phoebe.
Harris Walker as Holgrave/ Matthew Maule- A mysterious attic lodger who is writing a history of the Pyncheon family. Phoebe's love interest. Walker also portrays Matthew Maule, who appears via flashback in a story Holgrave tells Phoebe.
Robert Quarry as Clifford Pyncheon- Brother of Hepzibah. Recently completed a thirty-year sentence for murder. Quarry replaced Vincent Price who left to film 'The Abominable Dr Phibes'
Whit Bissell as Uncle Venner- An elderly man, the only neighbour who is still friendly to the Pyncheon's.
Lee H. Montgomeryas Ned Higgins- A boy who visits Hepzibah's shop periodically for gingerbread cookies.
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From the Podcast Talking Pictures with Nolan Hendricks and Harris Walker (July 2019)
Harris: This is Harris Walker. Welcome to 'Talking Pictures'. Nolan is away on a book tour so with me in the studio is 'Talking Pictures' favourite Lee Montgomery.
Lee: First off, we're going to discuss my first movie, which was Harris' third theatrical film.
Harris: That's right. From 1971, 'House Of The Seven Gables' for good old AIP. And via Skype, we
also have Siân Phillips with us.
Siân: Hello Harris! Hello Lee!
Both: Hello Sian!
Harris: We're both glad to have you here! Or
at least via Skype to join the podcast!
Siân: It's a pleasure to be able to chat with you both again!
Harris: So, first off, Lee and I both get asked about it a lot and--I don't even know if we've discussed this publicly--
Lee: Because I also worked with Bette Davis on 'Burnt Offerings', I get asked quite frequently about both Bette Davis
and Joan Crawford.
Harris: As everyone knows, Joan Crawford was originally cast as Hepzibah Pyncheon.
Lee: God, that's quite the mouth full.
Harris: It's like a tongue twister--
All three laugh
Lee: I never could pronounce it as a kid.
Siân: You got better with it
after I helped you pronounce it.
Harris: Siân also taught me how to swear in Welsh!
Siân: I did, you
naughty man!
Harris: Anyway, I flew to New England and we did a round table reading. I believe it was Lee's first film.
Lee: It was. I was also offered a Disney film called 'Million Dollar Duck' and decided to do 'House Of The Seven Gables' instead. Before that, I had been a child model, I was about nine years old when the film was released.
Anyway, Joan Crawford was nice to me in a grandmotherly sort of way but also made me nervous.
Harris: Joan was polite at the round table reading, but I showed up in a t-shirt and jeans and was probably out of it. Martin Landau was there, he was coming off of 'Mission: Impossible'
Lee: I just remember being excited as a kid because I was sitting at a table with Vincent Price
and Martin Landau.
Harris: Vincent Price was
also supposed to be in the film by that point.
Harris: Joan Crawford showed up in evening gloves and pearls and a suit. I felt like she thought some of us were unkempt and unprofessional-looking because we weren't all dressed formally.
Siân: You also have to remember, Harris, that Joan Crawford was from another time. She was
classic Hollywood.
Harris: It was a weird time, a
huge generation gap. Now all of us who were young back then,
we're the old people.
Siân: I'm old enough to be your mother, Harris!
Harris laughs
Harris: I'm 69 years old!
Siân: When you get to 86, Harris,
then you can start complaining.
Harris: Deal.
Lee: So,
uh, what exactly happened? I was just a kid, but I knew there was tension on the set with Joan.
Harris: First day of shooting we exchanged pleasantries and--I liked staying up to watch old movies. I was never a big fan but
loved her in 'Rain'. So, I said to her, "I enjoyed your performance as Miss Sadie Thompson in Rain'". And she raised one of her eyebrows. Those things were like...
caterpillars--
Lee and Harris both laugh
Lee: They terrified me!
Harris: All she said was
"Really?"
Joan Crawford
barely spoke to me after that. I never knew why until I read that 'Rain' had been a flop and she was sensitive about it.
Lee: I remember something to do with Pepsi on the set--
Harris: Joan drove Michael Armstrong, the director, crazy because she wanted Pepsi shown in the movie. It was a
period piece! They couldn't just have Pepsi bottles on the shop set. I'm pretty sure she wasn't
even on the board of directors at Pepsi by that point.
Lee: Years later, when I worked with Bette Davis, she somehow knew about all of that and said to me "You poor,
poor child!"
Everyone is heard laughing
Siân: I know Joan was said to have been
inclusive regarding gay actors--
Harris: She was best friends with William Haines.
Siân: William Haines led a very interesting life.
Harris: Joan referred to him as 'Billy'. She
did mention him briefly as a dear friend during a rare exchange. It wasn't long after that he passed away. Years later Sam got offered a script and he decided to turn it down.
Lee: To play William Haines?
Siân: Wow!
Harris: Yeah. The script was never produced, sadly.
I've been harsh on Joan Crawford, but I
did feel bad for her later on. She'd been typecast in all these films like 'Strait-Jacket'. 'House Of The Seven Gables' would have been something
slightly better for her. And, as Sian has said she was from another time and still trying to work and stay relevant.
Siân: Which can become
very hard as you get older in the acting profession. I wasn't on the set yet and cannot vouch for her behaviour.
Harris: After a couple of weeks, Joan stopped showing up on set. She said she was ill. Which, as you know, she did the same thing with 'Hush, Hush Sweet Charlotte'. Arkoff wanted the film done quickly and not over budget. Finally, Joan was let go. In the meantime, Vincent also dropped out because he had been obligated to film 'The Abominable Dr Phibes' in England.
Arkoff still had Martin Landau, he had his 'name' actor.
Lee: Martin was amazingly talented. And that is where Siân comes in!
Siân: He was a very talented man. And he played a double role as did Jill Haworth and of course, Harris.
Harris: Siân joined the cast. There's an Elizabeth Taylor connection there--
Lee: Of course.
Siân: Was it, let's see--Are you talking about
'Under Milk Wood', Harris?
Harris: I am!
Siân: I believe that was one of the last movies she did with Richard Burton. My husband at the time, Peter O'Toole was in that as well.
Harris: Anyway, once Siân joined the cast, things were less contentious. Vincent Price, before he left, had told me she was a great theatre actress and I looked forward to meeting her.
Siân: I
adored you, Harris! I knew you had done 'That Cold Day In The Park' with Elizabeth Taylor but wasn't familiar with any of your other roles.
Harris: For which I was grateful!
Siân: I can't exactly recall how I was cast, but I was put on a plane and flown to New England.
Harris: Vincent felt bad about having to drop out, I think. He had played Clifford in the 1940 version and wanted to do it again. And Robert Quarry replaced him, which, they had something of a rivalry. Arkoff liked to pit them against each other. I did another film with both of them later on and it was a bit of a male Bette and Joan situation.
Lee: Both of them were
a lot alike, though. Very nice guys.
Harris: Sometimes when people are too much alike there can be problems. And Bob felt bad about it.
Siân: Robert was a very talented actor who sort of wound up doing, you know--
Harris: Schlock?
Siân: Well, I was trying to find a
proper word to use--
Lee: Siân just fit in well in a short amount of time.
Harris: It was like the first two weeks had never happened.
Siân: As I said, I adored
both of you. Harris, do you remember my personal makeup artist named Eoin O'Rourke who I brought on board with me?
Harris laughs
Siân: I have
never told anybody this story. Harris fancied Eoin O'Rourke. This was long before you and Sam Westwood became an item.
Harris: I forgot about Eoin O'Rourke! I acted like a schoolgirl!
Everyone laughs
Siân: Eoin had been fluent only in Gaelic until he attended school. Harris wanted to learn some Welsh from me but also Gaelic because he wanted to try and impress Eoin.
Harris: Guilty as charged. And it was always so awkward.
Everyone laughs
Siân: You were mischevious, but I loved working with you. I enjoyed seeing where it as going to go each day. Jill and I had a wager going on. (laughs)
Harris: Which Jill informed me about
after filming.
Lee: I was kept in the dark.
Harris: I never did get anywhere with him!
Siân: I think because you were so young Lee, we sort of sheltered you a bit. Jill, Martin, and Robert are no longer with us, but they were all lovely to work with. It was a Hollywood movie, my second--
Harris: You appeared in
'Goodbye Mr Chips'--
Siân: I did, yes. That was another film Peter stared in.
Harris: Because you were a renowned stage actress, were you concerned about doing a dressed up B-picture?
Siân: No, not at all. I liked the script.
Lee: Harris, Jill and Martin had put me at ease already. Once Siân joined the cast it was even more like a family unit. Martin and Siân were the parents, Jill was the aunt, and Harris was like the cool older brother.
Harris: You worked with both myself and Sam at different stages in your career.
Lee: Yeah, years later when I wanted to transition into more grown-up roles, I played Sam's love interest in 'The Front Runner'
Nolan: Were you comfortable with the material?
Lee: At the time, I wanted to work with Sam Westwood and Paul Newman. It just so happened that I was going to be playing a gay character. Sam put me at ease about the love scenes and wanted to make sure I was ok with the material. Sam and Paul were both really good to make sure I was ok with what we were shooting. You have to remember, Sam was nervous too because he was risking his entire career by making the movie.
Harris: Siân, while you are still here, are there any other fond memories of the production you would like to share?
Siân: I loved the cast and crew. And working with you and Lee--
Harris: I was horribly miscast on that picture--
Siân: You were
young for the role, but I thought you were a
very good actor and it wasn't your fault.
Harris: I think the only other part for a younger actor was Lee's role and I wasn't gonna be convincing as a nine-year-old boy with a thing for gingerbread cookies--
Everyone laughs
Lee: I had to eat so many of those during takes that I got sick and to this day cannot eat gingerbread cookies--
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