0:00:14 > 0:00:18America's favourite Englishman in the 1940s and '50s,
0:00:18 > 0:00:19David Niven -
0:00:19 > 0:00:23he was charming, elegant, perfect gent.
0:00:23 > 0:00:26He was part of Hollywood's elite for more than four decades.
0:00:26 > 0:00:29His easy style and lightness of touch
0:00:29 > 0:00:33earned him huge acclaim in films like Dawn Patrol,
0:00:33 > 0:00:37A Matter Of Life And Death, The Pink Panther,
0:00:37 > 0:00:39and helped to win him an Oscar
0:00:39 > 0:00:42for the 1958 film, Separate Tables.
0:00:42 > 0:00:46He was friends with everyone who was anyone
0:00:46 > 0:00:50and had a seemingly endless stock of anecdotes
0:00:50 > 0:00:53that made him a perfect interviewee,
0:00:53 > 0:00:58as Cliff Michelmore discovered in this example from 1968.
0:00:58 > 0:01:01- MICHELMORE:- But when did you first get the idea
0:01:01 > 0:01:03that you wanted to become a movie actor, film star?
0:01:05 > 0:01:07The ridiculous thing is, we're now in Shepherd's Bush, aren't we?
0:01:07 > 0:01:09- Yeah.- Right here.
0:01:09 > 0:01:12And when I was at Sandhurst,
0:01:12 > 0:01:15there was a great comedian called Tom Walls
0:01:15 > 0:01:17who won the Derby with...
0:01:17 > 0:01:19- April The Fifth. - April The Fifth, that's right.
0:01:19 > 0:01:22And his son was at Sandhurst with me.
0:01:23 > 0:01:26And I was sent away to Malta with my regiment,
0:01:26 > 0:01:28was not a very good soldier
0:01:28 > 0:01:33and thought that pastures new was the move.
0:01:33 > 0:01:35I saw young Tom Walls, I said,
0:01:35 > 0:01:37"I think I'd better try and become an actor."
0:01:37 > 0:01:40So he sent me here to meet his father, who HATED me.
0:01:40 > 0:01:43Absolutely loathed me, and I went back to the Army again.
0:01:43 > 0:01:45But I got the first idea here.
0:01:45 > 0:01:48You weren't a very good soldier, you say?
0:01:48 > 0:01:50I was very, very bad indeed.
0:01:50 > 0:01:53They had a system in the regular Army
0:01:53 > 0:01:56where you had to have a confidential report
0:01:56 > 0:01:59which the colonel wrote and then you were formed up and marched in
0:01:59 > 0:02:01and it was read to you, once a year,
0:02:01 > 0:02:04before he sent it to the War Office.
0:02:04 > 0:02:06And if you agreed, you signed it.
0:02:06 > 0:02:08Of course, you had to agree, so you would sign anyway.
0:02:08 > 0:02:10I was formed up and it said,
0:02:10 > 0:02:14"This officer, though in a few respects, excellent,
0:02:14 > 0:02:17"after two years in Malta knows less about the Army
0:02:17 > 0:02:19"than most of his friends in the Navy."
0:02:19 > 0:02:20So I signed it.
0:02:20 > 0:02:24I said, "Very generous, sir. Thank you very much."
0:02:24 > 0:02:26Not a good beginning.
0:02:26 > 0:02:28Then you got out? You left the Army.
0:02:28 > 0:02:30I left the Army. Erm... yes.
0:02:30 > 0:02:32Rather quickly.
0:02:32 > 0:02:35I didn't do anything awful.
0:02:35 > 0:02:37I made a silly move.
0:02:37 > 0:02:41I was in love with a lady who lived in London
0:02:41 > 0:02:46and I'd just bought a terrible old 15th-hand Bentley
0:02:46 > 0:02:49that belonged to an Australian for very little,
0:02:49 > 0:02:51but I'd always wanted a Bentley.
0:02:51 > 0:02:54It was a ghastly sort of cad's car.
0:02:54 > 0:02:57It had an altimeter in it, and had... MICHELMORE CHUCKLES
0:02:57 > 0:03:01gears on the outside and it had a pressure thing.
0:03:01 > 0:03:03I never quite knew what that was for. It pumped.
0:03:03 > 0:03:04And I loved this car.
0:03:04 > 0:03:07It had a strap over the bonnet...
0:03:07 > 0:03:09and I loved this lady.
0:03:09 > 0:03:14It was a very dull general who was lecturing to us,
0:03:14 > 0:03:17and I wanted to go to see the lady in London.
0:03:17 > 0:03:21We were down in Tidworth, I was doing a machine-gun course or something.
0:03:21 > 0:03:23So at the end of this long, dull lecture,
0:03:23 > 0:03:25this idiot general said,
0:03:25 > 0:03:28"Any officers want to ask any questions?"
0:03:29 > 0:03:31He said, "What is your question?"
0:03:31 > 0:03:33I said, "Could you tell me the time? I have to catch a train."
0:03:33 > 0:03:36And there was rather an ugly moment.
0:03:36 > 0:03:39He said, "Consider yourself under close arrest."
0:03:39 > 0:03:40And I was marched off.
0:03:40 > 0:03:43What pulled you to Hollywood, though?
0:03:43 > 0:03:46Well, I went from Canada,
0:03:46 > 0:03:49I worked in Canada for a bit and worked on a bridge
0:03:49 > 0:03:52and I went to New York and I sold booze,
0:03:52 > 0:03:55just after Prohibition, I sold whisky.
0:03:55 > 0:03:59And I ran this ill-fated indoor pony-racing thing in Atlantic City.
0:03:59 > 0:04:05Then I went to Cuba with the idiot idea I was going to be a mercenary.
0:04:05 > 0:04:09I mean, this is the sort of idiot idea people still have.
0:04:09 > 0:04:12And incredible as it may seem,
0:04:12 > 0:04:15at the time that Batista was the revolutionary
0:04:15 > 0:04:18who, of course, was the one who Castro overthrew.
0:04:18 > 0:04:21Batista was then a great revolutionary and I thought,
0:04:21 > 0:04:23you know, machine gun expert, that I could get a job.
0:04:23 > 0:04:27I made some rather extravagant claims
0:04:27 > 0:04:29in Sloppy Joe's bar in Havana
0:04:29 > 0:04:34and said I was open for business, and could be hired,
0:04:34 > 0:04:37and the next day, a rather nice man from the British Embassy phoned me
0:04:37 > 0:04:40and gave me 24 hours to get out of the country.
0:04:40 > 0:04:42MICHELMORE LAUGHS
0:04:42 > 0:04:45Well, I hadn't done anything wrong. Thank God he came!
0:04:45 > 0:04:49And I was put on a Japanese ship, which was the first one that sailed,
0:04:49 > 0:04:51and I went to California, where, I must say,
0:04:51 > 0:04:53I thought I would try and get the pony racing going again,
0:04:53 > 0:04:55because it was such a good idea.
0:04:55 > 0:04:58So you didn't really go there to enter films, really?
0:04:58 > 0:05:00No. Pure financial necessity drove me
0:05:00 > 0:05:03to the terrible plight I'm now in.
0:05:03 > 0:05:05HE CHUCKLES
0:05:05 > 0:05:07But absolutely.
0:05:07 > 0:05:09I started off as an extra,
0:05:09 > 0:05:12Anglo-Saxon Type Number 2,008, I was.
0:05:12 > 0:05:14What was Hollywood like then?
0:05:14 > 0:05:18Seeing it now, it's very frayed around the edges
0:05:18 > 0:05:21and really rather tatty and really rather sad, I found it to be.
0:05:21 > 0:05:24I agree with you. It is now. I haven't been there for...
0:05:24 > 0:05:26well, I went there last year to make a picture,
0:05:26 > 0:05:29but I haven't lived there for eight years.
0:05:29 > 0:05:31But it was marvellous then. It was really great.
0:05:31 > 0:05:35And when I said, "BECAUSE there was no television," don't be insulted.
0:05:35 > 0:05:39The reason it was great was the only way into it,
0:05:39 > 0:05:42into the business, was by being extra,
0:05:42 > 0:05:45because there was no television, there was no showcase, you see?
0:05:45 > 0:05:50And all of us, all of the extras, were would-be stars.
0:05:50 > 0:05:54- I'm rather hot, can I take my tie off?- Yeah.
0:05:54 > 0:05:59All of us were would-be stars and most of us started that way.
0:05:59 > 0:06:00And, erm...
0:06:00 > 0:06:03So there was a marvellous electric feeling on the set.
0:06:03 > 0:06:05Nowadays, the extras, with all due respect to them,
0:06:05 > 0:06:06cos it's an awfully tough job,
0:06:06 > 0:06:08most of them are doing other jobs.
0:06:08 > 0:06:10You know, a lot of them are housewives
0:06:10 > 0:06:12and they go and pick up a little pocket money.
0:06:12 > 0:06:14They haven't got that great drive.
0:06:14 > 0:06:17We used to stand there and the assistant director would say,
0:06:17 > 0:06:19"Now, I have one line for somebody."
0:06:19 > 0:06:21He looked round and he'd say, "Right, you, you, you, and you,"
0:06:21 > 0:06:23and the four of us would form up
0:06:23 > 0:06:26and we'd read the line right there on the set,
0:06:26 > 0:06:28and whoever read it the best got the job.
0:06:28 > 0:06:31And you built from there.
0:06:31 > 0:06:34You shared a house, didn't you, in those days with Errol Flynn?
0:06:34 > 0:06:37Yes, I did, just after that. We had a house on the beach
0:06:37 > 0:06:40called Cirrhosis By The Sea, for rather obvious reasons.
0:06:40 > 0:06:43THEY LAUGH Oh, he was funny!
0:06:43 > 0:06:44He really was splendid.
0:06:44 > 0:06:47Was he as tough as everyone said he was?
0:06:47 > 0:06:50He was really, a very, very tough man indeed.
0:06:50 > 0:06:52For instance, we did two pics together.
0:06:52 > 0:06:55The first one was The Charge Of The Light Brigade
0:06:55 > 0:06:56and then we did The Dawn Patrol,
0:06:56 > 0:07:00which is always on television on the late, late, late show in America.
0:07:00 > 0:07:03Now, in The Dawn Patrol, by the way, for one moment,
0:07:03 > 0:07:05I'm the first man to drop an atomic bomb,
0:07:05 > 0:07:08because, I remember this well, I was in a Sopwith Camel aeroplane,
0:07:08 > 0:07:11a biplane...
0:07:11 > 0:07:13and Errol was another one
0:07:13 > 0:07:16and we were flying over Krupp's armament works
0:07:16 > 0:07:19in Essen or somewhere
0:07:19 > 0:07:22and I remember, in the film, flying the plane and bending down
0:07:22 > 0:07:26and picking up from between my legs a bomb with a handle on it.
0:07:26 > 0:07:27And dropping this bomb on Krupp's
0:07:27 > 0:07:30and blowing the entire place to smithereens. It's the first one.
0:07:30 > 0:07:33But anyway, back to Errol. Errol was...
0:07:33 > 0:07:35You said, was he tough?
0:07:35 > 0:07:39When we did The Charge Of The Light Brigade,
0:07:39 > 0:07:43they had 600 really tough fellows for the charge.
0:07:43 > 0:07:45They were all cowboy...
0:07:45 > 0:07:47stuntmen. And I knew a lot of them.
0:07:47 > 0:07:49I did 27 Westerns before I ever spoke.
0:07:49 > 0:07:52I knew most of them. They were really a rough group. Marvellous group.
0:07:52 > 0:07:56And Errol went through a period, which we all go through, of having a rather swollen head.
0:07:56 > 0:07:58He just made a big success in the first picture
0:07:58 > 0:08:00and we were lined up, the 600 fellows,
0:08:00 > 0:08:02and I was one of the junior officers
0:08:02 > 0:08:04and two officers and Flynn was in front
0:08:04 > 0:08:06and Flynn was taking it all a bit seriously,
0:08:06 > 0:08:08and he'd let the reins go on his horse
0:08:08 > 0:08:10and he was sitting back, you know,
0:08:10 > 0:08:12getting the hat straight,
0:08:12 > 0:08:14getting everything touched up before the charge.
0:08:14 > 0:08:17We had rubber lances, in case anybody poked anybody's eye out,
0:08:17 > 0:08:19with these wobbly tips.
0:08:19 > 0:08:21So one of these enormous fellows behind
0:08:21 > 0:08:23leant forward with his lance
0:08:23 > 0:08:25and - BRRRR! - up Errol Flynn's horse's behind,
0:08:25 > 0:08:29which went like this and Flynn went about 19 feet in the air.
0:08:29 > 0:08:32If it had been me, I would have got up and said, "Oh, please, don't!"
0:08:32 > 0:08:34and would have got on my horse... but not Flynn.
0:08:34 > 0:08:36He said, "Which of you sons of bitches did that?"
0:08:36 > 0:08:39This huge orang-utan said, "I did. You want to make something of it?"
0:08:39 > 0:08:41So Flynn said, "I certainly do."
0:08:41 > 0:08:44He pulled him off the horse and they fought for oh, minutes,
0:08:44 > 0:08:46and he murdered him, absolutely massacred him,
0:08:46 > 0:08:48and they adored Flynn after that. Thought he was great.
0:08:48 > 0:08:52You were trained in the Army
0:08:52 > 0:08:54but what sort of stage training,
0:08:54 > 0:08:56what kind of film training did you get?
0:08:56 > 0:09:00Did anyone then consciously take you and train you in the business
0:09:00 > 0:09:04of making films and the business of being, well, an actor?
0:09:04 > 0:09:08You really learned as you went along. It's the only way.
0:09:08 > 0:09:12I'm always suspicious of these schools of acting.
0:09:12 > 0:09:15If you're lucky enough to get little jobs to start with.
0:09:15 > 0:09:17I learn every day now.
0:09:17 > 0:09:20I remember Larry Olivier said to me once...
0:09:20 > 0:09:24I did a play, and I'm a very, very bad stage actor...
0:09:24 > 0:09:25I'm pretty bad movie actor,
0:09:25 > 0:09:27but I'm an absolutely ghastly stage actor.
0:09:27 > 0:09:30And he was my friend and almost relation.
0:09:30 > 0:09:33He and Noel Coward are responsible.
0:09:33 > 0:09:36They said, "You've got to go on stage and learn. Do it."
0:09:36 > 0:09:38I'd been starring in movies.
0:09:38 > 0:09:41So I did it. And I was awful. But Larry said,
0:09:41 > 0:09:44"You will learn more by disaster than you will from success."
0:09:44 > 0:09:45He's always said that.
0:09:45 > 0:09:49I'm a very, very bad actor on the stage. I'm no good at it.
0:09:49 > 0:09:51Because I can't concentrate.
0:09:51 > 0:09:52I love the opening night,
0:09:52 > 0:09:55because the possibility of disaster's quite great,
0:09:55 > 0:09:57and that's sort of fascinating.
0:09:57 > 0:10:01And I love the first week or so, but then I get bored.
0:10:01 > 0:10:02That's why I'm so bad, I'm not trained.
0:10:02 > 0:10:05And I begin to get fascinated by the audience.
0:10:05 > 0:10:09My attention wanders, and if I see something good going on
0:10:09 > 0:10:11or something good, let's face it, down there,
0:10:11 > 0:10:14I have to be checking. No good.
0:10:14 > 0:10:15Wandering eye!
0:10:15 > 0:10:17But I've done two plays.
0:10:17 > 0:10:20One was a great disaster and one was a great success,
0:10:20 > 0:10:22and I really don't know which I hated the most.
0:10:22 > 0:10:27Amongst Niven's biggest hits was the much-loved 1956 film,
0:10:27 > 0:10:29Around The World In 80 Days.
0:10:29 > 0:10:31It was produced by Mike Todd,
0:10:31 > 0:10:35but Niven played a leading role in every sense,
0:10:35 > 0:10:39as he explained in a Film Night Special in 1970.
0:10:39 > 0:10:42Mike made me, not officially, but very unofficially,
0:10:42 > 0:10:43his assistant producer,
0:10:43 > 0:10:45cos he'd never made a movie before.
0:10:47 > 0:10:49So I was in on all the casting.
0:10:49 > 0:10:51Mike said to me, "Who's going to play Mr Fix?"
0:10:51 > 0:10:53which is the famous detective. I said,
0:10:53 > 0:10:57"There's only one man put into the world to play it, Bobby Newton."
0:10:57 > 0:10:59"Oh," he said, "That's a great idea. We must get Newton."
0:10:59 > 0:11:02I said, "But I have to warn you, and Bobby will be the first to say,
0:11:02 > 0:11:04"that he hasn't worked for a little while
0:11:04 > 0:11:07"because he took to the bottle for a long time, you know.
0:11:07 > 0:11:10"And it's been a problem. He has a problem."
0:11:10 > 0:11:11"Oh, we'll send for him."
0:11:11 > 0:11:13I said, "Well, please don't say I said anything,
0:11:13 > 0:11:16"because he's a great friend of mine, and he would be wonderful,
0:11:16 > 0:11:19"but you must get this worked out."
0:11:19 > 0:11:22So he sent for Bobby Newton, and I was standing behind the chair.
0:11:22 > 0:11:25In came Bobby, with that marvellous face and blue nose.
0:11:25 > 0:11:27And Todd said,
0:11:27 > 0:11:31"Newton, you ever heard of Around The World In 80 Days?"
0:11:31 > 0:11:34"Ooh, dear fellow, dear fellow!"
0:11:34 > 0:11:36He says "How would you like to play Mr Fix?"
0:11:36 > 0:11:38"Ooh, my dear fellow, what a role!"
0:11:38 > 0:11:39So then Todd said,
0:11:39 > 0:11:43"Your pal, Niven here, says you're a drunk."
0:11:43 > 0:11:46And I fainted, you know. And do you know what Bobby said?
0:11:46 > 0:11:48"Understatement, dear fellow."
0:11:48 > 0:11:50And he was marvellous and he took the pledge with Mike.
0:11:50 > 0:11:53He never had a nip the whole way through the pictures. Six months.
0:11:53 > 0:11:57'In this film, David Niven had a number of ballooning sequences,
0:11:57 > 0:11:59'although heights are a problem for him.'
0:11:59 > 0:12:02Well, I mean, heights, I get the full vertige.
0:12:02 > 0:12:04'Yes, when I read the script,
0:12:04 > 0:12:07'it said, "Mr Fogg goes over the Alps in a balloon,"
0:12:07 > 0:12:10'I said, "Not me, Charlie. I'm not going over the Alps in anything!"
0:12:10 > 0:12:14'So Todd said, "How high will you go?" I said, "Four foot six."
0:12:14 > 0:12:16'So, they put it in the contract. "No higher than four foot six."
0:12:16 > 0:12:19'Now, the greatest day came, which was the ascent of the balloon
0:12:19 > 0:12:22'from Paris or somewhere, and I'm in the basket,
0:12:22 > 0:12:24'supposed to be with Mario Cantinflas,'
0:12:24 > 0:12:27who was a bullfighter, is a bullfighter, a wonderful actor,
0:12:27 > 0:12:29he's also a bullfighter - very brave man.
0:12:29 > 0:12:33So... I said, "Mario, I'm not going to go up in that thing, are you?"
0:12:33 > 0:12:35He said, "No, nothing would get me up."
0:12:35 > 0:12:40And they had the highest crane in the world, 200 and something feet,
0:12:40 > 0:12:43with a line with a hook and the basket on the end of it
0:12:43 > 0:12:46and the arm was going to go out over the canyon
0:12:46 > 0:12:48with a 2,000 foot drop, you know.
0:12:48 > 0:12:50So, I said, "Nothing will get me in that."
0:12:50 > 0:12:53Mario said..."Me neither."
0:12:53 > 0:12:55So, now, we saw these doubles.
0:12:55 > 0:12:58These terrible sort of orang-utans came shuffling out,
0:12:58 > 0:13:01one with my top hat on and the other one with Mario's other hat
0:13:01 > 0:13:04and it was ridiculous. So, Mario said, "We can't have..."
0:13:04 > 0:13:06And he started getting into the basket.
0:13:06 > 0:13:11Now, the whole glory of the Anglo-Saxon world is on my back, isn't it?
0:13:11 > 0:13:13I couldn't let Mario go up with my double.
0:13:13 > 0:13:16So, I had to do it. I said, "All right, well...
0:13:16 > 0:13:19"Hennessy brandy," and a whole bottle was brought. Glug, glug, glug.
0:13:19 > 0:13:23The most drunken performance there's ever been, hanging on those ropes,
0:13:23 > 0:13:26I didn't know where I was, and it was absolutely terrifying.
0:13:26 > 0:13:29And incidentally, when we landed, the crane brought the basket in
0:13:29 > 0:13:32over the top of a village that they'd built,
0:13:32 > 0:13:34and we hit the top of the church with the bottom of the basket
0:13:34 > 0:13:37and the whole basket tipped right forward,
0:13:37 > 0:13:38and I'm looking down about 60 feet...
0:13:50 > 0:13:56By 1974, Niven had added the role of successful writer to his CV.
0:13:56 > 0:14:00His bestselling autobiography, The Moon's A Balloon,
0:14:00 > 0:14:03led to more invitations to talk about his career.
0:14:03 > 0:14:08And here, he's talking about how he started out as a Hollywood extra.
0:14:08 > 0:14:11It was terrifically overcrowded. I think, at that point,
0:14:11 > 0:14:15there were 22,000 extras fighting for 800 jobs every day.
0:14:16 > 0:14:19And we got 2.50 for working,
0:14:19 > 0:14:24and it meant that, I think, the highest-paid extras
0:14:24 > 0:14:28were pulling down 5,000 a year, which is about £800 a year.
0:14:28 > 0:14:30They were the highest-paid ones.
0:14:30 > 0:14:33And most people were pulling down 150 quid, that sort of thing.
0:14:33 > 0:14:36You may have been listed as Anglo-Saxon type,
0:14:36 > 0:14:40but, in fact, your first part was as a Mexican bandit.
0:14:40 > 0:14:43Mexican bandit, I was. And the first...
0:14:43 > 0:14:45Yes, in a Western.
0:14:45 > 0:14:48- Hopalong Cassidy.- Yes, you've really done your homework!
0:14:50 > 0:14:52And I did 27 Westerns.
0:14:52 > 0:14:55Never allowed to speak, of course, with this voice coming out.
0:14:55 > 0:14:59And... there was one marvellous moment,
0:14:59 > 0:15:02because they used to do Westerns in groups of three, in those days.
0:15:02 > 0:15:05And they get the money together... They were usually shot in five days.
0:15:06 > 0:15:09So, they'd put everything they could into the first one,
0:15:09 > 0:15:11hoping it would make a lot of money,
0:15:11 > 0:15:13so they could put more into the second and third.
0:15:13 > 0:15:15And this group that I was in,
0:15:15 > 0:15:18they had very little money to make the third of the group,
0:15:18 > 0:15:22so I arrived to the big scene, 600 extras had been called,
0:15:22 > 0:15:23and there were six.
0:15:23 > 0:15:26They couldn't afford the others, and the assistant director said...
0:15:26 > 0:15:29He said to - the director's name was Aubrey Scotto - and he said,
0:15:29 > 0:15:32"Mr Scotto, I'm afraid that's all we've got. We've got the six."
0:15:32 > 0:15:34And I was one of six, for some reason.
0:15:34 > 0:15:37And he made a marvellous remark, and it should be a book about Hollywood.
0:15:37 > 0:15:40He said, "Make it a sleepy village."
0:15:40 > 0:15:42INTERVIEWER LAUGHS
0:15:42 > 0:15:44And we were given wood and knives and we whittled
0:15:44 > 0:15:47and then we changed into Indians and it was marvellous.
0:15:47 > 0:15:50I suppose this would account for the amazing number of films
0:15:50 > 0:15:51you made in one year.
0:15:51 > 0:15:55Because, I mean, 1936 alone, you made six films.
0:15:55 > 0:15:56Well, those, you see,
0:15:56 > 0:15:59were what were referred to as starring roles by that time.
0:15:59 > 0:16:03But also, under contract, a man like Sam Goldwyn, they'd buy you.
0:16:03 > 0:16:08I mean, they'd hire you, and put you a long-term contract for very little
0:16:08 > 0:16:10and then they would teach you
0:16:10 > 0:16:12so that you could go from one picture to another.
0:16:12 > 0:16:15And in those days, it would be finishing one picture,
0:16:15 > 0:16:18rehearsing the next, and probably doing retakes of the one before.
0:16:18 > 0:16:23Everything one reads about you, and from everything you write, really,
0:16:23 > 0:16:28one gets the impression that you don't take yourself terribly seriously
0:16:28 > 0:16:32or, I won't say your work, but certainly your quality as an actor,
0:16:32 > 0:16:34you don't take terribly seriously.
0:16:34 > 0:16:37Is this genuine, or a studied...?
0:16:37 > 0:16:39No, I don't think it's a studied thing.
0:16:39 > 0:16:42I think it is genuine, because, I mean, first of all,
0:16:42 > 0:16:44the astronomical luck that I've had.
0:16:44 > 0:16:47You can't take yourself seriously.
0:16:47 > 0:16:49I mean, by and large, I've done,
0:16:49 > 0:16:52whatever it is, 80-something pictures.
0:16:52 > 0:16:56The luck of still being at it after all these years is one thing,
0:16:56 > 0:16:59because it's all typecasting in the movies, isn't it?
0:16:59 > 0:17:02I mean, they never asked me to play a Japanese laundryman or something.
0:17:02 > 0:17:05It's always officers, dukes or crooks or dishonest bishops,
0:17:05 > 0:17:07or something like that. It's always in the frame.
0:17:07 > 0:17:10Yes, you say you don't...
0:17:10 > 0:17:13you know, you've been very lucky, which perhaps explains
0:17:13 > 0:17:16why you haven't taken yourself or your work very seriously,
0:17:16 > 0:17:18but, in fact, there was one film,
0:17:18 > 0:17:22Separate Tables, for which you got an Oscar,
0:17:22 > 0:17:25so, presumably, you did take yourself fairly seriously.
0:17:25 > 0:17:30Oh, no, I misled you. I do take my work very seriously indeed.
0:17:30 > 0:17:34And I pride myself on never having been late in 40 years,
0:17:34 > 0:17:37and all that, and take it very, very seriously.
0:17:37 > 0:17:40And I do my best, and get there knowing the jokes and...
0:17:40 > 0:17:42INTERVIEWER LAUGHS
0:17:42 > 0:17:45But I don't take the result very seriously,
0:17:45 > 0:17:48and I don't expect it to go on forever, and I never did.
0:17:48 > 0:17:50The following year,
0:17:50 > 0:17:53the publication of a collection of his favourite tales from Hollywood
0:17:53 > 0:17:56meant a visit to the Parkinson show.
0:17:56 > 0:18:00And once again, Niven would show that no-one could top him
0:18:00 > 0:18:02as a showbiz storyteller.
0:18:03 > 0:18:06Do you find inspiration comes easily to you?
0:18:06 > 0:18:09No, not at all. I mean, first of all,
0:18:09 > 0:18:12I've got absolutely no powers of concentration whatever.
0:18:12 > 0:18:16And if it's a nice day, I can't write,
0:18:16 > 0:18:18because there's something else to do.
0:18:18 > 0:18:20And if it's raining, it's too dreary to write.
0:18:20 > 0:18:22LAUGHTER
0:18:22 > 0:18:24I make any excuse.
0:18:24 > 0:18:27If an aeroplane goes over, it's a bonanza. I watch that for hours.
0:18:27 > 0:18:29LAUGHTER
0:18:29 > 0:18:32And my wife, I can't wait, I beg her to come along with some awful news
0:18:32 > 0:18:34that the boiler's burst or something.
0:18:34 > 0:18:37And finally, I've got one little chair in the garden,
0:18:37 > 0:18:41right up against a corner of a hedge, like this...
0:18:41 > 0:18:44- I can't even see the sky, and I sit there and do my best.- Yes.
0:18:44 > 0:18:47Do you regard yourself now as an actor or as an author?
0:18:47 > 0:18:51Oh, as an actor. I mean, I regard this as a terrific...
0:18:53 > 0:18:57..not a sideline, even, I'm an amateur at it.
0:18:57 > 0:18:59I love doing it, if it's a success, and I was so happy with it,
0:18:59 > 0:19:02with the unexpected success of the other one,
0:19:02 > 0:19:05because I really wrote it for a few chums for Christmas.
0:19:07 > 0:19:08You've got an awful lot of chums!
0:19:08 > 0:19:10LAUGHTER
0:19:10 > 0:19:14I mean, it's ridiculous. I don't know what will happen this time.
0:19:14 > 0:19:16But how do people regard you now, David?
0:19:16 > 0:19:19When you meet people, do they think of you as David Niven the author,
0:19:19 > 0:19:21or David Niven the actor?
0:19:21 > 0:19:24Well, I tried it on the other day. I went home, we live near Nice,
0:19:24 > 0:19:26and I know all the little men down there...
0:19:26 > 0:19:29So, usually, when you fill in that thing at the airport,
0:19:29 > 0:19:33on the flight, "Occupation," I always used to put actor,
0:19:33 > 0:19:35so, this time, I put author, just for fun.
0:19:35 > 0:19:37"Oh, Monsieur..." I got all this bit from him saying,
0:19:37 > 0:19:39"Why have you changed your profession?"
0:19:39 > 0:19:43I said, "Well, you may not have heard, but, even in French, I've written a bestseller."
0:19:43 > 0:19:46And he says, "That does not make you an author. That makes you a fluke."
0:19:46 > 0:19:49LAUGHTER
0:19:50 > 0:19:51Bring On The Empty Horses,
0:19:51 > 0:19:55it's an intriguing title for a book about Hollywood.
0:19:55 > 0:19:57How does it arise? Where does it come from?
0:19:57 > 0:20:01Well, I have to put a little self-bleep machine into this.
0:20:01 > 0:20:03- You don't have to.- I do, I think.
0:20:03 > 0:20:05- You do? All right.- Yes.
0:20:05 > 0:20:09There was a great Hungarian director called Mike Curtiz,
0:20:09 > 0:20:12and he was directing The Charge Of The Light Brigade,
0:20:12 > 0:20:15and his English was very peculiar.
0:20:15 > 0:20:18And Errol Flynn and I were standing underneath the rostrum,
0:20:18 > 0:20:22he was on it, and the charge had taken place, a lot of it,
0:20:22 > 0:20:25and as you know, everybody was killed,
0:20:25 > 0:20:29and it was time for about 200 rider-less chargers to arrive,
0:20:29 > 0:20:32so Mike, with his megaphone, says, "Bring on the empty horses!"
0:20:32 > 0:20:35And so Flynn and I fell down, you know.
0:20:35 > 0:20:38And he turned on us, he turned on us through the microphone,
0:20:38 > 0:20:39the megaphone, it was in those days,
0:20:39 > 0:20:42"You bums, you lousy, limey... You jerks!"
0:20:42 > 0:20:44He said, "You and your goddamn language,
0:20:44 > 0:20:47"you think I know bleep nothing, and I know bleep all!"
0:20:47 > 0:20:49LAUGHTER AND APPLAUSE
0:20:53 > 0:20:57You've been in Hollywood for, what, 40 years, haven't you?
0:20:57 > 0:20:59I've been in the business 40 years.
0:20:59 > 0:21:03I lived there for all those 25 years and I go back often.
0:21:03 > 0:21:06What was it... Do you remember distinctly your first impression
0:21:06 > 0:21:09of Hollywood when you first arrived there?
0:21:09 > 0:21:13That was the early '30s, of course, and Hollywood is a...
0:21:14 > 0:21:19..a small... outcrop of a huge town, really.
0:21:19 > 0:21:23Los Angeles then was the biggest city in area in the world.
0:21:23 > 0:21:26In fact, there was one square mile for every four inhabitants,
0:21:26 > 0:21:29cos large chunks of it weren't built over.
0:21:29 > 0:21:34Hollywood is a sort of suburb and it was rather a baroque, dusty place,
0:21:34 > 0:21:38and you have to imagine the big horseshoe of the Pacific like this,
0:21:38 > 0:21:43and here is a horseshoe of hills, about a few miles away,
0:21:43 > 0:21:47and then 20 miles of valley on the other side of hills,
0:21:47 > 0:21:49and then a horseshoe of mountains with snow on them.
0:21:49 > 0:21:54And the sun sets this way and Hollywood's up against those hills.
0:21:54 > 0:21:56And it's a spectacular setting.
0:21:56 > 0:21:59But the architecture was ridiculous really,
0:21:59 > 0:22:02because the city planners got left behind all the time.
0:22:02 > 0:22:05The place grew faster than they could plan.
0:22:05 > 0:22:09And Hollywood itself is this one rather strange, rather sad little suburb,
0:22:09 > 0:22:13and all the studios were sprinkled all over the city which had no transport really,
0:22:13 > 0:22:17so we'd have to get up at three in the morning to get to work.
0:22:17 > 0:22:20And one oasis of charm in the place was Beverly Hills, then,
0:22:20 > 0:22:25in those days, and all of the streets were planted with different trees,
0:22:25 > 0:22:31acacias and palms and magnolias and pines and eucalyptus - beautiful.
0:22:31 > 0:22:35I took the trouble to go once and ask the Rodeo Land and Water Company
0:22:35 > 0:22:37which had subdivided the place,
0:22:37 > 0:22:41who did it and, to our great credit, it was a man from Kew Gardens.
0:22:41 > 0:22:45- Really?- Yes.- He started that whole extraordinary thing.
0:22:45 > 0:22:49What was it like being a young struggling actor in those days
0:22:49 > 0:22:51in Hollywood? As you said, they were the great days.
0:22:51 > 0:22:53There was a big industry there.
0:22:53 > 0:22:56But of course you didn't walk in straightaway and become a superstar, did you?
0:22:56 > 0:23:00No, I was an extra and that was hell. That was really hell.
0:23:00 > 0:23:03What kind of extra were you? Classified...?
0:23:03 > 0:23:06I was classified because there were the dress extras
0:23:06 > 0:23:10who were very snooty, and they had clothes for every occasion.
0:23:10 > 0:23:14They had ball gowns and race-going clothes and office clothes,
0:23:14 > 0:23:18and bankers' clothes and all of that, and they got paid 10 a day,
0:23:18 > 0:23:21which is about three quid, I suppose,
0:23:21 > 0:23:25and then there were the people who looked all right in uniforms,
0:23:25 > 0:23:28could walk properly, and the rest of us were the cattle.
0:23:28 > 0:23:31I was one of the cattle. And we were put in, sort of, ethnic groups.
0:23:31 > 0:23:37There were, you know, Asian and American red and American white,
0:23:37 > 0:23:42and American black, and I was Anglo-Saxon type 2,008.
0:23:42 > 0:23:43LAUGHTER
0:23:43 > 0:23:47But the thing that struck me about Hollywood was how difficult it was
0:23:47 > 0:23:52to get there, because one forgets how enormous that country is
0:23:52 > 0:23:59and from New York to California is only a little bit shorter distance
0:23:59 > 0:24:02than from London to New York, so it was four days and four nights
0:24:02 > 0:24:05on a train, or about two weeks in a ship,
0:24:05 > 0:24:08going around by the canal,
0:24:08 > 0:24:13or 24 hours flying in the most horrendous aircraft at 5,000 feet,
0:24:13 > 0:24:15flapping about in that awful weather,
0:24:15 > 0:24:20with every possibility of thudding into the Allegheny Mountains on the way.
0:24:20 > 0:24:24So nobody came out from Broadway, unless they were big stars,
0:24:24 > 0:24:26and there was no television,
0:24:26 > 0:24:30so the only way into Hollywood was there in Hollywood itself,
0:24:30 > 0:24:33so you went there if you wanted to be in it,
0:24:33 > 0:24:36and became an extra and prayed - and starved usually.
0:24:36 > 0:24:39Starved, literally? You would find something else to do?
0:24:39 > 0:24:41There were 22,000 of us at one point registered,
0:24:41 > 0:24:43looking for 800 jobs every day.
0:24:43 > 0:24:48How many of that lot, who started as you did as an extra,
0:24:48 > 0:24:50made stardom as you did?
0:24:50 > 0:24:53I think, honestly, a tiny, tiny proportion.
0:24:53 > 0:24:57And if the first prize, which is only a prize for a day, the Oscar,
0:24:57 > 0:25:02it's a group effort anyway, but somebody gets it each year,
0:25:02 > 0:25:05I think... I went down to Central Casting the other day,
0:25:05 > 0:25:06and they now have computers,
0:25:06 > 0:25:09and it's something like a million to one against.
0:25:09 > 0:25:11The luck is absolutely horrendous.
0:25:11 > 0:25:14Do you remember the first lines you ever spoke
0:25:14 > 0:25:15when you moved from being an extra?
0:25:15 > 0:25:18Yes, I remember the first three lines I spoke.
0:25:18 > 0:25:21One was, I said,
0:25:21 > 0:25:23"Hello, my dear". No -
0:25:23 > 0:25:27"Goodbye, my dear," to Alyssa Landy at a railway station.
0:25:27 > 0:25:29LAUGHTER
0:25:29 > 0:25:32I was such a smash in that that I was hired...
0:25:32 > 0:25:34LAUGHTER
0:25:34 > 0:25:38..hired to say, "Hello, my dear," to Ruth Chatterton at another station.
0:25:38 > 0:25:42And then my big moment was in a Sam Goldwyn production
0:25:42 > 0:25:45with Miriam Hopkins and Joel McCrea and Edward G Robinson.
0:25:45 > 0:25:49I was a Cockney sailor and I was shown out of the window of a brothel
0:25:49 > 0:25:53in San Francisco, into three foot of mud, and I said,
0:25:53 > 0:25:56COCKNEY ACCENT: "All right, I'll go."
0:25:56 > 0:25:58LAUGHTER
0:25:58 > 0:26:02And Miriam and Joel and Eddie Robinson and some donkeys
0:26:02 > 0:26:04and 40 vigilantes walked over the top of me.
0:26:04 > 0:26:06- An auspicious debut.- Yes.
0:26:06 > 0:26:10What about...? One of the fascinating things that comes out
0:26:10 > 0:26:14in what you've written is the amount of importance that was attached
0:26:14 > 0:26:18in those days in Hollywood to publicity,
0:26:18 > 0:26:21to the value of publicity, making yourself known.
0:26:21 > 0:26:25What kind of tricks did they get up to? Publicity experts?
0:26:25 > 0:26:31Mike, in those days it was not great talents, it was great personalities.
0:26:33 > 0:26:36There were probably 40 people who could support a picture.
0:26:36 > 0:26:39Today there are probably four who can support any picture,
0:26:39 > 0:26:43and it was a case of publicity building up grains of sand until
0:26:43 > 0:26:47they became sizeable hills that could be seen a long way off, really.
0:26:47 > 0:26:49And they got up to all sorts of tricks.
0:26:49 > 0:26:53The first publicity man came from the circus,
0:26:53 > 0:26:58came from Barnum and Bailey Circus, a man called Harry Reichenbach.
0:26:58 > 0:27:01And he was hired in the early days to publicise one of the first
0:27:01 > 0:27:07Tarzan pictures, and he booked a room in a hotel on the ground floor,
0:27:07 > 0:27:10right opposite where the theatre was in New York where it would open,
0:27:10 > 0:27:14and a large packing case was delivered to his room,
0:27:14 > 0:27:15and then he pressed the bell
0:27:15 > 0:27:19and ordered eight pounds of chopped hamburger for lunch.
0:27:19 > 0:27:22So the waiter tottered up with this great platter,
0:27:22 > 0:27:25and there was a large lion sitting at his table
0:27:25 > 0:27:29with a napkin round his neck. LAUGHTER
0:27:29 > 0:27:32So the waiter sued Harry Reichenbach amid immense publicity.
0:27:32 > 0:27:36That was really the first publicity stunt, and it sort of backfired.
0:27:36 > 0:27:39He got badly sued. The next one... LAUGHTER
0:27:39 > 0:27:42The next one that backfired was Mae West.
0:27:42 > 0:27:44Mae West backfired - that sounds very strange.
0:27:44 > 0:27:46LAUGHTER
0:27:46 > 0:27:48The next one that backfired was Mae West.
0:27:48 > 0:27:53She was doing a movie called It Ain't No Sin.
0:27:53 > 0:27:58And they had a brilliant idea, and they got together 140 parrots.
0:27:58 > 0:28:00And put them into intensive training,
0:28:00 > 0:28:03and these poor animals were taught to say, "It ain't no sin".
0:28:03 > 0:28:06LAUGHTER
0:28:06 > 0:28:10They were going to be put on perches in hotel lobbies
0:28:10 > 0:28:12all around the city for the opening of the picture,
0:28:12 > 0:28:14and at the last minute, the Hays Office,
0:28:14 > 0:28:17which was the group in charge of the morals of Hollywood,
0:28:17 > 0:28:21decided that It Ain't No Sin was a dirty title
0:28:21 > 0:28:23and changed it to I'm No Angel.
0:28:23 > 0:28:26LAUGHTER
0:28:26 > 0:28:32So the poor bloody parrots were taken away and given a crash course...
0:28:32 > 0:28:34LAUGHTER
0:28:34 > 0:28:36..and then there were put on the perches,
0:28:36 > 0:28:38and frightful noises and whistles came out
0:28:38 > 0:28:40and they were sent home in disgrace.
0:28:40 > 0:28:43The other people, of course, who were around about that time
0:28:43 > 0:28:49- it's absurd, isn't it? - were the gossip columnists?
0:28:49 > 0:28:52Again, as you say, Hollywood invented the publicity stunt.
0:28:52 > 0:28:56They also invented the gossip columnist, didn't they?
0:28:56 > 0:28:59You suffered or certainly lived through
0:28:59 > 0:29:01the two most powerful women...
0:29:01 > 0:29:04They were immensely power... Hedda Hopper and Louella Parsons.
0:29:04 > 0:29:07One was short and fat and the other was long and thin.
0:29:07 > 0:29:10And they were both mines of misinformation.
0:29:10 > 0:29:14But they were very, very powerful because, between them,
0:29:14 > 0:29:16they covered every single newspaper in the United States.
0:29:16 > 0:29:18They had millions of readers.
0:29:18 > 0:29:24And they had daily profiles they did, they were very powerful.
0:29:24 > 0:29:27I don't think they could ever destroy anybody who had great talent.
0:29:27 > 0:29:30They both hacked away at Marlon and never destroyed him.
0:29:30 > 0:29:33They had terrific favourites and they had terrific enemies.
0:29:33 > 0:29:39Hedda's great enemy was Orson Welles because he made Citizen Kane,
0:29:39 > 0:29:42and Hearst, of course, was the prototype of that,
0:29:42 > 0:29:43and Hearst was her boss.
0:29:43 > 0:29:46And Hedda took against Chaplin, she loathed Chaplin
0:29:46 > 0:29:48because she was very politically minded.
0:29:48 > 0:29:51But it was much easier with those other things...
0:29:51 > 0:29:54She thought he was very left-wing and a commie and all that stuff.
0:29:54 > 0:29:56In fact, as she was dying aged 82,
0:29:56 > 0:29:58she'd written her last column the morning before, she said
0:29:58 > 0:30:01"I hear that son of a bitch Chaplin's trying to get back in the country -
0:30:01 > 0:30:04"you've got to stop that," and then died.
0:30:04 > 0:30:05LAUGHTER
0:30:07 > 0:30:11But they were very rough, and the studios used them...
0:30:11 > 0:30:15I was under contract with Sam Goldwyn for 15 years,
0:30:15 > 0:30:16and something happened,
0:30:16 > 0:30:19I had a contract that was coming up for renewal
0:30:19 > 0:30:21or dissipation or something... LAUGHTER
0:30:21 > 0:30:24And Goldwyn decided to soften me up for the kill,
0:30:24 > 0:30:27and to get me to settle for less money.
0:30:27 > 0:30:30And I was rather popular, I thought, at the studio.
0:30:30 > 0:30:33I'd been there as a beginner. And I picked up the paper -
0:30:33 > 0:30:38headline, "Niven Unbearable Say Fellow Workers."
0:30:38 > 0:30:42And a big thing saying I had got so swollen-headed that nobody could work with me, and hated me...
0:30:42 > 0:30:46Goldwyn... And Louella put it in to help Goldwyn. I mean, that sort of thing did happen.
0:30:46 > 0:30:50It must have made life very uncomfortable, and I suppose you had to be pleasant to these people?
0:30:50 > 0:30:53Well, you did. We were all whores, really,
0:30:53 > 0:30:58because it was much easier to go with them than against them.
0:30:58 > 0:31:01They could make it very uncomfortable for you.
0:31:01 > 0:31:03Did you ever get a chance...
0:31:03 > 0:31:06The problem is that actors particularly
0:31:06 > 0:31:10always say that their problem is they can never get back at their critics.
0:31:10 > 0:31:12Did you ever manage to get back at any of them?
0:31:14 > 0:31:17Well, we did a little thing once.
0:31:17 > 0:31:20Ida Lupino was a great friend of mine,
0:31:20 > 0:31:24and she was married to a very rough man called Howard Duff. She still is.
0:31:24 > 0:31:28And my wife - Hjordis, my wife -
0:31:28 > 0:31:32we loathed Hedda and Louella at this point, we'd both had problems with them,
0:31:32 > 0:31:36all four of us had had problems.
0:31:36 > 0:31:39So we had a little plan, and we had dinner together,
0:31:39 > 0:31:43and then I called up Ciro's which was the sort of chic nightclub,
0:31:43 > 0:31:45and booked a table for two.
0:31:45 > 0:31:48And the head waiter said, "Oh, yes, Mr Niven, just you and madam?"
0:31:48 > 0:31:52And I said, "Just give me a quiet corner table, in the dark."
0:31:52 > 0:31:54And then Ida and I arrived.
0:31:54 > 0:31:59And, terrific twittering, because there were spies everywhere for the columnists,
0:31:59 > 0:32:02in all the brothels and in all the hospitals and everywhere...
0:32:02 > 0:32:05And immediately, the next thing I knew
0:32:05 > 0:32:08about 15 cameramen arrived, and Lupi and I are sitting in one corner
0:32:08 > 0:32:11and she's nibbling my ear and the whole bit...
0:32:11 > 0:32:15And right in the middle of all this excitement, in comes Howard and Hjordis,
0:32:15 > 0:32:18and go to the other side of the dance floor.
0:32:18 > 0:32:21And Lupino says - she overdid it - "You must flee!
0:32:21 > 0:32:24"You must flee", I mean...(!) LAUGHTER
0:32:27 > 0:32:31And then Howard - who was reputed as a brawler, you know -
0:32:31 > 0:32:34he spotted us and kicked over his table, crash -
0:32:34 > 0:32:37now everybody in the place is watching him. Everybody's waiting.
0:32:37 > 0:32:40And I pretended to be a bit gassed, and I got up from mine,
0:32:40 > 0:32:43and we took our coats off.
0:32:43 > 0:32:46Now, all the photographers getting into position for the kill...
0:32:46 > 0:32:49And the dance floor's cleared, and we go on the dance floor,
0:32:49 > 0:32:52and we circle round looking at each other.
0:32:52 > 0:32:54The classic Western ending, you know,
0:32:54 > 0:32:59and then finally we grabbed each other, kissed each other on the mouth and waltzed all round the room.
0:32:59 > 0:33:00LAUGHTER AND APPLAUSE
0:33:07 > 0:33:10Louella called me in the morning -
0:33:10 > 0:33:14said she would not be woken up for false alarms!
0:33:14 > 0:33:18How difficult was it, though, to remain unimpressed by it all,
0:33:18 > 0:33:19once having made it?
0:33:19 > 0:33:22Was any advice ever offered to you, that you hung onto,
0:33:22 > 0:33:26which kept you sane and a survivor in Hollywood?
0:33:26 > 0:33:27Well, Gable was a great chum of mine,
0:33:27 > 0:33:31and he was a real feet-on-the-ground man. We used to go fishing a lot.
0:33:33 > 0:33:37And he always said, "If you ever get to the top,
0:33:37 > 0:33:41"be tough with the brass, with the moguls.
0:33:41 > 0:33:45"And don't forget," he always said, "it's a terrifying scenario
0:33:45 > 0:33:48"we're taking part in, and we're going to get it in the end.
0:33:48 > 0:33:50"Everybody expects that."
0:33:50 > 0:33:56He used to say, "I personally take Tracy's advice - Spencer Tracy's advice -
0:33:56 > 0:33:57"which is to get there on time,
0:33:57 > 0:34:01"know the jokes, take the cheque and go home."
0:34:01 > 0:34:04But I think, honestly, Michael, you're being complimentary.
0:34:04 > 0:34:07I think I WAS getting completely out of control,
0:34:07 > 0:34:10because it's very difficult not to believe your own publicity.
0:34:10 > 0:34:14It was in those days, because there was so much of it, pages and pages.
0:34:14 > 0:34:18As I said before, in those days, before television,
0:34:18 > 0:34:21there was no competition, so the Sunday Express here, for instance,
0:34:21 > 0:34:25would have four, five or six pages on Sundays of Hollywood news.
0:34:25 > 0:34:27And it was incredible.
0:34:27 > 0:34:31And you began to read your own publicity and believe it.
0:34:31 > 0:34:34And, you know, if you read 3,000 times a week that you have a very
0:34:34 > 0:34:39attractive twitch of the right eye...
0:34:39 > 0:34:41you begin to twitch.
0:34:41 > 0:34:44I was twitching all over, I was...
0:34:44 > 0:34:47I think I really was saved by the war, because I came back here
0:34:47 > 0:34:52and for six and a half years was brought down to Earth, smartly.
0:34:52 > 0:34:55But did all this put an impossible strain on your married life, for instance?
0:34:55 > 0:35:00Very much so. It really did, because...
0:35:01 > 0:35:06For instance, in our marriage - which has lasted for 20-something years, thank God -
0:35:06 > 0:35:11it certainly put an awful strain, because Hjordis is very, very beautiful,
0:35:11 > 0:35:15and she was a top model in Sweden and so on. Now, a very beautiful woman...
0:35:15 > 0:35:20should immediately - I mean, this is just a tiny example -
0:35:20 > 0:35:25should immediately attract the attention if a couple walks into a room, or a restaurant.
0:35:25 > 0:35:29But if she walks into it with a dreary old bulldog face
0:35:29 > 0:35:36that's been around for 500 years, she gets it second. Or used to, anyway.
0:35:36 > 0:35:40And table hopping, when people are plucking at you in Hollywood...
0:35:40 > 0:35:44She's left there standing. And it got to such a point, she left.
0:35:44 > 0:35:47- Really?- She said, "I've got to find out if I'm anything any more" -
0:35:47 > 0:35:53this was after years of marriage to her, she left, she took off for four months.
0:35:53 > 0:35:57And I realised the horrendous thing, that because of all that nonsense
0:35:57 > 0:35:59I was taking the most important thing for granted, really.
0:35:59 > 0:36:03But thank God we got the show on the road again and everything was all right.
0:36:03 > 0:36:06The marriage was reported to be unhappy,
0:36:06 > 0:36:10with claims that Niven had numerous affairs.
0:36:10 > 0:36:14But, with typical humour, he said he wanted to go down as
0:36:14 > 0:36:17the only Hollywood actor who never got a divorce.
0:36:19 > 0:36:22In 1981, Niven was back on Parkinson,
0:36:22 > 0:36:25promoting his second novel this time,
0:36:25 > 0:36:29but, once again, treating the audience to more stories
0:36:29 > 0:36:31of his extraordinary encounters.
0:36:31 > 0:36:35It's extraordinary, in fact, looking at the kind of people,
0:36:35 > 0:36:36the range of people that you've met.
0:36:36 > 0:36:40Just about everybody who's anybody, you met at one time or another.
0:36:40 > 0:36:43I mean, you met, during the war - when you came back to England
0:36:43 > 0:36:45from America to join up -
0:36:45 > 0:36:49you met Churchill, didn't you, on a couple of occasions?
0:36:49 > 0:36:54I did, I was so lucky to meet him, and so lucky to meet so many people.
0:36:54 > 0:37:00I met him because, when the Germans had taken most of Europe -
0:37:00 > 0:37:05all of it, in fact - they had a beam from France over Chequers,
0:37:05 > 0:37:09and a beam from Norway, like that, so that all they had to do was
0:37:09 > 0:37:12send a bomber down the beam and drop an egg on Chequers.
0:37:12 > 0:37:17So a man called Ronnie Tree had a lovely house in Oxfordshire,
0:37:17 > 0:37:19and he gave Churchill a wing for the war
0:37:19 > 0:37:22where he could go for weekends, and that sort of thing.
0:37:22 > 0:37:24And he used to be there with his staff,
0:37:24 > 0:37:28Portal and Douglas and all these people, fascinating.
0:37:28 > 0:37:29And Duff Cooper and Eden...
0:37:29 > 0:37:34And I had no home, and Tree also let me spend my leave there,
0:37:34 > 0:37:36in his part of the house, obviously.
0:37:36 > 0:37:41So I used to meet him when I went on leave, and he was fascinating.
0:37:41 > 0:37:44And he loved, um...
0:37:44 > 0:37:47He loved the movies, loved to talk to me about the movies.
0:37:47 > 0:37:49He loved Deanna Durbin.
0:37:49 > 0:37:51"Great talent," he said, and all that.
0:37:51 > 0:37:55And the first day I saw him, I'd just come in late
0:37:55 > 0:37:59with the uniform on, and he got up from the table
0:37:59 > 0:38:02and walked, everybody stood up, he came to me and said -
0:38:02 > 0:38:06and they were all listening, all these great admirals
0:38:06 > 0:38:10"Young man, a most magnificent effort to give up
0:38:10 > 0:38:13"a most promising career to fight for your King and country."
0:38:13 > 0:38:15I said, "Oh, well..."
0:38:15 > 0:38:17LAUGHTER
0:38:17 > 0:38:20And he said, "Mark you, if you had not have done so,
0:38:20 > 0:38:24"it would have been despicable." LAUGHTER
0:38:27 > 0:38:30What other memory do you have of him, David, anything at all?
0:38:30 > 0:38:32Well, he loved to go for walks. He'd take me for walks,
0:38:32 > 0:38:36and I remember when it was absolutely at its blackest,
0:38:36 > 0:38:40when the Japs had just sunk the Prince of Wales
0:38:40 > 0:38:46and George V off Malaya, and terrible disasters in the desert.
0:38:46 > 0:38:49And I said to him, somewhere in the middle of Oxfordshire,
0:38:49 > 0:38:54I said, "Do you think that America will ever come into the war?"
0:38:54 > 0:38:59And he said, "You mark my words, something cataclysmic will occur."
0:38:59 > 0:39:02"Cataclysmic" I've never heard before or since, but...
0:39:02 > 0:39:04And, six weeks later, Pearl Harbor.
0:39:04 > 0:39:08It turned out, another four months go by and I get leave again,
0:39:08 > 0:39:11and there he was - "Come for a walk." Off we go.
0:39:11 > 0:39:15So I asked him if he remembered it. He said, "Certainly, I remember."
0:39:15 > 0:39:18So I said, "What on Earth made you say it?"
0:39:18 > 0:39:22He said, "Young man, I study history."
0:39:22 > 0:39:24- Goose-pimple time.- Yes.
0:39:24 > 0:39:29What you've build up over the years, both as an actor and as a writer,
0:39:29 > 0:39:32is a sort of personae which is beloved, actually.
0:39:32 > 0:39:36That's what you are, with people who read you.
0:39:36 > 0:39:39No, it's true, this is exactly what you are.
0:39:39 > 0:39:46But is it necessary for you to be liked? Do you work hard at it?
0:39:46 > 0:39:48I don't work hard at it but, let's face it,
0:39:48 > 0:39:51I think everybody who becomes an actor
0:39:51 > 0:39:56probably becomes an actor for just that reason they want to be liked.
0:39:56 > 0:40:00It could stem from being bashed around in school, like I was.
0:40:00 > 0:40:03But my bashing around is nothing to being brought up in the Gorbals
0:40:03 > 0:40:05or something like that.
0:40:05 > 0:40:07But for its size, it was nasty,
0:40:07 > 0:40:10and I think I definitely wanted to be liked,
0:40:10 > 0:40:12and I started doing concerts and things at school to be liked,
0:40:12 > 0:40:15and tearing the trousers and all that to be liked.
0:40:15 > 0:40:18And don't think for one second when I walked down those steps
0:40:18 > 0:40:21and all those sweet people clapped, I didn't enjoy every second of it.
0:40:21 > 0:40:23LAUGHTER
0:40:23 > 0:40:25This is a silly hypothetical situation -
0:40:25 > 0:40:28supposing you went into a room, and there were 20 people there
0:40:28 > 0:40:30who liked you, and one from whom person you felt hate,
0:40:30 > 0:40:32- what would you do? - Go straight to them.
0:40:32 > 0:40:34- Would you?- Oh, yes. - And charm them?
0:40:34 > 0:40:37Absolutely, go right at 'em. Oh, yes.
0:40:37 > 0:40:41You couldn't stay there if you felt that somebody didn't like you?
0:40:41 > 0:40:44But, you know, in the old days, before transatlantic flights,
0:40:44 > 0:40:46you used to cross on the big liners.
0:40:46 > 0:40:50And arriving in New York, on the Queen Mary or something like that,
0:40:50 > 0:40:54they had passenger lists and they had a big room for the press
0:40:54 > 0:40:56who came out on the cutter, the pilot cutter.
0:40:56 > 0:40:58And they'd say who they wanted to interview,
0:40:58 > 0:41:02and you'd be wheeled in, and there was one man I'll never forget,
0:41:02 > 0:41:05you'd do your best and he'd just be sitting like this...
0:41:07 > 0:41:10And you'd go for him all the time, try to make him like you.
0:41:10 > 0:41:13Have you ever not liked yourself?
0:41:13 > 0:41:15Oh, yes.
0:41:15 > 0:41:20Yes. I've done... not awful things, but nasty things.
0:41:22 > 0:41:24I did a beastly thing, once.
0:41:24 > 0:41:28I had an agent, a very good agent.
0:41:28 > 0:41:32And he'd done very well for me, he was a very nice man, a friend.
0:41:32 > 0:41:35And my contract was just coming up with him to renew,
0:41:35 > 0:41:38and I was going to renew it, of course.
0:41:38 > 0:41:41And the top agent of Hollywood, who only had about five people,
0:41:41 > 0:41:45a man called Bert Allenberg, and if you were with him, that was it.
0:41:45 > 0:41:48The big golden gates would open, he had so much power.
0:41:48 > 0:41:51And he said, "David, I want to handle you."
0:41:51 > 0:41:53And I said, "Well, what about Phil Gersh?"
0:41:53 > 0:41:57He said, "That's your problem, kid."
0:41:57 > 0:41:59And I sat up all night...
0:41:59 > 0:42:01Michael, greed won.
0:42:01 > 0:42:03Greed won, and I went to see Gersh,
0:42:03 > 0:42:05and I said, "Phil, I'm sorry,
0:42:05 > 0:42:07"I'm not going to renew." He said, "Why not?"
0:42:07 > 0:42:11I said, "I don't know, I just want to change my butcher."
0:42:11 > 0:42:14He said, "You know, you're the only actor I've ever liked.
0:42:14 > 0:42:18"I'll never handle another. You're just like the rest.
0:42:18 > 0:42:22"I'll only handle directors and writers." And, sure, he did.
0:42:22 > 0:42:26And I crawled away, and I went to see Allenberg and said, "I've done it."
0:42:26 > 0:42:28And he said, "That's great.
0:42:28 > 0:42:31"Now tomorrow I'm going to see Zanuck, LB Mayer on Tuesday, Warner,
0:42:31 > 0:42:34"and I'll have great news Thursday morning.
0:42:34 > 0:42:37"Call me Thursday morning. Big contracts."
0:42:37 > 0:42:39Couldn't wait for Thursday.
0:42:39 > 0:42:41I felt a little bit ashamed, I called on Thursday morning,
0:42:41 > 0:42:45and the secretary was crying. I said, "What's the matter with you?"
0:42:45 > 0:42:47And she said, "Mr Allenberg died in the night."
0:42:47 > 0:42:50AUDIENCE GASPS AND LAUGHS
0:42:50 > 0:42:53- You still cringe at that. - I still cringe, yes.
0:42:53 > 0:42:58Do you see yourself as a sort of survivor of a lost time?
0:42:58 > 0:43:01Well, let's face it, my group's been called up.
0:43:01 > 0:43:04LAUGHTER
0:43:04 > 0:43:06Yes, I am a survivor.
0:43:06 > 0:43:09And I'm not going to volunteer for the next thing, but...
0:43:11 > 0:43:15Yes, I suppose I am a survivor, thank God.
0:43:15 > 0:43:18It's... It's been such fun.
0:43:18 > 0:43:24I'm so lucky - how many people in this room, in this country,
0:43:24 > 0:43:29can really say, "I'm doing a job I love," you know?
0:43:29 > 0:43:32So many of us scratch around doing our best
0:43:32 > 0:43:34and not really liking it very much.
0:43:34 > 0:43:36But when you look around now,
0:43:36 > 0:43:39I mean, the one thing that you could honestly say about yourself,
0:43:39 > 0:43:43which is enviable, I suppose, to any young person in the business now,
0:43:43 > 0:43:45is that you were in the business at a time when
0:43:45 > 0:43:47it was the most glamorous, the most exciting,
0:43:47 > 0:43:50the most fun business in the world. It must have been.
0:43:50 > 0:43:52And it had a certain amount of style,
0:43:52 > 0:43:56which, singularly, is lacking now. Do you find that?
0:43:56 > 0:43:59Does what's happening today disappoint you when you look
0:43:59 > 0:44:02at what's happened to your industry and to people in it?
0:44:02 > 0:44:04It doesn't, Michael.
0:44:04 > 0:44:07It's changed completely. The star system has gone, of course,
0:44:07 > 0:44:11but there's much more opportunity for people.
0:44:11 > 0:44:14As I said before, with 22,000 extras,
0:44:14 > 0:44:17how much talent never got a chance to open its face?
0:44:17 > 0:44:19Now there's television,
0:44:19 > 0:44:22and even doing a commercial people are discovered,
0:44:22 > 0:44:26and I think it's much easier for the young to start now,
0:44:26 > 0:44:29but much harder to keep going, because they're not backed up
0:44:29 > 0:44:33by the studios and by the contracts and by the family system.
0:44:33 > 0:44:36I think it's great, I think they're making wonderful movies now,
0:44:36 > 0:44:38really great movies now.
0:44:38 > 0:44:41But it's frightfully tough, because a lot of muck is made,
0:44:41 > 0:44:46and I'm afraid that, when people get entertainment free,
0:44:46 > 0:44:51they don't criticise the quality, and I think we're not making movies
0:44:51 > 0:44:53now really for a movie audience any more,
0:44:53 > 0:44:56we're making movies for an audience that's...
0:44:56 > 0:44:59not brainwashed, but so used to television,
0:44:59 > 0:45:02and so many of the series churned out in America are so slipshod,
0:45:02 > 0:45:06and thrown together, not time to write them well.
0:45:06 > 0:45:09But people get used to it, they don't even listen, maybe.
0:45:09 > 0:45:11I think the standard's gone down.
0:45:11 > 0:45:13How, generally speaking, do you view old age?
0:45:13 > 0:45:16- Because you're 70 now, aren't you?- 71.
0:45:16 > 0:45:1871. So, how do you view it?
0:45:18 > 0:45:21How do you view this phase of your life?
0:45:21 > 0:45:23Well, there's no point in saying...
0:45:23 > 0:45:25Look at this "lugghh" that's suddenly happened tonight,
0:45:25 > 0:45:29- I don't know what that is. - That's nerves, David, that's nerves.
0:45:29 > 0:45:34But I try to be the best I am for my age, the best I can do for my age.
0:45:34 > 0:45:37I do everything, I ski and swim and all that sort of thing.
0:45:37 > 0:45:42But I don't view the future with any great longing.
0:45:42 > 0:45:46And, um, I just hope that I'll be gone before those awful things
0:45:46 > 0:45:49start dropping, the big ones.
0:45:49 > 0:45:53Something alarming, very much, about the big ones
0:45:53 > 0:45:57is that I read today that America's arming like mad,
0:45:57 > 0:46:01but I don't think anybody's going to let it off.
0:46:01 > 0:46:06But what I do think none of my business, this
0:46:06 > 0:46:08but the thing that worries me is
0:46:08 > 0:46:10our national game is football, or cricket.
0:46:10 > 0:46:12America's cricket or football.
0:46:12 > 0:46:14Germany, football, everybody's football,
0:46:14 > 0:46:16and Russia is chess.
0:46:16 > 0:46:17That worries me very much.
0:46:17 > 0:46:19LAUGHTER
0:46:19 > 0:46:21Thank you very much indeed for being my guest tonight.
0:46:21 > 0:46:25All the best with your novel, Go Slowly, Come Back Quickly,
0:46:25 > 0:46:27I'm sure you'll have great success with it.
0:46:27 > 0:46:29- Ladies and gentlemen, David Niven. - Thank you very much.
0:46:29 > 0:46:31APPLAUSE
0:46:31 > 0:46:35This was Niven's last television interview for the BBC.
0:46:35 > 0:46:39It was reported that family and friends were shocked by it,
0:46:39 > 0:46:41thinking that his slurring speech was a sign
0:46:41 > 0:46:44that he'd suffered a stroke.
0:46:44 > 0:46:49Within a year, he'd been diagnosed with motor neurone disease,
0:46:49 > 0:46:55and two years later he died at home in Switzerland, aged 73.
0:46:55 > 0:46:58At his funeral, the biggest wreath came from
0:46:58 > 0:47:02the porters at Heathrow Airport, with a card that read,
0:47:02 > 0:47:06"To the finest gentleman that ever walked through these halls."
0:47:06 > 0:47:10He made a porter feel like a king.
0:47:23 > 0:47:25Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd