Sex Symbols Talking Pictures


Sex Symbols

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Handsome heroes, gorgeous heroines.

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Since the very beginning,

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cinema has had its sex symbols.

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They are the stars that have set the audiences' pulses racing fastest,

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the men and women who the camera just seemed to love that little bit

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more than most.

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In this programme, we will be hearing from some of the pin-ups

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and bombshells who found themselves labelled sex symbols,

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and finding out what it meant to them.

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We start our good-looking line-up with one of Hollywood's greats,

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Gary Cooper. A man whose rugged elegance and style

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made him one of the major heart-throbs of his time.

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When I was a schoolgirl,

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Mr Cooper, your picture was always pinned up inside my desk.

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Thank you.

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Now, if I was a schoolgirl today, would you still expect me

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still to write for your picture and your autograph, or do you regard the

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majority of your feminine fans as belonging to the older age groups?

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Well, um, I don't know.

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The motion picture business is a very satisfying business

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in many ways, and one of them which, may pertain to your question,

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it does happen once in a while, um, very young girls, children,

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and speaking now of you... you being a girl.

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Young girls still come up to you in the street, do they?

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They come up to me and say, "I'd like your autograph".

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And "I like your picture, so and so, and so on."

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And they also sometimes say, "And my mother likes you very much."

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And they also say sometimes,

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"My grandmother likes you very much(!)

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"She saw your first picture."

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Now, you and Mr Clark Gable, who is also in London at the moment,

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he arrived today.

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I didn't know that.

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You're both the same age, 58.

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Well, he's older than I am!

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-LAUGHTER

-A few months. Perhaps.

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-He's three or four months older than me.

-Does it show?

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No, I think he looks in better shape than me.

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Well, the two of you must be two of the longest lasting

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heart-throbs on screen.

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And I wondered if you could explain to me what the attraction is,

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that you think you both have

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that gives you this perpetual appeal to women?

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Well, I... it's nice of you to ask me that question because

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the idea must be going through your mind,

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but I really don't know that that's true.

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I think, perhaps, it is with Gable.

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I think Mr Gable has always been a sort of a heart-throb fellow.

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I started out in pictures fully intending to become a heavy.

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After I found I could get a job in pictures. That's the fellow

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who really does all the dirty work and is the nasty person.

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-Anyway...

-You never got around to playing it, though?

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Well, I did, when I first started out I played a few heavies because

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they involved fights and that was money in the pocket in those days.

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For good fight scenes and stunts we made extra dough.

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But, I don't think I have ever been a heart-throb type on screen.

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I think, um, this has been asked me

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so many times, and I've just sort of concluded that the only reason

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I got along in pictures was because I'm an average looking fellow.

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And I've been mistaken for, coming in a strange town,

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as the fellow somebody knew back in Podunk or any other town.

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I look like the average guy next door...

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If some of the average men looked like you, I must say(!)

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No, I really mean that.

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I think I look like the fellow next door or round the block, and stuff.

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You know, there's nothing spectacular about it.

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Gary Cooper ranked among the biggest male stars of the 1940s.

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One of the biggest female stars was Jane Russell,

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thanks to the most controversial film of the period, The Outlaw,

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directed by Howard Hughes.

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The film was shot in 1941.

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But censors found Russell's performance

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so overtly sexual that it took two years of arguing before

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they finally agreed the American public was ready to see it.

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They called her the queen of the motionless pictures,

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all because of a movie that nobody had seen.

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This movie.

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What are you waiting for? Go ahead.

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Say, that sounds real nice.

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I like to hear you ask for it.

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Keep it up.

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Beg some more.

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What would you like me to say?

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Well, you might say "Please", very sweetly.

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Please.

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Will you keep your eyes open?

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Yes.

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When you look right at me while I do it?

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AUDIENCE LAUGH NERVOUSLY

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AUDIENCE LAUGHTER AND APPLAUSE

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The movie was The Outlaw,

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the lady went on to become one of Hollywood's biggest and most

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glamorous stars, we are delighted to welcome her, Jane Russell.

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APPLAUSE

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-And looking marvellous, looking wonderfully glamorous.

-Thank you.

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I saw, somewhere in the paper over the weekend,

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that you're sick to death of talking about that film, The Outlaw.

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Certainly am!

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Lord, let's see, 45 years or some horrible thing,

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wouldn't you be sick of it?

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Yes. But, of course, it was the beginning, wasn't it?

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And, indeed, in your book, there is a still, really, from The Outlaw,

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isn't there as well? So you...

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Well, my publisher got around me, you see.

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Yes. Would you like to forget all about it now?

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Yeah!

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And Howard Hughes, and all that kind of thing?

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Oh, no, I don't want to forget Howard Hughes.

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-Yeah, but you're asked about him quite a lot, aren't you?

-Yes.

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What kind of... can we take you back there?

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Because it is interesting for us.

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What kind of a furore at the time did Outlaw create?

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Were you part of it? Or were you divorced from it?

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No, I was pretty much divorced from it.

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But, it was all going around, and then it would filter back to me.

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Yeah.

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And they told me that I was... we were being preached about

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out of the pulpits, and people were being thrown out

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of the Catholic Church if they went to it, you know.

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Yeah. Excommunicated for watching the movie.

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But it was... it was... I think it's a very tame movie, myself.

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Well, in retrospect, looking back with the standards of today,

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it is, isn't it? Did it bring you instant fame?

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It brought you instant fame, did it bring you instant riches?

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Ah, yeah(!) 50 a week, I was making.

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LAUGHTER

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-As much as that(!)

-That's all. That's it.

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That was for about two or three years, before they actually released

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-the movie, wasn't it?

-Yeah.

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And what did you do during that time?

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Did you feel that you had been used by the publicity machine?

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I was just doing publicity from, you know, 9 o'clock, we'd go out

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and work until the light turned yellow which is about five o'clock.

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I did that five days a week.

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Rather like you're doing, promoting your book at the moment.

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Yeah, well, I had been a model before, Terry,

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so I just went on modelling, as far as I was concerned.

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Now, what about the great day when the premiere came,

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was that a great relief for you?

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Had you almost forgotten you made the movie by then?

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Well, as a matter of fact, we'd never seen it.

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And Jack and I got on the stage with the comedian,

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we were the straight men, and he was the comedian in the middle, and,

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er, we had to sneak out and go up in the balcony and sit on the steps

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because we couldn't find a seat to see the movie for the first time.

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-After all that time.

-We thought it was very slow and boring!

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LAUGHTER

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What about the various heart-throbs that you worked with,

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did you ever feel nervous about working with people like Mitchum?

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-Oh, I just fell in love with all of them!

-Did you?

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Yeah!

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Did you ever tell them that you'd fall in love with them?

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Oh, they knew!

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LAUGHTER

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It was mutual!

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LAUGHTER

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That was my next question. Whether it was reciprocated?

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In those days of Hollywood, was it fairly free and easy,

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that life that the stars led?

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Were they under the producers' thumbs

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as far as their behaviour was concerned?

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Oh, well, the producers tried.

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But, goodness, you've heard about Errol Flynn, haven't you?

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Poor Jack Warner almost tore all his hair out, you know.

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It was a very family kind of affair.

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It was, um, that was your home lot, and you knew everybody there.

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There was...there were the bad boys, the kids that got out of line,

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and they'd get hauled back and their wrists slapped.

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-Were you a good girl, or a bad girl?

-No, I was pretty good.

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-LAUGHTER

-Yeah.

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Ten years after the release of The Outlaw came one of cinema's

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all-time great love scenes, in 1953's From Here To Eternity.

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Shocking at the time, the famous passionate

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encounter on the beach featured Burt Lancaster and Deborah Kerr,

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usually known for playing an English rose,

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and here cast very much against type.

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What sort of intrigues me,

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is how you got the part in From Here To Eternity, if you're

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looking round for someone to play the part you played in that...

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-You wouldn't have thought of me.

-..the sort of sex starved woman.

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You wouldn't have thought of you. So, how did you get it?

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Well, it, I, er... that too was sort of, rather,

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not too long story, don't get worried!

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I'm not worried at all! I've got all night.

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Oh, good. Well, they...

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LAUGHTER

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I like the way you said that.

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Yeah, I thought it was a pretty good reading(!)

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-No, I...

-You were going to tell me about From Here To Eternity?

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I'd done all these movies that were, as you say, a little ladylike,

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and I thought, "Oh, I've got to find something..."

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And I had just, at the time, I'd changed agents, and I went

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to a very marvellous man, who is dead now, called Bert Allenberg.

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And within, I mean, two weeks of my being

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what's known as under his banner, he called me up one day

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and he said, "You know they are going to make From Here To

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"Eternity at Columbia?" and I said, "Yes.2

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He said, 'Have you read it?'

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So I said, "Of course", so he said,

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"How about playing the part of Karen?"

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and I said, "Oh, come on,

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"they're never going to think of me for that."

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And he said, "Well, I can try."

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So, I waited all day

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for him to phone me in the evening because he'd gone to see

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Harry Cohn, this frightening monster of Colombia.

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And, er, the phone rang in the evening,

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I picked it up and it was Bert, and he said... I said, "Well, what?"

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And he said, "You're right, they kicked me out of the office."

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I said, "I told you not to go in there and make a fool of me",

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da, da, da, da... you see.

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But he was a very clever man, all he did was go in there,

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make the suggestion and leave.

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And Harry Cohn screamed, "You've got to be crazy, blah, blah,

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"blah", you know.

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The germ had been sown in his mind, and the next day, it worked.

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He called in his producer,

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he called in Fred Zinnemann, who was the director, and said,

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"That crazy Allenberg has got a suggestion for who to play Karen,

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"Deborah Kerr."

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And they both kind of went, like that, and said,

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"Well, of course."

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-And that's literally how that happened.

-Amazing.

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And there is one sequence in that film which I'm going to show

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-now, one clip.

-Oh, no, not that one!

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Yes, indeed, the famous one, which...

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..which, I mean, really broke the mould.

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And, it's one of the most famous scenes in that,

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and many other movies, I suppose.

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It's the beach scene. Let's have a look at it now.

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I never knew it could be like this.

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Nobody ever kissed me the way you do.

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-Nobody?

-No. Nobody.

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Not even one?

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Out of all the men you've been kissed by?

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That would take some figuring.

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How many men do you think there've been?

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I wouldn't know. Can't you give me a rough estimate?

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Not without an adding machine.

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Do you have the adding machine with you?

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I forgot to bring it.

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Then I guess you won't find out, will you?

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Maybe I already know.

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APPLAUSE

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Did you... you've got goose pimples, have you?

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-Yes, slightly. It's a long time since I've seen it.

-Is it?

-Yes.

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It all looks so comfortable on-screen.

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-Wasn't it?

-No(!)

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LAUGHTER

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It was sandy(!)

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Did you realise at the time, when you were doing that

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particular scene, that it was going to be such a crucial one,

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in a way, I mean, I only say crucial because a lot of people would

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say that, that one scene is one of the landmarks in cinema,

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because the whole permissive sex movement in movies

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started from there.

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Yes. I suppose it did, in a way, because now when one sees it,

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it looks so absolutely, I mean, too normal, you know, practically.

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It's funny, isn't it to think of how,

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really, how startling the scene was?

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Deborah Kerr's versatility meant she was never defined by that one

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fantastic role.

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Over the years other stars have come to be seen almost

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exclusively in terms of their sex appeal,

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and some, like Jayne Mansfield, just embraced it.

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She won a Golden Globe at one point in her career,

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but her acting was overshadowed by the sex bomb image.

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At times, that meant interviews which included subjects like the not

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very sexy sounding Chiswick flyover...

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Well, the first thing I'd better say is this,

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that Miss Mansfield isn't in that bed because she is ailing,

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I'm not sitting here because I'm a doctor.

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She's in bed because in a minute she's going to be made love to

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by an actor, in a film called The Challenge.

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I know that publicity in general doesn't frighten you,

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Miss Mansfield, because hardly a day goes by that you aren't

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cooperating with the publicists.

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But, I wonder how much this publicity

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overshadows your actual acting?

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I don't think it has anything to do with acting.

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Because I'm certainly not acting...

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I mean the time spent, I mean you're in front of the public,

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perhaps, as often in pictures in newspapers as you are in films.

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I tell you, Robert,

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there are two important things in the life of an actress.

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The most important is to be a good actress, to be a very fine star.

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That is tremendously important.

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The other important thing is to be known,

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because if you're a Bernhardt or a Shakespeare, if no-one

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knows about it then you may as well, just kind of, act in your own home,

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which doesn't do too much good if you want to be a successful star.

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So, I feel that the right balance of acting, the right

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balance of publicity, coupled with talent brings forth a giant star,

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that cannot be toppled over.

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Have you ever refused to do a publicity stunt?

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I mean is there a kind of publicity you try and avoid?

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I've never done a publicity stunt in my entire life, and I never will.

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If the time ever comes when I will do a publicity stunt,

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then I'll be 150 years old.

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I think I'm probably using the word in a different

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sense from the way you're understanding it.

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What about the Chiswick flyover? In my opinion that was a stunt.

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It wasn't in mine, it wasn't in the opinion of the people who asked me.

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They built a very beautiful freeway, or flyover,

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as it's called over here,

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and I was quite honoured to have been asked to open this because

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it was a great sign of progress, and I very happily did that.

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I think it's... I think it's... any time that a country, or city,

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or group of people make that much progress, civic wise, I think

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it's wonderful to make sure that the event gets the deserved publicity.

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I'm sure that's why I was asked.

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But do you think you were an apt choice?

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I mean, I imagine that you know very little about flyovers?

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You're a terribly well-known person,

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but you aren't actually associated with flyovers.

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Is anyone?

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I suppose not, perhaps, outside of a borough surveyor.

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You're presented as a symbol of sex appeal, now,

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I wonder if you care to define that phrase, sex appeal?

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Sex appeal is a wonderful, warm, womanly, healthy feeling.

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If you're a woman, it's womanly, if you're not its manly.

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Does it come from inside, Miss Mansfield?

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It comes only from inside.

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It's nothing that's manufactured,

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it has nothing to do with measurements or lipstick colour.

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To me, it's cleanliness and use

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and an effervescent desire to enjoy life.

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That's what sex appeal is to me.

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The sort of vibrancy that you find present in a young kitten.

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I think you're a romantic even in your business interests,

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Miss Mansfield,

0:18:150:18:16

because I understand you market a Jayne Mansfield hot water bottle?

0:18:160:18:21

-Yes, I do.

-Is it selling well?

0:18:210:18:23

It selling fantastically.

0:18:230:18:24

I didn't know the demand would be so great.

0:18:240:18:28

But, I suppose I am somewhat of a romanticist

0:18:280:18:31

when it comes to good business deals.

0:18:310:18:34

What do you mean, a romanticist in business deals?

0:18:340:18:37

-I mean I like to be successful in business.

-I see!

0:18:370:18:41

I hear you've got fountains in your living room,

0:18:410:18:44

and a very large dining table with a marble top,

0:18:440:18:47

capable of seating 40 people, and fur on the walls in the

0:18:470:18:51

bathroom. Now apart from the fur on the walls in the bathroom...

0:18:510:18:54

Which bathroom?

0:18:540:18:55

-Oh...

-I have 13.

0:18:550:18:56

-I see. Have they all got fur on them?

-Only one.

0:18:560:19:00

It was a furry bikini rather than a bathroom that helped turn

0:19:010:19:05

Raquel Welch into a sex symbol.

0:19:050:19:08

The 1966 film One Million Years BC was sold on the image of her

0:19:080:19:13

dressed in animal skins, and from that moment on, and throughout the

0:19:130:19:19

'70s her name was synonymous with sex appeal.

0:19:190:19:23

Here she is talking to Michael Parkinson in 1972.

0:19:230:19:27

Were you from the beginning... were you an attractive child?

0:19:280:19:31

Were you a good-looking kid?

0:19:310:19:33

I don't really think I was, I think

0:19:330:19:35

I had, like, hair parted

0:19:350:19:36

in the middle and braids, and my dad

0:19:360:19:38

always said that I should be...

0:19:380:19:41

I don't know...neat in appearance.

0:19:410:19:43

I wasn't allowed to wear ruffles or bright colours or

0:19:430:19:45

have my hair in curls

0:19:450:19:46

like a lot of girls had who went to school with me.

0:19:460:19:49

I never thought of myself as pretty, pretty.

0:19:490:19:51

But, when I, er, got a little bit older

0:19:510:19:54

and the equipment arrived, the, er...

0:19:540:19:58

AUDIENCE LAUGHTER

0:19:580:20:01

Well, then I thought, "Gee, this is pretty terrific,

0:20:040:20:06

"maybe I ought to try it out a little more."

0:20:060:20:08

And I'd sort of strut my stuff around, and...

0:20:080:20:12

see how it all worked. It worked pretty good.

0:20:120:20:15

There you were, you arrived in Hollywood

0:20:150:20:16

with all the equipment, as you, yourself, said.

0:20:160:20:19

With thousands and millions of other girls,

0:20:190:20:21

even walking down the street, much much better...

0:20:210:20:23

Who are now petrol pump attendants and this sort of thing.

0:20:230:20:26

Oh, I don't think so.

0:20:260:20:27

Well, you know, they are certainly not starring in movies.

0:20:270:20:30

But, I mean, what was it...

0:20:300:20:32

Was it a difficult thing to be treated seriously?

0:20:320:20:35

I was thinking about the casting couch business of Hollywood?

0:20:350:20:38

Did you get chased around the table?

0:20:380:20:40

Well, I don't know. That's kind of an X-rated item.

0:20:420:20:45

-Go on, tell me the truth.

-Um...

0:20:450:20:47

-LAUGHTER

-Not really, no.

0:20:470:20:49

There were a few times when people disappointed me a bit,

0:20:490:20:51

but it wasn't really...

0:20:510:20:52

LAUGHTER

0:20:520:20:55

Oh, help, somebody help!

0:20:550:20:58

No! I... Did I? Yes, I did. I said what I thought I said.

0:20:580:21:05

No, it's not like The Carpetbaggers, which my mother had given me

0:21:050:21:09

recently to read and said,

0:21:090:21:10

"That is what Hollywood is all about."

0:21:100:21:12

It wasn't like that, no. There are a few wolves,

0:21:120:21:14

but there's wolves in any nightclub, discotheque, restaurant.

0:21:140:21:19

-Yeah.

-I mean, it's not loaded with those type of people.

0:21:190:21:22

Do you find that there's more of them now around,

0:21:220:21:24

the wolves around, than there were before? More apparent?

0:21:240:21:28

Here you are. Do you find that because you are, who you are men

0:21:280:21:31

are either more pushy towards you, or perhaps frightened off you?

0:21:310:21:35

Well, sometimes I think they're a little frightened.

0:21:350:21:37

First of all, I think they think I'm a whole lot bigger than I am.

0:21:370:21:41

LAUGHTER

0:21:410:21:43

I remember one time... I remember one time,

0:21:430:21:45

there was this guard at this gate

0:21:450:21:46

and I came in to see screening of a film of mine

0:21:460:21:50

and I walked by and he said, "Hello."

0:21:500:21:52

Then later I walked by and he said, "Are you Raquel Welch?"

0:21:520:21:55

I said, "Yeah."

0:21:550:21:57

"Are you Raquel Welch?" I said, "Yeah."

0:21:570:21:59

He said, "Ah, I thought..."

0:21:590:22:01

I said, "I know, you thought I was..."

0:22:010:22:03

And it's true, I mean, I'm OK, but, I'm really,

0:22:030:22:06

I guess you could say petite.

0:22:060:22:07

I don't know if I'm really petite but I'm only 5'6,

0:22:070:22:10

and I've got very small bones, can you see?

0:22:100:22:13

-Yes.

-I've got small bones, and I'm not, sort of an Amazon.

0:22:130:22:19

I'm not going to break anybody in half, and I...

0:22:190:22:21

-I wish you would!

-LAUGHTER

0:22:210:22:23

Oh, are you one of those hit me again types(?)

0:22:230:22:26

AUDIENCE LAUGH AND APPLAUD

0:22:270:22:29

Have you ever thought, when you are in this business,

0:22:320:22:35

have you ever tried to define what sex appeal is?

0:22:350:22:38

Golly, no, I can think of a lot of men that I know, that I think

0:22:380:22:41

are sexy, but I don't know if I can really describe what it is.

0:22:410:22:44

Who are the men you think are sexy?

0:22:440:22:46

Oh, you want a whole list?

0:22:460:22:48

Oh, I don't know, I mean there are a lot.

0:22:490:22:53

Well, my boyfriend I think is sexy.

0:22:530:22:55

He looks a lot like Errol Flynn.

0:22:550:22:57

-Really?

-Yeah. And, um, let me see, I guess... um...

0:22:570:23:02

Frank Sinatra.

0:23:020:23:04

-Is sexy?

-Oh, yes. Because he's a man.

0:23:050:23:07

LAUGHTER

0:23:070:23:10

No, but, I mean, you feel he's a man.

0:23:100:23:11

I mean, he just has a great, sort of, strength.

0:23:110:23:15

And I, erm, oh, think Joe Namath is terrifically sexy.

0:23:150:23:18

I like sports figures,

0:23:180:23:21

Um, let me see... who else?

0:23:210:23:24

Lauren Bacall said on the programme the other day that she

0:23:240:23:26

thought looking around, there weren't many strong man left.

0:23:260:23:30

Well, Paul Newman?

0:23:300:23:31

-What's the matter with Paul Newman?

-I don't know, ask Lauren Bacall!

0:23:310:23:35

Paul Newman is all right(!)

0:23:350:23:36

Paul Newman certainly was all right, cool, terrifically handsome,

0:23:380:23:45

and amongst a handful of men who were,

0:23:450:23:48

especially in the '60s and '70s, considered the ultimate heart-throbs.

0:23:480:23:54

Robert Redford, Sean Connery, Warren Beatty, as we shall see in this

0:23:540:23:59

next sequence of interviews, all of them struggled

0:23:590:24:02

with this sex symbol status.

0:24:020:24:05

Do you sign autographs?

0:24:050:24:06

No. I don't sign autographs.

0:24:090:24:11

There's no sense telling you why,

0:24:150:24:17

but I'll tell you

0:24:170:24:18

when I stopped signing them.

0:24:180:24:20

I was standing at a urinal,

0:24:200:24:22

and a guy came through the door with a pencil

0:24:220:24:24

and a piece of paper in his hands, and I said, "Never again."

0:24:240:24:27

That is the terminal insult.

0:24:270:24:29

But, it's a cleft stick, you can't have one without the other,

0:24:320:24:35

-you can't be an international movie star and be unrecognisable?

-No, no.

0:24:350:24:40

I understand it comes with a territory,

0:24:400:24:43

but, autographs are something else.

0:24:450:24:47

I remember many occasions in the old days,

0:24:520:24:54

when Joanne and I were having a romantic dinner,

0:24:540:24:56

or we were having dinner with the kids, or walking down Fifth Avenue,

0:24:560:25:00

and there was some unwritten law that anyone could stop

0:25:000:25:04

you from doing whatever you were doing,

0:25:040:25:06

and you had to put your name on this piece of paper.

0:25:060:25:09

I wasn't around to vote when that rule was made.

0:25:110:25:13

And, er, I think the only obligation that I have to

0:25:160:25:19

an audience is to do the best I possibly can,

0:25:190:25:23

to prepare myself, to not cheat them on the screen.

0:25:230:25:27

And, um, I don't know if anything else is really required.

0:25:300:25:34

There is something of a command in that.

0:25:340:25:36

Smile, take off your glasses,

0:25:360:25:38

I'm sorry, my pants will drop off.

0:25:380:25:41

It makes me uncomfortable.

0:25:430:25:45

Robert Redford also struggled with the superstar status that came

0:25:460:25:51

with his good looks.

0:25:510:25:53

It's not pleasant, that's the whole double edged sword, that.

0:25:530:25:57

Because you're naive at the time,

0:25:580:26:00

you're just playing a role.

0:26:000:26:02

And you've started in the business,

0:26:020:26:04

if you started as I did,

0:26:040:26:05

as an actor who like to think

0:26:050:26:07

he came from the legitimate stage.

0:26:070:26:10

Which I did, in New York.

0:26:100:26:12

You think of yourself first of all as an actor.

0:26:120:26:15

And, then, suddenly you're playing a variety of different roles,

0:26:150:26:18

no-one is really making too much about it.

0:26:180:26:21

Suddenly you're in a particular production that's

0:26:210:26:24

very successful, and then the next thing you know you're labelled.

0:26:240:26:28

And as you stretch to a different role, the acceptance is less,

0:26:280:26:32

the credibility of being able to stretch is less.

0:26:320:26:35

-And that's bothersome.

-And people don't want you to stretch, do they?

0:26:370:26:42

Well, I think you're right.

0:26:420:26:44

I suspect people don't.

0:26:440:26:46

I'm beginning to think more and more,

0:26:460:26:48

that people tend to want to restrict

0:26:490:26:52

you to a certain slot.

0:26:520:26:54

And if they've been pleased by performance in that slot

0:26:540:26:57

they'd just as soon have you stay there.

0:26:570:26:59

For me, that's for television.

0:26:590:27:01

That's for television series, and I don't think it's bad,

0:27:010:27:04

it's perfectly fine, but it's not for me.

0:27:040:27:06

Now Sean Connery, who found elements of being Bond a bit of a bind.

0:27:080:27:13

How has being James Bond affected your life?

0:27:160:27:19

Well, this is the sort of outcome of one of the facets,

0:27:210:27:24

that's the, erm, I live in Acton.

0:27:240:27:27

We have a marvellous house in Acton.

0:27:270:27:29

A wonderful situation. Unfortunately, it's too accessible.

0:27:290:27:32

People can come, you know, right up to the front gate and get in.

0:27:320:27:36

It's the only house in the street. It's a cul-de-sac right by a park.

0:27:360:27:40

It's the perfect situation, but, they just come up sit on top of the

0:27:400:27:43

cars, or come in the gates, knock the door, it's too easy, you know.

0:27:430:27:46

It's to do with the invasion of one's privacy, I don't believe

0:27:480:27:51

any of the rubbish about the price of fame or all that sort of jazz.

0:27:510:27:55

I don't go for that at all.

0:27:550:27:58

Have they been an unpleasant? Are people and pleasant?

0:27:580:28:01

As a rule, no, but you get some real head cases that come around

0:28:010:28:04

and have the most absurd requests like, it would be marvellous

0:28:040:28:08

if we could have tea, or can we come and take some photographs?

0:28:080:28:11

Can I sign on your wall, or you know? Juvenile, insane ideas.

0:28:110:28:18

There's only one way to solve it, it's impractical,

0:28:180:28:21

and that is not to be there.

0:28:210:28:23

And here's Warren Beatty who, of course,

0:28:270:28:29

had a reputation as one of Hollywood's greatest lotharios.

0:28:290:28:34

I was thinking, really, about the difficulties of a young man,

0:28:360:28:40

suddenly with success thrust on

0:28:400:28:42

him, and there certainly must have been things you couldn't handle.

0:28:420:28:45

Looking through the press cuttings of that period,

0:28:450:28:48

there were a lot of unfavourable comments...

0:28:480:28:50

Well, the press, that's another matter. There's something,

0:28:500:28:54

in the entire meat grinding

0:28:550:28:58

snowball of the economics

0:28:580:29:02

of the movie business,

0:29:020:29:04

that require a new,

0:29:040:29:05

young commodity to be

0:29:050:29:07

interesting in some way.

0:29:070:29:08

I think, probably, it's not so easy

0:29:080:29:11

to make someone so interesting,

0:29:110:29:13

and to make them famous, to develop grist for that mill,

0:29:130:29:19

certain choices have to be made.

0:29:190:29:22

Usually, with a young man, it's that he's very rebellious,

0:29:220:29:25

and an enfant terribles, et cetera,

0:29:250:29:27

and just to get it out of the way, sometimes you comply.

0:29:270:29:32

You know, it's just, well, I'll give you what you want and, erm...

0:29:320:29:37

but the level of boredom between the show business press

0:29:390:29:45

and the young actor who needs to be exploited, I think, is

0:29:450:29:47

exceeded by almost nothing I can think of offhand.

0:29:470:29:51

So, that makes what you call bad press clippings,

0:29:530:29:57

but then they all go into the morgue,

0:29:570:30:00

where all the clippings go, and the most ridiculous things...

0:30:000:30:05

..are there.

0:30:070:30:08

Among Warren Beatty's famous conquests,

0:30:100:30:13

was a woman considered to be one of Europe's greatest ever sex symbols,

0:30:130:30:18

the French actress, Bridget Bardot,

0:30:180:30:22

here we find BB on the BBC in 1956, having a curious

0:30:220:30:27

conversation with an interviewer who seems mainly interested in her pets.

0:30:270:30:33

You're 22, Miss Bardot, and you're one of the highest-paid

0:30:350:30:37

actresses in France, what do you think your success is due to?

0:30:370:30:42

I... I don't know.

0:30:420:30:43

You don't think it's got something to do with the sexy parts

0:30:430:30:46

you play in your films?

0:30:460:30:48

Yes. Maybe, yes.

0:30:480:30:50

Do you really enjoy making this kind of film or do you want to

0:30:500:30:53

be a serious actress?

0:30:530:30:55

Oh, no. I prefer this kind of film.

0:30:550:30:57

I will be a serious actress when I will be older.

0:30:570:31:01

I see. I've heard that dogs are the most important thing in your life.

0:31:010:31:04

Dogs?

0:31:040:31:06

Yes, I think I prefer love.

0:31:060:31:09

-But you have some dogs?

-Ah, yes, and I love dogs.

0:31:090:31:11

What kind of dog have you got?

0:31:110:31:13

I have a

0:31:130:31:14

little black spaniel cocker.

0:31:140:31:18

Any other animals?

0:31:180:31:19

For my birthday, one month ago,

0:31:200:31:23

a friend of me gave to me

0:31:230:31:25

a little monkey.

0:31:250:31:27

It was very, very funny.

0:31:270:31:28

And I was very surprised

0:31:280:31:30

when I saw the monkey.

0:31:300:31:32

And it was impossible for me

0:31:320:31:34

to keep it at home

0:31:340:31:35

because he was doing

0:31:350:31:37

pee-pee all the time(!)

0:31:370:31:39

Now, Miss Bardot,

0:31:390:31:40

you work very hard,

0:31:400:31:42

I'm told that you've made 15 films

0:31:420:31:43

in the last three years.

0:31:430:31:45

When you get some time off what do

0:31:450:31:47

you like to do the most?

0:31:470:31:49

I have a rest.

0:31:490:31:50

Because I am very lazy.

0:31:500:31:53

Anything else?

0:31:530:31:56

I like listen records,

0:31:560:31:59

-and go and see shows. Shows?

-Aha.

0:31:590:32:05

And go for a walk with my dog.

0:32:050:32:09

You say you like listening to records,

0:32:090:32:12

what kind of records do you like the most?

0:32:120:32:14

Oh, classical, and rock and roll,

0:32:140:32:17

and jazz. Everything.

0:32:170:32:20

I like all the records.

0:32:210:32:23

Well, now that you make so much money, I think

0:32:230:32:25

it's about £12,000 a film, something like that, what are your ambitions?

0:32:250:32:30

To get more.

0:32:300:32:32

Do you ever want to go to Hollywood?

0:32:320:32:34

No, I'm very well in Europe.

0:32:350:32:37

Well, thank you very much indeed,

0:32:380:32:40

Miss Bardot.

0:32:400:32:42

While Bridget Bardot is France's sensual sex kitten,

0:32:440:32:50

Catherine Deneuve is its ice cool icon of aloof, sophisticated beauty.

0:32:500:32:57

One of Europe's acting greats,

0:32:570:32:59

she was interviewed by Terry Wogan in 1989.

0:32:590:33:02

Whoever it was that gave you

0:33:040:33:06

the title of the most beautiful

0:33:060:33:08

woman in the world, did you

0:33:080:33:09

thank them for that,

0:33:090:33:10

or did you find that a very

0:33:100:33:12

difficult thing?

0:33:120:33:13

Well, by the time I was told, you know,

0:33:130:33:14

to be a very good-looking woman I thought it was very nice

0:33:140:33:17

because it's something you take as a compliment. It is a compliment.

0:33:170:33:21

Of course.

0:33:210:33:22

But, with years passing by you find the compliment a very heavy

0:33:220:33:25

crown to carry.

0:33:250:33:27

And sometimes I find it difficult,

0:33:280:33:30

but you cannot always have the good side of everything.

0:33:300:33:33

Anyway, I think it's a nice challenge to have,

0:33:330:33:36

and also, being an actress it's not something

0:33:360:33:38

I live all the time with, because acting, you forget about the look.

0:33:380:33:45

You can never forget completely,

0:33:450:33:46

but most of the time when you're working you can forget sometimes.

0:33:460:33:50

Someone as beautiful as you,

0:33:500:33:53

do you welcome a settled ageing

0:33:530:33:55

process, do you like the idea of getting older?

0:33:550:33:58

No, no.

0:33:580:34:00

That the most honest answer I've had from an actress, ever.

0:34:000:34:03

No, I don't. Not only because I'm an actress... I think it's difficult

0:34:030:34:08

for an actress because you have to face the idea that you will

0:34:080:34:12

do other kind of films and parts,

0:34:120:34:15

and it's true that for a woman it's much more difficult than for men.

0:34:150:34:18

But, as a person, you know, I have...

0:34:180:34:21

I don't like the idea that I will have less energy.

0:34:210:34:24

I'm a very energetic woman

0:34:240:34:26

and the idea that it's going to slow down, I don't like that idea.

0:34:260:34:28

-So... I really...

-Will the loss of your looks worry you?

0:34:280:34:34

-The what?

-The loss of your looks. Your appearance.

0:34:340:34:37

Well, actresses, you know, they worry every day about their looks.

0:34:370:34:40

When you have to go on television,

0:34:400:34:42

when you have to do still pictures, when you have to do

0:34:420:34:44

things like that, but then you worry the time you look in the mirror,

0:34:440:34:47

and then after that you are worrying with other things are good enough.

0:34:470:34:50

The look it's only when you're getting ready and being prepared,

0:34:500:34:55

and after that you have the troubles or the problems.

0:34:550:34:58

Catherine Deneuve there touched on the matter of the sex symbol

0:35:010:35:06

ageing, but for the most enduring sex symbol of them all, sadly,

0:35:060:35:11

that wasn't an issue.

0:35:110:35:12

Marilyn Monroe had been a sensation since the early 1950s

0:35:130:35:17

but her death in 1962, aged just 36,

0:35:170:35:23

saw her elevated to the status of an American cultural icon.

0:35:230:35:28

Marilyn never did a sit down interview with the BBC,

0:35:320:35:35

but the fascination with her has meant that anyone who ever

0:35:350:35:39

worked with her would inevitably end up discussing their experiences.

0:35:390:35:44

She was an extremely complicated creature.

0:35:450:35:48

She was intelligent, she was unhappy,

0:35:480:35:51

she... you couldn't get very close to her.

0:35:510:35:54

And she was very nervous, well,

0:35:540:35:56

the proof of it is that the poor darling killed herself.

0:35:560:36:00

Er, so, she was... She didn't really trust her talent.

0:36:000:36:06

She was very gifted.

0:36:060:36:07

She played, comedy very well,

0:36:080:36:10

she would do all kinds of studying which she needn't have studied.

0:36:100:36:14

Not that studying isn't right, but she was so much more skilful

0:36:140:36:18

than anybody could possibly teach her.

0:36:180:36:21

She was a natural actress, and had enormous individuality,

0:36:210:36:24

and she knew what she was doing.

0:36:240:36:26

I will say that,

0:36:260:36:28

in the case of Marilyn Monroe, I was caught by an indefinable something.

0:36:280:36:32

I have a memo in which I write to Zanuck that

0:36:330:36:38

"I don't think she can act, I don't think she can dance,

0:36:380:36:41

"I don't think she can walk, and I'm sure she can't talk.

0:36:410:36:45

"But, there is nothing that either of us can do to keep

0:36:450:36:47

"her from becoming a star."

0:36:470:36:50

And you had that feeling about Marilyn.

0:36:500:36:52

The camera liked Marilyn Monroe.

0:36:540:36:55

She'd sit on the set, kind of down and you'd get her out there,

0:36:580:37:03

say 'Camera', and her head would come up like this,

0:37:030:37:05

and all of a sudden she became sexy.

0:37:050:37:09

In real life nobody'd take her out.

0:37:090:37:11

But she had a strange...

0:37:120:37:13

HE SIGHS

0:37:150:37:17

..thing that made her sexy to millions of people.

0:37:170:37:20

So, that, in order for that to happen the camera has to like you.

0:37:220:37:26

Her personal madnesses were so, so, er,

0:37:270:37:31

destructive that it made her unhappy

0:37:310:37:33

and anyone that surrounded her.

0:37:330:37:36

Consequently, it cost her her life.

0:37:360:37:38

It had nothing to do with

0:37:380:37:39

the picture business.

0:37:390:37:40

-You think not?

-Not at all.

0:37:400:37:42

You think no matter what she'd have done

0:37:420:37:44

she would have destroyed herself?

0:37:440:37:46

Billy Wilder, who directed Some Like It Hot,

0:37:460:37:48

said she was a mean seven-year-old girl.

0:37:480:37:51

And I've got a feeling that's about as good

0:37:510:37:54

a description of Marilyn as any, you know.

0:37:540:37:56

I directed Marilyn in her first

0:37:560:37:58

role of any consequence,

0:37:580:38:00

The Asphalt Jungle,

0:38:000:38:03

and her last picture, The Misfits.

0:38:030:38:05

A number of those who were close to

0:38:070:38:08

her during the making of The Misfits

0:38:080:38:10

thought it would be only

0:38:100:38:11

a few short years before she died or

0:38:110:38:13

went into an institution.

0:38:130:38:14

Her great enemy was sleeplessness,

0:38:160:38:19

only God knows why she feared it so much.

0:38:190:38:22

Perhaps it was simply that not to sleep meant losing her beauty?

0:38:230:38:27

I'm inclined to think that there was more to it than that.

0:38:270:38:30

In any case, she fought her enemy, consciousness, with sedatives.

0:38:320:38:37

Until she had achieved not only sleeplessness,

0:38:380:38:41

sleep, but insensibility.

0:38:410:38:42

Then, stimulants would be employed to awaken her.

0:38:430:38:46

This vicious circle played such havoc with her body that she

0:38:480:38:51

had to be hospitalised for ten days in the middle of the picture.

0:38:510:38:55

An overdose of sleeping tablets has become synonymous with suicide.

0:38:560:39:00

In Marilyn's case, I think

0:39:020:39:03

it was simply an overdose of sleeping tablets.

0:39:030:39:06

It's a terrible pity that so much beauty has been lost to us.

0:39:080:39:12

Will there ever be a sex symbol to rival Marilyn Monroe?

0:39:170:39:21

It's highly unlikely.

0:39:210:39:23

And although every new generation of actors includes a fresh

0:39:230:39:26

line-up of heartbreaking heroes and heroines,

0:39:260:39:30

when it comes to long-lasting appeal, very few can rival the sexy,

0:39:300:39:37

seductive stars of cinema's golden and most gorgeous years.

0:39:370:39:42

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