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michael_gothardIn the BFI notes with Herostratus, Michael is described as “a directionless state-school leaver.”
From TV Times: 8 February 1973:
"I left school when I was 17 or 18 with little idea of what I wanted to do. I think this would be true of most people if left to their own devices. Most of us are channeled into various functions, for better or for worse.
This is how things are constructed, but you always get the odd one who slips through, who doesn't fit too well. I mean, people either find something they like doing or they end up gangsters or just plain bums. It comes down to that, doesn't it?"
He tramped around Europe. "I drifted from country to country, washing a lot of dishes, but I ended up spending a lot of time in Paris where everybody goes to find their way.
When I was there, the beat thing was quite new. I lived in an hotel in the Latin Quarter which was full of the beat celebrities of the day: Ginsberg, Burroughs. [The legendary "Beat Hotel"] They were held in considerable awe, but I don't think I ever said more than 'bonjour' to them."
From: Petticoat interview 6 October 1973
Before [he became an actor] he did a variety of odd jobs, working in restaurants, as a house cleaner, building site labourer – even as a model in Paris. He spent a year in Paris, living in the student section, near Boulevard St. Michel.
“Paris has a wonderful communal feeling to it,” he says, “it’s a great place for meeting people, or for just sitting around talking.”
He didn’t feel he was much of a success as a model. “I was as stiff as a board and I couldn’t overcome my sense of the ridiculous. I was a clothes hanger, an object, not a person.”
It is not clear from the way this article is written, whether the various jobs he tried were on the Continent or in London, either before after he got back home.
From Susie Morgan, who has been contacted by one or two people who met Michael:
"One woman, I think from one of the Slavic countries, had known him from before he got into acting, when he was travelling around France ... What I remember was she said he was a very deep thinker, very thoughtful but even then a little troubled."
From Michael's friend from the 1980s, Sean McCormick:
"In 1959 (just out of high school) my dad and his best friend (since they were 12 years old) Dan, hitch-hiked across Europe together, starting in Norway, working on a family farm and eventually ending up in Spain.
There, they decided to part ways ... Dan landed finally in Paris, circa 1960/61 where he shared a flat with another Yank, and a very intense Englishman named Michael Gothard.
Together they scrounged for food, bummed around, and got hooked on jazz and heroin.
After a year or so, Dan went back to the States.
Michael stayed, and I believe the third guy was killed in a drug deal in New York City.
Well, Michael and Dan remained friends and continued to correspond."
Photo courtesy Sean McCormick.
Research by Belsizepark:
"... When I researched published material of the Beat Generation I came across the photographer Harold Chapman who lived at [The Beat Hotel] from 1957 – 1963 when it closed.
I could find a contact form through the town where he lives. His response was positive. He could remember [Michael Gothard] and shared the information that Michael had a café in London."
Harold Chapman's memories of the times he met Michael in Paris and London can be found here here.
On seeing these photos from The Beat Hotel, taken by Harold Chapman, Sean's Uncle Dan (Dan Bush) replied, "Yep, I knew most of these cats..."
Speculation: per. Angharad24, in the late 1950s, leaving school at 17 or 18 was unusual: most young men would either leave earlier, if they went to a secondary modern school, or later if they went to grammar school.
He may have dropped out of school because he realised he’d have to do National Service (which didn’t come to an end until around 1960, when it was phased out) if he stayed until the usual time. In the 1970s, he had a stand-off (which he lost) with the Director Curtis Harrington, over cutting his hair, so clearly he would not have relished the discipline of National Service.
I asked Sean: "Do you happen to know how Michael avoided doing National Service? Was he considered unfit, or did he go to the Continent to avoid it?"
Sean replied: “Europe I believe. Uncle Dan got drafted in 62-63 into the air force and lucked out and was sent to Italy.”
It should be borne in mind that some of what Sean has told me was learned from Michael himself, and some of it probably came via Uncle Dan; it is possible that Michael had other reasons for being in Europe that he didn't want to discuss, in which case he may have let Dan think he was avoiding National Service, because that sounded more glamorous.
It's possible that he had been considered unfit for National Service. Whatever the truth was, it does not sound as if National Service would have suited him very well.
He may also have been avoiding a troubled family life. His mother was still living with Jack Walker until 1958: it seems likely that there was conflict with his unofficial step-father.
Michael was in London on 21 October 1961, when he was present at his mother's re-marriage, but continued to travel, at least between London and Paris, though it is not known for how long; possibly until he began working on 'Herostratus' in 1964, or even longer.
It is not known where he was living when in London. Dan Bush said that when Michael was studying theatre but had not yet landed a film, he was "living in an obscure garret/loft somewhere in the city.”
From TV Times: 8 February 1973:
"I left school when I was 17 or 18 with little idea of what I wanted to do. I think this would be true of most people if left to their own devices. Most of us are channeled into various functions, for better or for worse.
This is how things are constructed, but you always get the odd one who slips through, who doesn't fit too well. I mean, people either find something they like doing or they end up gangsters or just plain bums. It comes down to that, doesn't it?"
He tramped around Europe. "I drifted from country to country, washing a lot of dishes, but I ended up spending a lot of time in Paris where everybody goes to find their way.
When I was there, the beat thing was quite new. I lived in an hotel in the Latin Quarter which was full of the beat celebrities of the day: Ginsberg, Burroughs. [The legendary "Beat Hotel"] They were held in considerable awe, but I don't think I ever said more than 'bonjour' to them."
From: Petticoat interview 6 October 1973
Before [he became an actor] he did a variety of odd jobs, working in restaurants, as a house cleaner, building site labourer – even as a model in Paris. He spent a year in Paris, living in the student section, near Boulevard St. Michel.
“Paris has a wonderful communal feeling to it,” he says, “it’s a great place for meeting people, or for just sitting around talking.”
He didn’t feel he was much of a success as a model. “I was as stiff as a board and I couldn’t overcome my sense of the ridiculous. I was a clothes hanger, an object, not a person.”
It is not clear from the way this article is written, whether the various jobs he tried were on the Continent or in London, either before after he got back home.
From Susie Morgan, who has been contacted by one or two people who met Michael:
"One woman, I think from one of the Slavic countries, had known him from before he got into acting, when he was travelling around France ... What I remember was she said he was a very deep thinker, very thoughtful but even then a little troubled."
From Michael's friend from the 1980s, Sean McCormick:
"In 1959 (just out of high school) my dad and his best friend (since they were 12 years old) Dan, hitch-hiked across Europe together, starting in Norway, working on a family farm and eventually ending up in Spain.
There, they decided to part ways ... Dan landed finally in Paris, circa 1960/61 where he shared a flat with another Yank, and a very intense Englishman named Michael Gothard.
Together they scrounged for food, bummed around, and got hooked on jazz and heroin.
After a year or so, Dan went back to the States.
Michael stayed, and I believe the third guy was killed in a drug deal in New York City.
Well, Michael and Dan remained friends and continued to correspond."
Photo courtesy Sean McCormick.
Research by Belsizepark:
"... When I researched published material of the Beat Generation I came across the photographer Harold Chapman who lived at [The Beat Hotel] from 1957 – 1963 when it closed.
I could find a contact form through the town where he lives. His response was positive. He could remember [Michael Gothard] and shared the information that Michael had a café in London."
Harold Chapman's memories of the times he met Michael in Paris and London can be found here here.
On seeing these photos from The Beat Hotel, taken by Harold Chapman, Sean's Uncle Dan (Dan Bush) replied, "Yep, I knew most of these cats..."
Speculation: per. Angharad24, in the late 1950s, leaving school at 17 or 18 was unusual: most young men would either leave earlier, if they went to a secondary modern school, or later if they went to grammar school.
He may have dropped out of school because he realised he’d have to do National Service (which didn’t come to an end until around 1960, when it was phased out) if he stayed until the usual time. In the 1970s, he had a stand-off (which he lost) with the Director Curtis Harrington, over cutting his hair, so clearly he would not have relished the discipline of National Service.
I asked Sean: "Do you happen to know how Michael avoided doing National Service? Was he considered unfit, or did he go to the Continent to avoid it?"
Sean replied: “Europe I believe. Uncle Dan got drafted in 62-63 into the air force and lucked out and was sent to Italy.”
It should be borne in mind that some of what Sean has told me was learned from Michael himself, and some of it probably came via Uncle Dan; it is possible that Michael had other reasons for being in Europe that he didn't want to discuss, in which case he may have let Dan think he was avoiding National Service, because that sounded more glamorous.
It's possible that he had been considered unfit for National Service. Whatever the truth was, it does not sound as if National Service would have suited him very well.
He may also have been avoiding a troubled family life. His mother was still living with Jack Walker until 1958: it seems likely that there was conflict with his unofficial step-father.
Michael was in London on 21 October 1961, when he was present at his mother's re-marriage, but continued to travel, at least between London and Paris, though it is not known for how long; possibly until he began working on 'Herostratus' in 1964, or even longer.
It is not known where he was living when in London. Dan Bush said that when Michael was studying theatre but had not yet landed a film, he was "living in an obscure garret/loft somewhere in the city.”