Getting into acting: 1960/61 - 63
From Petticoat interview 6 October 1973:
Eventually, he returned to London [from France] and got a job shifting scenery at the New Arts Theatre. A friend of his was making an amateur movie and was auditioning actors. Mike felt that he could do better. “As a joke I read to him, and much to my surprise landed a leading role. The picture was a triangle love story, typical of the home movies being made at the time.”
That part brought him encouragement from people in the profession. He decided to go to an actor’s workshop run by an American actor, Robert O’Neal. But he could only attend evenings and weekends – he had to support himself with a full-time day job.
He became involved in making ‘shoestring’ movies.
He says he didn’t finally make up his mind to become an actor until he was twenty-one. [that would have been in 1960].
“I became an actor because I was better at that than anything. In the early days I was full of energy and into trying a number of jobs. But I soon discovered that I couldn’t escape show-biz, even if my instinct didn’t like its superficiality.”
Aileen McClintock spoke to actress Sarah Guthrie on the phone.
Along with Michael, Sarah was involved in a small fringe theatre group in the early 1960s – setting up lunchtime theatres in pubs.
She recalled a couple of the plays they had put on – mainly French ones – ‘The Rehearsal’ [presumably the one by Jean Anouilh] and something by Jean Genet.
Lunchtime Theatre got you lunch and a play for 5 shillings!
There is an interview with Sarah here, but she doesn't mention Michael by name.
She remembered that he attended drama school in the evenings, but couldn’t recall which one.
She said that Michael did not have a voice for theatre, and that, in any case, he always wanted to work in film or television.
Per The Runewriter
He told me that he in the beginning of his career had been offered a job at RSC (Royal Shakespeare Company), and I asked why he hadn't tried this, and I must say I never really understood his answer; it was something about not repeating yourself.
But I thought film actors had to repeat the scenes all the time ...
Before Michael Gothard chose to work with his language as an actor, he had also volunteered as journalist at local papers. He was a witty and funny letter writer.
Sean McCormick’s Uncle Dan, who evidently lost touch with Michael for a time, after sharing a place in Paris, suggested:
“You might also ask your friend if they have run across two blokes: Tony Chappa [Greek] (guitar) or Bob White [Anglo-Indian] (photographer) in London. ... They were Brit pals from Paris days who led me to M. a year or two later, when he was studying theatre but had not yet landed a film ... He was living in an obscure garret/loft somewhere in the city.”
I have not been able to make contact with Tony Chappa or Bob White as yet.
Eventually, he returned to London [from France] and got a job shifting scenery at the New Arts Theatre. A friend of his was making an amateur movie and was auditioning actors. Mike felt that he could do better. “As a joke I read to him, and much to my surprise landed a leading role. The picture was a triangle love story, typical of the home movies being made at the time.”
That part brought him encouragement from people in the profession. He decided to go to an actor’s workshop run by an American actor, Robert O’Neal. But he could only attend evenings and weekends – he had to support himself with a full-time day job.
He became involved in making ‘shoestring’ movies.
He says he didn’t finally make up his mind to become an actor until he was twenty-one. [that would have been in 1960].
“I became an actor because I was better at that than anything. In the early days I was full of energy and into trying a number of jobs. But I soon discovered that I couldn’t escape show-biz, even if my instinct didn’t like its superficiality.”
Aileen McClintock spoke to actress Sarah Guthrie on the phone.
Along with Michael, Sarah was involved in a small fringe theatre group in the early 1960s – setting up lunchtime theatres in pubs.
She recalled a couple of the plays they had put on – mainly French ones – ‘The Rehearsal’ [presumably the one by Jean Anouilh] and something by Jean Genet.
Lunchtime Theatre got you lunch and a play for 5 shillings!
There is an interview with Sarah here, but she doesn't mention Michael by name.
She remembered that he attended drama school in the evenings, but couldn’t recall which one.
She said that Michael did not have a voice for theatre, and that, in any case, he always wanted to work in film or television.
Per The Runewriter
He told me that he in the beginning of his career had been offered a job at RSC (Royal Shakespeare Company), and I asked why he hadn't tried this, and I must say I never really understood his answer; it was something about not repeating yourself.
But I thought film actors had to repeat the scenes all the time ...
Before Michael Gothard chose to work with his language as an actor, he had also volunteered as journalist at local papers. He was a witty and funny letter writer.
Sean McCormick’s Uncle Dan, who evidently lost touch with Michael for a time, after sharing a place in Paris, suggested:
“You might also ask your friend if they have run across two blokes: Tony Chappa [Greek] (guitar) or Bob White [Anglo-Indian] (photographer) in London. ... They were Brit pals from Paris days who led me to M. a year or two later, when he was studying theatre but had not yet landed a film ... He was living in an obscure garret/loft somewhere in the city.”
I have not been able to make contact with Tony Chappa or Bob White as yet.