Cult Faction’s Brett Summers got the chance to interview Jason King himself Peter Wyngarde. We would like to thank Peter for taking the time to talk to us…
Q: You began your acting career in the theatre, including some early success at the Theatre Royal in Birmingham. What led to you wanting to tred the boards in the first place?
A: I got a love for the theatre whilst in Lung-Hau Civil Assembly Centre as a child. The inmates put plays on in the camp canteen and I’d often take part. I knew then it was what I wanted to do as a career.
Q: What was theatre life like at that time for a young actor?
A: I started out in rep, which was hard work but fun. I tried to move around as much as possible, from one company to the next to get as much experience as I could. I met a lot of wonderful people and learned much more than if I’d gone to acting school.
Q: In 1949 you got your first onscreen appearance in Dick Barton Strikes Back. What led you to explore life beyond the theatre?
A: The part just came up and I accepted. It didn’t pay much, and I think I only said two words. It really wasn’t much to write home about.
Q: How did your experience differ from theatre life?
A: As I say, there wasn’t too much to it. I was only there for a couple of hours, so I didn’t really get any sort of a feel for film making then.
Q: Many TV appearances followed including the role of John the Baptist in Jesus of Nazareth, what was it like making guest appearances in such a wide-birth of shows?
A: A lot of the parts I took were just to gain experience, as my first love was and always will be the theatre. I was really just a jobbing actor back then; just learning my trade. But, yes, it was nice to have such a large and varied number of parts to play.
Q: In 1956 you starred as Pausanias alongside Richard Burton in Alexander the Great, what was it like moving from small screen to big screen?
A: It was a huge step for me at the time, but I believe that it was probably a bit to early in my career to have made that step. I enjoyed the whole process, and became good mates with Richard Burton who taught me a great deal, but I didn’t think much of the finished product.
Q: What was it like being around the likes of Burton, Peter Cushing, Fredric March, Claire Bloom, Stanley Baker amongst others?
A: To be honest, I didn’t see too much of those people – only Richard. I only did the one scene with Fredric March, who was very helpful.
Q: Through the 1960’s you made a number of appearances on TV shows such as The Saint, The Baron, Sherlock Holmes, The Champions, The Troubleshooters, Love Story, I Spy and The Man In Room 17. What was it like to guest on such popular shows?
A: Yes, it was great fun guest-starring in those shows – especially the American series, ‘I, Spy’ and ‘Lucy in London’. Those people taught me much about the filming process. And of course, The Avengers and The Prisoner. Both Diana Rigg and Pat McGoohan were good friends, so I felt at home on the set. Although Roger (Moore) and I were not buddies – just colleagues, I got on with him really well. He was a hoot!
Q: How did you find your experience as Number Two in The Prisoner? Did Patrick McGoohan ever let you in on his vision of what the show was about?
A: I have great memories of both The Avengers and The Prisoner. I’m not sure that anyone apart from Pat knew exactly what was going on there, and of course, it was being shot both in Wales and in London, so I only got to see the final episode when it was on TV. I did all my scenes at MGM, and never got to see Portmeirion.
Q: Then in 1969 came Department S. How did you feel when first approached about the character of Jason King?
A: I think the story of how I came to get the part of Jason King – or Roger Cummerford as he was called then – has been told many times. I was in a play in the West End when I was approached by the producers. I really didn’t want to commit to a series, but they wore me down and I ended up signing on the dotted line. Actually, it was on a napkin in a restaurant.
The thing I liked most about it was that I was given so much freedom to develop the character; they sort of gave me carte blanche to do whatever I liked – within reason, of course.
Q: How did the group dynamic of Department S impact your portrayal of Jason King? Did you find you had to hold back at all?
A: I got on with Joel very well. He was a really nice guy and we were good mates. Rosemary, not so much. She believed herself to be the star of the show, and began pushing for more and more airtime. I think she really resented the fact that the Jason King character had become so popular.
Q: Any memories/stories from the Department S days?
A: Oh, I really don’t know. There was so many little things happened. I remember my wearing my father’s watch and chain which he’d left to me, and worrying that it might get damaged. The following morning, I found what I thought was a really cheap version in my dressing room to wear as a replacement. I walked out on set, holding the watch out in front of me with the chain – saying, “Jason King would NEVER wear this cheap Woolworths crap!” I then heard Monty Berman’s voice from the back of the set, saying: “That’s MY watch!” What an insult!
Q: When did you learn that Jason King would be getting his own series? How did that feel?
A: It was Lew Grade himself who told me that there’d be another series, which was to be called ‘The Adventures of Jason King’. I was a bit disappointed, of course, to be losing Joel, as we’d got on so well, but it gave us the opportunity to expand the character.
Q: Why did Jason King connect with so many people?
A: I really don’t know why Jason King connected with so many people. Perhaps if we’d know the secret, it would’ve suddenly disappeared. I just believe he was the right character at the right time. I guess he just brought some colour into people’s lives.
Q: The X-Men comic created that character Jason Wyngarde (who led The Hellfire Club) based on you. How did it feel to influence such a character?
A: Of course I was flattered when I heard that the people who created the X Men had based a character on me, but I really do know much about Sci-Fi and Fantasy stuff.
Q: How much of Jason King is Peter Wyngarde?
A: Given that I really created the character or Jason King, and did much to flesh him out, I suppose there’s an awful lot of me in him. I wore all my own clothes in the series – most of which I designed myself, and I wrote a lot of what he said.
Q: Following a successful return to the theatre you went back on the big screen in Flash Gordon. How did your involvement in that come about?
A: As far as ‘Flash Gordon’ is concerned, the part was offered to me via my agent. It sounded interesting to me, and I felt it would be a new challenge in projecting a character from behind a mask.
Q: Following Flash Gordon you made appearances in Doctor Who, The Two Ronnies, The Comic Strip presents… and The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes. What are your memories of those times?
A: I thoroughly enjoyed making all those series in the 1980’s: ‘Doctor Who’, ‘The Two Ronnies’, ‘Sherlock Holes’ etc. Strangely enough, when I met Brian Blessed for the first time on the set of ‘Flash Gordon’, the first thing he said to me was that he’d remembered me playing Grunner in Sherlock Holmes in the 1960’s, so it was like I’d come full circle.
Q: What is Peter Wyngarde up to these days?
A: These days, I love to write and I’ve enjoyed meeting so many wonderful people at the conventions. I’m hoping that there could be some new stuff on the horizon, so fingers crossed for that.
Ogun Bat is a Japanese superhero created by Takeo Nagamatsu in 1931 and is considered to be the first Japanese superhero. The anime ran 52 episodes between April 1st 1967 and March 23rd Read more
Released in December 1980, Zork: The Great Underground Empire - Part I aka Zork I was an interactive fiction video game written by Marc Blank, Dave Lebling, Bruce Daniels and Tim Read more
The CW has released a new extended trailer for The Flash, offering up some new footage from several upcoming episodes and teasing the unmasking of Zoom:
Zoolander is back but a lot has happened since 2001! Rest assured the Ben Stiller comedy features familiar faces and a few new ones with plenty to get you excited. Read more
At a dinner party with their wives, NASA scientist Dr. Keith Ritchie (Tony Huston) reveals to his colleague Dr. Curt Taylor (John Agar) that he has secretly been in communication Read more
In Italy during World War II, an American military patrol discovers a spaceship that has crash-landed in the woods, along with its alien crew. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hm9fnNfLg8M A nearby Nazi unit also Read more
Zone Fighter was a tokusatsu science fiction/superhero television series produced by Toho Company Ltd. It aired from April 2nd 1973 to September 24th 1973, with a total of 26 episodes. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UdhcjsVLDQY The series follows Read more
Zone 414 is an upcoming American science fiction thriller film written by Bryan Edward Hill and directed by Andrew Baird. The film stars Guy Pearce, Matilda Lutz, Jonathan Aris, Jóhannes Haukur Jóhannesson, Olwen Fouéré, Colin Salmon, Antonia Campbell-Hughes, Read more
It is the final episode of Season 1, and as expected following the somewhat calmness of last week's episode this week is about to go off the scale. Our crew Read more
Episode 5 of Zomboat! is the penultimate episode of Season 1 and it gave the audience a chance to catch their breath before the grand finale. Instead of the fast Read more
In Zomboat! Episode 4 we discover that even a shopping trip can be hazardous to your health in post-apocalyptic Birmingham. With the boat moored and apparently safe Amar (Ryan McKen) Read more
After our diversion last week our Zomboat crew begin travelling in the right direction and end up back where they first got on the boat. This also happens to be Read more
Zomboat! burst onto our screens last week and while we loved it we noted that it felt "a bit rushed with lots crammed in." As Episode 2 washed over us Read more
Debuting on ITV2 in the UK, Zomboat! is filmed in the 2.35:1 widescreen ratio of most zombie movies and answers the life long question of what would happen if you Read more
When the government's latest crime deterrent, obmoz, goes completely off the rails and starts to destroy everything from the underfunded super team Planetronix to the president himself, who ya gonna Read more
Homemade horror-comedy feature Zomblogalypse received its UK premiere at Dead Northern Film Festival - in association with Fangoria and Shudder - at City Screen York on 26th September 2021. The Read more
Tony Todd is back in an all new zombie movie: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBlWz-n-nec When the world is in shambles, plagued by a zombie outbreak, only the strong will survive, but just how Read more
Columbus, Tallahasse, Wichita, and Little Rock move to the American heartland as they face off against evolved zombies, fellow survivors, and the growing pains of the snarky makeshift family... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SL6NTQhEqn4 Read more
In Zombieland 2: Double Tap, Columbus, Tallahasse, Wichita, and Little Rock move to the American heartland as they face off against evolved zombies, fellow survivors, and the growing pains of Read more
Directed by Chris Watson and distributed by Troma Entertainment, Zombiegeddon begins as Satan creates a human-like race called zombies. When the zombies begin taking over the world, dirty cops Jeff Read more
Brett Summers
Founded Cult Faction in 2014. Some would describe him as a teacher, writer, dream weaver, and visionary... some would not...
5 thoughts on “An interview with Peter Wyngarde”