Michael Parkinson RIP

LGFOX

LGFOX

Roofer
THE best at what he did. Came across as a genuinely nice guy and was a brilliant interviewer. Saw him in a ‘Evening with’ a couple of years ago. Wonderful
 
A master at his craft. His show preceded Match of the Day, so I grew up absorbing his interviews with Hollywood legends and others. Barnsley’s favorite son. RIP.
 
Yes I think that’s why I saw so many of his programmes too. Only one he never interviewed was Frank Sinatra.
His book on the Ali interviews is fascinating reading.
 
I’ve heard that he said the ones with Ali were his favorite. More recently, it seems he struck up a friendship with Peter Kay.
 
Peter Ustinov,David Niven,Fred Astaire,Gene Kelly,Sophia Loren,Bette Davis,Lauren Bacall,Ingrid Bergman the list is endless. Remember a really difficult one with Robert Mitchum who didn’t seem to want to “engage” at all.
 
I remember the Benson and Hedges cup final at Lords 1975, County v Middlesex. many Leicestershire fans had grabbed the seats in front of The Tavern bar. Late morning who should come to the bar but Parky, to have a pint and watch the game. A few months earlier Parky had been ruffled on his show by Ali.
So all The County fans started singing the song by Johnny Wakelin, Black Superman /Mohamed Ali which was a huge hit at the time.
This opened old wounds for Parky and he went off to watch the game on a quieter part of Lords.
R.I. P. Parky, Great Knock.
 
borebage53 said:
Peter Ustinov,David Niven,Fred Astaire,Gene Kelly,Sophia Loren,Bette Davis,Lauren Bacall,Ingrid Bergman the list is endless. Remember a really difficult one with Robert Mitchum who didn’t seem to want to “engage” at all.
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The list is literally endless. The incredible thing is in the 70’s he interviewed all these Hollywood greats, a lot of them towards the of their lives. 40/50/60’s REAL stars who had never been seen in the UK apart from in films.
I loved his chats with David Niven too. The archetypal English gent
 
I think Parky was genuinely thrilled when some of those stars came down the steps onto the set. It was certainly the case with Fred Astaire. A clip was played with Astaire tap dancing around a golf tee,golf club in hand,while hitting perfect trick and tee shots off into the distance. The dancing and timing was absolutely perfect. He was the best in my opinion from a deep well of incredible dancers of that era.
James Cagney was also an incredible “hoofer” from his Vaudeville days!
 
Gene Kelly the fantastic “Singin’ and Dancin’ in the rain” sequence. Donald O’Connor (Make ‘em Laugh) who could “slapstick” his way through incredible gravity defying dance routines.On the distaff with Ginger Rogers,Rita Hayworth and Cyd Charisse whose studio insured her legs for mega money!
 
LGFOX said:
The list is literally endless. The incredible thing is in the 70’s he interviewed all these Hollywood greats, a lot of them towards the of their lives. 40/50/60’s REAL stars who had never been seen in the UK apart from in films.
I loved his chats with David Niven too. The archetypal English gent
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A story recalled by David Niven on the show. Niven had actually returned from Hollywood to serve in the British Army in WWII. As a British Intelligence Liaison Officer his Jeep was stopped at a US Army road block at the time of the German Ardennes offensive. The US soldiers were extremely jumpy about “Nazi 5th columnists” infiltrating their lines.
“OK buddy who won the World Series”?
Niven calmly replied “I have no idea old boy but I have danced with Rita Hayworth”!
 
borebage53 said:
Peter Ustinov,David Niven,Fred Astaire,Gene Kelly,Sophia Loren,Bette Davis,Lauren Bacall,Ingrid Bergman the list is endless. Remember a really difficult one with Robert Mitchum who didn’t seem to want to “engage” at all.
Click to expand...
There's also his low point which was the infamous Helen Mirren interview where he basically drooled all over her.
 
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