You thought I drowned, Doctor. But you were wrong. I'm alive and nothing in the world
will stop me now. Nothing in the world can stop me now! Can you give us some background
on how you started in your acting career? Well, it was a long story. I actually didn't
start it off with that in mind. I wanted to study law to start with. But then I eventually
decided acting was actually... probably as a lawyer I figured I could do a bit of acting
as the prosecutor or defending attorney. And so I eventually went to one of the famous
Viennese teachers, got through and was selected almost immediately to one of the leading theatres,
which of course made the start quite easy. You mentioned before that you were a bit of
a gypsy. So when you finished your acting career in Austria, where did you move then?
Well, that was after the war and I had a possibility to go to the United States. But I was then
acting in Salzburg at the State Theatre and one of my fans happened to be the Consul of
Canada and when he learned that I had become restless he suggested that I might want to
move to Canada. So the idea appealed to me and he sort of evened the way for me a bit
and that made it easier too and that's where I ended up in the end.
You worked for a time at CBC. Do you have any memories of Sidney Newman?
Yes, of course. He was one of the predominant producers at the time. He in fact produced
the first Shakespearean production for the CBC of Othello with Lorne Green playing Othello
and I played Iago. My English was then rather sort of short-lived but having done the part
in German I knew what it was about. We had quite an illustrious cast with Patrick McNee
playing one of the parts and other names later were known both in England and Canada. Those
were the days of live television and you couldn't afford to dry up anymore so it was of course
with Iago being the largest part in Shakespeare it was quite a daunting experience.
And it was also in Canada where you met your wife Lois. Can you tell us how you met Lois?
Well Lois was then a young actress and among other things I also produced stage plays and
one of my leading ladies couldn't keep up having had a family and so I had to audition
other actresses and Lois was one among them and she got the part and in the end she got
me too.
So from Canada, where did you move from there?
Well eventually I had done in Canada all that was possible and having been a bit of a gypsy
and always a bit restless I figured I should do a move and there was the choice of either
going to New York or Hollywood or with Lois's English background, though she was a born
Canadian, the family came from England, that decided it and we decided to go to London.
So in order to even the way I wrote a letter to the drama chief of the BBC telling him
my intentions and ask for his advice, he wrote back briskly advising me to stay in Canada
because it was too difficult with the competition in London.
But here again I felt you have to try it before you sort of cave in.
So we decided to go nevertheless figuring we could always return if we didn't like it.
And when I arrived I introduced myself to the producer and I got one of the answers
that the actor never likes to hear, he said, had you come two weeks earlier I would have
had a part for you.
So I was nevertheless quite pleased with it and to cut a long story short a few weeks
later he phoned me up and asked me would I like to audition for a part for an actor who
had been cast and took ill.
I didn't mind, I auditioned, I got the part and it was a play that had then as it turned
out a great success which kind of started my career in England on a very good footing.
Eventually you were cast as Professor Zaroff in The Underwater Menace, the Doctor Who story,
which is only a drop in the bucket of the movies and appearances you've made.
Do you have any memories of The Underwater Menace, in particular Patrick Trout?
Yes, well you know it's very funny, after such a long career there are certain shows
you have forgotten all together.
Time and again now there are repeats on television and I see my name featured and I've forgotten
all together what that whole play was about.
But if nothing else of the Doctor Zaroff incident I remember is the drowning sequence because
in the water tank where it was filmed it had to be done in reversed order.
We started with the drowning first and then I dashed out and then got dried off and my
hair got blown dry again and then they had let out the water to a certain extent and
so forth until we came to the point where it started rising from my ankles.
So that was quite an experience because to shoot that, that alone took about two days.
You also worked with Patrick Trout on The Midnight Men, that was a film in 1964.
Do you have any memories of that film with Patrick?
Yes, well I played King Alexander of Serbia and Eva Bartok, the Hungarian movie star,
played my mistress and it was a six episode television serial and those were actually
about the attempted assassination of King Alexander and The Midnight Men were all people
who tried to oust the monarchy and of course Patrick was one of the villains in that, which
with his kind face was a bit difficult to believe.
But anyway, the King survived and I believe the BBC even put the serial into a time capsule
to be looked at, what we did in those days, a hundred years from when they put it in.
How did you enjoy your work on the James Bond film, Diamonds of Heaven?
Yes, that was quite nice too, particularly since I was called back once I had left England
and come to Australia to do a part in Diamonds are Forever and since it was a nice small
part I was quite pleased that they found it necessary to call me back.
There must have been a number of actors in London who could have done it cheaper.
But we had a marvellous time and I got back, I had met various actors of course in previous
shows and Connery I had known for many years but he still had the habit of looking at your
eyebrows rather than in your eyes, which is always very disconcerting if you play opposite
an actor.
But that also happened with Eva Bartok who was always so concerned with the angle of
her face and her eyelids and all and I constantly had to play against the forehead.
You played the hero in Brides of Fu Manchu and you've had your fair share of hero and
villain parts.
Do you prefer villains or heroes?
No, I like them both.
Villains are mostly the most welcome parts because people like to hate villains and I
made it a point that I never played them sort of straight, just for the villain.
I always tried to find a human element to it and that paid off in the long run.
As far as the heroes are concerned of course they are somewhat easier to play and probably
equally thankful.
So it's an even choice.
You were offered a role in Number 96 after you moved to Australia.
Tell us about how you got that role.
The American producer had offered me a part to start with when the series started but
they had never done anything like that before so I declined.
And then they got a bit of difficulties after years of successful run so they decided it
needed a bit of freshening up and so they blew up part of the scenery with some characters
who were then replaced.
I was one of the new characters.
It was an Italian Carlo Lenzi who was sort of a ladies man but actually he was a jewel
thief who had never been caught.
So that revived the series.
I only accepted it because the producer promised me that first of all if I didn't like a line
I didn't want to say he would change it.
And then since this was the first series in Australia where you had homosexuality and
nudity I made a point that I would not sign a contract where they want me to take my gear
off.
One of your last roles was the Denera Boys.
Yes.
If it was your last role I think it was.
Do you have any memories of that?
Can you tell us some stories about that?
Yes, the Denera Boys was a true story about Jewish migrants in England.
The Brits thought there might be a group of spies among them and terrorists and so they
decided to send them all on the ship Denera to Australia.
The Australians weren't well informed whom to receive and they thought they were Italian
prisoners of war so they put signs out in Sydney, Bienvenido a Australia, and then they
discovered they were all German speaking Jews.
And in fact the Denera itself was guarded by German U-Boats to Sydney.
People thought they might sink it but they thought they were German prisoners of war
and they actually protected the Denera.
I played the part of a German Jewish baron who was a captain in the First World War and
was more Prussian than the Prussians and stuck in spite of the terrible conditions on board
ship and in the camp in Hays, stuck to his tradition and lived out his days in Australia
in very good positions and all.
In fact there was a reunion in Melbourne of those survivors and it was fantastic to meet
up with them and it was very pleasing to learn that the character I played, they knew of
him and they thought I got him right.
So looking back over your huge career over the past 50 years, what kind of feelings do
you have looking back over what you've accomplished in that time?
So very often at the end of any career people have to assess was it worth it?
Did I achieve what I set out to achieve?
And as always in life it's not always 100%.
There are probably things I might have done better, successes could have been bigger,
but on the whole I must say I am very satisfied over the decades and having had such a wide
variety of challenges as far as parts were concerned or directing or writing.
So at the end of my term now it was worth it.
Joseph Furst, thank you very much.
My pleasure.