EXCLUSIVE: Victor Spinetti discusses the Beatles, Taylor & Burton, that 'Hard Day's Night' sweater

  Victor Spinetti

Hearing Victor Spinetti spin stories, as we did in a phone conversation Thursday, answers the question of why he was the only actor to have roles in "A Hard Day's Night," "Help!" and "Magical Mystery Tour." His humor and charm certainly won the Beatles.

Spinetti is appearing through Sunday at the 35th anniversary Fest for Beatles Fans at the New Jersey Crowne Plaza Meadowlands Hotel in Secaucus, N.J. He says it's been 15 years since his last New York fest.

The actor says he first met two of the Beatles in 1963. "George Harrison and John Lennon came to the play ('Oh, What a Lovely War'). I think it was the producers and directors that had seen it. That’s the one I did eventually on Broadway. Got a Tony Award for that."

But it was George Harrison's mother who played an instrumental role in getting him cast in their movies in the first place.

His role as the nervous TV producer Richard in "A Hard Day's Night" is one of the standout roles in the film. After seeing the script, how did he prepare for it?

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"But I kept going. I said, ‘But I have an award on the wall in my office.’ And he said, ‘You haven’t even got a dressing room?’ But I mustn’t laugh. I had to keep going. That gave me the drive, I suppose, because I knew very well that Dick Lester had four cameras going at once. If I stopped … you know, I just kept going. That’s why it came over as being a powerful performance because I had to keep strong," he said.

He had to keep that same kind of focus while filming "Help!" "When I was doing ‘Help!’, I had a huge close-up ... when I said, ‘With this ring, I could rule the world,’ that was the big close-up because, at that time, the four lads were laying on the floor screaming with laughter and stoned out of their minds. So they had to put the camera on me quickly to keep the film going. But that’s ok. That’s what I was there for."

And about that sweater he wore in "A Hard Day's Night"? "And I had that furry sweater, which was given to me. It’s my own sweater. ... But it was given to me as a present by the guy who wrote 'Amadeus' and 'Equus,' Peter Shaffer. His mother gave it to him. And he said, ‘Where am I ever going to wear this?’ and he gave it to me. And I said, ‘Where am I going to wear this?’ And I said, ‘I know, I’ll wear it for the movie. So I said to the director and the producer, ‘How about this?’ They said, ‘Perfect.’ "

Spinetti said the first scene that was filmed for "Help!" almost spelled the end of the Beatles. "Ringo had to dive into the water to escape from my yacht. And I was going to cut his finger off, but there was sand in the generator. And he dived into the water. They said, ‘Well, do it again.’ Then he did it again and he said to me, ‘Oh, do I have to do it again?’ I said, ‘Why’? He said, ‘I can’t swim.’ He could have drowned there and then. And I shouted, ‘HE CAN'T SWIM!’ And they said, ‘OK, that’s fine!’ I said to Ringo, ‘Why did you do it?’ He said, ‘Well, when the director says, ‘Action,’ you’ve got to do it.’ "

  John Lennon and Victor Spinetti. Spinetti directed the stage
  version of Lennon's book,"In HIs Own Write."

Though "Magical Mystery Tour" has been often derided by critics and fans, Spinetti says, "People forget that was before Monty Python. It was before a lot of those," he says. "John rang me up and said, ‘We’re gonna direct our own film. You've got to be in it. We’ve got no f------ script. Do that thing you did in the show "Oh, What a Lovely War" as the drill sergeant thing.'

"They wanted me to be the courier on the bus. I couldn’t do that because to be with them all the time would have been wonderful. But I was doing a show in the West End. I was always working. I was always doing something. So I couldn’t leave the show in the West End in the theater. It was ‘The Odd Couple’ with Jack Klugman, the Neil Simon play."

He was also on the 1967 Beatles Christmas Record.

 Spinetti knew each of the Beatles well, but especially John Lennon.

"John had no ego," Spinetti says. "That’s an amazing statement to make. I said, ‘Do you have a drawerful of songs when you’re gone, you know?' He said, ‘No, I just ring up Paul and say, "I think it’s time we got together to write another hit." And we get together and write one.' Which means ‘I do not seek, I find,’ like Picasso. He didn’t say, ‘Yes, I’ve got a drawerful of songs for a bar mitzvah, I’ve got a song for a wedding. I’ve got a song for a funeral.’ No, they just happened. And that’s real genius."

Spinetti also directed the stage play based on Lennon's book,"In HIs Own Write."

Paul McCartney? "Paul is much more of a pragmatist. When I had flu when I was filming ‘Help!,’ I think, and they came to visit me each in turn in the hotel room, the last one to put his head in the door, was Paul, who said, ‘Is it catching?’ I said, ‘Yes’ and I never saw him again! (Laughs) He knew that if they all caught flu, they’d have to stop filming. He’s a pragmatist. He’s also a genius. Listen to the tunes that come out of that man."

"George (Harrison) was for connoisseurs. ... That was an area of him that was really deep. ... He gave me a present and I’ll give it to you now. I said, ‘I can’t get it together with Indian music.’ And he said, ‘Vic, you don’t listen to it. You let it happen to you. Because Western music is mathematically worked out. Indian music is a flow. You can dip in and dip out.' You know, that was a present I got from him. He was very generous."

And Ringo? "He’s just a regular guy, a bloke they call him. ...  As they’ve said he was lucky to be there. So did John. ‘He’s not only the worst drummer in the world, he’s the worst drummer in the Beatles.’’ But that was a joke of John’s. Ringo was the first one to laugh."

Above all, he says the Beatles were innovators. "People say they copied. They never copied anybody. They were the originals."

Most people may not associate the name, but Spinetti's brother is drummer Henry Spinetti, who has worked with many well known names, including members of the Beatles. "He was with Eric Clapton for six years. He worked with John. He worked with Paul. He worked with all of them. And when they did the Concert for George at the Albert Hall in London, my brother was drumming there along with Ringo."

Among the actors Spinetti has worked with in his storied career are Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor in "Under Milk Wood." "They don’t make them like that anymore," Spinetti says.

He tells of a bet Richard Burton made with him. "When I was working with them on the film of ‘Taming of the Shrew,’ I was sitting in my dressing room and I suddenly had this desire to write a short story. Which I did. And I wrote it. Then I went into their dressing room and I said to Richard and Elizabeth, ‘I’ve just written a short story. And they said, ‘Oh, sit down, read it to us.’ Can you imagine saying that today to all these self-obsessed, so-called movie stars? So f------ what, they’d say?

"So they listened to the story. Elizabeth said, ‘That’s wonderful.’ Richard said, ‘You should get that published.’ And he gave me a bet. He said, ‘If you get that published, if you succeed in getting that published, I will give you a case of Dom Perignon champagne. If you fail, you’ll give me a case. Now, get it published.’ And I did."

Lately, he's been touring with an autobiographical one man show, "A Very Private Diary ... Revisited."

"I did it in New York in January," he said, then told how it all came about. 

"I was asked to do a charity evening. And I was doing the show in the West End called ‘Windy City,’ based on ‘Front Page.’ And they said would I do this show? And I said, ‘Yeah, sure.’ It was like November. Well, the following February, they rang me up and said, ‘Don’t forget you’re doing a show. I’d forgotten all about it. I said, ‘When?’ They said, ‘Friday.’ This is Wednesday.

"And I had to go and do the show on Friday. ... And so I went up and chatted and started talking about coming to London from Wales to be an actor and meeting the Beatles, the Burtons, working with all sorts of wonderful people, coming to New York. Told stories about Tennessee Williams, people I’d met or worked with and things. And then we all had a good time. And I thought, ‘Well, gosh, I got away with it.’ That was it. And someone said, ‘Will you do that at the Edinburgh Festival?’ And I thought, ‘Do what?’ I only just told stories. ... Anyway, went to Edinburgh and got great reviews."

Just this week, he had an audio autobiographical CD released called "A Very Long Private Diary." "That was really the beginning of the one-man show. In the early days of it, I did that. A lot of it’s changed since then, but that was the very beginning of it."

 His autobiography, "Up Front . . .: His Strictly Confidential Autobiography," came out in paperback in January. "I’m going to do some book signings this weekend (at the Fest for Beatles Fans). The guy who’s selling them, Mark Lapidos, said, ‘Good, you can do some book signings.’ I didn’t bring any books with me. I’m the worst career driven actor you’ve ever met."

About the Fest, he says, "I’m here to have a good time. I’m going to give ... a talk about how it’s affected my life, working with the lads. And I’m doing that out of love of what has happened."

As for the future? "They want me to do the one-man show in Los Angeles. I might be doing another run of it somewhere else. There’s somebody coming in into talk to me about doing the Lennon play here in New Jersey at some university. But somebody’s turning up to say, ‘Will you come and do it?’ and I probably will," he says with a laugh.

(The Fest for Beatles Fans runs through Sunday at the New Jersey Crowne Plaza Meadowlands Hotel in Secaucus, N.J. For more information, see the Fest's website.)