After more than 2,000 TV interviews Sir Michael Parkinson has a tale or two to tell. ShortList swapped places with the legendary interviewer to discover the backstage intrigue behind his iconic encounters.
John Lennon and Yoko Ono
“We had John and Yoko on in 1971 and there was this thing, which I’m sure came from Yoko, where I could only ask him questions about the Beatles if I put a sack over my head. Some potty idea, but I did it and he answered them. He had a mordant sense of humour but he was a real mate. I honestly think that, had he lived, him and Paul would have reunited. People say they couldn’t stand each other but just look at the songs they wrote together. There’s no way they hated each other.”
Muhammad Ali
“A man of many moods and contradictions but the most charismatic character I ever met. He’d come out with the most awfully racist things about ‘white devils’ and all that nonsense which we’d have great rows about. By our last interview in 1981 you could see the beginnings of the condition he’d suffer in later life. I actually read that during medical tests at that time he couldn’t even touch his nose, and his entourage still let him get in the ring once more. That’s the great tragedy I think, you could see it all happening and nobody stopped him.”
Charlton Heston
“A real frontiersman who struck me as someone who didn’t really have a sense of humour but wanted to come across as if he did. Before the interview in the dressing room he went: ‘I’ve got a humorous story about Ben-Hur.’ And I said: ‘That’s great, but let’s wait until we’re on camera.’ So come the end of the interview I said: ‘So Ben-Hur, what can you tell us about that?’ And he went: ‘You know the chariot scene? It was all faked.’ [laughs] That was his big finale? I mean, come on.”
Donald Sutherland
“We never offered alcohol but people brought their own and I know for a fact there were drugs being taken backstage. I walked into Robert Mitchum’s dressing room to say hello and pretty much had to close the door straight away because there was so much marijuana smoke in there. Donald Sutherland and Elliott Gould were both pie-eyed when they came on. In fact I saw Donald Sutherland on a radio show recently and he apologised for the state he was in. I said: ‘I’m surprised you can f*cking remember it.’”
Russell Crowe
“I’ve got to know Russell quite well since he appeared on the show and before playing Robin Hood he rang me up. He wanted to play him as a Yorkshireman so he went: ‘I don’t want to use your accent but you’ve got this way of speaking to someone when you get cross and I want that.’ So I sent over some audio tapes and after my wife watched the film she went: ‘He sounds exactly like you when you get sh*tty with someone!’ So I’m to blame for that accent.”
Tom Cruise
“The guests were always nice to me because it was my show but it was interesting to see how they treated other people that work in the background. From the runners to the make-up girls Tom Cruise was exceptional to everyone which was a real surprise. He was a real joy. In fact, Kelly Holmes was on the same show as him and they got on so well he got her number, rang her mum’s house in Kent and invited her to his London premiere that night.”
Michael Caine
“We’ll normally get together with the guests after the show in the green room and through this, Michael Caine became a mate. He’s obviously a very talented actor but he’s good fun too, even I do an impression of him. There’s a misconception that he gets annoyed with people mimicking him but let me tell you, he does the best Michael Caine impression of all of us, he doesn’t actually speak like that normally. He’ll put it on in certain company.”
Tony Blair
“Most politicians are very clever and very good at answering a question without actually answering it and laying false trails. Harold Wilson was the best at it. He had this wonderful trick where he’d go, “That’s a very interesting question, but before I answer that I’d like to say this...” and then half an hour later you’d forget what you’d asked him. Blair tried to be a bit more frank than that, he gave the impression to me of thinking on his feet a bit more than most.”
Peter Cook
“Peter Cook was a mate of mine and I loved him, I miss him to this day. And Dudley Moore too, I miss them both. Peter was a mad bugger, I used to do a radio show at LBC and Peter used to phone up all the time. I’d get my producer coming on and saying, a Mr Nobend is calling. I’d say how do you spell that. “K-N-O-B-E-N-D,” it’s Peter Cook pretending to be someone again. He’d always be ringing in, it was hilarious. A very funny man.”
The Michael Parkinson Collection is out now on DVD
