Island Life Magazine Ltd February/March 2014 | Page 13

INTERVIEW Memories on the wall of Melvyn's office Melvyn (above) with a signed photo of Al Jolson. Below, as an ugly sister in panto appearing in dramas on stage. He said: “I had a variety of roles. I think I am the only actor to play young Frankenstein and Tarzan. It was only when I read the script I realised I had been cast as a ‘camp’ Tarzan. Peter Cushing and Oliver Read were also in the film, but I never saw it.” Along with ‘It Ain’t Half Hot Mum’ Melvyn is perhaps best remembered for his role in films with Cliff Richard – initially ‘The Young Ones’ followed by ‘Summer Holiday’ and ‘Wonderful Life’. He said: “The Young Ones was a smash hit, but I decided I wasn’t going to do Summer Holiday because they wouldn’t guarantee me any billing on the advertising posters. I changed my mind about a month before filming started.” He continued: “Making the films with Cliff was great fun because we were just a bunch of kids having a good time. With Summer Holiday suddenly there I was in Athens thinking ‘what am I doing here?’ and then we went to the Canary Islands for Wonderful Life.” As we laughed about the good times, Melvyn had a quick coughing fit. With a typical one-liner, he joked: “Sorry I will try not to die on you!” Coughing over, he continued: “When we were on location for the ‘Cliff ’ films we could order any food we liked. Instead, we would sneak into the restaurant at lunchtime and pinch oranges, apples and a bottle of wine and take then to our room so we could sit and play records. We could have picked up the phone and ordered room service, but we never thought of that. “Cliff liked this banana liqueur drink that was there, and said he was taking some home with him. He opened his suitcase and it was full of the stuff. I told him he would have to pay duty on it, and he just nodded – of course he would pay the duty. But there I was, clutching my half bottle of brandy to take back; I wasn’t going to pay duty!” “Cliff and I got on well. I once told him that every time I was interviewed I said he was a great guy, but he never said anything nice about me. He replied ‘that’s because you are not a nice guy’. I warned him that the next time I would have a go at him, and I jokingly told the New Musical Express magazine he was a right b****** who couldn’t care less about anyone. I told the girl who interviewed me I was only joking, but the whole article was published. “I rang Cliff to ask him if he had seen the NME and he replied ‘I don’t read comics any more’. I told him about the story, and he said he knew one day I would stitch him up. He was always a very private person, who couldn’t dance or act in the beginning, but he worked very hard at it. We are still great friends. I saw him at Buckingham Palace only last year at a garden party.” In the next edition: Melvyn talks about ‘It Ain’t Half Hot Mum’; why the BBC refuse to show it again, and his role of parent and foster parent. www.visitilife.com 13