michael_gothard_archive

Up the Junction: Michael Gothard’s scenes as Terry
Pub scene 1
Argument, party and Terry’s last ride

Department S: Les Fleurs du Mal
Extracts, including Michael Gothard's scenes as Weber

When the Spirit Moves You
Extracts, including Michael Gothard's scenes as Perrin
Part 1
Part 2

Games People Play
Extracts, including Michael Gothard's scenes as Ivan

The Last Valley
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6
Part 7
Part 8
Part 9
Part 10

Arthur of the Britons
Season 1
Episode 1: Arthur is Dead
Episode 2: The Gift of Life
Episode 3: The Challenge
Episode 4: The Penitent Invader
Episode 5: People of the Plough
Episode 6: The Duel
Episode 7: The Pupil
Episode 8: Rolf the Preacher

The Professionals: Stopover
Extracts, including Michael Gothard’s scenes as Kodai

Shoestring: The Mayfly Dance
Extract, including Michael Gothard’s scenes as Harry

Minder: From Fulham, With Love
Extracts, including Michael Gothard's scenes as Sergei

Going Undercover/Yellow Pages
Uncut film

Capital City: Twelve Degrees Capricorn
Extracts, including Michael Gothard's scenes as Stefan

Destroying Angel/Sleep Well My Love
Extracts, including Michael Gothard’s scenes as Ennio Volpe

Christopher Columbus
Extracts, including Michael Gothard’s scenes as the Inquisitor’s Spy

Please add anything you know, links to reviews, photos or personal memories in a comment, and let me know whether and how you wish to be credited.

Many thanks.

On 6 October 2016, the 50th Anniversary of the first broadcast of “The Machine Stops”, reviewer Martin Ruddock published a review on the “We Are Cult” website: “Saviour machine: ‘Out Of The Unknown – The Machine Stops’ revisited.”

He described it as, “one of the most peculiar pieces of television ever to go out under the BBC’s banner … a bleak, alienated look at how technology can dehumanise society and render it feeble.”

“It … opened the second series of the prestigious science-fiction anthology show ‘Out Of The Unknown’ … curated by trailblazing BBC Drama Producer Irene Shubik … Feeling confident, Shubik decided to kick off with an adaptation of the defiantly uncommercial The Machine Stops, and … managed to secure the services of respected drama director Philip Savile … and it went before cameras in August 1966.

The Machine Stops is basically the story of a mother and son, living many miles apart, and separated in more ways than one. The people of this world live in the heart of the Machine, a man-made underground, omnipotent, sentient device beneath the surface of the Earth. Mankind is no longer able to live on the surface, and has become completely dependent on the Machine …

... The mother, Vashti is an intellectual who spends her days giving lectures and having ‘ideas’ in her cell. Vashti hates travel, and the fresh air repulses her. Her son, Kuno (Michael Gothard) is another story altogether. He’s as restless as Vashti is content in the heart of the machine, and is a classic long-haired unruly angry young man. He wants out, so he puts in an application to become a Father (rejected, as he’s developing too much muscle tone), and wants to visit the surface. Telling Vashti of his intentions, he finds a hole in the machine and travels to the surface, much to Vashti’s disdain. After making his way, exhausted, to the outside world, he not only finds it habitable, but sees a young girl living wild on the surface, proving that he’s been living a lie. It’s a brief escape, as the tentacles of the machine emerge from the ground to capture him and return him to his cell, where he’s threatened with homelessness.

He persuades a grudging Vashti to physically visit him, and also shares a thought of his own. 'The Machine Stops', which she dismisses. Before long, Kuno’s prophecy comes true, as the Machine begins to break down around them. Reunited eventually with Vashti in the corridors of the Machine as humanity panics and screams, he’s left mortally wounded and lies dying in her arms as she admits that mankind has made a mistake allowing the Machine to take over their lives.

Yvonne Mitchell plays Vashti as lofty and aloof but also with a fair amount of vulnerability. It’s a brilliant performance, and Mitchell’s striking, expressive features are used to great effect in close-up, with her hair plastered down under a bald cap. At one point, director Saville sums up the void between mother and son with an arresting shot superimposing Kuno’s climb to freedom over Vashti’s face, his ladder leading straight to her eye.

Gothard meanwhile, puts in a strong, very physical performance straight out of the late 60s angry David Hemmings school of acting, especially in the early scenes where he attempts independent movement, and later, when he’s captured by the Machine on the surface. His long hair paints him not-so-subtly as an anti-establishment rebel, railing against quite literally being put in a box, and being 1966, there are no happy endings. Films and TV plays of this era are often brutal and unforgiving, particularly when there’s a sci-fi angle … Of course The Machine Stops is an adaptation of Forster’s own unhappy prose ending, but it fits with the twitchy vibe of the time ...

It may have been over fifty years old when broadcast, but The Machine Stops resonated at the time as an allegory for the relentless rise of technology and social change in Harold Wilson’s ‘White Heat’ England. It was well-received at the time, going on to win an award at the Trieste Science Fiction festival in July 1967. Viewed today, it’s a reminder of a time that the BBC was prepared to take genuine risks with drama, throwing the usual ‘relatable’ period or kitchen sink drama in the bin in favour of something visually and tonally unique.

‘Out Of The Unknown’ … proved highly influential, as the first high-profile sci-fi anthology series its DNA can be found in everything from ‘Tales of the Unexpected’ to Charlie Brooker’s ‘Black Mirror’. The Machine Stops is one of the few surviving episodes from OOTU series two, and it still packs a punch through its angular oddness and strong message. It’s dated, and the performances a bit mannered, but it still has something to say in 2016, especially when you consider the amount of screen time we clock on a daily basis on our many devices. Wherever you stand on the debate for the merits for and against our plugged-in society, there’s one fact that’s undeniable. The Machine Stops’ stylised, groovy, very 1966 vision of the future is one of the most cult things ever shown on mainstream TV."

"The Machine Stops" appeared on a BFI DVD release featuring all extant episodes of "Out of the Unknown."

This was reviewed by Gary Couzens on "The Digital Fix."

"The season began with what is possibly the most celebrated of all Out of the Unknown episodes, and the one from the most prestigious – and oldest - source. Uniquely (among the surviving episodes at least) its lead actor, Yvonne Mitchell, gets a "starring" credit at the start. Edward Morgan Forster (1879-1970) was a distinguished writer of the first quarter of the twentieth century … best known as a novelist … However, he also wrote short fiction, some of them verging on fantasy, and the novella "The Machine Stops" (first published in 1909) being definitely science fiction. It was written as a reaction to what Forster saw as H.G. Wells's undue optimism about technological progress. We're in a world where humanity lives underground, the Earth's surface being apparently no longer habitable. The Machine, what would now be called a supercomputer, rules everyone's lives. However, rebellion is afoot … Forster thought the production "magnificent" and wrote to the writers to tell them so. Philip Saville's direction and Norman James's design are also excellent."

The full review appears no longer to be extant online.

This is an account of the visit to Woodchester National Trust Park, where the early episodes of “Arthur of the Britons” were filmed in Summer 1972.

The event was organised by a fan of Oliver Tobias, Wendy Van Der Veen and this visit took place on Sunday 29 August. It was attended by Oliver Tobias, his brother Benedict Freitag, and a small group of fans of “Arthur of the Britons.”

We wanted to see where Arthur’s village had been sited, and to dedicate a tree to the late Michael Gothard, who starred as Kai in the series, alongside Oliver.
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The BFI brought out three films in which Michael Gothard had major roles, “Herostratus”, “The Devils” and “La Valleé.” The booklets that accompany “Herostratus” (released 24/08/2009) and “La Valleé” (released 08/06/2009) include sections about him, which - apart from some material in the “La Valleé” booklet which specifically relates to his role in that film - are basically the same.

These notes show a disappointing reliance on online sources, one of whom – Curtis Harrington – actively disliked Michael Gothard. A quotation from Harrington is even used to provide the title: “An interesting type.”

At best, this phrase, culled from a highly personal attack that Harrington launched on Gothard some years after his death, damns a very talented and unique actor – not a ‘type’ – with faint praise, and tends to discourage the reader from looking more closely at his work.

It is tempting to think that the reason this quotation was used, was that it was easy to find. It’s true that there was not much information about Michael Gothard available at the time the booklet on “Herostratus” was written, but a little research in a library reveals that John Glen, the Director of “For Your Eyes Only”, described him as “a captivating actor”¹, and that Louis M. Heyward, the Executive Producer of “Scream and Scream Again” said: "I felt that Michael Gothard was going to be the biggest thing that ever happened. He had that insane look and that drive, and he was wonderful … He had a lot of class and a lot of style.”²

Either of these quotations could have more aptly supplied a title for Michael Gothard's mini-biography. Instead, Harrington’s quotation sets the tone for an article which is not only negative, but misleading.

Firstly, the statement that, “Michael Gothard’s choice of television and film roles illustrated the dark side of the 1960s and 70s” warrants scrutiny. The word “choice” assumes that at the start of his career, Michael had the pick of television and film roles - which seems unlikely – rather than having to take what was offered.

Secondly, even if he did, indeed, choose the roles he took on between 1967 and 1979, from among many, it cannot be said that all or even most of them illustrated the "darker side" of those times. An argument could be made for his roles in “Herostratus”, “Up the Junction”, “More” (and it is not certain whether he appears in this, or whether it is someone who resembled him), “The Storyteller”, “The Excavation”, “La Vallée”, “Nine Bean Rows”, “Games People Play”, “Run for Your Money”, and “Stopover”, but even some of those are debatable, and not all of them are extant.

As for the rest: “The Machine Stops” is set in the future; “The Further Adventures of the Musketeers”, “Michael Kohlhaas”, “The Last Valley”, “The Devils”, “Arthur of the Britons”, “The Three and Four Musketeers”, and “Warrior Queen” are all set in the past. “Les Fleurs du Mal” is an escapist spy/crime drama, “Scream and Scream Again”, a horror/science fiction, “When the Spirit Moves You”, a supernatural comedy, “Whoever Slew Auntie Roo?” a thriller, and “Warlords of Atlantis” a fantasy adventure. It is hard to see how his role in any of these could illustrate the darker side of the 1960s and 70s.

The notes go on to describe Michael as having a “deep, hard voice.” In his work that post-dates “Up the Junction”, his voice was deep, but “hard” is not how most people would describe it. David Wickes, who directed him in “Jack the Ripper” and “Frankenstein”, spoke of “his soft, husky voice” which “was electrifying … he knew how to use it to maximum effect.”

The notes go further into the realms of fantasy when they state that Gothard was “usually cast in historical actioners, European arthouse or mind-bending genre movies, more often than not torn apart or committing the ‘elemental crime’ of suicide.”

It’s true that he was often cast in historical pieces: a total of twelve productions. Under the heading “European Arthouse” there seem to be only three films, “Herostratus”, “La Valleé”, and a non-speaking appearance in “More.” Mind-bending genre movies? Again, perhaps “Herostratus” is one of those, along with “Scream and Scream Again”, and “Lifeforce.”

However, this only constitutes seventeen productions: less than half of Michael Gothard’s forty-two roles. This doesn’t fulfill the description, “usually cast.”

But it is the final assertion in the sentence – that his characters are “more often than not torn apart or committing the ‘elemental crime’ of suicide’” – which is the most damaging, and the most lacking in substance. It is complete fabrication.

Even if one assumes that by “torn apart”, the writer means “conflicted”, rather than literally “torn apart” (which never happens), this statement has no basis in fact. Most of Michael’s characters show no sign of being conflicted, and certainly not to the extent of being “torn apart.” Many of them – Kuno, Mordaunt, John, Weber, Hansen, Father Barré, Albie, Volthan, Gaspard, Locque, Terry Marvin, Karl Portillo, Strett, Stefan, Xaros – are unusually single-minded.

Of his 42 known film and TV roles, only six of them, Max (“Herostratus”), Ivan (“Games People Play”), Olivier (“La Valleé”), Kai (“Arthur of the Britons”), Felton (The “Musketeers” films) Athelstane (“Ivanhoe”) and Sergei (“From Fulham With Love”) suffer significant internal conflict. Only in Max and Olivier is it a basic character trait, rather than something arising from circumstances, and Olivier’s conflict is not a bad thing, but the result of intellectual curiosity, and a refreshing capacity to step back from his sociological context.

As for the ‘elemental crime’ of suicide’: in “Herostratus”, Michael’s character, Max, intends to commit suicide, but changes his mind, then accidentally kills someone else. In “Scream and Scream Again”, as the artificially-created vampire, Keith, he jumps into a bath of acid to avoid capture, presumably because he has been programmed to do so, rather than from an actual desire to kill himself.

There is no other instance in his entire known canon of film and TV work, of a character Michael Gothard played, committing suicide.

Even if, being charitable, we count all six of the conflicted characters, and add in Keith the vampire as a suicide, this makes a total of seven roles out of forty-two: one sixth does not constitute “more often than not.”

It is difficult to avoid the conclusion that the writer made these claims in a misguided attempt to make things seem neat and tidy - by telling the rather tired story of an actor and his roles becoming one and the same thing - rather than making the effort to find out the truth.

Another less important inaccuracy, is the claim that Michael Gothard appeared in “Vampyre.” He did not. It was intended that he should appear, but the project fell through, and was eventually resurrected without him.

Towards the end of the article, the writer describes Michael Gothard “momentarily acting opposite Marlon Brando” as if that were his finest hour, when it was more like Brando’s worst. In fact, Gothard was brought in as a possible replacement for Brando, whom John Glen thought unreliable, and in the end, Brando got terrible notices for the film.

Finally, the article says of Michael Gothard: “Overpowered by depression, he hanged himself at home in Hampstead, aged 53 and alone.”

We know that Michael Gothard had suffered from depression for most of his life, on and off, but his suicide was unexpected. Some friends suspect that prescription medication may have precipitated his suicide, but the truth of what was going on in his mind will probably never be known, so to claim, as fact, that he was “overpowered by depression” is pure speculation.

Naturally he was “alone” at the time when he killed himself – few people take their own lives in company. But the tacit implication of “aged 53 and alone” is that he was “alone” in his life, and this is completely wrong.

A lifelong musician, he often met up with fellow musicians for jamming sessions. He dated many beautiful women, and was an avid letter-writer, keeping in touch with old friends and girlfriends. While he seems – as far as the creators of this archive have been able to discover – to have had no contact with his father, and little with his mother, he did have close friends whom he regarded as family.

The writer of the notes in the BFI booklet could not have known all this at the time they wrote the article, so - presumably because Michael Gothard’s social life was not plastered all over the tabloids every day - they have made the mistake of interpreting his whole life in the light of his final act, and suggesting that he was living a solitary and miserable existence. This is both misleading, and insulting to him and to his friends. It would have been better to be honest, and simply say, “Little is known of his private life”, but that wouldn’t have fitted in with story the writer wanted to tell.

~~

¹ "For My Eyes Only: My Life with James Bond”, by John Glen. (2001)
² Interview with Louis M. Heyward by Gary A. Smith, in “Uneasy Dreams: The Golden Age of British Horror Films, 1956-1976.” (2006)

This obituary by Harris Lentz appeared in the February edition (no. 224) of Classic Images - more than a year after Michael Gothard's death. Mr Lentz appears to have been under the impression that Michael was fifty years old, when in fact he was 53.

Michael Gothard, 50 – February 2, 1993

British character actor Michael Gothard committed suicide by hanging at his Home in England. He began his film career in British films in the 1960s, appearing in ‘Herostratus’ (1968) and ‘Up the Junction’ (1968). He played a series of eccentric characters in British horror films during the 1970s including ‘Scream and Scream Again’ (1970), Ken Russell’s ‘The Devils’ (1971), ‘Whoever Slew Auntie Roo?’ (1971) and ‘Warlords of Atlantis’ (1978).

He was also featured in the 1974 version of ‘The Three Musketeers,’ and the 1981 James Bond film, ‘For Your Eyes Only.’ Gothard’s other credits include 1985’s ‘Lifeforce,’ and [he] appeared in the telefilms ‘Jack the Ripper’ (1988), ‘Out of Time’ (1989) and 1993’s ‘Frankenstein,’ with Randy Quaid and Patrick Bergen.

He was also seen regularly on British television in episodes of such series as ‘Out of the Unknown’; ‘Department S’; ‘My Partner the Ghost’; ‘Arthur of the Britons’ and ‘Hammer House of Mystery and Suspense.’

This obituary was published on 18 February, 1993, on page 29 of 'The Stage and Television Today.'

"Michael Gothard, who died aged 53 on December 2, was an actor of great strength and individuality.

He played many major roles, but will be best remembered for many television and film appearances.

On television, he played second lead in Arthur of the Britons and Jack the Ripper. In film he was the Prosecutor in Ken Russell’s The Devils and the villain in For Your Eyes Only.

He had recently finished working in Frankenstein for director David Wickes."

A party of seamen from a ship trapped in the Arctic ice witnesses a furious chase – two men on sleds drawn by
teams of huskies, the one in pursuit of the other. They wonder how the men got here, because the nearest
town, Arkangel, is 1000 miles away.



Apparently both man are intent on killing each other. The one being pursued loses control of his sled, and the
Captain (Roger Bizley) orders his crew to fire on the pursuer.



The Bosun (Michael Gothard) and the others scare him off, then go to see whether his intended victim is still alive.
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The Bosun’s last words to his crew - and Michael Gothard's last words on film - are, “Come on, Lads! Look
lively! We’re going home!”