michael_gothard_archive: (circa 1982)
OMiT OMiT (10)

Karl Portillo (Michael Gothard) is not happy with one of his associates, Werner Mueller (Jonathan Coy).
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michael_gothard_archive: (circa 1982)
“Scarecrow and Mrs. King, which ran on CBS from 1983 to 1987 may well be the only bona fide hit spy show of the entire decade, making it a fairly important entry in the canon of spy TV. It’s taken a long time to appear on DVD, sought after by nostalgic fans and by curious viewers like me, who missed it in its day …it’s a lot of fun!”

full article at Double O section

Filming

The series often used unusual locations. Episode seven of series 2, “Our Man in Tegernsee”, is set in Munich, and in Tegernsee, a small ski and spa resort town near Munich, on the Germany/Austria border. Tegernsee is one of several small towns on the shore of Lake Tegernsee, amid the Bavarian Alps.

According to Michael’s former girlfriend, N.B., who accompanied him, this episode must have been filmed in late spring or early summer 1984, as it was quite soon after they first met.

Michael’s role

Michael Gothard once again plays a villain: a neo-Nazi from Paraguay, Karl Portillo.

Having found some old counterfeiting plates, Portillo intends to go through with an old Nazi plot to undermine the US currency, by flooding the market with fake US dollars. His neo-Nazi friends in Paraguay are hoping to come to power as a result of his activities.

But Mueller, who originally led him to the plates, has been spending some of the counterfeit money before the time is right, and drawn the attention of the German authorities, as well as that of American agent, Scarecrow, whose partner, Mrs King, was passed some of the counterfeit notes.

Another of Portillo’s associates, US agent, Harry Hollinger, kills Mueller for his incompetence, but says he needs Portillo’s help to get rid of Scarecrow.

They lure Scarecrow to an isolated sawmill, intending to kill him. But Scarecrow has brought back-up in the form of local police Lt. Volkenauer, and Portillo is out-gunned, and gives himself up.

He tries to persuade Volkenhauer that they are both on the same side, because they are both German, but Volkenhauer says he has enjoyed foiling Portillo’s plot, and arresting him.

Lt. Volkenauer was played by Stuart Wilson, who had recently appeared with Michael in “Ivanhoe”, in which he played the Norman lord Maurice de Bracy, and Michael played Athelstane.

Trivia from IMDB

In Germany, this episode has not been aired on TV due to its plot around the Nazis and their WW2 treasure. It only has been made available with the German 2011 DVD edition of season 2, still with German subtitles only instead of the usual German audio synchronization.

Series background

“A housewife, Mrs. King, is handed a package by a secret agent, Lee Stetson, who is being pursued by bad guys. Mrs. King gets a job working for Mr. Stetson's agency, doing secretarial work, as needed, but ends up working with him on his cases. She is not really accepted by agent Francine Desmond, because she has no training and has a self-deprecating, ditsy style, which adds to the humor in the show. She is accepted by the other agents.”

full article at TV.com

Watch on Youtube

NB. Michael appears in parts 2 and 4.

part 1
part 2
part 3
part 4
part 5

IMDB entry
michael_gothard_archive: (circa 1982)
N.B., a former girlfriend of Michael’s, was kind enough to talk to me, and answer some questions. Here is what she told me:

"I was amazed at hearing about your project. I am sure Michael would have been even more surprised to find people still honouring his work as an actor some twenty years later. He wouldn't feel he was worth the trouble."

Getting to know Michael

"I got to know Michael on a crisp spring Sunday morning in 1984 in the “Brasserie Dome”1 in Hampstead. He sat there having his cappuccino and reading the Sunday paper. I was having breakfast with a friend of mine. I was living in London as an au-pair, and so was my friend; we cherished our fee day away from the family where we lived and worked.

My friend knew Michael, because he had taken her out for dinner some weeks previously and she said hello to him across the tables. She pointed out who he was and I immediately recognised him thanks to his glasses. They were the ones he wore in the Bond film “For Your Eyes Only.”
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