Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Let Us Now Praise Famous Men

Mourning the loss of Victor Spinetti, whose comic turn in Beatles' movies still cracks me up.

The good-natured Mr. Spinetti embraced his role as an eyewitness to Beatles history, appearing at fan conventions around the world in later years to tell stories about making the films and about his friendship with John Lennon.
His most often-told tale was about how the Beatles had drafted him for their first film project. They were popular in Britain but still months away from their first trip to the United States and their debut on “The Ed Sullivan Show.” Mr. Spinetti, a British television veteran by then and fresh from a starring role in a hit British movie, “The Wild Affair,”was appearing in the London musical satire “Oh What a Lovely War” when Mr. Lennon and George Harrison visited him one night backstage.
“Victor, you’ve got to be in our film,” Mr. Harrison said, by Mr. Spinetti’s account. “You’ve got to be in all our films.”
“Why?” Mr. Spinetti replied.
“Because if you’re not in them, me mum won’t come and see them,” Mr. Harrison replied. “She fancies you.”
Indeed.


UPDATE (from Simels, so don't blame Mary for this): Spinetti's funniest non-Beatles related performance.

4 comments:

The Phantom Creep said...

"It's the brain drain. They're draining his brain."

RIP, Victor. You were a very funny man.

FD13NYC said...

Yes, I second that. Very funny man and a sad loss. But once again, through coincidence and luck, if it weren't for the Beatles, we probably would have never heard of him.

Anonymous said...

"MIT wanted me to rule the world for them."

RIP

Brooklyn Girl said...

Sad.

"British, you see. Useless."