Victor Spinetti
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Victor Spinetti (born 2 September 1933 in Abergavenny, Monmouthshire, Wales) is a renowned Welsh comic actor. He was born of Welsh and Italian heritage (his grandfather walked from Italy to Wales), and educated at Monmouth School, and Welsh College of Music and Drama, of which he is now a fellow.
He sprang to international prominence in three Beatles' films in the 1960s, A Hard Day's Night, Help! and Magical Mystery Tour. He also appeared on one of The Beatles' Christmas recordings. The best explanation for this long-running collaboration and friendship might have been provided by George Harrison, who said, "You've got to be in all our films ... if you're not in them me Mum won't come and see them—because she fancies you." But Harrison would also say, "You've got a lovely karma, Vic." Sir Paul McCartney described Spinetti as "the man who makes clouds disappear". Spinetti has appeared in more than 30 films, including Zeffirelli's The Taming of the Shrew, Under Milk Wood with Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, Becket, Voyage of the Damned, The Return of the Pink Panther, Under the Cherry Moon and The Krays.
Spinetti's work in Joan Littlewood's Theatre Workshop produced many memorable performances including Fings Ain't Wot They Used T'Be (1959, by Frank Norman, with music by Lionel Bart), and Oh! What a Lovely War (1963), which transferred to New York and for which he won a Tony Award for his main role as an obnoxious Drill Sergeant. He has appeared in the West End including Expresso Bongo, Candide, Cat Among the Pigeons, Felix in The Odd Couple, Windy City, his critically acclaimed one man show, A Very Private Diary, and recently in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. He has also appeared on Broadway in The Hostage and The Philanthropist.
He has also acted with the Royal Shakespeare Company, in such roles as Lord Foppington in The Relapse and the Archbishop in Richard III.
Spinetti co-authored In His Own Write, the play with John Lennon which he also directed at the National Theatre, premiering on 18th June 1968, at the Old Vic. Spinetti and Lennon appeared together in June 1968 on BBC2's Release. During the interview, Spinetti said of the play, "it’s not really John’s childhood, it’s all of ours really, isn’t it John?" John Lennon, assuming a camp voice answered "It is, we’re all one Victor, we’re all one aren‘t we. I mean ‘what’s going on?'." Spinetti said the play "is about the growing up of any of us; the things that helped us to be more aware."
He also directed Jesus Christ Superstar, and Hair. His many television appearances on British TV, include Take My Wife in which he played a London-based booking agent and schemer who was forever promising his comedian client that fame was just around the corner, and the sitcom An Actor's Life For Me. He hosted Victor's Party for Granada. Spinetti's poetry, notably Watchers Along the Mall, 1963, and prose, have appeared in various publications. His memoir, Victor Spinetti Up Front...: His Strictly Confidential Autobiography, published in September 2006, is filled with anecdotes of an astonishing life, including notoriously of Princess Margaret. A legendary raconteur and mimic, he says that Jane Fonda once asked him, "Victor, you play comedy and you play tragedy — how do you do both?" He replied, "Well, you have to listen." She said, "Pardon me?" His younger brother, Henry, is a noted drummer.
