‘Never be terrible in a terrible movie’

Tim Walker

31 May 2006

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Over the past 18 months Lee has been offered ten parts. ‘A lot of them very good scripts indeed. But when my agent phones to say I am interested, it becomes clear that it is just people trying to get enough “names” together and take them to the money men for them to give the project the thumbs up or the thumbs down. The whole thing is a lottery these days.’

Most likely we will next see Lee on the television screen in a biopic of the late Pope John Paul II, in which he plays Cardinal Wyszynski opposite Jon Voigt in the title role. It has been shown to good reviews in America but, oddly, not yet in Britain. After Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, there is also talk of another collaboration with Burton and Depp.

The Guardian once called Lee ‘the coolest actor on the planet’. But Lee admits that he did once lose his cool. The year was 1972. He was making a forgettable film called Horror Express on a shoestring budget in a studio just outside Madrid. Cushing was his co-star. ‘I went into our so-called dressing-room and said to Peter, “I can’t stand this any more.” “Oh, what is that, dear fellow?” Cushing replied.

‘Then I went into a tirade about the food they served us in their awful canteen. “I feel I am going to die of this frightful food. This ghastly studio....” A massive whinge. Peter looked at me and peeled the apple he was eating. He just said, “Well, there’s no use bellyaching about it, you know.” That was about as severe as he could be. He was the most tolerant of men and this was the only time he had said anything that brought me up short. Coming from him, it was shattering.’

Lee never ‘bellyached’ again after that. ‘Peter was absolutely right, of course, as he was about everything,’ says Lee. ‘We don’t always get the kind of work we want, but we always have a choice of whether to do it with good grace or not.’

Tim Walker edits Mandrake in the Sunday Telegraph.