Harry "Aitch" Fielder

As long as you show those famous pic, why not ?

A couple of weeks ago I bumped into my old boss (Darth Vader) and had a pot of tea at Elstree studios.



Aitch,

A pot of tea, Aitch ? Getting old ? I'm kidding ! Send our regards to Darth Vader; like you, he played a fantastic role in a marvellous movie !

Forgot to write you both look wonderful !

Harry Fielder Interview

Cassandra Bell
July 28, 2005

I recently interviewed Harry Fielder.

Bell: How did you get your start in the movie industry?

Fielder: It all started for me in 1958 when I bought a second hand guitar and played my first gig in a local pub. Me and a friend learned six songs and went out to play Rock 'n Roll. We soon updated to electric guitars and played some good music for the next eight years. One night after the gig a guy ask me if I wanted to do a couple of days on a tv series as an extra. That two days turned into 32 years. (see web site)

Bell: What were some of the movies in which you starred?

Fielder: I never got to star in any movies because I was a bit player and that suited me fine. Every movie or TV show has bit players that come in and out of scenes (I'm the man that knocks on the lead actor's door and says "I've come to fix the roof") but that way I could work on a new show everyday.

Bell: Who are some of the actors/actresses that you have become acquainted with, over the years? Any stories about that to share with us?

Fielder: I have met many top actors and you are friends for a day or two whilst working with them. When I look back and think of the actors I've worked with it's like a who's who of the best of acting talent. If I start to name names I could fill this page up. But if folks read my full story they will find people like James Cagney, Robert Mitchum, Tony Curtis, Rod Stieger..John Wayne.. and all in the confines of the UK.

Bell: What were some of the most challenging roles for you in the movies and why?

Fielder: Never really had a challenging role. Just got on with the job in hand..Go on set, say the words and don't fall over the furniture. I did fall a couple of times but two in 800 is ok.

Bell: What were some of your favorite movie roles to play and why?

Fielder: In 1982 an agent sent me down to a tv studio to do one day's work as a security guard extra. One day's work that turned into three years as a co-presenter on a live kids show. The kids called me ''Dopey Harry'' but I wasn't that dopey. I stayed for three years.

Bell: What were some of your most memorable moments? Any bloopers or behind the scenes stories to share with us?

Fielder: Working with Alfred Hitchcock on the film "Frenzy" was the most memorable moment. He was my all time hero and those memories are still with me.

AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON…Director John Landis…

Central Casting must have sent 200-300 people down to Piccadilly for a night shoot on this production. None of us knew anything about the scenes we were going to be involved in so we just hung around coffee bars (Or other bars) chatting and having a night out in The West End.

About 1 o'clock in the morning the production team gathered us all together and told us the scenes they were about to do. (You ain’t gonna believe this). A WEREWOLF is going to be running out of a cinema in Piccadilly Circus straight across Eros causing cars to crash and have people falling out of bus windows. (I’m thinking this will do the tourist trade the world of good) On a cue from the 1st A.D. the real police clear the roads of all late night Joe Public.

The Central Casting crowd are all given places to stand and out of the woodwork comes our buses and cars and stunt people. We’ve got permission to hold up traffic for half an hour and John Landis had multi camera crews covering every angle. It was over as quickly as it began and as soon as the camera’s stopped rolling the wrecking crews were in there clearing the wrecked cars and sweeping the streets clean again. An hour later it was like we’d never been. (See the film just to see this sequence) Well done, John Landis…

RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK-Director Steven Spielberg…Elstree Studios…

Cast: Harrison Ford, Karen Allen

A great joy to watch Mr Spielberg at work.. The whole sequence was set out on storyboards. A master of his craft…

There’s about twenty of the chaps. And it’s near the end of the film where the bad guys find The Ark and all us bad guys are going to get our just desserts. When The Ark is opened strange things start to happen and strong winds and sand are blown all over the set. Steven tells us to react to strange ghost like creatures coming out of the Ark. He’d point at us and shout above the noise of the wind, ‘’It’s coming for you now react, now it’s got you round the face, react to it.’’ George Lucas was standing next to Steven at times and seemed to be enjoying the action.

Harrison and Karen were tied to a stake at the time so I couldn’t get any help from that quarter…

Of course all the special effects are put onto screen months later as is most films these days…

I read Steven Spielberg’s life story and he didn’t always have it easy. And the last word on this tale must go to Harrison Ford’s stand/in… Jack (Chalky) Dearlove, who is still working for him.

BATMAN- Director Tim Burton…

Cast: Jack Nicholson, Tim Burton, Kim Basinger

A couple of nights on this as a Supporting Artist and, although it was cold, what makes me remember this film is Jack Nicholson leaning over a high balcony and saying to some of the boys "Just look at it this way guys, another day another $100,000s (I think we were on £50 a night).

FIRST KNIGHT- Director Jerry Zucker…Pinewood Studios…

Cast: Sean Connery, Richard Gere, Julia Ormond, Ben Cross.

I make my way to a place called Ivinghoe Beacon which sits on top of a big hill..(It looks more like a small mountain than a hill to us ex city old boys)They’ve built a village on the top of the hill and me and another fifty Supporting Artists are to be simple villagers.

It seems the bad guy (Ben Cross) is going to send his men in to pillage our village. The scenes go like this..All the villagers are scared when they see twenty men dressed in black (Bad guys) riding down the hill towards them. All of a sudden the horses stop at the entrance to the village and one of the cast members shouts to us, ‘’Why have they stopped?’’My old mate (now deceased) Bill (hat and coat) shouts back ‘’’cause they haven’t had their Weetabix’’

This didn’t go down too well with the director but he carried on. As the horses come charging in we all have to flee in all directions and try to hide. The 1st A.D. Chris wants to give me a bit of business to do. ‘’Aitch, as the horses come charging past I want you to run across the path and take refuge in that barn. There should be six horses coming past you and you run across after the last one’’.

Six horses and run.. I take my glasses off (I can’t see a thing without them) and I start to count the horses as they fly by.‘’Four, five, six and run… BANG I’m up in the air, someone sent seven horses past. Myself and the horse didn’t get hurt; it was just another day at the office..

MISSION IMPOSSIBLE- Director: Brian De Palma.

Cast: Tom Cruise, Jon Voight

A night shoot at Liverpool Street Train Station in London.

They want to use my car (Orion) in the first shot and have a London bus give it a near miss.. After about six takes and the bus getting nearer with every take the director gets his shot. (I’m a bit pleased with that) They had rain machines on us all night which made the driving more difficult..

Tom Cruise was very good to the onlooking crowd and every so often would go over to them and sign autographs for them. Mind you there was half a dozen big guys (Ben, The Spiv,) doing their best public liaison work.. I was speaking to Robin the caterer when Jon Voight came over and joined us. He shook hands with me and asked me how I was doing.

I said I had worked with him before on The Revolutionary many years before. He remembered the film and I didn’t remind him of the good drink we had at the end of that day.. It’s not in his memory but it will certainly stay in mine.

ENTRAPMENT-Director: Jon Amiel

Cast: Sean Connery, Catherine Zeta Jones

Filming at The Borough Market South London for a week. (A very hot week) Dressed up in winter clothes as a stall holder on the hottest days of the year..Fake snow all around us and me wearing gloves, a body warmer and scarf. This is the last film I worked on.

I would like to thank Harry Fielder for allowing me to interview him.

Aitch,

Evelyne a écrit:A pot of tea, Aitch ? Getting old ? I'm kidding ! Send our regards to Darth Vader; like you, he played a fantastic role in a marvellous movie !

Darth Vader was played by two actors, one wearing the suit (David Prowse) and the other making the voice (James Earl Jones), plus a couple or more of stuntmen.

Thanks but I knew that !

I hope this works.....
http://www.a-free-guestbook.com/guestbook.php?username=harryfielder

Aitch,

Tell me Aitch, did you work with Sidney Pollack ? I heard he died yesterday and I liked him a lot as a film director and even as an actor ( Tootsie ). So, if you ever had the chance to work for him, let me know.

Hello Evelyne, No I never got to work with him but I liked a lot of his work.
I only ever worked in the UK and I think all of his work was in the States.

Aitch,

Thanks a lot, Aitch !
Have a good evening !

He played in England for Stanley Kubrick, at Pinewood in Eyes Wide Shut.

Correct..You are not the Weakest Link, Marc ....

And now, can you tell me the name of the third extra first appearing on the left of the set in the final sequence of the original ending of StarWars ...

They say that smoking can harm you and I think this nutter behind me is going to ask for a light...

https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v422/harryfielder/HarryFielder_TwinsofEvil-1.jpg

Aitch

Nice pic', Aitch !

Is that from Twins of evil , by any chance ????

Director…John Hough…Pinewood…
Cast Inc…Madeleine and Mary Collinson…
Lenny Piper and I had a real laugh on this film. As horror movies go it was nice to see the twin girls putting a bit of spice (Sex) into it. I always say if you’re going to get smothered to death on a film it does no harm to get smothered by this pair.
(Or is that a double pair. Catch the film on video and see what you think)

Aitch,

Totally agree with that subtle analysis...
Aaaah..the Collinson Twins..Great memories ...Too bad they didn't appear in any other film indeed ( if memory serves me well, they ended - sort of - their Show biz career as official Plaboy Playmates...)


So you did meet Saint Peter himself too ???

I got to work with the great man many times,, A true Gentle Man of the biz....

https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v422/harryfielder/aitch%201/24June2003.jpg

Aitch,

Lucky you...He's one of my all time favorite actor ( and one I never managed to interview, halas...)

Let's go back to dear old Hammer , besides ' Twins ' , do you appear in any other Productions ???

The first horror I worked on was this....

QUATERMASS AND THE PIT…Director…Roy Ward Baker…MGM Studios
My first horror film.. I was to work with this director many more times.
Cast Inc…James Donald…Barbara Shelley…

All we had to do was walk around the tube station as if we were Zombies..
My wife said ''No change there then''
1967...More on my web site

www.harryfielder.co.uk

Congrats again: one of the best - if not THE best of the Hammer ' Quatermass' movies...
For my money, Andrew Keir is the perfect Prof Quatermass...

Hello, Aitch ! My husband is a real fan of Michael Caine. Did you play with him ? Is he a real gent ? He seems to be but you never know...
Did you meet :
Sir Derek Jacobi
Emma Thompson
Kenneth Brannagh ?
These last three are actors I do love.
Lots of questions, dear Aitch, hope I'm not bothering you...
Good evening !

Hi Evelyne

Two people I don't remember working with are Emma and Kenneth.
Michael was a real star and I got to work with him a few times.

Sir Derek I worked with on I Claudius (He's best work)
(You can read all my stories on my web..)
www.harryfielder.co.uk
Aitch,

Wonderful, as usual, Aitch ! I am a Derk Jacobi fan, I now know why !
Nothing more to say about Michael Caine ?
Thanks a lot anyway.

Morning all. another blast from the past....

Hello, Aitch! Just a few words to say hello ! Hope life's fine in England ! Best regards !

I'm fine and still waiting for the English summer to start.
THE LAST VALLEY…Director…James Clavell…
Cast Inc…Michael Caine…
A couple of hundred extras and stuntmen spent a week of nights filming at a Castle in Surrey.. We were going to storm it.
Stuntmen in the front lines with extras bringing up the rear.. Plenty of swordFighting, raping and pillaging. (I’m not too bad at the pillaging)
Now when I say it was cold I mean cold. You could have left sides of beef outside The fridge.
We’re all geared up and we hear that famous shout… "ACTION"
We all charge towards the castle and a few of the stuntmen are going to be thrown off of the drawbridge into the moat.. All of a sudden we hear "HOLD IT"
It’s now even colder and it comes to bear that the lake around the castle has frozen Over solid.
(Now it doesn’t take the brains of Einstien to work out that cold & water = freeze.)
I enjoyed sitting in the huge tents for the next few nights keeping warm and Drinking hot soup. I made friends with some of the guys while we whiled away the hours playing cards.. I’ll mention a couple of them. Alan (spiv) Bennett, Charlie (cut price) Price and Lenny Piper. (Lenny died quite young)
By the end of the week we had caught up with the film schedule and everyone were as happy as bunnies...

Aitch,

A great movie. Broadcast here in France 2 or 3 months ago.

Didn't hear about it ! Will look for information about the film on the Internet. Summer seems to be here at last... But I fear the return of the cold days... We are craving for a true Mediterranean summer ! I'll let you know ! Have a good night, Aitch !

Hello, Aitch ! Hope you had a good summer ! Wasn't that bad here, after all...

Was just wondering : when you shot The Persuaders, tell me, did Roger Moore and Tony Curtis got along well together ? Lots of things have been said lately ! I'd like to know if they used to fight or no !
So, any hint ?

Take care, dear Aitch !