WEBVTT - Michael Des Barres 0:00:08.640 --> 0:00:12.320 Welcome, Welcome, Welcome back to the Bob Left That's podcast. 0:00:12.920 --> 0:00:16.400 My guest today is Michael de Barr, who you know 0:00:16.560 --> 0:00:21.799 from television, movies, records and radio. Now he has a 0:00:21.880 --> 0:00:27.160 new documentary streamable on Amazon Prime. Who do you want 0:00:27.200 --> 0:00:29.600 me to be? Michael? Well, who do you want me 0:00:29.640 --> 0:00:31.680 to be? Boom? I want you to be your most 0:00:31.840 --> 0:00:35.280 entertaining self, which you normally are. I'm not that worried, 0:00:35.520 --> 0:00:38.480 but let's let's start. How did the documentary come into being? 0:00:38.880 --> 0:00:44.080 Because I'm fabulous and I'm doing a TV show, um, 0:00:44.120 --> 0:00:48.239 and guy called Josh Weinstein, brilliant comedian and filmmaker, and 0:00:48.280 --> 0:00:49.640 he comes up to me and he says, you know, 0:00:49.680 --> 0:00:51.519 I've been watching your stuff and I just read your 0:00:51.640 --> 0:00:53.520 X wife's book and I want to do a documentary 0:00:53.520 --> 0:00:56.680 on basically that's miss Pamela who wrote that I'm with 0:00:56.760 --> 0:01:00.120 the band. You know, it's a fabulous book. And he 0:01:00.160 --> 0:01:03.000 did that and for the next two or three years 0:01:03.040 --> 0:01:06.840 we shot amazing stuff. And the interesting thing about it 0:01:06.920 --> 0:01:09.759 was I didn't look at a frame of it until 0:01:09.800 --> 0:01:13.840 it was done, so he had that trust. Why I 0:01:13.880 --> 0:01:16.960 did that, I know, you know, you want to reduce 0:01:16.959 --> 0:01:19.400 through anxiety, but that begs my next question, which always 0:01:19.400 --> 0:01:22.120 going to ask are you happy with the finished product? 0:01:22.280 --> 0:01:26.040 I'm just absolutely so happy about it because I'm seeing 0:01:26.040 --> 0:01:29.039 people that I love, you know, saying these wonderful things, 0:01:29.040 --> 0:01:33.080 and certainly some sort of descriptive lee on cool things. 0:01:33.160 --> 0:01:35.399 But it's it's all part of the thing, you know, 0:01:35.680 --> 0:01:38.000 It's all part of this wonderful I don't want to 0:01:38.000 --> 0:01:40.160 be worshiped. I just want to be understood and seen. 0:01:40.240 --> 0:01:43.000 And you know, a guy who stayed there has been 0:01:43.040 --> 0:01:47.480 deliberate and delivered what was necessary, and I think that 0:01:47.480 --> 0:01:50.920 that's very good for people to see, you know, after 0:01:51.240 --> 0:01:55.080 fifty years of it. So what do you want people 0:01:55.120 --> 0:01:58.480 to see? What image do you want to present or 0:01:58.560 --> 0:02:01.440 what identity do you want to press present in life? 0:02:01.440 --> 0:02:03.800 Whether it comes across from the documentary or not, well, 0:02:03.840 --> 0:02:06.200 whatever it is, it has to be the truth. I 0:02:06.240 --> 0:02:08.320 mean as an actor, as a singer, or whatever, as 0:02:08.360 --> 0:02:12.240 a husband, as her father. Um, the truth is everything. 0:02:12.280 --> 0:02:14.520 If I'm not honest about it, if if I told 0:02:14.560 --> 0:02:18.600 stories like, for instance, my childhood was very traumatic, you know, 0:02:18.680 --> 0:02:23.200 and that I went to these absurd mastemetry, hypocritical aristocratic 0:02:23.280 --> 0:02:26.760 boarding schools and all the pedophilia in the world that 0:02:26.800 --> 0:02:30.480 you know about, which is a British institution. Um, you know, 0:02:30.560 --> 0:02:32.640 I went through and I wanted to tell the truth. 0:02:32.680 --> 0:02:34.880 I wanted to tell people, you know, what happened to 0:02:34.919 --> 0:02:37.919 me and how I would travis these things and change 0:02:38.000 --> 0:02:41.800 these things and transition from that this marquis into a 0:02:41.880 --> 0:02:44.960 working class hero. Because when I left those schools and 0:02:45.000 --> 0:02:48.600 went to London and went to drama school, rock and roll. 0:02:49.240 --> 0:02:52.480 Rock and roll was the aristocracy, and that you MARKI 0:02:52.560 --> 0:02:55.240 meant nothing. Mick Jagger would get a better table in 0:02:55.280 --> 0:02:58.200 the restaurant that Bill Wyman and then Prince Charles. Shall 0:02:58.280 --> 0:03:01.480 we say, you know so as I had to reinvent 0:03:01.560 --> 0:03:05.799 myself every couple of years. Okay, let's start at the end, 0:03:06.360 --> 0:03:09.320 as we're all on the downward slope in terms of 0:03:09.520 --> 0:03:14.920 past our median age. Do you feel comfortable with what 0:03:14.960 --> 0:03:18.880 you've accomplished or did you want more? And is there 0:03:19.000 --> 0:03:21.440 something you do or do not want to do in 0:03:21.520 --> 0:03:23.760 the remaining time you left, whether it be thirty years 0:03:23.840 --> 0:03:29.040 or thirty minutes. Fantastic question. Um A, I have no regrets, 0:03:29.520 --> 0:03:33.000 be I have no dreams that I haven't dreamt, and 0:03:33.080 --> 0:03:36.800 see there are no nightmares anymore in my life. I've 0:03:36.840 --> 0:03:41.160 achieved something in myself that is important, and it doesn't 0:03:41.800 --> 0:03:45.800 you know, it's not number ones, and it's not smash movies, 0:03:45.880 --> 0:03:49.480 and it's not a series that runs forever. It's not Emmys. 0:03:49.520 --> 0:03:51.600 All of these things mean nothing to me. The only 0:03:51.640 --> 0:03:55.200 thing that means anything to me at all is enjoying myself, 0:03:55.240 --> 0:03:58.440 expressing myself in any way that I can. I'm seventy two, 0:03:58.800 --> 0:04:02.360 I have a twenty nine each way fast. Well, you 0:04:02.520 --> 0:04:05.880 certainly are trim. I know that from interacting with you live. 0:04:06.720 --> 0:04:09.760 But the fact that you are let's you know, it's 0:04:09.800 --> 0:04:12.840 a bogus institution, but as a pinnacle. The fact that 0:04:12.880 --> 0:04:14.680 you're not in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame 0:04:14.720 --> 0:04:17.240 does that bother you none? In the Scientist, I don't 0:04:17.240 --> 0:04:19.400 believe it unless the m C five gets into the 0:04:19.480 --> 0:04:21.320 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame down and be piste off. 0:04:22.279 --> 0:04:24.640 How did you develop? Which comes through at the end 0:04:24.640 --> 0:04:31.240 of the documentary, this perspective that nothing really matters. Not 0:04:31.320 --> 0:04:34.960 really a nihilist, but saying, don't get hung up in legacy, 0:04:35.080 --> 0:04:37.839 don't get hung up and what it means, just move forward, 0:04:38.080 --> 0:04:41.240 Try to enjoy yourself, certainly within a moral framework. How 0:04:41.279 --> 0:04:44.839 did that come about? Well, I realized that ambition was toxic. 0:04:46.040 --> 0:04:49.520 So therefore trying to you know, reach scale heights that 0:04:49.560 --> 0:04:54.200 don't exist is a fucking stupid endeavor. That's why. Okay, 0:04:54.240 --> 0:04:56.239 but you're someone who certainly had peaks in your career, 0:04:56.279 --> 0:04:59.120 even starting uh with to serve with love when you 0:04:59.120 --> 0:05:04.280 were not even twenty years old. But how do you 0:05:05.360 --> 0:05:07.880 make a living and certainly an entertainment where it's hard 0:05:07.960 --> 0:05:12.400 you sustained over decades without having ambition? Well, it's not ambition. 0:05:13.000 --> 0:05:16.320 The word itself is useless. It's this sort of desire 0:05:16.400 --> 0:05:19.479 to go further. Well, it's not that corny to me. 0:05:19.800 --> 0:05:21.880 All I ever did was what was in front of me, 0:05:21.920 --> 0:05:23.560 and I did it well, and I did it again. 0:05:23.960 --> 0:05:27.040 If you go, if you complexify that concept of a 0:05:27.120 --> 0:05:30.600 trajectory of your career, then you are going to fool yourself. 0:05:31.320 --> 0:05:34.200 You know, I believe in the moment, great artists can 0:05:34.240 --> 0:05:37.440 only deliver the goods in the moment. You can't calculate 0:05:37.480 --> 0:05:41.039 what you're gonna do when the guy says action or 0:05:41.080 --> 0:05:44.320 the producer said sing. You know, I would just free 0:05:44.360 --> 0:05:49.159 myself of it and somehow a it's a it's a 0:05:49.200 --> 0:05:53.880 metaphysical thing. It's a feeling of confidence that's very different 0:05:53.920 --> 0:05:56.560 from ambition. Okay, but one thing we know about you, 0:05:56.560 --> 0:05:59.120 You've you've really hung in there. Most people had a 0:05:59.120 --> 0:06:02.680 window in their on and so I always analyze this 0:06:02.760 --> 0:06:05.760 with people, what do we know? They're very talented people 0:06:05.760 --> 0:06:09.560 who never made it. So at most fifty percent is talent. 0:06:10.120 --> 0:06:13.279 The other fifty percent is amalgamation of a number of things. 0:06:13.480 --> 0:06:17.479 Hooking yourself up with the right people, but being able 0:06:17.520 --> 0:06:20.240 to connect with people such they like you. You're a 0:06:20.400 --> 0:06:25.080 very endearing, likable guy. Whatever the image of the rockery 0:06:25.160 --> 0:06:28.320 is it someone to meet you personally? Is that something 0:06:28.400 --> 0:06:32.080 you're conscious of? Is that something you wanted to achieve? 0:06:32.720 --> 0:06:36.360 Do you understand that it's paid dividends? That is just 0:06:36.600 --> 0:06:41.240 such a great question. I've been asked so many dems questions. Listen, um, 0:06:41.360 --> 0:06:47.280 my currency is my charm? And was that inborn? Or 0:06:47.320 --> 0:06:50.200 how did you develop your charm? I didn't develop it. 0:06:50.320 --> 0:06:52.720 I was born with it. I never thought about it. 0:06:52.800 --> 0:06:57.200 I just realized that to make people feel at ease, right, 0:06:57.400 --> 0:07:01.880 and amused and maybe entertained and maybe if you know, desired. 0:07:02.800 --> 0:07:05.560 I realized that that was the key to go further, 0:07:06.040 --> 0:07:11.440 I mean I've I've I've spiritually hoard myself all these 0:07:11.520 --> 0:07:15.560 years in a sense, you know, it's been a calculated 0:07:16.240 --> 0:07:20.840 uh seduction and I am a seducer and uh and 0:07:20.960 --> 0:07:24.840 I made it okay. I didn't make it like it 0:07:24.880 --> 0:07:27.880 was sort of demonic, vampireing vibe. It was something that 0:07:27.960 --> 0:07:31.440 I wanted to make people feel at home because I 0:07:31.520 --> 0:07:34.400 never had one. My father was in jail and my 0:07:34.440 --> 0:07:38.480 mother was in the looney bin. So any you know, situation, 0:07:38.480 --> 0:07:41.840 I found myself and I had to create a calmness, 0:07:42.120 --> 0:07:47.160 a funness, a sexiness that would attract what I wanted 0:07:48.000 --> 0:07:50.760 a lot of time. That goes hand in hand with 0:07:51.200 --> 0:07:55.800 a chameleon personality. Now for someone like me on the outside, 0:07:55.800 --> 0:07:58.240 it looks like you have a singular personality, But did 0:07:58.280 --> 0:08:00.840 you also find yourself a just in your behavior for 0:08:00.880 --> 0:08:04.120 the situation. Well, well, when you understand what chameleon means, 0:08:04.280 --> 0:08:07.400 which is you change your skin in order to settle 0:08:07.440 --> 0:08:10.640 into the environment that you find yourself, David said. David 0:08:10.680 --> 0:08:12.840 Boy said to me, I am not a chameleon. I 0:08:12.880 --> 0:08:15.360 did exactly the opposite. I didn't change the color of 0:08:15.400 --> 0:08:17.800 my skin to fit into the forest. I did quite 0:08:17.800 --> 0:08:20.480 the opposite. I changed my skin when I was in 0:08:20.520 --> 0:08:24.440 the forest to cement, you know, and that I agree 0:08:24.440 --> 0:08:29.160 with the chameleon vibe is weakness. To me, fitting in 0:08:29.360 --> 0:08:32.760 was never my thing I wanted to get I didn't 0:08:32.760 --> 0:08:35.439 wanted to fit out. I wanted to create something new 0:08:36.080 --> 0:08:39.960 that there was nuanced and loving and sexy and and 0:08:40.000 --> 0:08:42.760 in the moment. You know, most people live have a script, 0:08:42.800 --> 0:08:46.880 and they live by the script. Then not even that character. Okay, 0:08:47.040 --> 0:08:49.440 let's start at the beginning, which you certainly do in 0:08:49.480 --> 0:08:52.880 the beginning of your documentary, where there's long history going 0:08:52.880 --> 0:08:56.960 back hundreds of years to the derivation of your blood 0:08:57.000 --> 0:09:01.400 lineage and title. Please describe that. Well, it was eight 0:09:01.440 --> 0:09:04.720 hundred years ago and home de bar was fighting the Germans, 0:09:05.240 --> 0:09:09.480 and the king of France at the time was you know, 0:09:09.720 --> 0:09:13.480 being pursued by three or four monsters in in silver 0:09:13.800 --> 0:09:17.800 armor and game. De Barn killed them. As a result, 0:09:17.840 --> 0:09:20.800 he was given a title the Marquis de Bar and 0:09:20.840 --> 0:09:24.960 hence you know here I am. You know, how does 0:09:24.960 --> 0:09:28.920 that sustain for eight hundred years? Well, you know Europe 0:09:29.040 --> 0:09:36.320 is very different from Glendale. Yeah, so that history, you know, 0:09:36.559 --> 0:09:42.640 in the fourteen fifteenth century, we were kicked out of France, 0:09:42.640 --> 0:09:44.880 the Huguenos. It was a religious thing. They went to 0:09:44.920 --> 0:09:47.960 Nova Scotia, they went to England, they went to Ireland. 0:09:48.000 --> 0:09:50.800 So it spread across the globe, Australia and a lot 0:09:50.840 --> 0:09:54.760 of my other marquees. I'm the twenty seventh. You know, 0:09:54.920 --> 0:09:59.400 work cartographers were you know, people that were searching. It's 0:09:59.440 --> 0:10:03.720 all about search, it seems in my life. Let's go 0:10:03.760 --> 0:10:06.960 back to the blood lineage. So they've only been twenty 0:10:07.040 --> 0:10:09.600 seven marquis and you are one of them. That's right. 0:10:10.600 --> 0:10:13.760 How does one get to be a marquis? Obviously his 0:10:13.880 --> 0:10:16.240 blood lineage. But is it the oldest son of the 0:10:16.280 --> 0:10:18.480 oldest son. How does it work? Yes, it's the son 0:10:18.600 --> 0:10:21.360 the oldest son. It's the you know, the classic sort 0:10:21.400 --> 0:10:24.959 of honorary vibe as the oldest son. But how it continued? 0:10:25.040 --> 0:10:27.600 It is, you know, when this guy was given this 0:10:27.800 --> 0:10:33.280 land in France and he built his castle and he 0:10:33.400 --> 0:10:35.280 lived in that, and then his son, and then his 0:10:35.360 --> 0:10:38.200 son and then his son. What's extraordinary to me is, 0:10:38.520 --> 0:10:43.360 you know we went from swords to Les Paul's. Okay, 0:10:43.400 --> 0:10:48.400 but theoretically your son is the Marquis de sad they 0:10:48.440 --> 0:10:52.880 pick I just love the fact that you slipped into 0:10:52.920 --> 0:10:57.600 side by the way I adored a side. I'm writing 0:10:57.640 --> 0:11:00.920 a musical about assud. Okay, but talking about day Bar, 0:11:01.080 --> 0:11:04.960 your son is, I'm the twenty six, he's the seven, 0:11:05.120 --> 0:11:09.360 to be honest, and other other than the title anything 0:11:09.440 --> 0:11:15.240 go along with absolutely nothing, absolutely although you know there 0:11:15.320 --> 0:11:18.600 was an enormous oount of money there, uh, you know, 0:11:18.679 --> 0:11:21.920 for some wonderful reason, and all of this was paid 0:11:22.040 --> 0:11:26.240 my education, which was considerably expensive. Well, let's slow down 0:11:26.240 --> 0:11:27.679 a little bit because we'll get to there. And you've 0:11:27.800 --> 0:11:30.800 never at a loss for words, So tell your father 0:11:30.920 --> 0:11:35.240 is the twenty five marquet? Yeah? How where? What are 0:11:35.280 --> 0:11:39.040 his circumstances? How does he meet your mother? He meant, 0:11:39.320 --> 0:11:41.880 you know, he'd already been married four times. He met 0:11:41.880 --> 0:11:44.000 her in a in a club. You know, she was 0:11:44.000 --> 0:11:47.559 a dancer, which you know the classic quote I'm doing 0:11:48.440 --> 0:11:51.440 a good time girl. And he met her and she 0:11:51.559 --> 0:11:54.959 was seventeen and he was fifty and they had me, 0:11:55.559 --> 0:11:59.280 and I was a bastard till I was thirty. Okay. 0:11:59.520 --> 0:12:03.719 Two questions, He had no sons before that? And did 0:12:03.760 --> 0:12:07.640 you have any other children? No? And what happened when 0:12:07.640 --> 0:12:12.040 you were thirty to legitimize you. Oh, I was legitimized 0:12:12.080 --> 0:12:17.960 by Sydney pot Bob you know. Um he. What happened 0:12:18.080 --> 0:12:20.800 was they got married because of a legal situation. She 0:12:20.880 --> 0:12:23.240 was born because she wanted to get out of the institution. 0:12:23.320 --> 0:12:26.400 She was severely ill and dying, so he married her. 0:12:27.880 --> 0:12:30.880 Thirty years later, they actually got married. I got a letter. 0:12:31.080 --> 0:12:33.480 Take this, You'll love this. I got a letter from 0:12:33.480 --> 0:12:41.239 the lawyers saying, well, Michael, you're not a bestart anymore. Yeah. 0:12:41.360 --> 0:12:45.319 I said, no, you're wrong. You get um And I thought, wow, 0:12:45.360 --> 0:12:48.560 and I this letter was so symbolic to me. I 0:12:48.679 --> 0:12:50.760 kept it one of the very few things I've kept 0:12:50.800 --> 0:12:53.960 because I don't like having drawls full of like old ship. 0:12:54.160 --> 0:12:57.559 You know, that's has such a power over one. I 0:12:57.679 --> 0:13:00.000 like to do it now, you know. But that particular 0:13:00.000 --> 0:13:05.320 in a document I found amusing. Okay, you are born 0:13:05.440 --> 0:13:09.640 or your parents together at that point? Oh no, no, no, no. 0:13:10.160 --> 0:13:13.200 He disappeared pretty soon. You know, she had the baby. 0:13:13.320 --> 0:13:17.160 She didn't want the baby. Uh, she went mad. She 0:13:17.720 --> 0:13:20.280 was a stripper, you know, and she went to an 0:13:20.280 --> 0:13:24.280 institution of schizophrenia. I was raised by her friends. This 0:13:24.320 --> 0:13:28.400 is what happened show biz, right, So the girls that 0:13:28.520 --> 0:13:32.160 surrounded that world took care of me until I was eight. 0:13:32.400 --> 0:13:34.560 I was put down to these boarding schools when I 0:13:34.600 --> 0:13:37.120 was one years old, and they looked after me until 0:13:37.160 --> 0:13:40.400 I was eight. Now looked after me one has to 0:13:40.520 --> 0:13:44.560 think about, because you know they were obsessed with Oscar Wilde, 0:13:44.679 --> 0:13:48.880 Aubrey Beardsley and that whole romantic early nineteen How do 0:13:48.960 --> 0:13:51.400 you say, don't ask me why my father is in 0:13:51.440 --> 0:13:55.720 an opium den smoking, you know, opium with Chinese sailors 0:13:55.760 --> 0:13:59.080 in London by the Thames. So you can imagine all 0:13:59.120 --> 0:14:04.280 these influences and confluences were so extraordinary, and then to 0:14:04.400 --> 0:14:09.000 be taken and put into this absolutely military, autocratic, crazy 0:14:09.120 --> 0:14:14.920 institution was a a surprise. Okay, let's talk about from 0:14:15.000 --> 0:14:18.720 zero to eight. So how many of those years is 0:14:18.760 --> 0:14:21.840 your mother in the picture? Around in and out, in 0:14:21.920 --> 0:14:23.960 and out. You know, she'd be in the six months, 0:14:24.000 --> 0:14:26.720 out for a few weeks, have a you know, uh, 0:14:27.200 --> 0:14:29.880 you know, she'd freak out, she'd go back and come out, 0:14:29.960 --> 0:14:32.560 and you know, I mean I I forget him many times. 0:14:32.680 --> 0:14:36.080 I had no memory really of of relating to her 0:14:36.120 --> 0:14:39.800 at all. Okay, so you say you stayed with her friends, 0:14:40.600 --> 0:14:44.560 would you go from house to house, from to city. 0:14:44.920 --> 0:14:47.320 I go to the city to city because they were 0:14:47.360 --> 0:14:52.760 working for girls. So what about school? Fox school? I read? 0:14:52.880 --> 0:14:56.080 I read everything I was reading, you know, Aristotle when 0:14:56.120 --> 0:14:58.880 I was very baby. I mean I read a lot. 0:14:58.960 --> 0:15:02.520 And that's what when I went schools, everything, kicker, guard, 0:15:03.040 --> 0:15:04.720 you name it, I would read it because I had 0:15:04.760 --> 0:15:08.440 to stay there in the vacation. The vacation everybody you 0:15:08.480 --> 0:15:13.200 know went home. Okay, so your father he did have 0:15:13.360 --> 0:15:17.720 money before he went yeah, yeah, And so you're saying 0:15:17.720 --> 0:15:21.640 it's a tradition in the movie that when you're born 0:15:21.720 --> 0:15:24.400 they put away money for boarding school. Could you tell 0:15:24.440 --> 0:15:26.840 us a little bit more about what's exactly what happened 0:15:26.880 --> 0:15:30.200 the trustees of the de Barer State for every child, 0:15:30.280 --> 0:15:33.080 you know, the the oldest child, the only child, they 0:15:33.120 --> 0:15:37.920 had to I went to the schools he went to, Yeah, 0:15:38.120 --> 0:15:42.400 Clamant Preparatory School and Repton in Derbyshire. Derbyshire was Wuthering Heights, 0:15:43.120 --> 0:15:48.440 you know. I mean it was literally that foggy, smuggy, damp, depressing, 0:15:48.600 --> 0:15:53.320 melodramatic gray clouds, which was completely the opposite to the 0:15:53.400 --> 0:15:57.000 sequence of the beautiful girls that I've been raised by. 0:15:57.040 --> 0:15:59.960 So it was you know, it's like some glam rock Maldlie, 0:16:00.400 --> 0:16:05.080 you know, I mean it was Disney. So let's play 0:16:05.080 --> 0:16:07.240 out your father's story. So it was in the opium. 0:16:07.280 --> 0:16:09.360 Then how does he go to jail? And how does 0:16:09.360 --> 0:16:13.760 he lose all his money? Embezzlement? He went into into 0:16:13.800 --> 0:16:18.600 there because he a brilliant guy, and he embezzled an 0:16:18.600 --> 0:16:21.520 awful lot of money and they busted him and where 0:16:21.560 --> 0:16:26.280 he went for ten twelve years. So you're in boarding 0:16:26.360 --> 0:16:35.600 school with the aristocracy. What's your experience? Hypocrites, privileged? Very 0:16:35.680 --> 0:16:38.680 very interesting that we are now exploring these concepts in 0:16:38.720 --> 0:16:43.600 the United States. But then the white aristocratic upper class 0:16:44.640 --> 0:16:48.400 because of the landowners and the and the slaves essentially. 0:16:49.480 --> 0:16:53.360 And I despised it because I was thirteen fourteen and 0:16:53.400 --> 0:16:56.400 I heard Sonny with Williams said and that whole oppression 0:16:56.440 --> 0:16:59.000 of the blues, and it fitted perfectly into where my 0:16:59.040 --> 0:17:02.360 head was at. It was. It was a horrible experience, 0:17:02.760 --> 0:17:07.320 but I detached myself, Bob, I detached myself. It was 0:17:07.359 --> 0:17:09.919 almost like somebody else was living and it was just information. 0:17:10.600 --> 0:17:14.480 I didn't get emotional about it. Okay, a couple of things, though, 0:17:14.920 --> 0:17:17.240 I grew up in the melting pot suburbs, and I 0:17:17.240 --> 0:17:19.800 went to college where forty of the people were from 0:17:19.800 --> 0:17:23.520 prep school and irrelevant of their identity, what had taught 0:17:23.560 --> 0:17:26.840 me was how to interact with those people exactly. So 0:17:27.040 --> 0:17:30.240 I believe there must have been lessons you were taught, 0:17:30.440 --> 0:17:33.760 however difficult it was to learn them that put you 0:17:33.840 --> 0:17:36.720 ahead of a lot of the average people. Absolutely. I 0:17:36.720 --> 0:17:39.399 mean I was my own teacher in a way, you know. 0:17:39.440 --> 0:17:43.280 I would observe, you know, Christian medicine thing is, you know, observed, 0:17:43.280 --> 0:17:46.000 don't judge. So I could see these dreadful things going on. 0:17:46.040 --> 0:17:47.919 But I could also see a great discipline and a 0:17:47.960 --> 0:17:51.800 great wit from the British, you know, and a charm. 0:17:51.960 --> 0:17:56.439 All of those things I cupped and I included in 0:17:56.480 --> 0:18:00.080 my own personality. So I learned a tremendous amount on 0:18:00.280 --> 0:18:04.840 the from the hipocritical stance of these British aristocrats, because honestly, 0:18:04.880 --> 0:18:07.479 they were titans of industry. There were royal you know, 0:18:07.680 --> 0:18:11.479 royals in the presidents of other countries. Children. It was 0:18:11.520 --> 0:18:15.320 a really it's a living in bel air, I would imagine. 0:18:15.680 --> 0:18:18.000 So any of these people ever track you down after 0:18:18.040 --> 0:18:20.560 the fact. Yeah, as soon as I hit the you know, 0:18:20.600 --> 0:18:23.639 the screen. It was like, oh hello, I God, remember me. 0:18:23.680 --> 0:18:28.320 I'm Gilbert. Remember Gilbert. I was the goalkeeper and he 0:18:28.480 --> 0:18:32.399 was marvelous and fuck off. Okay, so there was money 0:18:32.400 --> 0:18:35.600 for boarding school. Was there also money for university? Assuming 0:18:35.640 --> 0:18:39.920 you went? No, no, just for boarding school? Sixteen? I quit, 0:18:40.200 --> 0:18:42.679 I got out, I ran away. That was it. I 0:18:42.680 --> 0:18:45.720 didn't go back. I went to London and I what 0:18:45.840 --> 0:18:48.840 happened was I went to London to stay with a 0:18:48.920 --> 0:18:53.840 friend of mine who I had met um god knows how, 0:18:54.040 --> 0:18:58.000 but she was an actress and she said you should 0:18:58.000 --> 0:19:01.480 go to drama school. UM, and I did. I went. 0:19:01.640 --> 0:19:04.199 I got five hundred bucks. I did a commercial. Pounds 0:19:04.200 --> 0:19:08.080 I got. I did a commercial. Somehow an agent, Hazel Malone, 0:19:08.119 --> 0:19:10.879 got me this commercial. I had five hundred pounds. I 0:19:10.920 --> 0:19:13.600 gave the school a hundred pounds for the you know, 0:19:13.640 --> 0:19:16.320 and I did a monologue, a Hamlet monologue, and they 0:19:16.400 --> 0:19:18.320 let me in and I got a scholarship and it 0:19:18.440 --> 0:19:21.159 all fell into place. I started to play punks on 0:19:21.240 --> 0:19:24.840 BBC television. Um, and then you know too, so with 0:19:25.000 --> 0:19:28.320 love came. I was only seventeen. Okay, so how exactly 0:19:28.359 --> 0:19:31.800 did you get that part? Well, Columbia pictures. You know, 0:19:31.880 --> 0:19:34.560 some executives came to our drama school and we all 0:19:34.640 --> 0:19:36.480 were there, and we all got up there and did 0:19:36.480 --> 0:19:40.119 our speech on monologue, you know, and they picked about 0:19:40.119 --> 0:19:43.640 eight kids out of the drama school class that I 0:19:43.680 --> 0:19:46.040 was in, and away we went to Pinewood Studios and 0:19:46.560 --> 0:19:49.880 three months with Sydney Porte, you know, with Sean Connery 0:19:50.040 --> 0:19:54.360 doing ductor No in the next sence, it's crazy. Okay, 0:19:54.840 --> 0:19:59.280 that movie becomes a big success, both the movie and 0:19:59.320 --> 0:20:03.840 the titles song. Does that go to your head? It 0:20:03.880 --> 0:20:09.040 went below my waist? That goes to another topic. Okay, 0:20:09.400 --> 0:20:12.800 even if this late, you're quite the dashing gentleman, and 0:20:12.880 --> 0:20:15.640 certainly when one looks at your pictures from that era, 0:20:16.119 --> 0:20:19.560 you are a very attractive man. Hey were you aware 0:20:19.600 --> 0:20:23.640 of that be? Did it pay dividends? See? Did you 0:20:23.720 --> 0:20:28.359 use it to your advantage? Yes? To the latter. The 0:20:28.440 --> 0:20:38.240 currency was beauty. Cheekbones are terribly important in anti biography. Um, 0:20:38.280 --> 0:20:41.000 you know, look, it's all about seduction, the whole thing. 0:20:41.119 --> 0:20:43.879 You think Julie Christie didn't seduce directors, you know when 0:20:43.920 --> 0:20:48.480 I was Julie Christie or Terry Stam maybe you know, 0:20:48.560 --> 0:20:52.000 I mean, I knew the physical beauty at that time, 0:20:52.040 --> 0:20:55.119 because England was becoming that, you know, the d Andrew 0:20:55.640 --> 0:20:58.760 and the velvet and this polka dot on the sidewalks 0:20:58.760 --> 0:21:00.680 and Chelsea and King's Road and kind of be straight 0:21:00.720 --> 0:21:03.600 in the Beatles and the Stones cetera. That was my 0:21:03.720 --> 0:21:07.680 life and I wanted to be as gorgeous as narav 0:21:08.000 --> 0:21:11.679 and as you know and saying like Mody waters. Okay, 0:21:11.720 --> 0:21:15.399 now the Beatles broken sixty four in America really the 0:21:15.520 --> 0:21:19.119 end of sixty two and sixty three in the UK. 0:21:19.800 --> 0:21:22.520 To what degree were the Beatles big? And were you 0:21:22.640 --> 0:21:25.320 influenced by them? What were you influenced by in that 0:21:25.560 --> 0:21:29.359 ror their hair, but the air was the here and 0:21:29.440 --> 0:21:34.400 the colonless jackets cannot be underestimated. No, I'm not underestimating them. 0:21:34.480 --> 0:21:38.240 I'm telling you symbolically. That's what changed my life, was there? Okay? 0:21:38.280 --> 0:21:39.800 Just so when there were you a big music fan 0:21:39.880 --> 0:21:43.359 before the Beatles, huge the blues at school, this guy, 0:21:43.440 --> 0:21:45.840 Steve Thompson, I remember his name. He said, listen to this. 0:21:45.880 --> 0:21:48.000 I said, who is it is? John Lee Hooker. I said, 0:21:48.000 --> 0:21:50.480 I know a lot about hookers, but you know, so 0:21:50.600 --> 0:21:53.479 he plays is to me and boom boom, boom boom, 0:21:53.480 --> 0:21:55.280 you know one Chorter so that this is the greatest 0:21:55.280 --> 0:21:57.240 thing I've ever heard. It really got me, you know, 0:21:57.359 --> 0:22:00.560 absolutely excited, and I took that with me to London. 0:22:00.680 --> 0:22:04.560 Now at the same time, so is Ronnie Wood and 0:22:04.680 --> 0:22:07.000 Keith and everybody else and Keith Ralph from the other 0:22:07.119 --> 0:22:08.880 so on and off with you know, all about that 0:22:09.480 --> 0:22:12.280 um and it caught me. Man. It was like an absolute, 0:22:12.600 --> 0:22:16.800 you know, fever of music once to say with love 0:22:16.840 --> 0:22:20.560 thing happened. I went to every club every night, Terry read, Georgie, Fame, 0:22:20.720 --> 0:22:24.199 Chris follow you name it every night and met them, 0:22:24.280 --> 0:22:26.800 you know. And I went to school with Mitch Mitchell. 0:22:27.520 --> 0:22:30.359 So Mitch Mitchell says, what's sort of a line of 0:22:30.520 --> 0:22:34.000 Ken Scott's House waiting for the bathroom with Mitch Mitchell, 0:22:34.200 --> 0:22:37.359 So funny. Yeah, I mean, but this guy, he was 0:22:37.400 --> 0:22:41.679 the sweetest guy. And we're in dramas, you know, really 0:22:41.720 --> 0:22:44.359 sweet guy. And he says to me and Michael, I've 0:22:44.400 --> 0:22:47.000 got this Skodish black guy and he's like really good. 0:22:47.000 --> 0:22:49.760 He's like left handed and he's playing the market tonight. 0:22:49.760 --> 0:22:51.720 You want to come down there. And I went down there. 0:22:51.760 --> 0:22:55.400 My life changed like everybody else, and the first two Roses, 0:22:55.440 --> 0:22:58.520 Pete Townsend and back. You know that story. I'm sure 0:22:58.600 --> 0:23:01.679 Platon your listeners to clap, and everybody was there, every 0:23:01.760 --> 0:23:03.760 single guitar player was in that front row. And the 0:23:03.800 --> 0:23:08.639 next day they all got perms. Okay, at what point 0:23:08.720 --> 0:23:11.560 do you you're an actor, at what point do you 0:23:11.640 --> 0:23:16.520 decide my avenue is music? Well, the rhythm and the 0:23:16.960 --> 0:23:19.600 lifestyle of being in rock and roll was so much 0:23:19.640 --> 0:23:22.880 more attractive than going into repertory theater and doing much 0:23:22.920 --> 0:23:25.280 to do about nothing. I wanted to do much, do 0:23:25.400 --> 0:23:28.439 about a lot. I wanted to go to America. I 0:23:28.480 --> 0:23:31.560 wanted to sleep with you know, the you know, the 0:23:31.640 --> 0:23:34.640 Liberty woman. You know. I was just obsessed on an 0:23:34.640 --> 0:23:38.080 Elvis level, because Elvis was the guy for me, you know. 0:23:38.560 --> 0:23:41.320 And I just couldn't leave this guy with I makeup 0:23:41.359 --> 0:23:43.560 and you know, in the fifty whatever it was, and 0:23:43.680 --> 0:23:46.760 singer jail last right, Oh my god, I gotta get it. 0:23:47.080 --> 0:23:50.840 And then with the androgen a of Brian and Anita 0:23:50.960 --> 0:23:53.720 and all that whole thing was just too seductive to me. 0:23:54.040 --> 0:23:56.600 And I had this girl, Wendy, my first wife, who 0:23:56.720 --> 0:24:00.479