Monday 1 April 2013

His Majesty, Peter Wyngarde


I am now proud to present a clip from 1973 in which Russell Harty interviews a be-permed Peter Wyngarde about his role as the King Of Siam in a West End revival of ‘The King and I’.

You’re going to watch it, so I won’t make too many points in advance other than to note that Wyngarde is insanely self-assured, despite the fact that his characterisation of The King is 90% Yul Brynner rip off, 10% panto Wishy Washy (or is it the other way around?). I also find it interesting that Harty spends a lot of time asking Peter about his sex symbol status, even inquiring as to if he has any plans to marry. It’s inconceivable that he wouldn’t have known Wyngarde was gay (it wasn’t a secret in show business circles, where his nickname was Petunia Winegum), so he’s just shit stirring, really. Russell bloody Harty. No wonder Grace Jones clocked him one.


I'll be back on the 15th of April. See you then.

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