Mike Pratt: a man of varied talents

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32803, 31 December 1971, Page 4

Mike Pratt: a man of varied talents

(By

STEVE MILTON)

From copywriter to jazz musician, to playwright, to part-time actor, to star. This is the career story of Mike Pratt, that “Mr Tough” of such television ■ shows as “Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased),” “Hadleigh” and “Long Voyage Out Of War”—and it all started with Mike playing nanny to a set of false teeth. In the zigzag path of his career he has also been a songsmith and all the world once whilsted “Little White Bull,” the hit he helped to create for Tommy Steele. In this interview with Steven Milton, Mike talks about himself, Tommy Steele and the secrets of telly tough tactics. He also has

some punchy contributions to make to that' is-the-box-responsible - for - real - life - violence? controversy. “I incline to the belief that man developed directly from killer apes and killed to survive. His instinct is that of the predator. Violence is his nature and the sooner we accept that fact instead of creating romantic fallacies of savage innocence; the sooner we will be able to deal realistically with our problems.” Who is talking? Mike Pratt, that “Mr Tough” of such television shows as “Hadleigh,” “Long Voyage [Out Of War,” and “Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased).” . Mike, all six-feet-one-inch lof him, has the look of a i rugged, unconquerable mountainside, and this, plus acting ability, has led to him being cast as a heavy in “The Saint,” in which he had to try to strangle the irrepress-j ible Roger Moore, “Gideon’s Way” (he was a burly car racketeer in that one) and “Danger Man,” for -which the script called on him to beat up Patrick McGoohan. His forcefully expressed views on violence came when I asked him why, in his opinion, people. enjoyed watching killings or woundings in plays, films or tele-

Torroba: Sonatina in A— Julian Bream (guitar). 9.50: Strauss: Death and Transfiguration Philharmonia Orchestra under Otto Klemperer. 10.12: Schubert: String Quartet in G (D.BB7)—Amadeus Quartet.

3ZB, CHRISTCHURCH (1100 kilohertz) 7.2 p.m: Trotting. 7.4: Party Night. 11.2: Your Own Thing. 3ZM, CHRISTCHURCH (1400 kilohertz) 7.30 p.m.: Things are Swinging: 10.0: From the Top Pops..

SUNDAY NATIONAL LINK

7 p.m.: Evening Service. St Stephen’s Presbyterian Church, Christchurch. Reader, The Rev. D. Glenny. Organist, Malvine Mcßride. Choirmaster, Peter Rowe. 8,0: From Days of Yore (8.8. C. 8.30: Weather and News. 8.40: Gracie Fields in Cabaret 9.30: Mr Fiedler of Boston. Tony Thomas talks to Arthur Fiedler about his life and music with the Boston Pops. 10.30: N.Z.B.C. News, Weather. 10.49: The Epilogue for the Second Sunday after Christmas. 11.15: Chess: New Zealand Championships at Hamilton—Report. 11.17: (continuous) including 11.30 Records to Remember. 3YC, CHRISTCHURCH (960 kilohertz) 7 p.m.: Falla: Seven Popular Spanish Songs—Shirley Verrett (mezzo - soprano), Charles Wadsworth (piano). 7.15: Gavin Saunders (Violin) Prokofiev: Sonata for solo violin, Op. 115 (N.Z.8.C.) 7.29: Prokofiev: Russian Overture in C, Op. 72—Moscow Radio Symphony Orchestra under Gennady Rozhdestvensky. 7.42: 8.8. C. Music Showcase. Handel: Concerto grosso, Op. 3 No. 4, in F Academy of St Martin-in-the-Fields under Neville Marriner. Bliss: River Music (1967) — Ambrosian Singers under Sir Arthur Bliss; Debussy: Symphonic Suite: Spring—8.8. C. Symphony Orchestra under Gary Bertini; Boccherini: Piano Quintet in E minor—Wladyslaw Szpilman (piano), Bronislav Gimpel (violin), Tadeusz Wronski (violin), Stefan Kamasa (viola), Aleksander Ciechahski (cello). Liszt: Piano Concerto No. 1 in E fiat—John Ogdon (piano), Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra under Constantin Silvestri (8.8. C. 9.0: Kingfisher Come Home. Short story by Witi Ihimaera, read by George Henare (N.Z.8.C.). 9.13: Borodin: Konchak’s Aria: How goes it, Prince?; Polovtsian Dances— Boris Christoff (bass). Sofia National Opera Chorus and Orchestra under Jerzy Semkow. 9.38: Chausson: Symphony in B flat, Op. 20 (1890) —Suisse Romande Orchestra under Ernest Ansermet. 10.14: Mozart: Masonic Cantata: Loudly shall our joy be proclaimed—Werner Hollweg and lan Partridge (tenors), Stafford Dean (bass), Ambrosian Singers, New Philharmonia Orchestra under Edo de Waart. 10.27: Tchaikovsky: Souvenir of Florence — Academy of St Martin-in-the-Fields under Neville Marriner.

3ZB, CHRISTCHURCH (1100 kilohertz) 7.30 p.m.: Death Speaks Another Language. 8.2: The Taylor Take-Over (N.Z.8.C.). 9.2: The Confessions of a Chatter-Upper. 10.3: Late Night Listening, includmg at 1015, The Continentals. 10.30: Your Own Thing. With Jim Smith. 3ZM, CHRISTCHURCH (1400 kilohertz) 6 p.m.: Top in Pop.

vision shows when they would recoil in horror from such happenings in real life. Notwithstanding the toughness displayed by the Mike Pratt the public knows, it seems that the private Mike is just the opposite. “Personally, my stomach knots at the slightest scent of violence,” he told me. “I don’t like noise and like to live quietly and be left alone.”

Did he agree with the view that much ,of the violent crime in the world is due to television and films? No, he did not. The violence syndrome, he felt, was much more fostered by a section of the national press—“l find no pleasure in gloating, as the newspaper billboards recently did, over the death sentence on an American hippie or the slaughter list in the latest plane disaster.” Drifted to acting

Mike Pratt “drifted” into acting. His father was in the advertising business and when Mike, bom in Harrow, Middlesex, left school he followed suit and became a copywriter. After five years he left for a job in the theatre as a backstage assistant for a revue called “Memories of Joison.”

I asked why he made the switch? His reply was enigmatic: “Are you joking? Look at advertising.” His new post brought him various duties: one was to find the musical director’s false teeth whenever the musical director mislaid them. They would turn up “in the bar, in an ashtray or the window-ledge in the 100. It was just one of a million jobs anyone in stage management has to do.” But this first taste of the theatre was, it seemed, leading nowhere—apart from the musical director’s missing molars. It was followed by a brief return to advertising. Then came a meeting with Tommy Steele that was to change the direction of Mike’s career.

“I used to share a house in Lambeth called ‘The Yellow Door’ with between six and 14 others and we frequently had parties. At one a friend of ours in the merchant navy brought a shipmate along, it was Tommy. We had a skiffle session, formed a group and it went on from there.” Later Mike collaborated with Tommy to produce his first hit record “Rock With The Cavemen.” He also worked on several of Tommy’s other song hits, including “Little White Bull.”

He told me: “ ‘Little White Bull’ was an idea from Tommy which Li Bart and I shaped into a song. I’d just returned from some time in Spain and was full of tourist information about flamenco, not enough fortunately to make the song heavy.” While in Spain he tried his hand as a playwright (the plays have still to be produced) and also wrote scripts for revues. “The Cottonpickers,” the group he had formed with Tommy, found success with club and broadcasting dates and Mike also did some small-part acting, although in those days he had no serious interest in becoming a professional actor.

Odd detective Recognition in this direction came later when he landed a star role as Jeff Randall in “Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased).” The part, as a rather odd detective plagued by the ghost of his dead partner, was different from Mike’s usual heavies; it demanded humour and sympathy as well as strength. Since then the field has opened up for Mike. He had another unusual television role, for instance, in “Long Voyage Out Of War” in which, as Turk Godfrey, he had to age from 25 to 57. And there have been films too —“The Party’s Over,” “Impact,” ‘Repulsion,” “Robbery,” “Dandy in Aspic” —as well as stage appearances at Londons Royal

Court Theatre and with the Royal Shakespeare Company.

Although his range of parts is wider these days, each calls for a certain brand of toughness. I asked him how he kept fit for them. Two years ago, he said, when he was doing the “Randall” series, he drank, smoked, stayed up all night. “Consequently I was exhausted and ill at the end of it all. Then a year ago I gave up drinking and have since gone on a macrobiotic diet. 1 smoke infrequently and do simple yoga exercises. I’ve lost over two stone in weight and feel terrific."

And he was disarmingly frank about all those tough tactics. “Naturally fights, stunts and the like are worked out in great detail before filming. Otherwise we might, damage each other which may hold up production and cost monev. Occasionally there are accidents, sometimes serious. I’ve only suffered cuts and bruises.

“Anyway, if anything really hairy turns up the stuntmen do it beautifully.” Sometimes, though, the toughness of Mike’s TV and film roles has spilled over into real life.

“All actors sacrifice privacy as part of their craft,” he said. “This is one of the reasons they are paid well by society. Many people identify the actor totally with the part he plays. I am often called ‘Randall’ by people in the street. “I was once pinned to a wall by a barrow-bay who told me in explicit detail what I should have done to lan Hendry in a film where he stole my wife. I thought he was going to do it all to me and was very relieved when I could finally get away. Playing tough parts makes one fair game for all would-be tough buys in bars or wherever." Is this man who has brought so much toughness to our screens ever afraid? “What scares you?” I asked him.

“AU sorts of things,” he said. “Particularly what I don’t know or understand, but if you can hang on, fear is our greatest teacher. A lot of prejudice would go if only we would listen to fear, analyse it and move on.” Away from the cameras,

he likes to spend his time “thinking, listening to music, playing guitar, cooking, seeing friends when we talk, listen to music, play guitars and somebody usually cooks . . . These days I seldom go out to eat—only to the pictures.” This year he reached his 40th birthday. I asked him how he felt about passing that milestone. "Ready,” he said. “I feel very happy to be over all the rushing around proving things, striving for success don’t have to do it again."