Please note that some of the additional information provided here by the journalist named below may not be accurate, so it should be treated with caution. An Exclusive Interview with Peter Wyngarde. Well, I think it was probably as a small boy. I can always remember wanting to do plays and things when I was a child. It is rather funny but my first real inspiration, I suppose, was Mickey Mouse. I saw one of the cartoons and thought it was just fantastic. I remember wishing I could be this big mouse.
I suppose I had the big ears and all I really needed was the red pants and black shoes, and as far as I was concerned, as a child, I would be Mickey. Oh yes, that was very interesting. It was about this extraordinary patriarch character who led these people in Jerusalem. I really tried to immerse myself in the culture which is something that I always try to do in any part I play. We finally shot it at Shepperton Studios. It was terribly good.
The only problem was at that particular moment in time I was asked to do War and Peace. I was under contract to Paramount. It was to be my first Hollywood film for them. I was to play the role of Peter.
I did all the make-up test, met Audrey Hepburn. It was one of the leads and I then had about three months before filming began.
This was in June or July as I recall. At the same time as this I was asked to do The Salt Land. Then I got the call to say I must begin work on War and Peace the next day. I told Paramount that as much as I wanted to do War and Peace , I was committed to other work over here but as soon as it was finished I would come over. Paramount with furious and there was this big court case about it. In the end Henry Fonda played my character and that was that.
