Film
Summer
2013
days. But my father was grateful to be
working and by nature and throughout
his life never grumbled or complained.
He showed amazing stamina and
professionalism. I’m sure that is one of
the reasons he felt so strongly about the
importance of his involvement with the
founding of The Screen Actors’ Guild. His
card number is #9. He, along with the other
founding members, felt that it was their
obligation to give a voice to those actors
who did not yet have a way to speak up in
their own defence against the all-powerful
studios and the working conditions; the
long arduous hours; the unfair and broken
contracts. Those founding members put
their own career on the line with their
involvement with the start-up of SAG. I
think this was some of the work of which
my father was quietly the most proud.
How did he view his success?
My father was the consummate
professional. He loved what he did and
was so grateful to be able to spend his
life doing something he truly adored. He
was a very modest, self-effacing man, well
educated, articulate, a voracious reader, a
quiet listener and a very funny man...the
antithesis of the roles he played. He was
an avid gardener, loved animals and was
passionate about the game of cricket. At
one time he and my mother had 22 dogs.
They had a pig named Violet and even
some turkeys....all in Beverly Hills!
Which films was your father most
proud of?
My father did over 170 films, a huge
body of radio work, 20 some children’s
recordings, had three television series
of his own, having embraced the new
medium of television early on when most
“movie stars” were afraid of the “live”
aspect of it. He guest starred on all the
big shows of the time and even sang
and danced and spoofed his own bogey
man image. He loved it. He starred: on
Broadway in Arsenic and Old Lace in a
part written especially for him; in Peter Pan
opposite Jean Arthur; in The Lark opposite
Julie Harris who he adored working with,
a role for which was nominated for a Tony.
And of course he IS The Grinch...both the
Narrator and the Voice of The Grinch in
How The Grinch Stole Christmas for which
he won a Grammy.
He returned to England for the final
years of his life. Did he always view
England as home?
English through and through, my father’s
schooling, upbringing and work ethic
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always stayed with him both personally
and professionally. He returned to his
beloved England in 1959 and spent the last
10 years of his life commuting back to the
States for work, but he was Home. He had a
flat in London and a cottage in Bramshott
which he adored.
Fans continue to be fascinated by your
father’s work. Why do you think his
work is of such enduring interest?
No one would be more amazed that my
father at the enormity of his popularity and
the devotion and respect of his fans. He is
one of the very few people in “the industry”
about whom nothing negative was ever
written or said. When my Godmother and
his good friend, Cynthia Lindsay, wrote a
biography about my father, she said that
almost to a person when she interviewed
people about him they would preface their
remarks with “Oh, dear Boris...” and so she
entitled her biography Dear Boris.
How do you remember your father as
a person?
My father left the most remarkable
and loving legacy, both personally and
professionally. What more could be said of
a man, an actor or a father?
He loved what he did and was so
grateful to be able to spend his life
doing something he truly adored.
