Interview with Julian Holloway (2018)
Julian Holloway has enjoyed a long and varied career spanning an impressive six decades. He made his theatrical debut in London's West End in the revue 'All Square' at the Vaudeville Theatre. Other West End credits include Christopher Hampton's first play 'When Did You Last See My Mother?' at the Comedy Theatre, Colin Spencer's 'Spitting Image' at the Duke of York's Theatre, replacing Michael Gambon in Alan Ayckbourn's trilogy 'The Norman Conquests' at the Globe Theatre and a successful revival of 'Arsenic And Old Lace' at the Westminster Theatre.
In 1967 he performed in his first 'Carry On' venture, 'Carry On Follow that Camel'. This was the start of a long relationship with the series with 'Carry On England' in 1976 being his last. He also starred in 3 of the most iconic of the series; 'Camping', 'Khyber' and 'Henry', with many deeming 'Khyber' the very best 'Carry On' film (it was also Producer Peter Rogers' personal favourite too). Many believe that as he played the role of 'Jim Tanner' in 1969's 'Carry On Camping' that he was dubbed to take over the main romantic male lead roles presumably originally written with Jim Dale in mind. However, this is not the case as there is in fact some overlap where both appeared in the series ('Doctor' & 'Camel').
I had in fact corresponded with Julian several times over the past few years and he was always such a joy to hear from and an all round nice chap. Although he was based in the USA this didn't stop me sending him a few pieces of 'Carry On' memorabilia for him to sign being the die hard fan I am! I was therefore thrilled to learn that Julian was back in the UK in November 2018. He in fact took part in his first ever UK film convention in London in November 2018. Seizing the opportunity I was over the moon to get the chance to interview him a few days afterwards. So, it is 'Time for Tiffin' and a chat with Julian about a goat and all things 'Carry On'...
CP: It is remarkable that it is in fact the 60th anniversary this year (2018) of the ‘Carry On’s’. Why do you think they are still so popular?
JH: Well, they are always on the TV and are therefore free to watch. They are basically cheap entertainment I suppose and don’t cost anything to watch, but I really don’t know!
CP: Out of the ones you were involved with, which was your favourite and why?
JH: ‘Khyber’ is the only one that I have any affection for. It was great fun to do with a great script. I think the historical ones with the period costumes were the best. They were actually filming ‘Chitty Chitty Bang Bang’ whilst we were filming ‘Khyber’. As with most things on the Carry On’s it was done very cheaply, and I think everything was stolen! (laughs), possibly from the ‘Chitty Chitty Bang Bang’ sets. That was Peter Rogers for you; he was fearless!
CP: Were there any that you simply didn’t enjoy?
JH: ‘Camping’. It was a miserable shoot. It was a bad time of the year and all the stories of painting the trees and spraying the grass are totally true. I had some scenes in that film with Trisha Noble, we had a lot of romance scenes that ended up on the cutting room floor. Take the part at the end of the film with the goat, it makes absolutely no sense because the additional scenes with the goat were cut. I was supposed to rescue Trisha from the shower block from this man-eating goat as it traps her in there. If they had left that in it would have made slightly more sense with the end scene where it chases Amelia Bayntun. I was also overwhelmed with work at that stage as I was also doing a play in the evenings. I remember Kenneth Williams saying to me on that shoot not to hang around. He said, “Don’t let the stigma of the Carry On’s attach itself to you”.
CP: Were there any that you were offered but declined?
JH: Yes. I cannot remember if it was ‘Abroad’ or ‘Girls’ It was one of the two. I turned it down anyway and then my agent got a message from the Casting Director to say that if I didn’t do the film I would never work with Peter Rogers again! I said, OK, fine by me and I still didn't do it.
CP: You speak of Kenneth and his advice to you on ‘Camping’, it is of course also the 30th anniversary of his death this year (2018). What was Kenneth like?
JH: We got on fabulously. We got on very well indeed. He could be spiky but that was his insecurity. He was totally different once he was out of the spotlight. His knowledge of English poetry was outstanding.
CP: When did you last see him?
JH: I bumped into him in a recording studio. He actually noted it in his diary. It would have been 1987/1988.
CP: So not long before he died?
JH: No, not at all.
CP: How about Charles Hawtrey? There doesn't seem to be as much known about him in comparison to some of the others in the main team? Did you have much to do with Charlie?
JH: I'm afraid I can't add anything regarding Charlie. I really didn't have that much to do with him, on either side of the camera. Although he was an avid member of Sid's poker school and seemed to always lose! The only thing that was hysterical, was in 'Khyber' when he was marched in to see Sid and me, he stood smartly to attention, took off his pith helmet and his "rug" stood straight up in the air! (as it had become unglued from it's moorings). He was blissfully unaware of what had happened and we were all shaking with laughter and Gerry Thomas printed the take, so we could all see it at the 'rushes' the following day. It's really the visual that's so funny and I have no idea whether it was saved in the 'out takes' archives.
Above: The role of 'Jim Tanner' in 'Carry On Camping' was originally a much larger part. Part of the role centred around a romance with fellow co-star Trisha Noble who played 'Sally', one of the 'Chayste Place' girls. The scenes above, including the one with the goat trapping 'Sally' in the shower cubicle, were cut from the final film and ended up on the cutting room floor.
Both black and white pictures here were kindly provided by Julian and, it is believed, have never before been shown or published.
CP: You had a 3 year gap between doing ‘Carry On Christmas’ and ‘Carry On England’; was that deliberate?
JH: I have no idea why I did it (Carry On Christmas). With ‘England’ I was doing a theatre tour and needed the money to be honest. That is the only reason I did it to top up the money. The material was dreadful though. By that stage Rogers was trying to compete with the ‘Confessions’ films and it was pathetic. We had gone from seaside postcard to full down and dirty.
CP: The ‘Carry On’s’ still managed to draw some pretty big names though, such as Phil Silvers and Elke Sommer?
JH: Well, in my opinion ‘Bilko’ was one of the best TV shows ever. They had seriously good writers and he (Phil Silvers) had a good team around him. I think he did ‘Follow That Camel’ when his career was on a bit of a downwards spiral, he would never have accepted it in his prime. I think they paid him £30,000 for it which was peanuts compared to what he would have been getting for ‘Bilko’ in his heyday.
CP: It has been suggested that it was to try and appeal to audiences in the USA?
JH: Maybe but it didn’t work. People always say how many years earlier ‘Carry On Nurse’ was a huge success in the USA but that is because it was the only one that they released there! It was popular because it was a one off and they hadn’t seen anything like it before but it’s success was measured on it being the only ‘Carry On’ to have been released in the USA.
CP: There was a notable change in the films from the late 1970’s. Did you see the last film; ‘Carry On Emmannuelle’?
JH: Nope, never seen it.
CP: Do you think that the magic had gone by then?
JH: No question about it. Rogers always used to say that the title ‘Carry On’ was the star, that was just a cosy way of him getting off paying us big money. Take poor Joan Sims. I understand that she died virtually destitute – that should never have happened. Had we been in America and have had the Screen Actors Guild it would have been very different. We even went to Equity in the 1960’s. It took them another 30 years to make the changes to protect actors in a similar position. They didn’t make the changes until 1993. Tolly Rothwell (Scriptwriter) worked very cheaply, I think he was paid about £3000 a pop, appalling money. The jokes just became predictable and they were constantly reusing them from the bottom draw.
CP: So, when they attempted to resurrect the series in 1992 with ‘Carry On Columbus’ were you approached? Would you have done it?
JH: No, I was in America by then and when I became a man I put away childish things! (laughs). I made my thoughts plain way back that I was not in the market to do anymore. It wasn’t even a consideration. The quality of some of the work on the ‘Carry On’s’ was iffy at best. I am not remotely proud of my involvement in the films.
CP: Did you keep in touch with any of the core team after you had finished?
JH: Not per se. Barbara (Windsor) and I bumped into each other here and there, but I didn’t really keep in touch with anyone. Of course, on the films we were all together and it was great but after we finished we went our own way. I have stayed in touch with dear Angela Douglas and indeed went to her book launch at Hatchards a few weeks ago.
CP: It was great to see you on ‘Carry On Forever’ though a few years ago.
JH: Yes, they sent a crew over to interview me in the States. Well, I was very to the point and didn’t hold back about the films during the interview for ‘Forever’. ITV didn’t want that though it and it was cleverly edited together. It was horribly bland to be honest.
CP: So, you are back in the UK for the time being, will we be seeing you in the West End or on the TV anytime soon?
JH: Theatre, no. I’m done with that. It is a young man’s game. TV, yes. I did a bit in Stephen Poliakoff’s ‘Summer of Rockets’ for the BBC that should be on, I think, in the New Year.
My sincere thanks to Julian for his time, for sharing his memories with me and for providing the unseen pictures from 'Carry On Camping' above.
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