Michael Winner

Desert Island Discs: Archive 2005-2010

BBC

Society & Culture, Personal Journals

4.4 • 804 Ratings

🗓️ 9 October 2005

⏱️ 35 minutes

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Summary

Sue Lawley's castaway this week is the film director Michael Winner. Michael Winner is a film-maker, restaurant critic and columnist who has been called Britain's 'Jester Laureate'. He has enjoyed a career spanning 30 years as a director, working with Orson Welles, Marlon Brando and Faye Dunaway as well as being the man behind the controversial Death Wish films starring Charles Bronson. Born in October 1935, the only son of Helen and George Winner, Michael was a shy and sometimes lonely child. Even as a very young boy he knew he wanted to be connected to the movie industry - projecting shadow pictures and devising his own commentary when he was only five years old. At the age of 14 he was given his own showbusiness column in his local paper - which was syndicated across more than two dozen titles. It gave Michael access to some of the biggest stars of the time, including Nat King Cole, Bob Hope, the Marx Brothers.

His first film, This is Belgium, was notable for being largely shot in East Grinstead. He says that while he admires directors who tackle social issues, he always wanted to be part of the glamour of Hollywood, making films that weren't to be taken too seriously and that were just a bit of fun.

[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs]

Favourite track: Charge and Battle by Sir William Walton Book: The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger Luxury: Big supply of caviar

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi, it's Nicola Cochlin. Young people have been making history for years, but we don't often hear about them. My brand new series on BBC Sounds sets out to put this right. In history's youngest heroes, I'll be revealing the fascinating stories of 12 young people who've played a major role in history and who've helped shape our world. Like Audrey Hepburn, Nelson Mandela, Louis Braille and Lady Jane Grey, history's youngest
0:25.4	heroes with me, Nicola Cochlin. Listen on BBC Sounds.
0:30.7	Hello, I'm Krista Young and this is a podcast from the Desert Island Discs Archive.
0:35.6	For rights reasons, we've had to shorten the music.
0:38.8	The program was originally broadcast in 2005,
0:42.2	and the presenter was Sue Lawley.
0:44.2	Music My castaway this week is a film director and restaurant critic.
1:03.7	If that sounds an unusual combination, it's because this is an unusual man.
1:08.2	On the outside, flamboyant and self-promoting, he claims to be actually rather shy,
1:13.6	and his friends attest to this. Brought up in a beautiful house in West London, in which he still
1:18.4	lives, by a mother who gambled and a property-developing father, he went to Cambridge and then
1:23.9	into the film industry. His first film was called This Is Belgium and was made entirely in East Grinstead.
1:30.2	He graduated two successful British films such as The Jokers,
1:33.8	and I'll Never Forget What's His Name,
1:35.6	and then went to Hollywood where he enjoyed a hugely successful career
1:39.1	as the man behind the Death Wish trilogy with Charles Bronson,
1:42.7	as well as nearly 30 other movies.
1:45.4	More recently, he's become a restaurant critic with the Sunday Times, translating into print
1:50.1	the energy and it has to be said the occasional mayhem that he once enjoyed putting on the
1:55.0	screen. The only person I have to answer to for my behaviour, my attitude and my activities, he says, is myself.
2:02.9	He is Michael Winner.
2:04.7	And when you answer to yourself, Michael, what do you say?
	...

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