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SHE MAGAZINE - MAY 1974 by ROMANY BAIN
OLIVER TOBIAS
Oliver Tobias is the first six-footer to be dragged horizontally to an interview with me by a large shaggy dog. I didn’t think anyone could take the limelight away from SHE’s dishiest pin-up of 1973 - but I had reckoned without his blond companion, Bran.
I was waiting in the tiny oakbeamed bar when suddenly the door flew open and this polar-bear-sized Irish wolfhound leapt in with panting master in tow. After muzzling the length of the counter without lifting a paw off the ground, sweeping a couple of menus off nearby low tables with his tail, and giving the regulars a friendly chest-high once over, he yanked Oliver to my corner, draped his nine stone frame over his master’s feet and took no further interest in the proceedings.
"He’s only a puppy," gasped Mr Tobias indulgently.
"I haven’t got used to the English climate yet", he said, teeth chattering despite his monster footmuff. "Last week I was wandering over coral reefs and under palm trees in the buff. My girlfriend and I visited the Maldive Islands after four months filming in Ceylon. You can only get to the Islands by boat and there are only two cars, one of which belongs to the President. It’s the first place I’ve ever been to where to wear clothes would be indecent. It seemed perfectly natural to shed them. Coming back here and finding everyone wrapped in scarves and pullovers is quite strange."
Oliver came full-frontally to fame six years ago on the opening night of Hair in which he played the leading role of Berger. More chastely chain-mailed, he has recently starred as the legendary king in HTV’s £500,000 series, Arthur of the Britons.
He has a grave manner and a remote aura- explained, perhaps, by his genuine love of the simple life and wide open spaces.
"I don’t like living in cities. I’m not into parties or the social scene; I don’t fit. I was born under Leo, and I have a touch of the sun-worshipper in me. I need to see the sun each morning and I go with it whenever I can. If I can’t see an expanse of sky over my head, I feel I’m missing out."
He lives with his girlfriend in a Tudor beamed cottage in the Chilterns. Life may be basic, but he has a Ferrari in the garage. I don’t believe Oliver has ever been on the bread line.
"It is very isolated there. You have to cross a cattle grid and a couple of fields to get to us, and it’s miles to get food. But I’m never bored. I keep fit chopping wood and stacking the fire. I’m a very good cook and my specialities are Beef Stroganoff, omelettes and rice. I even wash up sometimes.
"I love walking, or driving around in a jeep. But above all, horses are my passion."
"Why horses?"
"They have innocent minds, can’t answer back, and can’t lie. They move beautifully and can carry you anywhere. They have been bred for thousands of years and are such noble creatures I think men are lucky to be allowed to live with them and count them among their friends."
I was bereft of speech after this equine paean, and nervous of the answer to my next question. I need not have worried - he likes women too.
"Those who turn me on are the ones who make themselves aesthetically attractive for themselves, not for men. I like a woman who makes life more colourful because she is feminine. Feminity is going out of style. I loathe women who try to be like men. I hate slovenliness and untogetherness in women. A woman must have the confidence to be herself for herself - not to attract me."
He left me to ponder this statement while he collected a second vodka and a couple of bangers and pickled onions. Bran looked up hopefully.
"He eats more than a horse", he said giving Bran a morsel. "A meal is the equivalent of two big tins of meat and a bowl of dog meal, with a couple of arm-sized bones for dessert."
"Tell me about the film in Ceylon."
"It’s called The God King and is based on a traditional fifth century story of an ancient king who had two sons. One flipped out and made himself into a God. He built himself a palace high on a 660’ rock. I play a Mephistophelean cousin. It is the first film to be made over there with a mixed crew and a Ceylonese director."
"Did you enjoy it?"
"Very much. It is the total antithesis of life in the West. It is timeless and the values are different. I arrived to find my luggage had been lost. I bought a toothbrush and went out on location, and there were monkeys playing in the trees outside my window. It was like a strange rebirth."
"Did you ride out there?"
"I learned to control an elephant. Imagine being driven in intense heat to a jungle clearing for a battle sequence, donning a sword and being faced by a great beast who can uproot trees and turn a car into scrap metal. You learn to step on its foot and the mahout levers you up. Your legs are straddled wide behind its ears. You dig your heels in and push backwards to go forwards and reverse for the other way. It was incredible.
"They say elephants never forget. At one o’clock on the dot they all needed water. Whatever happened on set, there was no way to stop them... One day an idiot first assistant decided that it was the mahout’s idea.
"‘Tell the flipping mahout we need the elephant till two,’ he shouted. It took off into the jungle and didn’t stop for 16 miles!"
Oliver was born in Zurich 25 years ago - his father was Swiss and his mother a famous German classical actress, Maria Becker. Neither he nor his younger brother had any idea of following their footsteps.
At ten he came to a boarding school in England. "I wouldn’t say I had an entirely happy childhood, but I had an interesting one. I enjoyed school and liked sport. I got my Os, but when it came to A level exams, I suddenly realised how painful and pointless it was to be given just two hours to write all I knew. So I left, went back to Switzeland and joined a rock and roll group - till I lost my voice.
"At my mother’s suggestion I then joined the East Fifteen Acting School run by Margaret Betry, who had worked with Joan Littlewood. The school allowed for spontaneity among pupils - teachers didn’t hark on about what the older generation can teach the young, which usually stifles all their original talent and ideas."
Two weeks before starting at the school he auditioned for Hair.
The first night was a land-mark in British theatre. What was it like to be part of it?
"The most extraordinary experience of my life. I was sick and overworked, but I remember the feeling of walking on and being aware of the silent audience. Suddenly they exploded. It was a happening."
"How long did this feeling last ?"
"About four months, then it just became a show. It nearly killed me. It was two-and-a-half hours eight times a week. After a year, it sapped my youth and broke me, finally. My knee went and I had to go to hospital. I played it again in Holland, and finally choreographed the production in Israel."
"How did you feel about the nude scene?"
"In context it was perfect. It was the only possible way to show that ridding yourself of clothes frees you. I wouldn’t do blue movies or strip on any occasion unless I believed it was aesthetically right. I don’t just drop it for anyone," he smiled.
Two films, Romance of a Horse Thief and the controversial ‘Tis Pity She’s a Whore made with Charlotte Rampling in 1971 kept him busy until Arthur of the Britons.
"I got the part because they saw me riding. For the test I just had to leap on a horse. There was a lack of imagination in the series. But I enjoyed it, and it was a success. There aren’t enough legends in the world. I love them. Especially Irish ones - the name Bran comes from an Irish legend."
At the sound of his name, Bran indicated that he thought it was time for some exercise, and who was I to argue? So we cantered along the river towpath towards Oliver’s parked jeep.
For the fans to whom personal idiosyncrasies are like golden nuggets I elicited the following facts - Oliver is tidy, non-superstitious, immensely lucky, "thinks about marriage", is normally frugal with the odd blinding extravagance, feels his greatest fault is "an abundance of trust" and buys beautiful material on his travels which he has made up to his own designs.
He is a talented young man who said to me that he "does what he enjoys and enjoys what he does."
As he waved goodbye, with Bran beside him, and set off back to the Chilterns, I envied him.