Gary Lockwood, who played astronaut Frank Poole in 2001: A Space Odyssey recalls telling Arthur C Clarke the movie’s fortunes would pick up when it was shown in Los Angeles, after a less than auspicious premiere on the US east coast.
“I ran into Warren Beatty and Gene Hackman. I knew Warren from working on ‘Splendor in the Grass,’ and he couldn’t believe what Stanley had achieved. ‘You’re the luckiest guy alive,’ he told me.” In London, John Lennon’s mind was well and truly blown, and “he bought two tickets to every showing in Leicester Square for a year. He gave ‘em away to young people without money. “So the film had quite an impact.”
Half the fun of hearing Lockwood speak, as I did a couple of years ago, is in his delivery. He must have met everyone that was anyone during the 60s, and doesn’t hold back the fact.
Comments are closed. Please send a message if you want though.