My name is Richard Jensen.

I have a very special guest today.

Manners considered the actor's actor by many in the motion picture and television profession.

His name is Max von Sito. 00:00:59.740 --> 00:01:2.010 He is currently starring in Flash Gordon. 00:01:2.020 --> 00:01:5.180 He's playing Ming the Merciless does a bang up job of It's a Great movie. 00:01:5.190 --> 00:01:5.720 Go see it. 00:01:5.980 --> 00:01:8.790 We've got some clips for you that we're gonna show you and discuss those with him. 00:01:9.400 --> 00:01:23.180 As far as current events are concerned, I guess the most newsworthy thing happening right now is of course, they cremated John Lennon in New York, and Yoko Ono has announced that she would like everyone to maintain a silent vigil on Sunday.

In his memory, Grace Slick, the former lead vocalist for the rock groups that Jefferson Starship has announced.

She wants to do movies.

She wants to play Darth Vader's wife and the upcoming Star Wars sequel.

So that ought to be, I think, interesting.

Uh, Greta Garbo is ending her 40 year retirement.

She is going to come back.

She's Swedish, But yeah, she's got coming back to remake the movie.

The saga of Ghost a Birling, which was the first movie she ever made in 1924.

She's been in retirement for 40 years and has rarely been seen since.

1941 said. 00:01:59.610 --> 00:02:0.900 That ought to be very interesting. 00:02:1.540 --> 00:02:6.820 Brooke Shields, since her appearance in the movie Blue Lagoon, has been receiving umpteen 1000 fan letters. 00:02:6.830 --> 00:02:12.310 I guess a week she is trying to answer all of them, according to a recent news release.

And she even makes telephone calls to the more disturbing fans who writer and tell him they're contemplating suicide or that they don't measure up to their parents or whatever.

So I guess we should give her a gold star for that and stop jumping all over her for doing Calvin Klein ads.

Uh, believe it or not, Chuck Berry, the original rock and roller is in a time capsule, not him personally, but the image of him singing Johnny B.

Goode is in the time capsule that is hurtling through space right now, and it is supposedly going to be out there for the next 40,000 years. 00:02:47.430 --> 00:03:2.530 And according to one of the NASA engineers that put this little tape along with some other pieces of American culture in the capsule, he felt that people billions of years, light years away should be able to see what goes on in Little Planet called Earth. 00:03:2.540 --> 00:03:4.470 So we'll have to ask Ming the merciless. 00:03:6.070 --> 00:03:9.160 We're gonna go to a commercial and we'll be right back with Max von Sydow. 00:04:7.540 --> 00:04:14.480 We are back with a very special guest, Max von Sito, who is here in town promoting his new motion picture.

Flash Gordon.

Welcome.

Thank you.

You had a nice trip in?

Yes.

Now this you were telling me was your first promotional tour.

Yes, it is.

I have course done.

A lot of interviews connected with so opening nights.

Well, we welcome that, but I've never been traveling like this before.

Is the first time it's interesting.

Are you a homebody?

You?

Do you like to travel?

I have been forced to travel because of my work on this.

Last year has been a very Mary busy year.

The man with the suitcase living in a suitcase now for months, more or less. 00:04:53.670 --> 00:05:0.850 But it's been nice, having traveled so much, what is the most out of the way exotic or different place you've been to film a movie? 00:05:1.440 --> 00:05:3.310 Uh, I don't know. 00:05:3.410 --> 00:05:16.620 Maybe maybe Bora Bora, where we shot Hurricane a couple of years ago in the South Seas with me with Mia Farrow and Trevor Howard.

Jason.

Robots like others.

Do you have a favorite rule?

What do you mean?

That I have that you have played the high place.

Something that sticks in your mind and you go, Ah, that was Well, that was good.

Yes, I think I have quite a few.

I was in something called the Immigrants on the New Land about 10 years ago, which was a wonderful story.

Wonderful part, Andi.

I enjoy doing it very much, and I like these to feel very much. 00:05:46.200 --> 00:06:0.810 And then my very first American picture, which was called the greatest story of a toll, which was based on the life of Christ Waas a very, very extraordinary experience on, uh then, of course, the Exorcist. 00:06:1.940 --> 00:06:7.360 And maybe you saw something called a very good filler called Three Days of the Convoys. 00:06:7.960 --> 00:06:9.930 I played an interesting village.

Yes, Bluebell.

You remember a friend of mine has a videotape of this, and I think he watches it once a week.

Uh, it's a good Robert Redford fanatic.

Well, he was very good in that is Max fancied Oh, very critical of himself.

Does he watch himself on screen and say, Oh, I should have done that all wrong?

Yes.

I want to see my films when I've done them to check on if what I try to do really came through.

But, uh, yes, I'm critical.

I think so.

Do you like to accept rolls where you have to go through a lot of making like the Exorcist or Ming?

Sometimes not always.

Sometimes you get sick and tired of all this. 00:06:52.230 --> 00:07:2.430 But But sometimes if it is interesting, like The Exorcist, that was a challenge because Father Merrin in The Exorcist had to be so many years older than I. 00:07:3.240 --> 00:07:13.010 And that's also, of course, very much because I knew that Dick Smith, the master makeup artists of New York, would do it.

And, uh, I knew him.

I had met him before that time.

He didn't have to do that much with my face.

But this time it was just It was a pleasure to see how it did.

All this is a tough to make a personality show through all that.

It feels a character that well, yes, you have to.

You have to kind of play up to the makeup.

You have to find a way to really be safe is to synchronize yourself with your makeup, or rather maybe synchronize your makeup with the way you are going to do it.

I think, Didn't you have you ever tried?

I've never done anything makeup.

I'm never generally just the usual pan and under the eyes and go to it quick television. 00:08:0.640 --> 00:08:1.120 It's fun. 00:08:1.130 --> 00:08:2.030 I've done it before. 00:08:2.030 --> 00:08:7.120 I've done it in other films, but never in all through the film like The Exorcist. 00:08:7.130 --> 00:08:15.670 But being in a couple of films where I have aged from being young in the beginning to Orsay is 65 70 at the end.

Then it's such a short circuit, in short, a couple of days worth of film, Yes, and that is fun to do with Ming the Merciless.

Now you're big man, you're tall.

There were times when Ming was so oriental, almost that it seemed like so small but so evil.

How did you project that?

You looked very, you know, the Oriental are shortened statues.

What I'm saying, It almost looked like that was not Max von Saito up there it was.

I mean, I don't know how you project something like there's a body language or is it just our interpretation?

I think I didn't Really I don't think Ming is in this version, very oriental. 00:08:52.370 --> 00:09:2.160 He has just say, inherited the beard, which, Well, I shouldn't say this, but it is kind of it said, What would you call it? 00:09:2.170 --> 00:09:6.030 A goatee which will ensure you call it that. 00:09:6.350 --> 00:09:7.950 It's anyway, it is. 00:09:8.320 --> 00:09:10.090 Say what you say.

It is just long.

Yeah, And they are crooked like this.

And with this beard false beard in the mornings when I arrived to the make up chair hanging on that maybe hanging close to the mirrors.

So I always, you know, I always thought of of frogs.

Legs look like frogs legs.

Someone was Nobody walked up to you.

And yeah, I never did.

We have a clip of a piece of flash Gordon, the emptying your mind clip.

Do you want to set this up for one little girl?

Well, no.

I can tell you what it's about.

It it means with the Dr Zarkov, who is Ming's prisoner. 00:09:54.240 --> 00:10:1.520 If Ming doesn't want to kill Dr Zarkov Because he thinks that Zach off is a clever man and he might be able to use him for something. 00:10:1.530 --> 00:10:6.330 But it doesn't like Zarkov humanity on noble nature. 00:10:6.340 --> 00:10:8.500 So he wants to kind of dehumanize him. 00:10:8.510 --> 00:10:11.910 Andi, For that reason, he puts him through a terrible ordeal.

But before this, he gives him a few interesting information.

This is this is C Okay, roll the clip.

What's in our border?

People who help you.

Why Prince bearing does anything?

I ask that Sark off.

It's nothing that just conditioned him to our climate.

Keep out of side what is both killed.

Trust me.

Every 1000 years, I test each life system in the universe.

I visit it with mysteries, earthquakes, unpredicted eclipses, strange craters in the wilderness. 00:11:0.510 --> 00:11:6.150 If these are taken as natural, I judge that system ignorant in Amish, my spelling. 00:11:7.840 --> 00:11:14.830 But if the happening is recognized in these events, I judge that system dangerous twist.

I call upon the great God dies and and for his greater glory and our mutual pleasure, I destroy it utterly.

You're saying it's my fault.

Earth is being destroyed?

Precisely.

I thought it might amuse you to know this before your mind is gone.

Proceed with it. 00:12:0.040 --> 00:12:0.770 What are you doing? 00:12:3.940 --> 00:12:6.120 Oh, we're just empty your mind. 00:12:6.470 --> 00:12:6.950 What? 00:12:7.540 --> 00:12:12.050 We are going to empty your memory as we might empty your pockets.

Dr.

Don't do that.

Please.

I beg you.

My bike is a boy.

I spent my whole life trying to fill it.

Begin.

We're back with Max von Cedo, one of the stars.

Flash Gordon replacement.

Merciless as you could see the clip.

Do you find it hard living up to the reputation of being such a fine actor?

I mean, do you have to struggled to find parts that you feel challenges that will broaden your horizons? 00:13:0.310 --> 00:13:1.020 Sometimes? 00:13:1.020 --> 00:13:1.600 Yes. 00:13:2.840 --> 00:13:3.720 Sometimes. 00:13:3.940 --> 00:13:20.570 What I what I have difficulties doing is mainly to find parts which, uh, different enough from the things I've done before because I I I like diversity.

I like I was brought up in Sweden where we don't have large audiences where we never have long runs in the theaters.

So we had really know very rich don't last whether it No, I'm talking about theatre productive.

So we had to change our parts all the time.

Which was wonderful, particularly when when?

When you are young and want to prove yourself and being on the firing line.

Yes, and you'll get good parts and big parts on very different parts.

All that I started out because I didn't really look like, say the well. 00:13:59.320 --> 00:14:2.870 The primo Amaro's over off the times. 00:14:2.870 --> 00:14:5.280 I started out as a very, very old man. 00:14:5.320 --> 00:14:12.650 For example, I played all the old grandfather's for several years in Swedish theory, but that was very good.

It was a good school, although it took me a while when I finally get when I got parts closer to my own age, too, to kind of relax from all the old man mannerism.

What did you play in?

Kind of a hot tin roof.

I played Brick.

Did you?

That was when I had kind of go back to my own age.

Yeah, as I played that here.

Oh, did you?

Years ago.

That's a wonderful title of apart.

Oh, that's all that tea you have to drink.

You have to run off stage.

Every time they gave you this happened that happened.

Uh, with the character of me, it's not exactly what you would call a deep motion picture. 00:14:59.940 --> 00:15:3.580 No, there's been a lot of bad publicity about Sam Jones. 00:15:4.000 --> 00:15:6.210 A lot of his arguing with the producers. 00:15:6.220 --> 00:15:6.750 Yeah. 00:15:6.750 --> 00:15:7.490 How did you find him? 00:15:7.490 --> 00:15:8.440 Was he easy to work with? 00:15:8.440 --> 00:15:8.820 Was he? 00:15:8.930 --> 00:15:10.520 He was a very nice person.

I was very fond of him and I liked him very much.

I think he he does very well in the picture.

He personifies the good young man very well.

I believe that he believes in his cause.

And I'm sorry for the bad publicity has got.

And I think I have a suspicion there.

I think people are very, very jealous of, particularly the mail critics, but I may be wrong.

However, I think he deserves better.

Well, he had a tough job trying.

Yes, she had to fill Buster Crabbe shoes on.

Yes.

Yes.

Is overwhelming publicity that alone?

Oh, yes. 00:15:55.010 --> 00:16:1.560 Working with the technical ca proves that you had to work with and most of these space movies. 00:16:1.560 --> 00:16:2.090 I understand. 00:16:2.090 --> 00:16:2.880 Shot in England. 00:16:3.000 --> 00:16:4.410 Oh, the whole thing was shot in England. 00:16:4.410 --> 00:16:7.870 Yeah, the Superman were shot in England and the Star Wars were shot in England. 00:16:8.540 --> 00:16:10.800 Is that just because, you know that's because of the technical?

I don't know.

Maybe Probably because they're used to this by now.

They know the Empire strikes back was shot on the same studio where we were and maybe even Superman to I don't know.

I don't know where.

Superman.

The first Superman was shot.

I know it was.

Most of it was shot in England.

One of the things I want to ask you about shooting in England.

I noticed that when you, when a villain or an actor who was playing villain or one of the characters comes out and speaks with accent other than American accent, it kind of almost gives it that feeling of being from somewhere else, which I don't know.

If it helps, it hurts it.

Did you ever notice that?

I guess that's the idea.

I think that Sam Jones and Military Anderson are the only two Americans in our picture. 00:17:0.400 --> 00:17:4.670 And all the restaurants are either English, Italian or Swedish. 00:17:5.570 --> 00:17:18.730 And, uh uh, that is supposed to be I don't know what mongo gold would sound like, but that is what we are supposed to speak.

I produce.

Did you research for me?

No.

Well, I wouldn't call it research.

I tried to.

I read a lot of comic books on Flash Gordon to find out whether Ming had any particular tricks that he did in certain situations.

But I couldn't really find anything.

I hadn't seen the Buster Crabbe movies when I started doing this.

But later on, when I saw some of them, I realized that obviously, uh, Charles Middle had set gestures that he used.

Did you see those?

Really? 00:17:53.900 --> 00:18:0.500 Yet I just hope that people who did see them I will not miss these drinks, right? 00:18:1.040 --> 00:18:2.910 They see this picture, I do other things. 00:18:4.540 --> 00:18:5.500 You need to do this a lot. 00:18:6.050 --> 00:18:9.230 Well, it's almost reminiscent of Bogart The Caine Mutiny. 00:18:9.230 --> 00:18:10.340 That kind of went no.

Well, I do something which I I My intention is that waas that one should get the impressive impression that Ming is is very eager to do something.