Peter Wyngarde; Featured Artist for 21/01/18

Trying to unravel Peter Wyngarde's early life would tax super sleuth/author Jason King himself. According to Wyngarde he was born Peter Paul Wyngarde on 23rd of August 1933 in Marseille, France. His mother was French and his father was British. Wyngarde’s father worked for the British Diplomatic Service in Hong Kong, Malaya, Singapore and India. Peter also claimed to be the nephew of French actor and director, Louis Jouvet. Other evidence suggests Wyngarde was born Cyril Louis Goldbert and lived in Shanghai during the Second World War. Author J.G. Ballard has claimed to have known Wyngarde as Cyril Goldbert when they were both interned in Lunghua; a Japanese camp in Shanghai for European and American citizens (who had still been living in China just before the outbreak of war). Whatever the truth of his childhood, Peter Wyngarde started appearing in plays in Britain in 1946; he even appeared opposite Alec Guinness in a production of Hamlet in London. Of the many theatre roles he played, Wyngarde considered his Cyrano de Bergerac at the Bristol Old Vic in 1959 to be the highlight of his career. In addition to his theatre work, he started appearing in film and television. In 1956 he appeared with Richard Burton in Alexander the Great and in 1959 he was given the lead role in the adaption of Julien Green's South (originally Sud). South is believed to be the first television play in Britain to have an overtly homosexual theme. In 1962 he played the lead in the occult thriller Night of the Eagle (which was sensationally renamed Burn Witch Burn in the US to appeal to the drive-in movie market). One of the film roles that Wyngarde is best remembered for however, is his work in the 1961 classic psychological horror film The Innocents with Deborah Kerr. In the late 60's Wyngarde was appearing in the many UK sci-fi action spy TV shows as guest star. These included The Saint, The Champions, The Baron; he even ‘crossed the pond’ to appear in an episode of I Spy. Peter’s two most notable guest appearances were opposite Mrs.Peel and Steed in The Avengers episode Queen of Sin and also, as one of the many ‘Number Two’ characters in Patrick McGoohan's surreal series, The Prisoner (episode Checkmate). Eventually Peter Wyngarde got to be one of three leads in a UK sci-fi spy TV show in 1969, playing fictional character, ‘Jason King’ in Department S. Jason King was a dapper hedonistic ladies man and bestselling author, who was supposedly brought into ‘Department S’ for his unconventional creative thinking. The character ‘Jason King’ was reputedly based on author Ian Flemming (writer of the ‘James Bond’ series of thrillers). Peter’s portrayal of ‘Jason King’ became so popular that eventually, there was a TV spin off entitled, naturally, ‘Jason King’. Wyngarde’s dress sense and style (in real life as well as on screen) was so garish that he won the "best dressed male personality" award in 1970. Gentlemen about town started to copy Wyngarde’s droopy moustache, wide-lapelled three-piece suits, cravat and brightly covered open neck shirts revealing a forest of chest hair (always adorned with a medallion, a habit which would eventually become an iconic cliche for ‘70s male fashions). Some sources even suggest that more newborns were being named ‘Jason’ during the time of ‘Department S’ and the ‘Jason King’ series; mere coincidence, or clear indication of just how popular Wyngarde and his portrayal of ‘Jason King’ were and that you have ‘made it’ as a figure of popular culture? Another thing tells you you've ‘made it’ is when you get to record your own album, which is what happened in 1970. Peter was offered a recording contract with RCA. The result of the project, simply entitled Peter Wyngarde, was a strange album (to say the least). Mixing spoken word and music, consisting of very unusual (in some cases taboo) topics, the record addressed subjects not usually approached by your everyday cash-in-pop LP. The album sold out almost immediately but the reviews were so mixed and the subject matter of some of the tracks on the album so controversial, that Peter’s three-record contract with RCA was terminated. It is difficult to know whether it was the ambiguous success of his first album, or if it was simply the changing attitudes of society at large but by 1972, Wyngarde’s popularity was on the wane. After the conclusion of Jason King, Peter Wyngarde retreated back into theatreland. Wingarde played, among other roles, the lead in The King and I at the Adelphi in London. He also starred with Raymond Burr in the thriller play Underground about twelve people trapped in a London Underground train carriage (a production which played in Toronto and London). In 1980 he returned to filmic media with an appearance as the masked character ‘Klytus' in the campy classic Flash Gordon and then continued on, to guest star in other TV shows such as Doctor Who, Hammer House of Mystery & Suspense and The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes. Worked flowed steadily for Peter, until a throat infection forced his semi-retirement in 1995. He continued to be generous with his time, however, always willing to talk about his past glories to fans. He also frequently appeared on DVD extras and documentaries such as the 2013 BBC Radio 3 Night Waves edition on The Innocents. ( If you would like to hear this broadcast, please follow the link http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02tw7hw. ) Returning briefly to the subject of Wyngarde’s solo recording career, after the termination of his contract with RCA, Peter never did make another album. (Rumour has it that no other recording company would go near him, either.) The controversial record itself, released originally in 1970 was almost completely forgotten, until the mid 90’s, when trip-hop DJs rediscovered it and started dropping tracks from it into their sets. This eventually led to a re-release of the album (on CD) in 1998, under the (perhaps more appropriate, or at least descriptive) name: When Sex Leers Its Inquisitive Head. On a final note, Wingarde's legacy lives on in the popular Austin Powers movies, where creator Mike Myers stated that Wyngarde's 'Jason King' was one of his main inspirations for 'Austin' (especially the dress sense). Peter Wyngarde passed away on 15th January 2018; according to the papers, he was 90 (although by his own admission, Wyngarde was mere a lad of 85; either way, 'good innings' as we say in the UK). Next Week’s Featured Artist: Mark E. Smith