Friday Flashback: Michael Parkinson
Parky once noted older interview subjects to be amongst his favourites, so here he is with Dame Edith Evans & 96 year old Catherine Bramwell-Booth.
- Published by David Knox
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The late Michael Parkinson once lamented that despite all the interviews he had done he was frequently remembered for the ones that went awry, such as Meg Ryan or a young Helen Mirren.
Or hilarious footag with Dame Edna and Rod Hull with Emu.
Parky, a Dignity in Care Ambassador in the UK, also said, “I have met many inspirational old people who have made me feel ok about growing old. People always ask me who was my favourite interviewee. I am unable to give an answer, but what I can say is that the most extraordinary group of people I have enjoyed interviewing have been without a single shadow of a doubt old people, because they had really lived a life and were unafraid of speaking the truth.”
Here is is with the great English actress Dame Edith Evans, and another with 96 year old Catherine Bramwell-Booth, granddaughter of William Booth, the founder of the Salvation Army.
Both show his natural flair at engaging with his interview subjects.
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2 Responses
A further thought, and something I reckon is also true of Andrew Denton who many (including me) think was also very good at the long interview, the interview is not about them. Looking from the outside, it seems Parky and Denton have their respective egos well and truly in check. In the ABC comedy Frontline from yesteryear, the Brooke Vandenberg character exaggerated this with the editing of her interviews such that there was more of her nodding, laughing etc. very funny. Looking back at all the Parky interviews, it is so obvious now that he asked open ended questions, allowed for long pauses to be filled by the guest and you could go for what seemed minutes without seeing Parky. The focus was literally on the guest. Parkinson has said that his show couldn’t work today because of the media landscape and we know almost everything about people. Shame.
He made it look so simple, which of course it wasn’t.