Good morning,
I worked in films and tv for 32 years and had a great time. (1966-1998)
In life we all have to work to earn a living and I found a job I loved

This is how it all started,,,,,,,,,,,,
Harry Fielder Interview
Cassandra Bell
July 28, 2005
I recently interviewed Harry Fielder.
Bell: How did you get your start in the movie industry?
Fielder: It all started for me in 1958 when I bought a second hand guitar and played my first gig in a local pub. Me and a friend learned six songs and went out to play Rock 'n Roll. We soon updated to electric guitars and played some good music for the next eight years. One night after the gig a guy ask me if I wanted to do a couple of days on a tv series as an extra. That two days turned into 32 years. (see web site)
Extra! Extra! Read all about it!
Bell: What were some of the movies in which you starred?
Fielder: I never got to star in any movies because I was a bit player and that suited me fine. Every movie or TV show has bit players that come in and out of scenes (I'm the man that knocks on the lead actor's door and says "I've come to fix the roof") but that way I could work on a new show everyday.
Bell: Who are some of the actors/actresses that you have become acquainted with, over the years? Any stories about that to share with us?
Fielder: I have met many top actors and you are friends for a day or two whilst working with them. When I look back and think of the actors I've worked with it's like a who's who of the best of acting talent. If I start to name names I could fill this page up. But if folks read my full story they will find people like James Cagney, Robert Mitchum, Tony Curtis, Rod Stieger..John Wayne.. and all in the confines of the UK.
Bell: What were some of the most challenging roles for you in the movies and why?
Fielder: Never really had a challenging role. Just got on with the job in hand..Go on set, say the words and don't fall over the furniture. I did fall a couple of times but two in 800 is ok.
Bell: What were some of your favorite movie roles to play and why?
Fielder: In 1982 an agent sent me down to a tv studio to do one day's work as a security guard extra. One day's work that turned into three years as a co-presenter on a live kids show. The kids called me ''Dopey Harry'' but I wasn't that dopey. I stayed for three years.
Bell: What were some of your most memorable moments? Any bloopers or behind the scenes stories to share with us?
Fielder: Working with Alfred Hitchcock on the film "Frenzy" was the most memorable moment. He was my all time hero and those memories are still with me.
AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON?Director John Landis?
Central Casting must have sent 200-300 people down to Piccadilly for a night shoot on this production. None of us knew anything about the scenes we were going to be involved in so we just hung around coffee bars (Or other bars) chatting and having a night out in The West End.
About 1 o'clock in the morning the production team gathered us all together and told us the scenes they were about to do. (You ain?t gonna believe this). A WEREWOLF is going to be running out of a cinema in Piccadilly Circus straight across Eros causing cars to crash and have people falling out of bus windows. (I?m thinking this will do the tourist trade the world of good) On a cue from the 1st A.D. the real police clear the roads of all late night Joe Public.
The Central Casting crowd are all given places to stand and out of the woodwork comes our buses and cars and stunt people. We?ve got permission to hold up traffic for half an hour and John Landis had multi camera crews covering every angle. It was over as quickly as it began and as soon as the camera?s stopped rolling the wrecking crews were in there clearing the wrecked cars and sweeping the streets clean again. An hour later it was like we?d never been. (See the film just to see this sequence) Well done, John Landis?
RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK-Director Steven Spielberg?Elstree Studios?
Cast: Harrison Ford, Karen Allen
A great joy to watch Mr Spielberg at work.. The whole sequence was set out on storyboards. A master of his craft?
There?s about twenty of the chaps. And it?s near the end of the film where the bad guys find The Ark and all us bad guys are going to get our just desserts. When The Ark is opened strange things start to happen and strong winds and sand are blown all over the set. Steven tells us to react to strange ghost like creatures coming out of the Ark. He?d point at us and shout above the noise of the wind, ??It?s coming for you now react, now it?s got you round the face, react to it.?? George Lucas was standing next to Steven at times and seemed to be enjoying the action.
Harrison and Karen were tied to a stake at the time so I couldn?t get any help from that quarter?
Of course all the special effects are put onto screen months later as is most films these days?
I read Steven Spielberg?s life story and he didn?t always have it easy. And the last word on this tale must go to Harrison Ford?s stand/in? Jack (Chalky) Dearlove, who is still working for him.
BATMAN- Director Tim Burton?
Cast: Jack Nicholson, Tim Burton, Kim Basinger
A couple of nights on this as a Supporting Artist and, although it was cold, what makes me remember this film is Jack Nicholson leaning over a high balcony and saying to some of the boys "Just look at it this way guys, another day another $100,000s (I think we were on £50 a night).
FIRST KNIGHT- Director Jerry Zucker?Pinewood Studios?
Cast: Sean Connery, Richard Gere, Julia Ormond, Ben Cross.
I make my way to a place called Ivinghoe Beacon which sits on top of a big hill..(It looks more like a small mountain than a hill to us ex city old boys)They?ve built a village on the top of the hill and me and another fifty Supporting Artists are to be simple villagers.
It seems the bad guy (Ben Cross) is going to send his men in to pillage our village. The scenes go like this..All the villagers are scared when they see twenty men dressed in black (Bad guys) riding down the hill towards them. All of a sudden the horses stop at the entrance to the village and one of the cast members shouts to us, ??Why have they stopped???My old mate (now deceased) Bill (hat and coat) shouts back ???cause they haven?t had their Weetabix??
This didn?t go down too well with the director but he carried on. As the horses come charging in we all have to flee in all directions and try to hide. The 1st A.D. Chris wants to give me a bit of business to do. ??Aitch, as the horses come charging past I want you to run across the path and take refuge in that barn. There should be six horses coming past you and you run across after the last one??.
Six horses and run.. I take my glasses off (I can?t see a thing without them) and I start to count the horses as they fly by.??Four, five, six and run? BANG I?m up in the air, someone sent seven horses past. Myself and the horse didn?t get hurt; it was just another day at the office..
MISSION IMPOSSIBLE- Director: Brian De Palma.
Cast: Tom Cruise, Jon Voight
A night shoot at Liverpool Street Train Station in London.
They want to use my car (Orion) in the first shot and have a London bus give it a near miss.. After about six takes and the bus getting nearer with every take the director gets his shot. (I?m a bit pleased with that) They had rain machines on us all night which made the driving more difficult..
Tom Cruise was very good to the onlooking crowd and every so often would go over to them and sign autographs for them. Mind you there was half a dozen big guys (Ben, The Spiv,) doing their best public liaison work.. I was speaking to Robin the caterer when Jon Voight came over and joined us. He shook hands with me and asked me how I was doing.
I said I had worked with him before on The Revolutionary many years before. He remembered the film and I didn?t remind him of the good drink we had at the end of that day.. It?s not in his memory but it will certainly stay in mine.
ENTRAPMENT-Director: Jon Amiel
Cast: Sean Connery, Catherine Zeta Jones
Filming at The Borough Market South London for a week. (A very hot week) Dressed up in winter clothes as a stall holder on the hottest days of the year..Fake snow all around us and me wearing gloves, a body warmer and scarf. This is the last film I worked on.
I would like to thank Harry Fielder for allowing me to interview him.
Aitch,