Orson Welles and Peter O’Toole on Hamlet

This is en excerpt from the program “Monitor“ (recorded in October 1963 at the BBC). Right around this time O’Toole (1932–2013) was playing Hamlet at the National Theatre, under the direction of Laurence Olivier. Orson Welles (1915-1985) played in this year a film director in “La Ricotta“, Pier Paolo Pasolini’s segment of the “.“ movie. He had finished his own film “The Trial“ a year earlier. Other participants in the conversation are Huw Wheldon (the host) and veteran actor Ernest Milton (1890-1974). Milton was an American-born, naturalised British actor, who was prominent in the 1920s through the 1940s for his roles in London with the Old Vic Theatre and on the West End stage. In his day, he was considered an outstanding interpreter of Hamlet, playing the role several times in the 1920s. The atmosphere reflect this progamme’s original late-night timeslot. Unfortunately this recording (from the BBC website) is incomplete and has some audio drop-out. See also “John Gielgud - Hamlet: The Actor’s View - 16 May 1954“ here: