Quotes

Said by Michael Jayston

From the "Doctor Who The Completely Unofficial Encyclopedia"
"Speaking of which Michael Jayston once told us he refused to say the line 'You blundering imbecile, you've triggered a ray phase shift!' until the writers assured him it was scientifically accurate. Right..."

From "Laurence Olivier" by John Cottrell
"At drama school," says Michael Jayston, "we used to do the 'Once more unto the breach' to a strict vocal pattern. Now Olivier breaks all the rules we were taught in saying that speech. He does it like an aria, and the way he moves up and down the scale is, strictly speaking, all wrong. If you try to do it his way it sounds bad. Yet somehow he makes it sound the most effective way to do it. He's like that in his approach to so many things; he tends to go for what is most interesting and exciting, and he will quite happily break up a rhythm in the process. It ties in, too, with his habit of aiming to be different, to do the unexpected. In Nicholas and Alexandra, for example, everyone said 'Sar.' He said, 'Ts-Sar.' And it sounded great. Then again he will say words like 'outmanoovered' and 'deformitee,' which sounds pendantic if you say them, but which sound absolutely right when he does it. He also has a marvelous way of going up on certain lines; in retrospect this emphasis may mean nothing, but at the immediate theatrical moment it means everything."

.....
Jayston is more specific. "He can dilate and undilate the pupils of his eyes in a second. I've tried it- and you can do it by looking into a mirror, into the distance, and then looking back again. But he can do it at any time and at will. It's a marvelous effect- for example, when you're getting angry- and though it wouldn't mean anything on stage it is a very useful device on film. I've never seen anybody else do it. Also I've noticed that the pupils of Olivier's eyes are bigger than most people's; they seem about half as much again. Somehow, on stage you imagine his eyes are brown. They look dark. In reality, they are a very clear blue."

.....
"He really is a terribly funny man," says Michael Jayston. "Not at all what one expects when meeting him for the first time. Among friends, away from the glare of publicity, he really can be one of the boys. Quite wild. He likes his booze as much as anyone, and when he's relaxed he's the greatest entertainer in the world. During the filming of Nicholas and Alexandra in Spain we had a party and he started to reminisce about things, and of course we were trying to pick his brain, asking all those is-it-true kind of questions. Was it true, for example, that Ralph Richardson fell through the ceiling at Notley Abbey? And we found that all those stories were virtually true, and we heard it from the master's mouth. Maybe slightly embroidered, but an absolutely fascinating tour de force. Why, he kept going for something like three hours. A riveting performance."

From a Cricket Match Report in 2006:
"Beers were partaken in the Laughing Fish and relations between the teams were cordial. Michael Jayston, well known actor and Rottingdean slow bowler, commented that the tea, although extremely nice, had some very thick sandwiches."

From an interview about leaving the TV show 'Emmerdale':
Meanwhile, Michael Jayston said of his exit: "I've had a marvellous time filming the show. There are no egos at Emmerdale and I've made a lot of friends. I'm looking forward to filming Donald's dramatic demise!"

Turner [the producer] added: "It has been a real privilege to work with Michael; he's a fantastic actor and has been a great asset to the show. His exit storyline is full of compelling drama which we hope will leave him with fond memories of his time on Emmerdale. We wish him all the best for the future."

Quotes about Michael Jayston

From Guardian Unlimited: A Brief Rumble with Tom Baker Tom Baker's response when asked his favourite 'voice' of all time:
"Michael Jayston. He has this wonderful warmth, so you want to believe in what he says. It's a very dangerous quality, it's the great quality of seduction, which is why he works all the time. I don't see much of him now, but he once bought me a suit when we were in Hollywood and I had no money - a jumbo cord suit, a most wonderful light gold colour."

From "The Complete Films of Laurence Olivier" by Jerry Vermilye Laurence Olivier says:
"Franklin Schaffner, who directed Nicholas and Alexandra, was having a bit of a go at Michael Jayston, who played Nicholas: 'Make him weaker!' So Michael, one of your finest young actors, tried to make him weaker, but it just looked like weak acting. Then we noticed his eyes watered when he acted anger- just something he could do, lucky man, a marvellous gift. You could hardly do better than that as a symbol of weakness."