RIDDLE OF THE SANDS, a movie Simon filmed a few years ago with Micheal York and Jenny Agutter, was slated for a January ’83 release in the United States. Due to perplexing delays in editing and other procedures, RIDDLE is still on the shelf, in spite of the fact that there are fans anxiously waiting to see it. Once these problems are ironed out, Simon will be asked to do some promotional work for the film. We can only hope, for his sake, that promotions for RIDDLE, MANIMAL and JAWS don’t all hit at the same time. (Eeny, Meeny, Miney, Mo!)
Also a very special welcome to two new members who are very special people to Simon, Mrs. Jill MacCorkindale and Melody Ann Desjarlaris. Melody Ann is ten years old as Simon’s sponsored child through Save the Children. Mrs MacCorkindale is one of Simon’s biggest fans; at least she’s been able to watch Simon’s talent developing for many years – none other than, Simon’s mom!
In our last issue we printed a review on THE SWORD AND THE SORCERER by violet. In view of some comments to the effect that perhaps Violet didn’t like the movie because she only wrote a straight review from a very objective point of view, I will now print additional comments by Vi. These we will title:
Sword and the Sorcerer – The opinion
Hmm… You’d think, with my penchant for words, and periodic contacts with various types of fans, I’d have known better than write a straight review of THE SWORD AND THE SORCERER for a Fan Club Newsletter, instead of an opinion on what the Honorary brought to his role.
It’s a bird; It’s a plane! No – it’s a Manimal? Actually folks, MANIMAL is the title of a band new NBC movie of the week, staring – of course, SIMON!
Simon plays Jonathan Chase, a professor of animal behaviorisms, who, with the help of his partner (Glynn Turman) and a lady police officer, (Melody “Flash Gordon” Anderson) fights crime in New York City. Equipped with mystic powers inherited from his father, which include exceptional hearing and eyesight, Jonathan is also able to change into animals at will, and uses this to his advantage.
We all know Simon as a fine actor, however he is now beginning to make a name for himself as a producer/director. His production, A DOLL HOUSE, presented last year at the Matrix Theater in Hollywood, received several awards from Drama-Logue magazine.
Simon has officially announced his engagement to British actress, Susan George. Whom he has been seriously dating since last year. He is very pleased and excited about his future and we all wish them both much happiness. At present, no date has been set for the wedding which will take place sometime this summer in England, but Simon will keep us posted.
Merely transforming into a wide variety of animals from a black leopard to a high flying hawk should pose no problem to British star Simon MacCorkindale, who stars as Jonathan Chase in the 20th Century-Fox Television series, “Manimal.”
Well, Members, we hope you have enjoyed our first newsletter. There are many ideas and plans in the works now, to be implemented in the not-too-distance future, one of which will be the beginnings of a branch club in Great Britain. We hope to have our new British coordinator in operation very soon, and subsequently we will add British news to our newsletter each time
*snip*
Please continue to send cards and letters to Showtime on behalf of FALCON’S GOLD. Our job as fans is to encourage and support Simon in every possible way and this is an excellent opportunity to show him we care.
The Stage Company in West Palm Beach, Florida recently featured Simon in his one-man show, THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING OSCAR. The show is about the life of Oscar Wilde and was presented on Sunday evenings November 14, 21 and December 5, 12.
A group of teenagers who had been given assignments to do reports on Oscar Wilde for school were in the audience one night. After the performance Simon consented to meet with the high schoolers to answer questions about Oscar Wilde and about his own career in acting and directing.
So impressive was Simon’s dissertation that many of them returned another week to attend a second performance of “Oscar”. After that performance, each of the young people presented Simon with a green carnation, which is the flower used during the show to symbolize different periods in the life of Oscar Wilde
Do we really have to wait six whole months to find out what perils await Simon in JAWS 3D? Yes, because the movie is not set for release until July 1983. However, Simon has reveled a few things about the story and the character he plays in JAWS, and we hope these comments will serve to whet you appetite for the film.
Simon revealed, “My character in JAWS 3D is called Philip Fitzroyce, 16th Earl of Haddenfield. He is an adventure from England’s aristocracy and makes a living out of shooting spectacular underwater films. He is a young Jacques Cousteau with a devil-may-care attitude. He wears safari suits, rugby shirts, a sharks tooth necklace and an outrageous hat. He’s a celebrity and knows it, and doesn’t care what he looks like as long as he’s having fun.”
Can there really be more, ask Simon’s fans after reading the long list of painful injuries and horrible demises in his biography? Yes, unfortunately, and many of us have yet to recover from the heart-stopping danger and physical strain to which Simon’s charater, Hank Richards, was forced to undergo in FALCON’S GOLD.
Hank was gassed, beaten up, nearly roasted and cut in two when forced to fight a barbarian over a pit of fire, shot in the side, and almost destroyed by a volcano. If that wasn’t enough, he ended up hanging from the skid of a helicopter!
Welcome to “Simply Simon” and thank you not only for joining, but for being such loyal and devoted fans. I cannot stress to you how important and valuable you all are to me. Working the kind of hours that I do, often under great adversity, it’s a delight to know that all the efforts are not only appreciated but awaited.
Your letters, cards, stories etc are all a great source of inspiration and a joy to receive. I hope I can always satisfy you as much as you all satisfy me.
This column, FACTS AND ANSWERS, is designed to answer all your questions about Simon.
Basics: Simon is 30 years old and his birthday is February 12th. He is single, 6ft tall, 175lbs and has blue eyes.
He doesn’t smoke, drink or take drugs (never has done the latter)
He drives a Mazda RX7 – silver-blue, with blue, black and white racing stripes. No personalized plates though, he finds them too conspicuous. His CB handle is “Corky” which is a childhood nickname.
His special unreadable signature was created “a long time ago during a Maths class”
None of the above applies to THE SWORD AND THE SORCERER. And, unless you keep a score-car, you might lose track of the players.
Xusia is the Sorcerer. Cromwell is the greedy, tin-plated tyrant who coverts the whole of the civilized world. Machelli is Cromwell’s chief counselor and insincere ego-booster. King Richard is the ruler of Ehdan, the original owner of the sword, and Talon is his son.
On September 19 1982, a strange assortment of individuals invaded a north Dallas jack in the Box. Carrying cassette recorders, cameras, notebooks and assorted personal paraphernalia, they all gathered attentively around a good-looking man in the corner by the window.
Nursing a very large cup of Jack in the Box coffee, this man seemed perfectly ordinary to the casual observer. He was wearing a blue and white stripped T-shirt, dark blue jeans, and he sported a several days growth of beard. So what was all the commotion about?
To those of us who were seated there, this was no ordinary gathering of friends. For amidst us few fortunates that day was one of renown, none other that Simon MacCorkindale, star of stage, screen and TV; and we were conducting the very first official meeting of the Simon MacCorkindale Fan Club.
You will see before you, the very first newsletter for “SIMPLY SIMON”. After a very slow beginning, the club, with the very welcome help of Simon himself, is finally starting to come together. This newsletter contains an account of our beginning plus movie reviews, news and updates on Simon’s career. It is further spiced throughout with questions answered by Simon, many with direct quotes. So without further delay here it is – – the first official newsletter, “SIMON SAYS”
Since his award-winning performances in the films Death on the Nile and The Riddle of the Sands, 29-year-old Simon MacCorkindale has spent much time commuting between the United Kingdom and the U.S.A. In fact for his Festival engagement today he has flown in especially from Los Angeles, where he is currently filming in Sword and Sorcerer. The visit marks a brief but welcome return home for the Ely-born actor, whose father, former RAF Group Captain Peter MacCorkindale, is now a social services administrator for Pye and Philips of Cambridge. In his career, Simon continues to enjoy the nomadic existence that was a feature of his childhood. Death on the Nile was filmed in Egypt; The Riddle of the Sands took him to Holland and Germany; Capo Blanco, in which he co-stars with Charles Bronson, was made in Mexico, and he has recently completed four months location work in Dublin, starring as Lieutenant David Clement of the Royal Hussars in The Manions of America, made for EMI-TV by ABC. This sweeping saga spanning two parallel love stories during the 20 years from 1847 will be screened as a six-hour mini-series.
Simon MacCorkindale made an impressive entry into major film roles with two highly contrasting parts: the smooth, sybaritic Simon Doyle in the 1930’s-set Agatha Christie murder mystery Death on the Nile, and the rough sailor hero, Arthur Davies, in the Edwardian spy thriller The Riddle of the Sands. His performances in both films brought him the Most Promising Actor Award in the 1979 Evening News British Film Awards. He has since co-starred with Sir John Mills in Thames TV’s four-part serialisation of Nigel Kneale’s Quatermass, playing the single-minded radio astronomer Joe Kapp, and in the film adaptation, Quatermass Conclusion. Now he has completed work on another leading film role, Lewis Clarkson, an M15 agent in post-World War II Peru, in the forthcoming Charles Bronson epic Cabo Blanco.
Cast as a charming, impoverished young man who hits it rich with his marriage to an heiress, SIMON MACCORKINDALE makes his major film screen debut in “Death On The Nile.”
The 25-year-old actor has already established his reputation on British television with his performances in such productions as “I Claudius,” “The Life and Times of Shakespeare,” “Just William,” “Romeo and Juliet,” “Within These Walls” and Franco Zeffirelli’s internationally networked “Jesus of Nazareth.”
SIMON MacCORKINDALE (Hon. Alan Howard) made his first professional appearance in The Dark Lady of the Sonnets for the Shaw Festival at Ayot St. Lawrence, and he went straight from there to the Belgrade Theatre, Coventry ‘for a season playing in Journey’s End, The Front Page, Getting On and Bequest to the Nation. Most recently he appeared at the Albery Theatre in Pygmalion and at the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre in The Potsdam Quartet. His television work includes General Hospital, The Pathfinders, Sutherland’s Law and two plays—The Skin Game for BBC and Time and Time Again for Westward. His latest film credit is Juggernaut.
Simon’s recent theatre appearances have been in The Potsdam Quartet at Guildford and Pygmalion at the Albery Theatre. His first professional engagement was in The Dark Lady of the Sonnets for the Shaw Festival at Ayot St. Lawrence, and he went straight from there to the Belgrade Theatre, Coventry for a season playing in Journeys End, The Front Page, Getting On and Bequest to the Nation. Simon’s television work includes General Hospital, The Pathfinders, Sutherland’s Law and two plays — The Skin Game for BBC and Time and Time Again for Westward. His latest film credit is Juggernaut.
SIMON MacCORKINDALE trained at Studio 68 of Theatre Arts, London. His theatre credits include two appearances at the Shaw Festival at GBS’s home at Ayot St. Lawrence in The Dark Lady of the Sonnets and Back to Methuselah; a summer season at the Belgrade Theatre, Coventry, where he played in Bequest to the Nation, Journey’s End, Front Page and Getting On. His most recent TV includes Hawkeye, The Pathfinder for BBC, to be seen shortly before Christmas.
Riddle – Still a Riddle
