Читать книгу Kiss Me Like a Stranger: My Search for Love and Art - Gene Wilder - Страница 22

Mary had auditioned for an English play called Roots, by Arnold Wesker, which was going to be done off Broadway and directed by a first-time director named Mark Rydell. (After Roots Mark went to Hollywood and began making beautiful films. On Golden Pond was one of them.)

Mark was very impressed by Mary. He was also looking for someone to play her character’s husband, Frankie Bryant. I asked Mary if she could get me an audition. She asked, and they said yes.

Mary helped me with my northern English accent. She also suggested little touches of authenticity, like sticking a handkerchief up the sleeve of my borrowed costume jacket, since I was supposed to be something of a country bumpkin. From that time on, whenever I did an audition, I always wore some suggestion of a costume that fitted the character.

I did my audition for Mark Rydell. He liked it, and Mary and I were cast in the play as husband and wife.

The opening night was filled with dignitaries, including Mark’s agent, a magnificent lady named Lily Veidt. She was the Jewish widow of the famous German actor Conrad Veidt, who had left Germany with Lily to escape Hitler. He brought Lily to Hollywood, where he was cast as the Nazi colonel in Casablanca.