Ian Ogilvy is back on our screens, and spoke to Sarah Morgan about his return to familiar ground…
Mention the name Ian Ogilvy to women of a certain age, and they tend to go a bit wobbly bonkers.
He was a major heartthrob during their youth (and, ladies, he still has a twinkle in his eye at the age of 83), and admits during our chat that, in his heyday, he “was rather cute”.
But he was popular with blokes too because he had a bucketload of on-screen charm and charisma, which is why, for a while, he was tipped to take over from Roger Moore as James Bond – he’d already stepped into his shoes by taking over the role of Simon Templar in TV’s Return of the Saint, which ran from 1978 to 1979.
This is not my first conversation with the man who started his acting career in the 1960s and became one of THE faces of the 1970s. That came 12 years ago when he was making We Still Kill the Old Way, a London-set gangster-thriller produced by Jonathan Sothcott’s Shogun Films, so there’s a sense of deja vu when we chat again – that’s because he’s reunited with Sothcott, this time for another thriller, Knightfall, which should appeal to fans of The Wild Geese and Who Dares Wins.
“Jonathan is lovely, he’s a real film buff, and an enthusiast,” explains Ogilvy when I ask him how and why their paths first crossed. “He seemed extremely pleased and gratified to have me on board, which was lovely, you know? It’s always nice to be wanted. And the part was a very good part; I think We Still Killed remains one of the best movies he’s made.
“He quite likes having old people in his movies. And they’re all very grateful, of course. I think because he knows everything there is to know about old movies and old television, he has a sort of soft spot for us.”
“A lovely opportunity”
That’s also perhaps why Sothcott’s latest film, in which Ogilvy plays Charles Knight, a reclusive former spy-catcher, also stars Geoffrey Moore, son of the aforementioned Roger; they appear alongside the producer’s wife, Jeanine Nerissa Sothcott.
“It’s all to do with a secret thingy; it doesn’t really matter what it is, but it’s supposed to have been stolen from the British government,” says Ogilvy about the plot. “My poor daughter, who works for them, is being chased, and comes to my deserted old ramshackle house in the country for succour, for safety.
“It turns out I’m an ex old spymaster myself, so I know how to do everything. So the second half of the movie is me sheltering her and trying to defeat the bad guys who were coming after her.”
Although he obviously loves getting back in front of the camera in another project with Sothcott – this is their fourth collaboration – he’s rather circumspect about his career: “Let’s be honest about this. The older you get, the fewer parts there are for you. And the few parts that are left usually go to the top players, like the McKellens or the Hopkins’. So it’s extremely lovely when something does filter through, and something that’s as nice and as big and as fun as these movies of Jonathan’s are. It’s lovely. I mean, I’m just very grateful.”
Ogilvy has been based in Los Angeles for many years – we chat excuse to return to the UK
“Another lovely reason to do these films is Jonathan pays for me to go over to England. I go and do the movie, then I stay for a while, see my family and friends, and then I come back here. So it’s a lovely opportunity for me.”
Ian Ogilvy with co-star Jeanine Nerissa Sothcott
“Different career”
Although he claims to now be semi-retired, Ogilvy does admit he’d love to work with Hugh Grant.
“Don’t ask me why, I just think he’s very clever, and he’s very good. And he reminds me of me – the way I would have liked to have been. I had a slightly different career, you know? I just think it would be quite funny to put us two together, because there are similarities between us, but he’s a lot more successful than I’ve ever been.”
I can certainly imagine them playing father-and-son in a movie. Perhaps, if Sothcott (or any other producer) can stretch his budget, it’s something that might happen in the future? Ogilvy isn’t holding his breath.
“I don’t even have an agent here in America anymore. I really kind of stopped acting over here because I was writing and I had more success doing writing in America than as an actor. So anybody asks me to do something, I’ll do it, but I don’t expect it because, as I say, there’s not a lot of work around for the old anymore.”
And that’s a shame, because there’s still plenty of life – not to mention charisma – left in this old dog yet. And as he’s appeared in four Shogun Films in the past 12 years, we’re due another appearance by 2029 – I, and Ogilvy’s legion of fans, will be keeping our fingers crossed.
Knightfall is released digitally in the UK on September 14
images: Shogun Films
Sarah Morgan studied film journalism at post-graduate level with the BFI and has been writing about TV and film for PA Media’s newspaper, magazine and new media customers since 1996. She’s also written for a wide range of other publications, both online and in print, including the book Offbeat and Intermission magazine, and is a regular contributor to the Talking Pictures TV podcast. When she isn’t watching movies, she’s collecting and reading vintage crime and horror paperback books or, for her sins, watching her beloved Sheffield Wednesday.
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