London, England, U.K.
6/2/2010
Richard Stapley belonged to a generation of movie actors
who plied their trade during the halcyon days of Hollywood when stars were
great and dalliances were discreet. Although predominantly an actor, he had polymath
qualities ranging from writer and motorcycle racer to courier.
His beginnings were far removed from the glamorous world of Hollywood. Born on
20 June 1923 in Westcliff-on-Sea, Essex, he was the son of a bank manager. He
grew up in Brighton and from an early age fell in love with the silver screen.
Stapley attended Varndean College in Brighton; one of his contemporaries there
was Paul Scofield, with whom he remained friends.
Stapley remembered spending a lot of time at Varndean practicing his autograph;
destiny would make him a movie actor. However, he did also have a love of
writing which would endure throughout his career; he had his first novel
published at the age of 17.
After serving in the Royal Air Force during the Second World War, Stapley got
into repertory theatre and decided at an early age that if he was going to make
it in movies he would have to go to the US. Slim, charming, and graced with
diamond blue eyes and a deep, educated English accent, Stapley soon caught the
eye of the movie-makers and a number of actresses as well.
Gloria Swanson rented a temporary house in Palm Springs which she shared with
Stapley while she was filming the musical “Sunset Blvd” (1950). Whether it was
a practical arrangement or something more was not revealed by Stapley when he
reminisced about his days in Hollywood.
The movie breaks soon came, including in 1948 “The Three Musketeers”, starring
Gene Kelly and Lana Turner, “Little Women”, where he starred alongside
Elizabeth Taylor, “King of the Khyber Rifles”, appearing with Tyrone Power, and
the 1956 film “D-Day the Sixth of June”, playing David Archer alongside Richard
Todd and Robert Taylor. Stapley had an uncredited role in “Breakfast at
Tiffany's”; another small part was in Alfred Hitchcock's 1972 film “Frenzy”.
The early 1960s saw him in the TV series ‘Man from Interpol’, playing Agent
Anthony Smith; for this role he adopted the name Richard Wyler. Some of the
scripts for ‘Man from Interpol’ were penned by Brian Clemens, later the doyen
of ‘The Avengers’ and ‘The Professionals’. ‘Man from Interpol’ ran for 39
episodes between 1960 and 1961; after it ended, Stapley never quite made it
back to Hollywood films.
He starred in a number of European films, including “El Precio de un Hombre”
(The Ugly Ones”, playing bounty hunter Luke Chilson. He also starred with Jack
Palance in “The Barbarians”, and then in 1969 “The Seven Secrets of Sumuru”
(aka The Girl from Rio) alongside Shirley Eaton and George Sanders. In 1970,
Stapley co-starred with Bette Davis and Michael Redgrave in “Connecting Rooms”.
A follow-up series to ‘Man from Interpol’ did not follow. Around the
same time as he was filming that program, Stapley had auditioned for the TV
series of ‘Ivanhoe’, the part of which went to his comrade Sir Roger Moore.
Stapley regaled the story of being driven by Roger Moore in his Rolls Royce.
Stapley asked Moore what would have happened if he had got the part of Ivanhoe
instead and Moore responded by saying, "You'd be driving this Rolls Royce
instead of me... "
Stapley had a steady stream of character parts in many of the mainstream TV
series of the 1960s and 1970s, including ‘The Baron’, ‘Z Cars’, ‘The Saint’ and
‘Return of the Saint’. His work also included appearing in a number of the
legendary Imperial Leather soap TV adverts, exuding a sybaritic lifestyle and
attaining what can only be described as a lifetime achievement of sharing a
bath (on set) with his co-star, namely one Joanna Lumley.
If acting was a love, motorcycles were Stapley's passion and it is no surprise
that he counted among his friends the stunt rider from “The Great Escape”
responsible for the death-defying jump made by Steve McQueen. Stapley himself
partook in motorcycle stunts, although one went horrendously wrong and he
severely broke his leg but determined to ride again, he made an ultra-quick
recovery.
Stapley rode motorcycles in professional races, including dices with the likes
of Mike Hawthorn. He wrote a regular column for Motor Cycling magazine, Richard
Wyler's Coffee Bar Column, recounting tales of his acting exploits or
thrills on the race track. He received praise from the Metropolitan Police for
dissuading young motorcyclists at the famous Ace Caf on London's North Circular Road from indulging in
the potentially lethal dare of "dropping the coin right into the
slot" and racing to a given point and back before the record on the
jukebox finished.
During the 1960s he also opened one of the first coffee bars near Streatham Ice
Rink in south London.
Stapley, using his nom de plume, Richard Wyler, had his own dispatch riders
company in London and used his race-track experience on one occasion to get a
very important package from central London to Northolt Airfield through heavy
traffic in about 30 minutes.
His acting career on slow burn, he tended to write. His work included a novel
called Naked Legacy, co-written with Lester Cook III and published in
2004. The story tells of a young man inheriting a manuscript from the father he
never knew, which then sends him on a voyage of discovery. He devoted much of
his remaining days to working on film scripts that he was determined to see
come to fruition, including “Tomorrow Has Been Cancelled”. Stapley was also
completing his autobiography, To Slip and Fall in L.A.
Some unfortunate business deals meant that Stapley's finances were not good and
the last decade of his life was dependent on the generosity of acquaintances.
Stapley had enthusiasm and talent to spare, but the constant money worries and
failing health at times shadowed the charming and heroic side of his character.
He was married to Elizabeth Emerson in 1963; the two were estranged, but never
divorced. He has one surviving sister.
Richard Stapley, actor: born Westcliff-on-Sea, Essex 20 June 1923; married
Elizabeth Emerson; died Palm Springs, California 5 March 2010.
The Ugly Ones – 1966 (Luke Chilson)
Turn… I’ll Kill You – 1967 (Bob/Billy Walsh/Winchester Bill)
Rattler Kid – 1967 (Tony “Rattler Kid” Garrett/Django)
Two Pistols and a Coward – 1968 (Coleman)
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