Samson Burke Interview 2002. (Part 3 of 3)

Based on notes taken during an interview, conducted by Larry Anderson, and Gord Hammer, with the great SAMSON BURKE in Toronto on September 8, 2002.

After having some photos autographed, we started to ask him a few questions about his career in

Gordon Harmer: How about John Garko?

Samson Burke: Garko was a little hard in his own way, he meant well. He had a style, a nature. He worked on the stage quite a bit. He was a good stage actor as well. He made a lot of Westerns as well.

Gord: What about Wandisa Guida?

Samson: She was a very pretty girl. She got married soon after that (REVENGE OF URSUS), and never worked again. I saw her once after that. I stopped her in the street, she didn’t want to work anymore. She said goodbye and that’s all that matters.

Gord: Do you remember your involvement in THE ODYSSEY mini-series, where Mario Bava directed you as Polyphemus, the Cyclops?

Samson: Polyfemo (the Italian way). No, I don’t remember the director, nor Bava. They got me at the last minute; I never forgot that, I never had a chance to remember the script. I was in a scene with these little lambs, so I put the script under them, and could see the script. I was reding from the script and petting the lambs and reading for about 15 minutes. I couldn’t remember the whole thing at once, it was too heavy, so I just read it. 2 or 3 pages, full, of just me talking. So that’s how I did that part. The strangest part was, the cameraman and everyone on the set was clapping and yelling, Bravo! Bravo! You never heard a roar like that in your life. You’d think it was the start of the opera or something. They didn’t know how I remembered all that dialogue. I did stay up till 3 o’clock in the morning, just learning my lines for the NIBELUNGEN. Slept 2 hours a day, worked 12 hours a day.

Larry: The NIBELUNGEN was cut down from 10 hours into 2, 1 1/2hour movies called WHOM THE GODS WISH TO DESTROY and THE REVENGE OF SEIGFRIED.

Samson: That was filmed in Iceland, Yugoslavia Rome and Germany.

When I was in Germany, I went over to Spandau Prison and saw Rudolph Hess. Walking around all day by himself, with a British guard on the outside of the prison. I was on a hill looking down. That was a sad thing to see, a man all by himself. They kept him alive.

Gord: MAGNUM P.I., what did you do in that series?

Samson: I worked as a villain in that. I did a heavy part where I had to fight with Roger Mosley the helicopter pilot. I always try and fill in wherever I can. I made sure the angles were right in the fight scene, so I had optimum camera time. I had more of the camera on me, hogging the camera. I got more camera time, so people remember.

Larry: Tell us about your work with Fellini.

Samson: I played a pilot. I did it in one day. Fellini never uses a script. He just films things that pop into his head. First I played the Centaur, then I put on a pilot’s uniform. There was an actual pilot there, pretending to be a passenger, to tell me what to do, what controls to operate. There was a cockpit of a plane with a moving screen outside the window, so it looked like the thing was moving. A lot of hollering people, then I took off. That was the only little part that was in there, why, I don’t know. He obviously used it for something, but which title, I don’t know.

Gord, Larry: We’ll have to check out all of Fellini’s films and find those parts. (The scenes are not in JULIET OF THE SPIRITS or SATYRICON).

Samson: He used a lot of people as chess pieces, and animals. If you look at it straight in a sensible way, you think it’s weird. But who knows? He was supposed to be a genius. Everybody paid a lot of money to see his films.

Gord: Gordon Mitchell told me he didn’t get paid for some of his films. Did that ever happen to you?

Samson: He worked for a director called Emimmo Salvi, who would promise him things and tell him all kinds of fantasies. “There is a problem with the money it’s coming in, etc.” He never got paid. That never happened to me. When they sent a car to pick me up. I either wasn’t home or I wouldn’t go. They’d try all day to get me. When they finally did, I said, “If you don’t pay me any money, I don’t want to do any work.” All of a sudden, “We made a mistake, here is your money”, and they paid me for a week. That was the only way you could work there. They fooled a lot of people.

Gord: What was it like being a star of these films?

Samson: I was in Morocco and decided to visit the Kasbah. I was walking down the street and turned to see a horde of people following me. I thought that I’d done something wrong, so I asked the guide. He explained that there were 2 of my films playing in town and all these people recognized me. It was a little unnerving.

Larry: Was the set for REVENGE OF URSUS, all outdoors, or was it in a studio?

Samson: All outdoors. That was originally the CLEOPATRA set. I wish I had known you were interested in that, I’d have brought you a big color brochure from the movie, which I have at home. I’ll catch you next time. (Probably an Italia press book, which are very elaborate). I’ll being my albums with stuff from my other films as well.

Larry: I’ll be waiting at the airport. I’ll also put some videos together on your films.

Gord: Did the Stooges joke a lot on the set? Were they fun to work with?

Samson: All the time. I had a lot of fun making that film. The Stooges were true professionals. They would act out their parts and “fill in the spaces” and make everyone else look good as well.

Gord: Are you hanging around Toronto for a few days”

Samson: No, I have to fly out tomorrow. I work as a personal trainer in Miami and have a client tomorrow night. I give only personal lessons, which I’ve been doing for 4 ½ years now. I have a good clientele.

So ends the interview with the mighty Hercules, SAMSON BURKE.

With Larry Anderson and Gordon Harmer.

A very big THANK YOU to Bob Kotsopoulos for arranging to have Samson Burke at the Toronto show.

[Thanks to William Connolly for permission to post this interview]