Spotlight on Simon – Part II

LP: DEATH ON THE NILE was your first feature film internationally, and you starred with other big names in the movie business, David Niven, Peter Ustinov, Bette Davis, the list goes on and on.  Do you have any particularity interesting thing about this that you’d like to share with us?

SM: Strictly speaking, I had, in fact appeared in a film called JUGGERNAUT, for United Artists much earlier than that.  I mean, I really only flashed across the screen.  I was cast in a rather nice little role for that, that when they changed directors, quite rightly so, the role got cut down to absolutely nothing.  As it was I very disappointed, because obviously I wanted more lines on the screen.

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SIMON MacCORKINDALE

plays an impoverished young man who marries a heiress (Lois Chiles) who is murdered. “What you learn from such a magnificent cast as ours,” he says, “is discipline. When, for instance, Bette Davis turns up much earlier than her call, I reckon that’s the way to behave. I’m sure I learned a lot through osmosis; perhaps in years to come I might re-create a Ustinov-ism or a Bette Davis-ism without realising it.” Death On The Nile marks Simon’s major film debut. He’s since made The Riddle Of The Sands with Michael York.

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.”

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Down the Nile with Hollywood’s living legends

Simon MacCorkindale and Lois Chiles, who play husband and wife in the new blockbuster film Death on the Nile, specially featured in Monday’s Clapperboard, talk about the shattering experience of working alongside the greatest names of the cinema

Simon MacCorkindale has been told many times to change his name. It’s unwieldy, hard to remember and won’t look good in lights, are some of the arguments he’s heard and rejected.

No one has ever suggested that he change his face. It’s literally his fortune in Death on the Nile. MacCorkindale, however, is less convinced about his appeal.

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Simon’s name should go up in lights

(if they can spell it)

When Bette Davis turns up for a scene 10 minutes early, then that must be the way to behave.

No egos. No temperament. Sheer discipline. That’s Simon MacCorkindale’s view of cinema stardom

And he should know, having just finished filming Agatha Christie’s Death On The Nile with stars of such calibre as Peter Ustinov, David Niven and, of course, Miss Davis.

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Film: Death on the Nile
First Aired: 29 September 1978 (USA)
Character: Simon Doyle

Description: As Hercule Poirot enjoys a luxurious cruise down the Nile, a newlywed heiress is found murdered on board. Can Poirot identify the killer before the ship reaches the end of its journey?

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SOME HONEYMOON

Who’s this happy looking couple being overlooked by a world famous landmark? It’s Simon MacCorkindale and Lois Chiles as young marrieds in a scene from Death On The Nile. They decide to spend their honey-moon in Egypt and it proves to be some honeymoon! We can expect some superb colour photography of many exciting Egyptian settings for they were filmed by Jack Cardiff as the movie’s director of photography, and Jack’s one of the best there is. John Guillermin directed this latest film which is based on an Agatha Christie thriller which stars Peter Ustinov as Hercule Poirot who tops an all-star cast.