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interviews
In this section you'll find all the interviews, articles and reviews I could find about Robert. This is really a huge work of research (and transcription) to make it as complete as possible for those who want to know him better by the interviews he has done all through his career.
I also wanted to add artciles related to him and reviews of his work. As this site is aimed to offer as much information as possible, I decided to put all I found relevant. Even if it's critical towards Robert Powell.

Below you'll find the list of all the articles, interviews and reviews with a summary of the main points tackled on the article.

This page is still under construction, I'll be updating it as soon as I can.

Feel free to discuss about the articles you've read in the Forum.


1970's
After Jude: Obscure?
  • Interview from 1971 (Fabulous 208) where Robert talks about his future projects and his desire to film or to produce one day.
  • Quote : “I’m only 75 per cent a person when I’m not acting.”
Wanted: Dead or alive
  • Interview from 1972 (Films Illustrated) where Robert complains about the playing characters who always end up dead.
  • Quote : “What I would really enjoy doing now is a cheerful role where I am still alive at the end of the script. And it would be nice if somebody offered me a comedy.”
Robert Powell, the man chosen to portray Jesus
  • Interview from 1975 (Photoplay)  where Robert talks about how he got the part of Jesus and how he's preparing the role, mainly by reading the Gospels.
  • He also talks about how he got annoyed by the press about his relationship with Babs.
  • Quote : “(...) if I was 21 and (was) offered 'Christ’ and no one knew me, I think I would be finished. I’d have to wait ten years for a career. But I’ve been around for a while (he’s 31) and people do know I do other things."
Robert Powell: how portraying Jesus changed his life
  • Interview from 1977 (Movie Stars) in which it describes how Robert Powell prepared the role of Jesus physically and mentally. 
  • In this interview he describes the difficulties while doing the Crucifixion scene and about his "Water and cheese diet" (don't try it girls!).
  • Quote : “An actor has to be objective when interpreting a part. Nonetheless, after playing Christ for all these months, it would be difficult not to really believe in him.”
  • Quote : "After this movie I would like to tackle a modern character. I want to make people laugh."
Taking Risks
  • Interview from 1978 (Films and Filming) where he analyses his main films. 
  • Films and Filming was an excellent film magazine, so if you want to read something really intelligent this is one of the best interviews he has done.
  • Robert talks about his aborted project : Man of the match, about a soccer player.
I feel like I'm king of the remakes
  • Interview from 1978 (Film Review) where Robert talks about his recent films : The Thirty Nine Steps and The Four Feathers, both of them remakes.
  • He also talks about filming with Ken Russell and about two aborted projects (Man of the match and Arab).
  • Quote : (About having enjoyed playing Jesus) “It was the hardest thing I’ve ever done. It was also the most physically exhausting. I lost a stone during the filming. There is no other part where in every scene you are on it. There’s no other part where I’ve had to learn seven foolscap sheets of script every day and there’s no other part where I’ve been unable to use any of my own personality. "
1980's
Why Powell runs so hard?
  • Interview from 1980 (Photoplay) in which he promotes his latest films Jane Austen in Manhattan and Harlequin.
  • It also talks about another aborted project (Campbell Black's The Punctual Rape) for which Robert wrote the screenplay.
  • Quote : “The actor is far too dependent on all the other things that go to present him to be called an artist in his own right. He does not exist per se as an artist on his own. There are the cameras, the lights, the costumes, the director and so forth. You’re just at the end of the line. It’s a polarised viewpoint. I do feel strongly if people suggest that actors are artistic.”
Happy to be a jolly good chap
  • Interview from 1988 (TV Times) about the come back on British tv of Robert Powell in Hannay.
  • Quote : “I was at a cricket match last year when a little girl came up to me and asked for my autograph. ‘My mother says you’re famous,’ the little girl said. "
Robert Powell, tilting at windmills
  • Interview from 1989 (TV Times) about the broadcasting of Hannay's 2nd season.
  • About how he was harassed by journalists when he was cast as Jesus : “I got so fed up with journalists at that time. A man gets cast as Jesus Christ and they immediately tried to find something that might preclude him from playing the role!”
  • Quote (back to the little girl incident) : “I suddenly realised there was another generation which had little idea who I was."
1990's
Growing older sexily
  • Interview from 1992 (Daily Mail) in which Robert talks about getting older.
  • Quote : "Ageing doesn't worry me at all."(...) "The idea of looking into the mirror doesn't worry me at all. I still have one enormous advantage in the fact that I have all my hair. And it's still dark. Though I have to admit my beard is grey. I look a bit like Santa Claus these days if I have a beard.'"
I fell for the blonde in Pan's People but was so nervous that I asked the all to dinner
  • Interview from 1995 (Daily Mail) in which Robert talks about many personal matters such as his shyness, how he feels guilt for his past selfishness, his relationship with his parents.and why he didn't want to make a Hollywood career.
  • In this interview he says he lost his virginity when he was 19 or 20 years old.
  • Quote : "I always thought I was odd looking - a bit like a haunted parking metre. It was only when I became an actor and got so many fan letters that I thought: hell, I've been missing out, not using this to effect with women."
What it feels like being an ageing heartthrob
  • Interview from 1996 (Daily Mail) where he talks about his childhood, his life and marriage.
Powell and the glory profile Robert Powell
  • Interview from 1998 (The Scotsman) where he talks (again) about his childhood, life and career.
  • Quote : "Americans are so literal as a people - they see me playing Jesus and they really can't envisage anything else. They even seem surprised I don't have a beard and long hair." 
  • About his only star whim : "When I toured in '95, I had a clause in my contract that they simply didn't believe at first. They laughed. But I said no. I mean it. I mean precisely what I say."  (the clause stipulated he would not tour unless there was at least one member of the paid staff who had a golf handicap of 15 or under.).
Stars whose paths were destined to cross
  • Interview from 1998 (unknown source) during the tour of Kind Hearts and Coronets.
  • Here you'll find Robert went to Manchester Grammar School.
  • He talks about his expereience in a South American church where he found his own picture portraying Jesus hanging over the altar.
2000's
Meet the messiah
  • Interview from 2000 (The Express) made while Robert was touring the play Double Double. 
  • In this interview he discusses about his the Jesus of Nazareth experience, how did he hesitate to go to the audition for Jesus of Nazareth, about the acting tips given by Lawrence Olivier  - who called him "Bobsy".
  • Quote (About filming Beyond Good and Evil just after Jesus of Nazareth) : "I deliberately kicked the traces by doing that picture. The censor, James Ferman, laughingly told me there would have to be so many cuts there was no point showing it in England!"
  • Quote : "I genuinely hope my obituary says: 'The man who played Jesus.'"
In search of a partner
  • Interview from 2000 (The Northern Echo) while Robert was touring Double Double.
  • Quote : "I keep being badgered by my agent who says I should re-establish my classical credibility. He thinks I'm having too much of a good time taking work that entertains me."
Up Close: Babs and Robert Powell
  • Interview from 2000 (Quokka Sports) while Babs Powell talks about why he decided to take part on the BT Challenge and how come Robert finally decided to do a leg.
My diary: A day in the life of Babs Powell
  • Interview of Babs Powell from 2000 (The Daily Mirror) about the BT Challenge.
The toughest role yet
  • Interview from 2001 (The Journal) to promote his latest show Saints and Sinners. He talks about Babs doing the BT Challenge and about his own training to participate in one leg.
Handcuffs that chain Robert Powell
  • This is not really an interview, it's a little article from 2001 (The Express) in which Robert complains about the British television and why he can't carry on with his projects.
Why Oscars mean little to movie Jesus Robert Powell
  • Interview from 2001 (The Insight) in which Robert talks about his career, why Oscars are not important to him and his views on the "new" British cinema with talentous directors such as Anthony Minghella and, in a lesser degree, Guy Ritchie.
  • Quote : "I don't have any attitude whatsoever on whether I'm a stage or film actor. An actor is an actor."
From Messiah to Murder
  • Interview from 2001 (Coventry Evening Telegraph) while Robert was touring with the play Murder by Misadventure.
  • Quote : “To be honest nine times out of ten I say no to the things that are sent to me (...).”
Accidental Hero
  • Interview from 2001 (source unknown) made during the tour of Murder by Misadventure.
  • In this interview you'll know Robert loves making people laugh.
The man of mystery
  • Interview from 2002 (UK Newsquest Regional Press) while he was touring Murder by Misadventure
Being Blunt
  • Interview from 2002 (Yorkshire Post) during the tour of Single Spies.
  • Quote : "I like to duck and dive, bob and weave."
Powell and Glory
  • Interview from 2002 (Daily Mail Weekend) in which Robert talks about filming Jesus of Nazareth. It's interesting to compare this interview with those he did more than 20 years ago.
  • In this interview you'll discover he loves singing!
  • Quote : "Ten years ago, kids didn’t know who I was: if you don’t do soaps, you don’t exist; the antithesis of 30 years ago, when soap opera was the end of your acting career."
Robert Powell swaps cinema for theatre
  • Interview from 2002 (Newsquest) promoting the play Single Spies.
  • Quote : "Nothing on TV interests me anymore. It has all gone rather stale. I'm far happier in the theatre."
My interview with Krzysztof Zanussi
  • I contacted Mr. Zanussi in 2002 - 2003 to know more about his experience of working twice with Robert Powell. He kindly accepted to talk his work with Robert. 
Picture of a Wilde baddy
  • Interview from 2003 (icBerkshire.co.uk) during the tour of The Picture of Dorian Gray where he talks about his career.
My Wilde Adventure
  • Interview from 2003 (The Evening Times) during the tour of The Picture of Dorian Gray. In this interview he mainly talks about the play.
The picture of contentment
  • Interview from 2003 (The Herald) during the tour of The Picture of Dorian Gray where he talks about his career.
Why Oscar is far more to Robert's taste than Hollywood
  • Interview from 2003 (Daily Post) during the tour of The Picture of Dorian Gray where he explains why he didn't want to do a career in Hollywood.
  • Quote (about Hollywood) : " (...) in the 1980s, if you were a British actor in America you played villains and you always played the part the American actor wouldn't do."
  • In this interview he talks about that famous show he did with Ben Kingsley in the 60s, which was "discovered" by Brian Epstein, the Beatles' manager.
  • Here you'll discover a hint  of regret of having done films in Thailand (The Long Conversation with the Bird???) and Venezuela (What Waits Below???).
Picture Perfect
  • Interview from 2003 (source unknown) during the tour of The Picture of Dorian Gray where he talks about the play and the tour.
New-Age Powell
  • Interview from 2003 (ww.thisisthenortheast.com) during the tour of The Picture of Dorian Gray.
  • In this interview he talks about a musical play he was writing and wanted to stage in the West End.
Just Wilde about the stage
  • Interview from 2003 (The Evening Chronicle) during the tour of The Picture of Dorian Gray.
  • Quote (about doing The Detectives) : "I had some friends who thought I made a big mistake doing it, and some still do, but I have always gone with gut instinct and what I want to do."
My meeting with Robert Powell
  • Robert Powell kindly accepted to talk to me on December 2003. In this "interview" he talked about his career and his choices. I'd have loved to ask him many more questions! Maybe one day?