Steve Morris

‘I wished Jimmy Porter would just shut up’

Gary Raymond, one of the last surviving members of the Look Back in Anger cast, talks to Steve Morris about what he really thought of John Osborne’s angry young man

issue 19 January 2019

Gary Raymond must have been wondering if it was the end of a promising career — curtains. He was starring in The Rat Patrol, a wartime adventure series. Co-star Justin Tarr had managed to roll the jeep Raymond and fellow actor Christopher George were travelling in. Raymond escaped with a badly broken ankle (he tells me it still gives him jip). George had more serious injuries, including an injured back and a heart contusion.

Raymond lived to act another day, but when The Rat Patrol ended after two series, it really was the end of his Hollywood years. But what a few years he’d had, in El Cid alongside Charlton Heston and Sophia Loren, The Greatest Story Ever Told (playing Peter) and in Jason and the Argonauts.

I’m interviewing him in the canteen at the National Theatre. It’s utilitarian, noisy and full of young people talking excitedly. Raymond and I are sharing a table with a pile of dirty plates and some dishcloths.

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