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Beverly Hills, 13 July 2019 ---I\u2019m sitting in the lounge of the Beverly Hilton hotel, sipping iced tea on a boiling hot afternoon while waiting for Barbra Paskin, the BBC\u2019s former LA-based arts and entertainment correspondent and Dudley Moore\u2019s official biographer.
Back in the late seventies, Paskin created a position that hadn\u2019t existed before. At the tender age of 25, she became BBC-TV\u2019s first Hollywood correspondent \u2013 and for a while was the only journalist representing all of British television. She was also the youngest in the British press corps there and the only female. That quickly spiraled into encompassing all of Los Angeles, both for radio and tv, and the BBC World Service. Today, she continues to broadcast but has become more concentrated on writing arts documentaries for BBC radio, whilst continuing to write for many of the world\u2019s leading newspapers and magazines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I take a glance at her biography. It\u2019s pretty crammed and there\u2019s a lot of it. From being the Hollywood pioneer of the UK\u2019s breakfast television to directing film featurettes with Luciano Pavarotti and Jack Nicholson for power movie studios such as MGM and Warner Bros. She\u2019s written and edited several books, lectured on broadcast journalism and the art of interviewing for American colleges, including UCLA, co-hosted several editions of Focus on Britain <\/em>on Fox television in LA and contributed to major documentaries, including Ted Turner\u2019s The Making of Gone With the Wind<\/em>. For the latter, Turner thanked her specifically in the credits at the end of the documentary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Her hundreds of interviews over the last thirty years range from Danny Kaye, Sammy Davis Jr, Orson Welles and Alfred Hitchcock to Arnold Schwarzenegger, Goldie Hawn, Placido Domingo, Liza Minnelli and Angela Lansbury. <\/p>\n\n\n\n She\u2019s written for newspapers and magazines in 14 countries, several in America including USA Today<\/em>, the Los Angeles Times <\/em>and had cover stories in \u2018US\u2019 <\/em>magazine. She was under contract as special arts correspondent to The Times <\/em>(of London) and has contributed to dozens of celebrity biographies. She has co-anchored a number of Los Angeles radio stations\u2019 newscasts, as well as frequently contributing to television programmes such as Entertainment Tonight, E! The True Story,<\/em> Inside Edition, Hard Copy<\/em>, and the Discovery <\/em>channel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n She\u2019s Dudley Moore\u2019s authorized biographer and her biography of Moore received international attention and garnered phenomenal reviews. \u2018Paskin has redefined the celebrity biographer\u2019 wrote the esteemed critic Sheridan Morley. The book was recently optioned as a 3-part miniseries for UK television by the producers of the award-winning series, Fleabag. <\/em>She\u2019s had her own columns in several film magazines and is currently at work on two books, one of them a collection of her hundreds of celebrity photographs over the years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cSorry I\u2019m late,\u201d a chirpy British voice interrupts my reverie. \u201cGot stuck in the usual traffic jam on Wilshire Blvd, but I\u2019m here now. Fancy a drink? It\u2019s cocktail hour.\u201d Paskin slides into a cozy armchair next to me and slips off her black cotton jacket. She\u2019s casually dressed in black capris and a grey Die Hard <\/em>t-shirt, a remnant from a brief relationship with Bruce Willis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We order a bottle of Zinfandel (\u201cmust be white, the reds aren\u2019t so fruity\u201d) and settle back to relax as we chat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Hard to know where to start, I muse aloud, having waded through several articles written about her in newspapers and magazines. \u201cHow about the beginning?\u201d suggests Paskin, and without further preamble launches into her account of how she got into entertainment journalism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI suppose it all began with the Beatles,\u201d she says tantalizingly, then breaks off to savour the wine that\u2019s just arrived. Barbra was a mere 13 years old when she flew back from San Francisco on a solo visit to her relatives there in 1964. On board that same flight home were the Beatles. Paskin was the only youngster on the plane.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThere was an accordion door between the first and economy cabins,\u201d she recalls, \u201cand it didn\u2019t go all the way down to the floor. I studied it for ages. If I flattened myself, I thought I could just about slide underneath it. And that\u2019s what I did once it got dark. I got halfway under the door, then felt myself being pulled up by someone on the other side. It was Ringo.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n He admonished her with twinkling eyes. \u201cI apologized for the intrusion and said I couldn\u2019t stop myself from at least trying. He was very kind. He plonked me down in a seat beside him. Across the aisle, Paul McCartney and George Harrison were playing cards. They looked up briefly to say hello, then went on playing. John Lennon was asleep in another seat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI was only in there about 10 minutes when the flight attendant (they were air stewardesses back then) saw me and whisked me out of my seat to escort me back into my own. All I was able to do was fling an enthusiastic \u2018thank you!\u2019 to Ringo before being hauled out of the cabin. And I never even thought to ask for an autograph!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Back in her seat, she began to write her first article \u2013 The Day I Flew With The Beatles - <\/em>and a few days later sent it off to an American teen magazine she had brought back from California. \u201cI have no idea whether they ever printed it or not,\u201d Barbra laughs. \u201cbut I decided that was it - I was going to be an entertainment journalist. At 13, no less! \u2013 and soon after turning 14 I began to play truant from school and interviewing film actors. I looked five years older than my age so I got away with it. But I also got myself into trouble with some of them who had their eyes on me, thinking they were sizing up a 19-year old.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n She did that for a few years, sending her stories to the same American magazine. She still has copies of most of them. Among them, George Lazenby (the former James Bond who chased her around his Mayfair apartment), renowned actor Robert Shaw (for whom she flew to Dublin for the first of their many interviews), pop singer Georgie Fame (who locked her into his toilet with him until she threatened to scream) and Robert Vaughn, the man from U.N.C.L.E. (\u201cThat was madness: when we left the studio where he was filming a movie we had to push through a massive crowd of female and very hysterical fans; it was crazy!\u201d)<\/p>\n\n\n\n At 18 she landed her first professional byline. It was a location story from the set of the film Julius Caesar f<\/em>or the renowned UK film magazine, Photoplay. <\/em>It boasted a stellar cast \u2013 Charlton Heston, Diana Rigg, Richard Chamberlain, John Gielgud, Richard Johnson, Jill Osborne.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Even that assignment was landed in a circuitous way. \u201cIt was a monstrous con and I\u2019m astonished that the shy introvert that I was back then had the nerve to pull it off.\u201d She called the publicity department of Julius Caesar <\/em>which was filming in a major London studio and claimed to work for Photoplay<\/em>. She said the editor had asked if she could get permission to visit the set to do a story on the making of the movie. The press office immediately said yes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI was petrified I\u2019d be found out,\u201d she giggles mischievously. \u201cSo then I called Photoplay<\/em>, introduced myself and said I\u2019d been invited EXCLUSIVELY onto the set of Julius Caesar <\/em>and would they be interested in a story. Luckily they were.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n After that, she wrote regularly for Photoplay <\/em>for many years, and, eventually, other magazines, and her later columns, together with her photos, were lapped up each month by a keen public, eager for news about their favourite film stars. A couple of years later, at 23, she flew to Hollywood for the first time and interviewed a dozen movie stars for a book she was writing about film actors, \u2018Beyond The<\/em> Movie Screen\u2026\u2026\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAfter that trip,\u201d she reflects, \u201cI approached the BBC and pitched to the producer of the weekly film programme a proposal for a short documentary about how Hollywood had changed and where it was going, as seen through the eyes of four mega-famous film-makers: Irwin Allen, Peter Bogdanovich, Don Siegel and The Godfather <\/em>producer Robert Evans who ran Paramount studios. The BBC producer said yes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Not having a clue how to make a documentary, she flew back to Hollywood (after temping to earn the money for the fare), assembled a camera team and set up the interviews. The result? \u201cI shot it in one day,\u201d Paskin beams. \u201cAnd the ensuing documentary took up the whole of the weekly film programme. Afterwards, the producer offered me a contract as their Hollywood correspondent if I chose to return there. Naturally I jumped at it! Though it took me quite a while to earn enough money for the fare and my first few months\u2019 rent for an apartment on Sunset Boulevard.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Since then, she\u2019s barely paused. Now that she can look back at having interviewed so many people over the span of her Hollywood years, I ask Barbra what were some of the standout moments that she remembers with particular fondness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n She sips her wine and looks thoughtful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOne of my favourite moments was when I was back in London after having been in Hollywood but before I began working for the BBC. Gene Kelly called me. I'd interviewed him in Hollywood for my book about film actors. He was in London overnight and wanted to get together. He came round and took me to lunch at a famous trattoria at the end of my road (it later became a regular for Camilla Parker-Bowles after she married Prince Charles). We walked there and as we reached opposite the restaurant it began spitting with rain.\u201d She laughs contagiously. \u201cI don\u2019t know what got into me but impetuously I took Gene\u2019s hand and began skipping and singing as we crossed the road. We held up a London bus! So now I can genuinely say I went singing in the rain with Gene Kelly!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n There have been countless highlights in Barbra\u2019s life. There\u2019s the time Gregory Peck christened her first car with a bottle of wine; the night she watched the Academy Awards backstage in the press lounge alone with Oprah Winfrey, and the time that\u2026\u2026\u2026well, the tales are endless.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So where\u2019s the autobiography that will reveal all these wonderful episodes? It\u2019s not far off, promises Paskin with a chagrined grin. \u201cIt\u2019s a question of finding the time to write it,\u201d she rues. \u201cBut I will do it \u2013 when I get enough breathing space to go back through all the diaries I\u2019ve kept since I\u2019ve been in Hollywood.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n And with that, Barbra Paskin slips on her jacket, takes a last sip of wine and shakes my hand. I watch as she strolls majestically through the hotel lobby, then stops to hug iconic movie star Kirk Douglas who has just arrived at the entrance. They\u2019ve known each other for more than 40 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Now THAT\u2019S a real Hollywood correspondent for you!<\/p>\n\n\n\n This story originally ran in a Los Angeles magazine in 2019<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The story behind our good friend Barbra Spotlight On Hollywood: the Barbra Paskin Interview by David Green Beverly Hills, 13 July 2019 ---I\u2019m sitting in the lounge of the Beverly Hilton hotel, sipping iced tea on a boiling hot afternoon while waiting for Barbra Paskin, the BBC\u2019s former LA-based arts and entertainment correspondent and Dudley […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-609","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-celebrities"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shavuatov.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/609","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shavuatov.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shavuatov.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shavuatov.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shavuatov.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=609"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.shavuatov.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/609\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":645,"href":"https:\/\/www.shavuatov.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/609\/revisions\/645"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shavuatov.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=609"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shavuatov.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=609"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shavuatov.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=609"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}