Billy Williams - Katharine Hepburn tested the director of 'On Golden Pond' (107/172)

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Born in London in 1929, cinematographer Billy Williams shot more than 40 high profile films throughout his career, being nominated for an Oscar for ‘On Golden Pond’ and ‘Women in Love’, then winning the Oscar for ‘Gandhi’ in 1983. He received an OBE in 2009. [Listener: Neil Binney]

TRANSCRIPT: Well of course the next day was the first day of shooting and we're all set as we’d rehearsed it the day before, everything’s in position, the light’s good. And we’re waiting for Kate, which was... which was unusual because I had worked with her before on 'The Glass Menagerie' and she was never late. She was always there first thing, absolute dynamo, full of ideas, full of energy, a real driving force. And she was... she was a bit late, and when she came on set she was dressed in the most extraordinary costume. She looked absolutely fantastic, she had on a black silk polo neck and black silk matching trousers and a beautifully brown suede tailored jacket and a matching sort of Robin Hood style hat. And she looked like Coco Chanel and... it was extraordinary. She came on and she said: ’Right, I'm ready’, she said, ’Let's shoot’. And Mark Rydell said, ’Well Kate, this isn't... this isn't your costume’. And she said, ’Yes’, she said, ‘I love it, I think it's perfect, I really... this is what I want to wear, you know, let's go’. Well there then developed the most incredible argument and the language from Miss Hepburn was unbelievable and it was directed straight at the director, not at the... not at the costume designer not... or anyone else, straight at the director. And this went on for quite a while and it was hugely embarrassing because everybody was there. ‘All right’, she said at the end. It went on for a while. And then she says, ’All right’ she said ’Come and... tell me what you want me to wear’ and she gave in. And we went to her dressing room which was a cabin on the lake where there were all these clothes that had been prepared and broken down, all old clothes, sort of things which you'd wear on holiday. And something was chosen and she dressed, she came back on set. We did the day's work without another hitch. At the end of the... this first day Mark Rydell came to me and he said, ‘You know, George Cukor’ — with whom Kate and Spencer Tracy did several pictures — he said, Kate... ‘George Cukor warned me; she'll test you on the first day’, and that was the test. Because I think if Mark Rydell had yielded to her he would have been off the picture, because she wanted to be sure that this director knew what he was about and that he was going to stand up to her. I think she needed someone that would stand up to her to an extent. She needed someone that she could respect. She had never worked with him before and so that was the test. And it was amazing.

Well after that, things were pretty much plain sailing but there were al... there was always the odd moment when you really felt that she was trying to steal the scene. And, there was a scene where Hank has lit a fire and rather carelessly he's left a lot of newspapers around and he's gone outside onto the porch and, you know, he's talking to... to the boy and Kate comes into the room and all these newspapers are alight and it looks like the house could catch fire. And so she shouts, you know, ’The house... fire!’, and the two of... the boy and Hank rush in to... to the fire. Now in the script it's essential that the boy puts out the fire because that upsets the old man who really feels he's getting past it, so this was a key point in the script that the boy should put out the fire. And Kate wanted to put out the fire, so there was a bit of a ding dong about that and in the end the boy picks up a bucket which is full of... of fish that they've caught and water and throws the whole lot on the fire including the fish and then of course the fire is put out. Well after that she would always come to me to talk about what she was going to wear. And there was a scarlet cardigan and she was obviously very keen to wear it. She kept bringing it to me and saying, ‘Billy, Billy, I'd like... well what about this lovely red cardigan?’ And I was a bit reluctant because it was such an eye catcher, this colour and it... the... the whole of the interior of the house was kind of muted and in the end she said... she said, ’Well why don't you like this colour?’ And I said, ’Well it, you know it's... it’s so... it's really very bright’. And she said, ’Well, haven't you ever seen any of the French impressionist paintings?’ And I said, ’Yes’, and she said, ’They've always got a little bit of red in them’. And I said, ’Yes, and your eye goes straight to it’. And she said, ’That's exactly what I want’. She knew that if she was wearing red, whether she was in the house or out on the lake, your eye goes straight to it...

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