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BY GINNY WARE Bosie and Felicity Vine-Miller


JET-SETTING arouND THE worLD aND ruBBING SHouLDErS wITH a-LIST FILM STarS waS aLL IN Day’S work For DarTMouTH CouPLE BoSIE aND FELICITy VINE-MILLEr. THE PAIR, WHO ARE BOTH NOW RETIRED, SPENT THEIR WORKING LIVES IN THE HoLLywooD FILM INDUSTRY.


Bosie fell into that world by acci- dent, while Felicity became immersed in the industry after meeting and marrying her first husband, the film director Ridley Scott, while studying at London’s Royal College of Art. Softly spoken Bosie, who rose from a humble runner to the dizzy heights of assistant director, said: ‘I got into it quite accidentally. I did my national service in the Royal Navy and when I came out I got a job on the south coast as a yachtsman which really paid nothing, but it was fun. ‘I was chatting to a chap in a pub one day and he said why don’t you come and work at Walter Studios, which is now a housing estate, as a runner, which is the very bottom of the production tree.


‘So I said yes and so I was thrust into this world where everyone drank large whiskies and drove motor cars. My world was strictly pints and a bicycle.


‘I had never been to the cinema in my life, I was an outdoors person. I really had no interest in cinema but I liked the lifestyle so I stuck at it and became a member of the union. From runner I rose to the giddy heights of third assistant director. Then I pro- gressed to second assistant director and then first.’


Felicity travelled with Bosie, who she met in a pub in Wardour Street, Soho, in the early Seventies, when he was filming. Rather than just hang about the set she preferred to get stuck in and work, putting her hand to everything including catering, prop buying, set design and in the make-up


and wardrobe departments. Together they worked on count- less film sets all over the world, meeting numerous actors and pop stars including Charlton Heston, Kirk Douglas, Roger Moore, Christopher Lee, Harvey Keitel, Susannah York, Denholm Elliot, Jenny Agutter, Michael York, Tony Curtis, David Niven, David Hemmings, Adam Faith, John Thaw, Simon MacCorkindale, Alan Arkin,


David Niven was an absolute gentleman. If he saw you sitting in your directing chair he would say “I’m not busy, would you like me to get you a cup of tea.”


Tom Jones, David Essex and Engelbert Humperdinck.


‘They are just people,’ Bosie said. ‘If you are working away on location you have an awful lot to do with them because you are probably staying in the same hotel, eating in the same res- taurant and drinking in the same bar but if you are on location in England


you go home at the end of the day and don’t see them as much. ‘You just take for granted what hap- pens on a daily basis when working with people that other people may be in awe of because to you they are just somebody you work with – it doesn’t matter whether they are Kirk Douglas or Tom Jones. ‘Tom Jones was very nice and David Niven was an absolute gentle- man. If he saw you sitting in your directing chair he would say “I’m not busy, would you like me to get you a cup of tea.” It’s memories of the film crews she worked with rather than the stars which bring a smile to Felicity’s face. ‘Film crews are like family, they look after you,’ she said. ‘The crew always got on well to- gether and used to go out after hours. When we were filming The Riddle of the Sands in Germany with Jenny Agutter and Michael York the crew organised a fancy dress party. ‘Michael York was the judge and I dressed as Marlene Dietrich in the New Angel. The crew were outra- geous and we all got thrown into the pool at the end. We used to have such good fun.’


Felicity does have fond memories of some of the film stars she has worked with, particularly Charlton Heston. ‘He was lovely, such a gentleman,’ she recalls.


‘He was never late and knew exactly what he was doing and was extremely courteous. He was an old- school actor.


‘He had to kiss me because I was standing in for his wife who was pregnant. I had to lie in the back of a jeep to go to hospital. While I was standing in for her he had to bend down and kiss me. It was lovely. ‘In Bad Timing I played Denholm


Elliot’s mistress and had to come out of the shower naked rubbing a towel on my head. Bosie said if I wanted to


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