Gilbert Harding
Gilbert Charles Harding (5 June 1907 – 16 November 1960) was a British journalist and radio and television personality. His many careers included schoolmaster, journalist, policeman, disc jockey, actor, interviewer and television presenter. He also appeared in several films, sometimes in character parts but usually as himself – for example in Expresso Bongo (1959).
Harding had a sizeable role alongside John Mills in the 1952 film The Gentle Gunman, and narrated the introduction to the film Pacific Destiny (1956). He also made a couple of comedy records in the 1950s.
Quotes
[edit]- If, sir, I possessed, as you suggest, the power of conveying unlimited sexual attraction through the potency of my voice, I would not be reduced to accepting a miserable pittance from the BBC for interviewing a faded female in a damp basement.
- Reported in Stephen Grenfell, Gilbert Harding by His Friends (1961), p. 118
- Responding to Mae West's manager's request: "Can't you sound a bit more sexy when you interview her?"
- Before he could go to New York he had to get a U.S. visa at the American consulate in Toronto. He was called upon to fill in a long form with many questions, including "Is it your intention to overthrow the Government of the United States by force?" By the time Harding got to that one he was so irritated that he answered: "Sole purpose of visit."
- Reported in Wallace Reyburn, Gilbert Harding: A Candid Portrayal (1978), p. 4
External links
[edit]
- J. M. and M. J. Cohen (eds.) The Penguin Dictionary of Modern Quotations (1971), p. 92
- Nigel Rees (ed.) A Dictionary of Twentieth Century Quotations (1987), p. 213
- Tony Augarde (ed.) The Oxford Dictionary of Modern Quotations (1991), p. 96