The following interview took place on April 28th, in Boca Raton, Florida. World renown actor, known to fans around the world simply as “Frankie,” talked with Aviary Thespian Magazine from his beachside home.
Aviary Thespian Magazine: Thank you for taking the time out of your busy schedule to talk with us.
Frankie: My pleasure.
ATM: I guess the first question on reader‘s minds is, “why retire?” Your performances are better and stronger than ever. So, why now?
F: It wasn‘t an easy decision to make. I love acting. But it was time. You have to remember I‘ve been acting professionally since I was a small squab playing the part of Tiny Tim in Peter Brook‘s all avian version of A Christmas Carol.
ATM: So, it wasn‘t a question of getting good roles or feeling bored with the profession?
F: No, not at all. In fact, the opportunities for actors of avian descent are greater than ever, today. There is far less typecasting and stereotyping than there was in my early days.
ATM: Yes, we all remember the battles you fought to play the Seagull in Johnathan Livingston Seagull. It seems hard to even imagine today.
F: But that sort of narrow-minded thinking was the norm for the day. They seemed to forget that we were Act-ors. Professionals. And that creating characters and transcending boundaries and expectations is what we do.
ATM: Well said.
F: Thank you.
ATM: So, how do you like Boca then? Is it everything you expected?
F: Oh, I love it here. I used to summer down here for years when the New York winters simply got too harsh. Often Clark Gable would come down and join me for days on end of drinking, gambling, and carousing. Oh, those were the days.
ATM: You sound like you miss them?
F: Yes and no. That‘s a young bird‘s game. It was fun while it lasted but I think my nights were far more rewarding, professionally, during my years in London.
ATM: Which reminds me, a number of our readers still, wrongly think your British. You were born in America, I believe.
F: Yes, I‘m as American as you can get. Not only born but bred in Brooklyn, New York, U.S. of A.
ATM: I guess the confusion comes in from all your great early work with the RSC and BBC in the United Kingdom.
F: I was over there something like 12 years between my training at the Royal Academy, work on the stage and the television work I was doing.
ATM: The final scene in Death of a Pigeon is still considered one of the finest of all time. Truly moving.
F: Thank you.
ATM: Do you have a preference for stage, screen or television?
F: I love the stage. Stage is an actor‘s medium and that direct interaction with audiences is priceless. Film is also quite enjoyable the way it becomes all about the eyes. The slightest blink can indicate an inner world of the character.
ATM: And television?
F: Some, in Europe especially, is quite good. They are usually very, very well written. Television production here, at least after the 1950‘s, is complete drivel.
ATM: Even the programs on HBO such as The Sopranos?
F: I don‘t want to talk about it.
ATM: Oh, forgive me. I forgot about your difficulties convincing the producers to write a role for you. I understand you personally threatened to visit the Executive Producer‘s BMW at one point.
F: What‘s going on here? You call this journalism?
ATM: Would you care to comment on recent allegations that you‘ve had relations with underage squab?
F: That‘s it! This interview is over.
ATM: Can you confirm or deny that it is you in the notorious Vacation in Rome video being passed around the internet?
F: Security! Security! Throw this incompetent low-life out of my home.
ATM: One last question, your third wife has claimed…
At this point, our journalist was assaulted and physically removed from the premises by a half-a-dozen guards. Due to pending legal action, we are not able to print more details at this time.
