Suzanne Lloyd starred in Morecambe and Wise’s 1966 film, That Riviera Touch. Following on from the criticised Magnificent Two, this middle film of three offered by Rank, put Eric and Ern under pressure to deliver.

Suzanne, now retired from acting, kindly gave us her memories of working with the boys.

We understand that you retired from acting in 1974; why was this?
In 1974 I returned to Los Angeles and full time care of my daughter. I was offered films that were to be shot in Europe but frankly I did not want to leave her for long periods of time.
She was in school and I did not want to uproot her. I did do some TV on and off but my heart was no longer in the work. It was home with my family.

Are you doing anything currently?
Now I am doing memorabilia shows and work out in acting classes. I exercise regularly and am an avid movie goer. I love to spend time with family and friends and long walks are a real treat.

You appeared in what is considered to be the best of the Morecambe and Wise films made by Rank, can you how you tell us how you got the part?
I did not have to audition for That Riviera Touch. Amazing as that is. There was a body of my work for anyone to see. The Producer, Hugh Stewart, met with me at Pinewood and that was that.

Were you aware of Eric and Ern's work before the film?
I was aware of Eric and Ernie but I had not watched them on TV. I was told they were as funny as Martin and Lewis and indeed they were.

When did you first meet them and what was it like?
We met as we were getting on the plane and we were all a bit nervous with one another which is usual before a film. I'm sure they did not know my work and were wondering who I was and who they were stuck with. We worked in different genres.
The film was not the boys level of comfort. They were improv specialists. They did it once on TV and that was it. In film they had to do it over and over and matching was a nightmare for them both. They were concerned that the spontaneity would not be there and how to keep the takes fresh. My training was film. Theirs was not.

Some times on film sets, there are practical jokes played, did anything like that happen?
No practical jokes on the set when I was there. The boys were very focused.

Eric had a habit of always been 'on', always telling jokes even off camera - is this true?
Eric was not always on. This was hard for them. I cannot stress this enough. They had a lot riding on this film and they knew they were not in their element. But that does not mean there weren't laughs. There were a lot. The crew had a devil of a time not ruining a take by laughing out loud. And the Kartoum crew and cast would come over to be entertained. They had to stop that because the set was getting too noisy and besides they were drinking all our tea and eating our biscuits.

Do you naturally have a French accent, or did you have lessons?
I studied French for 4 years at the Bishop Strachan School in Toronto so I applied that to the French dialect required for the part of Claudette. No lessons.

Part Two >