On the previous few pages, Audrey Hepburn expressed her happiness over the news that she is to be a grandmother. Here, HELLO! brings to you the first photos taken of Audrey's first husband Mel Ferrer with their son Sean and his wife Marina, who is soon to be the happy mother.
The famous veteran actor, who played the part of Angela Channing's
husband and lawyer in the television series Falcon Crest, invited us to
his Los Angeles home to tell us about his family life and his projects.
Tell us about your role in Falcon Crest.
"I joined the series when it had already been running for six months and I stayed with it for the next three and a half years. I played the part of Philip Erikson, Angela Channing's (Jane Wyman's) lawyer.
"At the beginning, the relationship between the two characters was
purely professional, but later they began sharing secrets, their
relationship grew stronger and they ended up marrying. Later, the
character I played died and it was left unclear whether Jane had killed
him or whether he died in an accident from which she escaped without
even a scratch.
"Before starting the series I worked in
Dallas, but the producers offered me the chance of acting in
Falcon Crest and I didn't turn it down. I had just returned from a
trip to Europe and I wanted to work in television. Dallas had
gone well, so why not Falcon Crest?"
What do you remember about Behind the Screen?
"Before taking part in Dallas I worked for CBS playing the
leading role in that series. But there were some problems and I wasn't
in the best of health around that time. It was then that I forged a
friendship with Jane Wyman, that lasts to this day."
Had you ever worked with her before?
"No. We had never worked
together previously. I had met her when she was married to Ronald
Reagan, but that was all. After working together I realised she was a
great woman. We are very fond of each other and admire each other's
work."
I understand you produced a film?
"Yes. What I really like doing is producing. I did that at the time I was telling you about, when I met Jane Wyman. It was a movie for television, called
One Shoe Makes It Murder, starring Robert Mitchum and Angie Dickinson. I directed, produced and acted for several years after leaving California."
What did you do before?
"I lived in Switzerland from 1954. My son Sean was born there. He is now
a music specialist and does some production. He worked with me in the TV
film I made. He never wanted to be an actor and that doesn't bother me."
What are you working on at the moment?
"Right now I'm getting two productions ready. One is based on a novel by
Bari Wood, for which I did the television script, and the other is by
Robert Ruark."
Will you have a role in this film?
"Probably. I'll play the part of a psychiatrist. So I produce the movie and even act in it. Directing it as well would have
been too much."
You have four other children, as well as Sean. Has any of them
followed your steps into acting?
"None of them has wanted to act, and that's been fine with me. They are all grown up and I never believed in telling them what they should do. I'm very proud of them. Sean went into the industry and has occasionally taken part in productions with me. The rest are very different. One of my sons teaches English and creative writing at the University of California in Santa Barbara. My eldest daughter is married and lives in Montecito. Her husband is a computer expert and they have two children. My other daughter works here, in Los Angeles, at a film-financing company, and she's also a talented tennis player. Christopher works in import-export in New York and he has a wife and two children. They're all successful and content.
"My kids were all born in Los Angeles except for Sean. They all know that one has to fight to get ahead and not one of them has disappointed me."
