OLIVER REED

The first photograph was taken of Oliver Reed on set in England during a break in the filming of "The Shuttered Room" in 1966.

Curiously, nearly 30 years later, this shot was to re-surface. In 1993 I received a call in Guernsey enquiring about a portrait session. When I asked who it might be the caller (female, - and who later turned out to be Josephine, his wife,) replied: "Oliver Reed". "Oh!", I said, "I took a photo of your husband years ago. I'll bring it with me to show you."
The approach to the Oliver Reed house in Guernsey was clearly designed to startle the more timid of his prospective visitors. The horned head of a large and menacing rhinoceros protruded from the garden bushes. Immobile (made of fibreglass) it was a gift which had particularly delighted him from his friend Keith Moon of The Who. The knocker on the door was a heavy piece of brass hinged and cast in the unmistakeable shape of the male appendage.

These deterrents once braved and the door opened, Oliver Reed presented himself as the most charming of hosts. He took me to his "playroom" above a double garage where, at eleven o'clock that morning, a visiting plumber (not disclosed whether there on work assignment or not) was leaning on the bar and enjoying a drink with him. I too was offered one. When I showed Oliver Reed my copy of the photograph I had taken of him in 1966 he exclaimed: "My God, this is exactly what my son looks like now!" We had an enjoyable session there. He told me that he never had pictures taken of himself, as himself, but usually only on set and in character.
So here we have him as he was that day, as himself, wearing this marvellous Mickey Mouse jacket his fans in Florida had given him.