The Rita Tushingham Home Page

Credits & Photos 1964 - 1966



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Rita Tushingham, Dodonna Bicknell
Rita and daughter Dodonna.  Some of Dodonna's care is provided by Mary, their live-in Irish nanny.
   



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Herbert Lom
Dr. Roger Corder, psychiatrist.
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Herbert Lom
Dr. Corder attempts to trace the whereabouts of Patrick Grant, a wayward husband.
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Dr. Corder traces Patrick to a shabby dog kennel out in the country.


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Rita Tushingham
The kennel is operated by Joy South, who is Patrick's mistress.
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Rita Tushingham, Alan Dobie
Joy and Patrick discuss their relationship.
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Rita Tushingham
Joy wants Patrick to leave his wife and children to be with her.


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Rita Tushingham
Joy is walking a dog on a windy day, and sees Patrick's car approaching her kennel.
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Barbara Shelley
But it's not Patrick!  It's his wife, Catherine, who wants Joy to end her affair with Patrick.
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Rita Tushingham
It's too late to end the affair.  Joy is already pregnant.


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Herbert Lom, Rita Tushingham
Dr. Corder isn't sure if Joy is telling the truth about being pregnant.
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Rita Tushingham
Joy is not only pregnant, but plans on keeping the baby.
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Rita Tushingham
As soon as the baby is born, Joy dumps Patrick, concluding that a husband is now unnecessary.  Patrick can remain with his wife and children.  Everyone's problems are thus neatly (and simplistically) solved.



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photo courtesy of Kevin Clark
(still frame from Morecambe & Wise: In Their Own Words)
From left to right: Rita Tushingham, Bernard Braden, Eric Morecambe, Eric Sykes, Ernie Wise, Jimmy Tarbuck.
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photo courtesy of Kevin Clark
(still frame from Morecambe & Wise: In Their Own Words)
From left to right: Bernard Braden, Rita Tushingham, Eric Morecambe, Eric Sykes, Ernie Wise.
 



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Rita Tushingham
Nancy arrives in London from the north of England.
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William Dexter, Rita Tushingham
Where is that voice coming from?!
The dress shop owner starts talking to Nancy while she is still unaware of his presence.
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Rita Tushingham
Nancy looks for the address of the YWCA in a telephone directory.


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Edgar Wreford, Rita Tushingham
A man unexpectedly barges in and commandeers the phone booth.
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Rita Tushingham
"Don't let me catch you in here again!"
"Oh, sorry!"
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Rita Tushingham
Nancy's search for the YWCA takes her past Ewell junkyard.


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Rita Tushingham, Donal Donnelly, Timothy Bateson, Michael Crawford
Colin thinks that a bigger bed will allow him to compete with the womanizing Tolen.  While at the junkyard to purchase a bigger bed, Tom and Colin encounter Nancy, and promise to take her to the YWCA.
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They plan to wheel the bed home through the city streets.
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Rita Tushingham, Donal Donnelly, Michael Crawford
Tom leaps onto the bed from the doorway of a shop, having quickly bought some sandwiches for himself, Nancy, and Colin.


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Michael Crawford, Rita Tushingham, Donal Donnelly
They manuever the bed into a parking space.
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This traffic warden seems confident that Nancy's cap is covering a parking meter whose time has expired.
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Rita Tushingham
Nancy pauses mid-bite to look at the traffic warden.


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To the traffic warden's chagrin, there is still time remaining on the parking meter.
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Rita Tushingham
"Don't swear."
Nancy admonishes Tolen in one of the scenes shot in the all-white room, set up by cinematographer David Watkin in a house on Melrose Terrace in Hammersmith, London.
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Ray Brooks, Rita Tushingham
Tolen makes his move on Nancy in the all-white room.


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Ray Brooks, Rita Tushingham
Tolen takes Nancy on a motorcycle ride.
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Rita Tushingham
In the park at Kensington Square, Tolen makes sexual advances towards Nancy, which distresses her.
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Rita Tushingham, Michael Crawford
"And he raped me marvelous super!"
Tolen thinks that Colin is sexually incompetent.  Defending Colin against this accusation, Nancy tells how much she enjoyed her last sexual encounter with Colin.


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Rita Tushingham, Michael Crawford
Nancy and Colin make use of his new bed.
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Rita Tushingham
Popular publicity photo taken from the bed-as-trampoline scene.
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Filming at Kensington Square park.


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Richard Lester directs Rita at Kensington Square park.
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Lord Snowdon sits next to Rita and husband Terry Bicknell at the UK premiere of The Knack, 02 June 1965, at the London Pavilion.
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Rita Tushingham
Rita graced the cover of the Observer magazine, 11 July 1965.  Note that the photo has been printed left-right reversed.


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Rita Tushingham
Rita wears her cap from The Knack in a rare color photo.  Note the black markings on her stockings.  Rita says, "The markings on my stockings are black roses, quite fashionable at the time!"
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Rita Tushingham
Rita wears her cap from The Knack in this publicity photo taken in front of her cottage in Little London, Hertfordshire.
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Rita Tushingham



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Rita Tushingham, Princess Margaret
Unfortunately for our Rita, every aspect of her life is splashed across the tabloid pages.  An article appearing in TV World magazine for 10 April 1965 compares Rita's face to that of Princess Margaret.  Rita says, "I felt embarrassed when a columnist compared my looks with Princess Margaret's.  So one night Princess Margaret decided to find out for herself.  She and her husband came backstage to see me in the theatre where I was playing.  The Earl of Snowdon stood us both together and compared us and said that we were not really alike."
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Dodonna Bicknell, Rita Tushingham
Daughter Dodonna and our Rita.
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Dodonna Bicknell, Rita Tushingham
Dodonna sits in Rita's battered, chocolate-brown Triumph tourer.


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Rita Tushingham
Rita discusses the types of movies that she would like to make.
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Rita Tushingham
A lovely photo of our Rita.
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Rita Tushingham
Magazine articles about Rita would go on and on about how "ugly" she was.  Rita says, "There's one great advantage in looking the way I do – I must grow more interesting with age!  Just think how terrible it must be for all those dolly girls, worried sick about losing their looks."


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Rita Tushingham
This magazine photo shows Rita in front of her Hertfordshire cottage.  Rita loves flowers and gardening – note the colorful flowerbeds in the background.  "We love to garden.  Among other things, we grow giant black radishes – curried black radish is really something!"
   



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Rita Tushingham, Alec Guinness
"It's a big-budget film, and I worked on it six weeks, and I think they paid me Ł2000 a week, which is the most money I've ever earned, but what I liked best was that I played practically all my scenes opposite Alec Guinness.  When I was working backstage at Liverpool Rep, I used to daydream about standing on the same stage with Mr. Guinness, and there I was actually working with him; 'tis enough to turn a girl like me daff."
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Gerhard Hersch, Rita Tushingham, Alec Guinness
Watching Tonya leave his office with her boyfriend David, Yevgraf wonders how much she has believed of his story about Yuri and Lara.
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Rita Tushingham
Many of Rita's film and television appearances are linked by a common thread – her shabby costumes!  She is frequently cast in roles of working-class women, and is invariably costumed in secondhand rags.  Rita says, with equal parts humor and exasperation, "Even in a big-budget epic like Doctor Zhivago, all I got was a boiler suit and a pair of Wellingtons [boots]."



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Title screen.
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Rita Tushingham
Blink and you'll miss her!  Rita appears in this documentary for just five seconds, preparing for a shot atop Aldeadavila dam, located near the border of Spain and Portugal.
 



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The steamboat Master arrives at the settlement, bringing supplies, mail, and several bondswomen.  These women have been released from prison to become the wives of frontiersmen living in remote areas of Canada, who have paid the women's prison fines and steamship passage.  This early paddle steamer is docked at a timber jetty that was specially built for the film in Tunstall Bay, Bowen Island, British Columbia.
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Rita Tushingham
Eve runs swiftly through the settlement to collect the mail.  For the film, an authentic pioneer settlement was constructed on Bowen Island, just off the coast west of Vancouver, along the shore on the property of Don Cromie, within sight of today's car ferries operating out of Horseshoe Bay.
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Merv Campone, Rita Tushingham, Jon Granik
Ever since a Blackfoot raiding party killed her family when she was a child, Eve has been afraid of Indians.


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Merv Campone, Rita Tushingham, Jon Granik
These two untrustworthy Indians are played by Caucasian actors wearing cheap black wigs and greasy yellow makeup – a detraction from an otherwise well-crafted production.
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Fur trapper Jean La Bęte paddles his canoe towards shore with a load of furs to sell to the Trader.
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Rita Tushingham, Blain Fairman
Eve visits the trading post.


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Rita Tushingham, Blain Fairman
Eve flirts with the trading-post clerk.
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Blain Fairman, Rita Tushingham
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A bondswoman is being auctioned to the highest bidder because the man who was supposed to become her husband has died before her arrival.  La Bęte and Eve mingle with the crowd of onlookers.


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Rita Tushingham
Rescued by the Trader after being orphaned ten years ago when Indians killed her family, Eve has been living with the Trader's family, for whom she cooks and cleans.  The Trader's dining room, barely glimpsed in the film, is seen here in more detail.
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Linda Goranson, Rita Tushingham, Rex Sevenoaks, Barbara Chilcott
Sarah, the Trader's daughter, plays their new piano that arrived on the steamer.  Despite her protestations that she'll "never be able to play this thing", Sarah is playing the church organ by the end of the movie.
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Rex Sevenoaks, Rita Tushingham
The kindly Trader treats Eve as a daughter.


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Eve and the Trader's wife can be seen in the background, near the church.
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Rita Tushingham, Barbara Chilcott
The Trader's unpleasant wife drags Eve along on a mysterious early-morning errand.
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Rita Tushingham, Oliver Reed
Knowing that Jean La Bęte plans to buy a bondswoman for a wife, the Trader's wife schemes to acquire La Bęte's money by selling Eve to him instead.  La Bęte inspects Eve prior to purchase.


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Barbara Chilcott, Rita Tushingham
The Trader's wife tells La Bęte that Eve cannot speak, due to the traumatic shock she suffered when her family was killed.
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Oliver Reed, Barbara Chilcott, Rita Tushingham
Too late discovering the treachery, Eve is horrified to learn that she has been sold to La Bęte, and struggles to escape.
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Oliver Reed, Rita Tushingham
La Bęte prepares to depart with the still-struggling Eve.


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Rita Tushingham, Oliver Reed
His sexual advances spurned, La Bęte punishes Eve by forcing her to drag his canoe.
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La Bęte and Eve paddle their way upstream into some breathtakingly beautiful British Columbian backcountry.
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They approach La Bęte's cabin on the shore of a lake.


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Rita Tushingham
Eve beats a hasty retreat when she discovers vermin in the cabin.  The cabin already existed at Birkenhead Lake, which was chosen for filming due to its orientation to the sun for proper lighting, its lack of power lines or other signs of civilization, its decent roads that could accommodate the caravan of movie trucks, and its proximity to local towns (D'Arcy and Pemberton) where cast and crew could find lodging.  The cabin had been built in the 1920s by former county court judge R.A. Sargent with his own hands, but was found to be too long for the purposes of the film.  With the consent of Judge Sargent, it was cut in half.  The cabin was restored to its original condition when filming was completed.
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Rita Tushingham, Oliver Reed
"Woman, here, chop wood.  I get some meat."
La Bęte gives Eve some work to do while he goes hunting for food.
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Oliver Reed, Rita Tushingham
Jean La Bęte teaches Eve about trapping.


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Oliver Reed, Rita Tushingham
La Bęte sets a trap for "old Adam bear", unseen in the movie, whom La Bęte regards as his rival for domination of the forest.
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Rita Tushingham
Whenever Eve gets more than twenty feet away from La Bęte, bad things start to happen – attacks from bears, Indians, etcetera.  Since Eve is now making her way through the forest alone, a wildcat begins to stalk her.  (Of course!  What did you expect?)
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Jon Granik, Oliver Reed
Arriving home to find our two hapless Indians attempting to abduct Eve and steal his furs, La Bęte fights with the thieves.


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Oliver Reed, Rita Tushingham
Eve makes dinner for herself and La Bęte.
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Rita Tushingham
Eve feeds a chipmunk.  Off camera, Rita was actually bitten by the chipmunk!  "They had to rush me to the hospital because you can get lockjaw or something, but instead of giving me the anti-tetanus injection right away, they insisted on taking note of all my personal details.  I stood there thinking that I would get lockjaw at any moment, and then no more details!"
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Oliver Reed
Backing away from a mountain lion, Jean La Bęte's foot gets caught in his own trap.  Oliver says, "They shoved me into this big bullring surrounded by a high wall and overlooked by three Mounties armed with high-powered rifles.  They then stuck this mountain lion on a tree above me, with the camera mounted behind, and pushed it into the ring.  I was supposed to shoot it.  The owner told me not to worry because if the lion sprung on me, by the time it actually made contact the Mounties would have shot it.  In fact it only missed me by inches."


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Rita Tushingham
Eve goes fishing with just a hook, line, and her mittened hands.  It is apparently so easy to catch fish in the Canadian northwest that no fishing rod is needed!
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Rita Tushingham
The howl of wolves in the distance prompts Eve to curtail her fishing.
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Rita Tushingham
Concerned that La Bęte might be in trouble, Eve goes to search for him.


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Oliver Reed
La Bęte is being hunted by a wolfpack, attracted by the smell of blood from his injured leg.  Oliver says, "I was seriously hurt by a pack of Alsatians posing as wolves.  I still have the scars from that attack."
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Rita Tushingham
Needing a medicine man to mend La Bęte's broken leg, Eve treks across the snow to an Indian village.
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Rita Tushingham
Finding no one alive at the village, Eve returns to the cabin.  Scene was filmed on 30 Nov 1965.


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Oliver Reed, Rita Tushingham
Eve finds that La Bęte's condition has worsened.
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Oliver Reed, Rita Tushingham
Eve must amputate La Bęte's infected leg.
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Rita Tushingham
While La Bęte is incapacitated, Eve does her best to find food.


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Oliver Reed, Rita Tushingham
Jean La Bęte has come to appreciate Eve, while she now sees the good man underneath the gruff exterior.
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Rita Tushingham, Oliver Reed
As a result of her childhood trauma, Eve fears physical contact, and flees from the hobbled La Bęte.
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Rita Tushingham, Oliver Reed


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Rita Tushingham
On second thought, maybe fleeing down the river without food, water, a coat, or boating skills wasn't such a good idea.
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Rita Tushingham
Oops, now Eve is in big trouble.
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Blain Fairman, Rita Tushingham
Back at the settlement after being rescued from the river, Eve can't stop thinking about La Bęte.  Either that, or else the sneaky clerk is about to scare the unsuspecting Eve half out of her wits.


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Linda Goranson, Rita Tushingham, Barbara Chilcott
"Did you kill him, Evie?  Did you, did you, did you, did you, did you, did you, did you, did you?" 
Sarah badgers Eve for details of her months living with La Bęte.
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Rita Tushingham, Oliver Reed
Eve makes up her mind where she belongs, and returns to La Bęte.
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photo courtesy of Rita Tushingham
Rita, her husband Terry, and daughter Dodonna depart for Canada on the Empress Of Canada ocean liner in October 1965 to film The Trap.  "We sailed from Liverpool and arrived in Montreal, then flew on to Vancouver with Oliver and his family," says Rita.  Press photographer Bob Bird took this photo, which was kindly sent to Rita by Bob's daughter Robin Bird.


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Rita Tushingham
Rita says, "This photo was taken while I was in Canada shooting The Trap, the first and only time I have ever gone fishing.  The little fish on the end of the line was bait.  I recall I seemed to catch what I called a 'family of fish' that went from small to quite large.  (Not a fishing story!)  I put all of them back, apart from one which we took back to our hotel for them to cook for us.  When they served us with the fish, I couldn't eat it, my conscience got the better of me!"
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A behind-the-scenes photo showing the film crew shooting the scene in which Eve is sold to La Bęte.  The cast and the 65-man crew filmed in British Columbia from October through December of 1965.
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Rita Tushingham
Rita waits behind the scenes until she is needed in front of the camera.


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Lakeside scenes were filmed at Birkenhead Lake Provincial Park, near D'Arcy, British Columbia.
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Rita Tushingham, Oliver Reed
Ollie mugs for the camera in this behind-the-scenes photo.
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Rita Tushingham
Rita prepares for a scene in which Eve must hunt for food.


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Rita Tushingham
Rita takes aim with a snowball.
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The scene in which Eve is rescued from the river is rehearsed by Rita and some authentic Indians.  (No black-wigged Caucasian actors, thank goodness!)
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Dodonna Bicknell, Rita Tushingham
Rita's family usually accompanies her for location shooting.  Here, eighteen-month-old Dodonna receives some attention from Mum.


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Rita Tushingham
"We stayed at a lodge in Pemberton (15 miles south of Birkenhead Lake).  There was little else there.  I remember it being very noisy in the evening, a lot of drinking in Pemberton!"
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Rita Tushingham
Rita poses in her beaverskin parka.
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Rita Tushingham
Rita poses with the rifle seen in the film.


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Rita Tushingham
Rita says, "I really enjoyed shooting The Trap, and I loved playing the the role of Eve as it was so different to what I had done before, the preparation was far more concentrated as there was no dialogue.  Oliver was such a good actor; he behaved in a professional manner on the set; I enjoyed working with him very much, he had a good sense of humour which is so important.  I think Ron Goodwin's score was excellent – he really captured the mood of the film."
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Rita Tushingham
A color publicity shot of Rita as Eve.
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Rita Tushingham
Rita sports the latest fashion in beaverskin coats.


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Oliver Reed
Rita says, "Oliver spiked my husband's drink, which rendered him helpless for a couple of days, but that was just Oliver's way of having fun!"
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Movie artwork.
The working title for The Trap was Deep In The Forest.
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A crowd gathers for the UK premiere of The Trap at the Odeon Leicester Square Theatre in London on Thursday, 15 September 1966.


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Rita Tushingham
Rita arrives at the premiere wearing an organdy outfit with a Batman-style cape.
Oliver Reed, Carol Lynley
Ollie arrives at the premiere with Carol Lynley on his arm.  (Ollie definitely knows how to accessorize.)
Blain Fairman, Linda Goranson
Vancouver university students Blain Fairman (the trading-post clerk) and Linda Goranson (Sarah) arrive from Canada to attend the premiere.  Look for Blain as Ripley's doctor onboard the space station in Aliens (1986).



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Rita Tushingham
Rita and Dedee, her German Schnauzer, at Rita and Terry's cottage in Little London, Hertfordshire.
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Rita with Lynn Redgrave at the 1966 Acapulco Film Festival, where they discovered that they were quite different from the more formally attired American stars who were there.  "Joan Crawford hauled us over the coals for wearing our Carnaby Street mini-skirts.  She took one look at us and said, 'You are a disgrace to the film industry.'  We asked why.  'Because,' she said, 'you are not wearing long dresses.'  We turned around and walked off, giggling."
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Dodonna Bicknell, Rita Tushingham
Rita and Dodonna at their home in Hertfordshire.  "People often come to the house," Rita giggles, "asking for Miss Tushingham's autograph.  I'm so unglamorous that nine times out of ten, they mistake me for the maid.  I enjoy it.  I say – in a mock-haughty voice – 'Excuse me, will you please wait while I ask Modom?'"



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Rita and Dodonna visit the seal exhibit at a zoo.
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Rita sits for a photo shoot.
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A closeup of Rita, taken during the photo shoot.


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This photo clearly shows the thatched roof on Rita and Terry's sixteenth-century cottage near Little London, Hertfordshire, 35 miles from London.  "It's 300 years old and cost us Ł11,000" says Rita.
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Rita, Terry, and Paul Danquah break into an impromptu chorus.
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John Tushingham, Rita Tushingham
When Rita comes to her home town of Liverpool, she likes to visit Tushingham's Grocery, where her father is the proprietor.



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