Filming Waterloo
MORE STAR QUALITY WITH RICHARD HEFFER
Filming Waterloo
Stage, film and TV actor Richard Heffer, often recognised for his role in the TV series "Colditz" during the 1970s, played the role of the famous Captain Cavalié Mercer, commander of G Troop Royal Horse Artillery in the fabulous and timeless epic, Waterloo.
Richard's introduction to life on the Waterloo filmset is fascinating enough, but what follows is a quite astounding description of the very real dangers of facing the destructive power of a cavalry charge!
The Italian producer Dino de Laurentiis teamed up with Russian director Sergei Bondarchuk, with the young Richard chosen alongside the well established Rod Steiger, Christopher Plummer & Jack Hawkins.
So, long before Ridley Scott's Napoleon, from the days when thousands of real soldiers were needed to build a scene, here are his recollections:
VIDEO 1: Richard introduces the 1969 Filmset (3:20 minutes)
VIDEO 2: Richard on the perils of the Cavalry Charge (3:12 minutes)
Hot off the Press, literally, is Richard 's photo-journal book, "Waterloo 1969", a great companion to Simon Lewis' "Waterloo - Making an Epic":
Richard's journal is the foundation of a superb book "Waterloo - Making an Epic - the spectacular behind-the-scenes story of a movie colossus" by Simon Lewis which appears amongst our Favourite Books via our Research page.
Richard is an esteemed tour guest of Campaigns & Culture, and you can view his four short videos describing different aspects of his touring experience with us on our Testimonials page.