Interview with Mary Guillermin - author of John Guillermin: The Man, the Myth, the Movies

John Guillermin, the director of Rapture, The Towering Inferno, King Kong, Never Let Go, Guns at Batasi and a long line of other films is best known for his bad temper, and there have been no comprehensive books on his work.

This has changed: His wife Mary Guillermin has launched a large project to do John's work justice, and the book: John Guillermin: The Man, The Myth, The Movies is now out.

We sat down with her before the release, and had an absolutely fantastic chat about John's life and work: and learned so much!

Did you for instance know that Patricia Gozzi did not know English when she played the lead in Rapture and learned all her lines phonetically?

Or that he really did not want to do King Kong 2, and tried to talk his producer out of it.

We get the answers to several of your listener questions, leaned why he seemed to accept any movie (he really did!) and heard so many stories, including why he disliked Paul Newman but loved Steve McQueen.

I know we all had so many exciting moments here - including some films we had no idea we would discuss - and great insight into John Guillenmin as both a man and filmmaker.