George Harrison Said Peter Sellers Influenced Him to Go Into the Film Business, but Another Idol Reminded Him He Was Only a Musician
George Harrison said his friend and comedian, Peter Sellers, greatly influenced him going into the film business. However, another of George’s idols was instrumental in showing him that he was a musician first.
George Harrison entered the film business by producing Monty Python’s ‘Life of Brian’
In the early 1970s, George became good friends with the guys in Monty Python. Years later, Eric Idle told George that EMI had dropped out of producing Monty Python’s film, Life of Brian, because they thought it was blasphemous. George loved the idea of the film and disagreed with EMI. So, he thought of funding the project.
“I asked Denis O’Brien, who had been my business manager since the end of ’73,” George told Film Comment. “After thinking about it for a week, he came back and suggested that we produce it. I let out a laugh because one of my favorite films is ‘The Producers,’ and here we were about to become Bialystock and Bloom.
“Neither of us had any previous thought of going into the movie business, though Denis had a taste of it managing Peter Sellers and negotiating some of the later Pink Panther films. It was a bit risky, I guess, totally stepping out of line for me, but, as a big fan of Monty Python, my main motive was to see the film get made.”
Life of Brian was George’s initial step into the film business, but Sellers inspired him to stay there.
George said Peter Sellers was a considerable influence on him going into the film business
Without Sellers, George might not have chosen to stay in the film business and start his production company, HandMade Films.
“I was quite close with Peter,” George told Timothy White at Musician Magazine. “Long before I met him I was a fan of ‘The Goon Show,’ and then I used to see him at parties.”
George also got to know Sellers well because they were both massive fans of legendary sitarist Ravi Shankar. The former Beatle said Sellers would visit him at his home, Friar Park, and make him watch various films.
“He was a considerable influence on my getting into the film world,” George continued. “Peter used to come to my Henley house with all these 16-millimeter films and we’d sit ’round and have dinner and watch. His favorite picture–which has been mine ever since Peter showed it to me–was Mel Brooks’ ‘The Producers.‘
“He kept saying, ‘You’ve got to see this movie!’ Eventually we put it on, and I’ve never taken it off.”
Carl Perkins showed him that he liked being a musician better
George realized that HandMade Films would be more than a one-shot venture when O’Brien “got a bug for it” and great scripts kept coming in. “Anyhow, one thing led to another, and our films just kept happening,” George told Film Comment.
After that, George said that since his team was good at handling everything, he didn’t have to take so much time out of his music career.
Still, Sellers might have influenced George to go into the film business, but Carl Perkins showed him that he was only a musician deep down. At the 10th anniversary party for HandMade Films, George thanked Perkins, who’d also been in both the music and film industries, for reminding him that “it’s still much better being a guitar player.”
George remained in the film business and, of course, the music industry until he died in 2001. He made impressions in both that have lasted decades.
