Ringo Starr Almost Died Just to Get the Perfect Shot in The Beatles’ Movie ‘Help!’
It seemed like Ringo Starr would do anything for The Beatles. He put up with Paul McCartney’s drumming instructions for years. He rushed to Yoko Ono’s side when John Lennon was killed. Out of principle and respect, the drummer even refused to record a song John gave him shortly after his bandmate died. Ringo nearly died just to get the perfect shot in the Beatles movie Help!
Ringo Starr risked drowning just to get the perfect shot in ‘Help!’
Years before Ringo proved his acting talent in serious movies, he acted in two Beatles movies. The Fab Four released A Hard Day’s Night in 1964 and followed up with Help! in 1964.
The drummer was the star of the show in that latter movie. The bejeweled ring a fan gave him was really a key piece of a sacrificial ritual, and the rightful owners want it back. Ringo’s willingness to make The Beatles’ songs sound fantastic came through in his stellar drumming performances. He went to nearly fatal lengths to make sure one shot in Help! absolutely perfect.
Victor Spinetti, who acted alongside The Beatles in Help! and their other movies, revealed that Ringo complained to him about jumping off the side of a boat into the ocean, but only after he did several takes.
“So he dives off but quickly comes straight back out shivering because it was freezing and there were shark nets everywhere – it was actually very dangerous,” Spinetti said (via Wales Online). “But something went wrong, and they had to [do the] shot again, so in he dived once more. The third time he was being dried off with a hairdryer, and he said: ‘Oh, Victor, I don’t want to do this again.’ I asked why, and he replied, ‘Because I can’t bloody swim.’ Can you believe that? He could have drowned there and then. So I waved my arms and shouted to the film crew, ‘He can’t swim!’
“I asked him why he’d done it, and he said to me, ‘Well, when the director says, ‘Action,’ you’ve got to do it, haven’t you?’” Victor Spinetti reveals how Ringo Starr almost died filming Help!
Repeatedly jumping into the ocean despite not knowing how to swim put Ringo at risk of dying, or at least suffering a traumatic accident. Drowning wasn’t the only peril he faced. The Fab Four filmed the scene on the water in the Bahamas, not a soundstage. A few nets were all that separated the star drummer from swarming sharks curious about Ringo’s helpless thrashing.
Luckily for Ringo, some of his other encounters with water were much more manageable and didn’t put him in danger of dying.
Some of Ringo’s other water encounters weren’t as risky or miserable as filming ‘Help!’
Ringo didn’t know how to swim when he kept jumping off the side of a yacht to get the perfect shot in Help! It’s conceivable that he risked serious danger with the repeated takes in shark-infested waters. Luckily for the drummer, his other encounters around the water weren’t so dangerous.
The Beatles splashed in shallow waters for other Help! Scenes. Ringo could stand up and not have to worry about swimming.
He avoided getting wet when The Beatles scored their first No. 1 hit in the United States in early 1964. The group heard about “I Want to Hold Your Hand” hitting the top of the Billboard charts while in Paris. The Fab Four had always promised to give roadie Neil Aspinall £20,000 when they had a U.S. hit. When they heard the news, they tried to get him to jump in the Seine River.
The drummer lived in Los Angeles several years later. When Led Zeppelin toured the area, drumming friend John Bonham pranked Ringo by throwing him in the pool.
Some jokey fun in the heart of Paris and good-natured ribbing in his backyard pool must have seemed like child’s play after Ringo risked drawing while filming The Beatles’ movie Help!
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