Radio interview

Did a second radio interview this week to promote the book, this time on Spectrum FM in Mojacar, in the south-east of Spain. I felt it went considerably better than the last one on Talk Radio Europe, not least because Eddie was also interviewed - albeit briefly and only over the phone. The host, Richard Shanley, also played his part as he was clued up about Eddie's background and asked relevant questions.
Eddie, despite his frail health, can be trusted as always to provide the knock-out quote. On this occasion, on being asked about a particular contribution to a Lean film, he mused "What was the name of that bloody film?" on air. It's a shame Eddie's not strong enough to appear on more shows - be it radio or TV - the public is missing a golden opportunity to see and hear this candid man in action.

New publication date

The book's launch has been moved forward to Friday, December 10. All guns blazing - just like Eddie himself.

PUBLICATION DATE

Eddie's autobiography, DAVID LEAN'S DEDICATED MANIAC - MEMOIRS OF A FILM SPECIALIST, (Austin & Macauley, ISBN 9781849630412) will hit UK bookshops on MONDAY, DECEMBER 20.
Price 9.99 GBP.

It is a great pleasure to announce that UK publishers Austin and Macauley have decided to publish Eddie's autobiography. We will be working on the book's production schedule over the coming months. Once we know the publishing date you will get to hear all about it here first.

Eddie received a lifetime achievement award for his contribution to film making in Spain at the International Short Film Festival in Almería last week, December 7 (film star Ernest Borgnine was also at the Festival to receive his award just days later). Visibly moved, Eddie got a standing ovation at the Theatre Cervantes, which was packed for the event.
Later that same week, retired Film Director Richard Lester agreed to write the foreword to Eddie's autobiography.

You can now view a short documentary film interview with Eddie Fowlie on You Tube. This is the link: www.youtube.com/watch?v=s2HahJ_8eDE

Eddie Fowlie - a life in film

"Eddie was the only one who told it to me straight. Everyone else on the crew thought it might be OK, so that I was the one who fell in it if it wasn’t” David Lean

"If the director wanted a thousand butterflies on the set the next day, Eddie would say 'no problem'" Geraldine Chaplin

Property master, locations expert, special effects wizard: Eddie Fowlie’s long list of film credits is testimony to his vast experience working on some of the biggest movies ever made.
John Lennon, Joan Collins, Peter O’Toole, Omar Sharif, Gregory Peck, Oliver Reed, Christopher Lee, Alec Guinness and George Raft – Eddie worked with them all.
Outspoken and irreverent, Fowlie recounts his extraordinary life in films in a wildly entertaining and inspiring autobiography. Meet the man who drove the train during its final moments in The Bridge on the River Kwai, blew John Lennon up in How I Won the War, hoodwinked Oliver Reed into thinking he was an expert swordsman in The Three Musketeers, turned down an offer to work with Stanley Kubrick, doubled for Joan Collins in a bikini… and stole Boris Karloff’s birthday cake.
Discover some of the best kept special effects secrets in film history. How was the Ice Palace in Doctor Zhivago created? How do you cover miles of Spanish countryside in snow during the height of summer? How do you blow up a bridge without using computer animation? and how do you make dry quicksand in the desert, where there is no quicksand?

TOP PHOTO: Besides working in films, Eddie also achieved the remarkable feat of discovering explorer James Cook’s lost anchor in Tahiti. Here's Eddie posing with his prized catch (Photo: David Lean)
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David Lean is widely regarded as one of history’s greatest film directors. Epics like Lawrence of Arabia, Doctor Zhivago and The Bridge on the River Kwai have left an indelible mark in film history, inspiring generations of cinema goers and film makers such as Steven Spielberg
A highly private person, Lean was also an enigma to those who worked with him, but no-one knew David Lean better than Eddie Fowlie or worked in as many of his movies. As Lean’s closest personal friend, Eddie reveals details of the legendary director’s life in his forthcoming and outrageously funny autobiography, A Dedicated Maniac – memoirs of a film specialist.

ABOVE: From left to right: Robert Bolt, David Lean and Eddie in Tahiti

Peter O'Toole hands Eddie a cup of water as he prepares to pull the hapless Daud under the sand in the film Lawrence of Arabia

Eddie looks on as the scene is played out (Peter O'Toole in white)

Say cheese - Eddie takes a snap of David Lean