Photo Of The Month - February 2013

As this is the first in what is planned to be a series of monthly photos - each selected by Alexandra with her giving a little background information to each photo - we have given you a bonus by posting four photos. Each one of these photos, and the portrait, is connected to 'The Candy Web'  and her introducton to a life of films, TV and Stage work.

 




          William Castle - Director of 'The Candy Web', and Alexandra Bastedo. 1962  

 Alexandra writes:

"My life was turned upside down when my mother entered me for The Teenage Diplomat competition run by Columbia Pictures and the Evening News. Amazingly, out of 4000 entrants, I won. The adjudicators were Mike Frankovitch (Head of Columbia Pics), the actress Anna Neagle, the top casting director Maud Spector and the editor of the Evening News. The prize was a trip to Hollywood - with mother as chaperone - and a part in The Candy Web (also known as 13 Frightened Girls) directed by William Castle of Rosemary's Baby fame. For a 16 year old from Brighton and Hove High School it was an extraordinary experience - top hotels, limousines and meeting all the stars of the day - Bobby Darren, Sandra Dee, Charlton Heston, Omar Sharif to mention just a few. We were feted everywhere we went and visited Disneyland, Sea World, Corriganville - the western location - and also Lake Arrowhead in the mountains.

The film itself mainly involved a lot of screaming but it brought me to the attention of top agents and I was offered a part on the Donna Reed Show and in Alfred Hitchcocks "Girl with Blue Jeans". At the time I was very upset to be flown back home and sent back to school - under threat of expulsion if I took any more time out - but in retrospect mother was right. She said she could not leave me there alone and there was my brother and sister to consider. But it was an extraordinary experience for a young schoolgirl and took me away from my ambition to be a vet into the world of acting".     Alexandra Bastedo 
©Alexandra Bastedo             

Alexandra and William Castle				Alexandra presents the Mayor of Los Angeles with a book on Brighton & Hove
		Portrait of Alexandra Bastedo circa 1962