Beyond Boba Fett: A Conversation with Jeremy Bulloch

Jeremy Bulloch and his "Star Wars" alter ego, bounty hunter Boba Fett

Average fans may not recognize Jeremy Bulloch’s face, but put on a familiar helmet and jet pack and Jeremy is suddenly transformed into one of the most beloved film villains of all time, not to mention one of the most iconic figures in science fiction history – bounty hunter Boba Fett from George Lucas’ legendary Star Wars Saga.  Cold, emotionless and ruthless, Boba Fett is a man of few words, but whose screen presence has gained him one of the biggest cult followings then any character from science fiction’s long history.  He takes down Han Solo, talks down to Darth Vadar and even can survive a Sarlacc pit.  Novels, comic books and fan clubs have been dedicated solely to Boba Fett, who originally was intended to just be a small bit part.  Yet, due to marketing and fan interest, Boba Fett, in the fashion of other pop culture icons such as Fonzie, Erik Estrada and Steve Urkle, became one of the unexpected break out super stars of the pop culture universe. However, while the world loves the enigmatic Boba Fett, the actor behind the mask rarely gets recognized.

The face behind the famous Boba Fett helmet, British actor Jeremy Bulloch

In August 2008 I had the great pleasure to meet Jeremy Bulloch and his lovely wife Maureen at a Toronto convention.  However, having to catch a train, I had little time to talk with the Bullochs, but Jeremy and I made arrangements to do an interview by telephone later in the fall after his return from a science fiction convention in Costa Rica.  This gave me time to research Jeremy’s career where I quickly realized that there was no way I was going to be able to fit the whole thing into one interview.  There was just so much.  Professionally acting as early as the age of twelve, Jeremy Bulloch has had a long and colorful career which is far richer then just his small appearance in Star Wars.  From pop stars to puppets, Jeremy Bulloch has done it all.  He has appeared on stage, on television and in films with many of the greatest actors of all time, as well as appeared in timeless projects that have become part of our pop culture heritage.  However, because of that blasted Boba Fett helmet that hides his face, none of us have been able to recognize him.  Yet while he may be always remembered for his unique contribution to the Star Wars franchise, what many fans may be surprised to know is that Jeremy also worked in a number of other popular sci-fi/fantasy franchises as well, including Doctor Who, James Bond and Robin of Sherwood.  Jeremy Bulloch is truly more then just Boba Fett.

In reality, Jeremy Bulloch could be the exact opposite of Boba Fett.   He is an open, friendly and dignified British gentleman whose story on the pop culture journey is a living chronicle of the working actor.  From child actor to character actor, Jeremy has had a career that has spanned six decades.  However Jeremy is not just an actor.  Father of three sons and grandfather to nine grandchildren, Jeremy is very much a family man, as well as an athlete and even a collector, admitting that over the years he has collected a massive selection of Boba Fett products.  But that’s part of the charm of Jeremy Bulloch.  While he is a very intelligent and proper professional, upon discussing the franchises he has worked in, Jeremy Bulloch can geek it up with the best of us.  He knows the history of the programs and movies, and can give expert opinions on the past and present of these series even long before and after his involvement.  There is just a little bit of a fan in Jeremy Bulloch as well, which makes him even more engaging to talk with.

So come and listen to Jeremy Bulloch tell the story of his career, and as we talk about some of his experiences in some of the most successful franchises of all time as

CONFESSIONS OF A POP CULTURE ADDICT PRESENTS

BEYOND BOBA FETT:

A CONVERSATION WITH JEREMY BULLOCH

I talked to Jeremy Bulloch via telephone in September 2008 from his home in London, England.

Sam:  Here in North America you are best known for playing Boba Fett, but when I was looking over your acting credits, you’ve actually had a long and successful career that has spanned decades.  How did you first get into the acting business?

Jeremy Bulloch:  Well I was going to take a sport scholarship.  If I passed an exam when I was eleven years old I would have gone to sports college because I was a promising ruby player, as well as soccer.  But I failed the exam, and once I failed the exam it stopped the scholarship.  So within about two months I was in drama school, through my godmother, mainly, telling my mother “He likes singing, he likes acting, he likes doing this” so completely out of the blue I was in drama school a few months after failing that exam.

Sam:  In retrospect, what would you have rather done?  Rugby or drama?

Jeremy:  Well I managed to do both, but the biggest problem with rugby is that you can get hit pretty hard so if you have to worry about what you look like rugby is not a good game to play.  So I went on to soccer and cricket, and I also love golf, but I don’t get enough time to play.  So I carried on with sports, but your not really supposed to play [rugby] if your under contract because if you break a leg.  But when [you are] twenty you don’t think about that, so I carried on playing [rugby] as well as starting an acting career.

Sam:  You started acting as a child.  You were a child actor.

Jeremy:  Yes  Twelve years old.

Sam:  Well here in North America we always hear about child actors going bad and burning out and become troublesome, but that doesn’t seem to be as common in Europe.  Is there a difference in the training of child actors between North America and England?

Jeremy Bulloch in "The Cat Gang." (1959) Bulloch is the child in the middle.

Jeremy:  It’s funny.   I don’t think of myself as being a child actor because I always thought I was an actor.  I always looked forward to the next job.  When I was much younger we had a chaperone.  A lady who made sure we got there on time and that we behaved.  So the discipline I had when I was young, because I worked with some of the toughest directors, was if you were a minute late you were off.  You’re out of the picture.  You’re not going to work.  And if you get a reputation for being late you don’t work again.  Where as today, sadly, it does happen that when people are late [they say] “Oh sorry.  I had this big gig last night” but the get left off.  I’ve worked on some productions where people have arrived late, and if that had happened when I was young they would have said “Alright.  You’re gone.  Bye bye” and would have gotten someone else.  It costs money and it just upsets me.  People got to have the discipline and that’s one of the big things when I did theatre and went all over the country.  You had to be on time, you had to do this and had to do that and it was quite strict.  But you still enjoyed it.  You still had a bit of a loose reign.  But getting back to your point, which was a good point, I just considered myself an actor and I never thought about how long I would last.  In my twenties would I still be working?  I’m still working and I expect to work.  When I go for an interview you have a certain amount of confidence and you got to say if I don’t get it, well shrug your shoulders, there’s always the next time.  You never say “This is it.  I’m now sixty three and no ones going to employ me.”  The parts are there just as much as they were when I was thirty.  We know that.  I knew that when I was very young.  But you can’t expect to play the handsome detective who is thirty years old when you’re sixty three.  I’m very lucky that I have a strong family, so it keeps your feet on your ground.  When [I wasn't] working I used to do odd jobs.  Waiting tables and painting people’s houses because you have to do that.  There’s no point in being proud and saying “I don’t do that.  I’m an actor.”  Get on and do it.  A lot of actors do that, and especially in North America, when you go to a restaurant a lot of actors are working there.  You can tell.  They are actors performing, doing a job.

Sam:  Now a lot of your early films are not available on DVD.

Jeremy:  They are probably old black and whites.

Sam:  They most likely are.  What was your first film, or when was a turning point in your career as an actor?

"Summer Holiday" (1963)

Jeremy:  I did a lot of kid’s series.  I did a comedy series called Billy Bunter, which was a famous schoolboy.  Big and fat and used to eat jam donuts and we used to make fun of him.  That was on television every Saturday afternoon.  At five o’clock kids would be in and they’d watch this funny school thing.  I did lot of commercials as a boy, playing the cheeky red head, as I was.  And then finally I got this film called The Devil’s Agent which was a German production.  Christopher Lee was in it.  And when I last saw him I reminded him of that production.  He said “My word I remember that production.  That was long ago.”  That one was interesting because I was playing a German boy, and Peter Van Eyck and Marianne Koch, who were well known German actors at the time, were my mother and father, so I was learning very early on what the whole business was, and then I went on to a musical called Play It Cool, with a pop star called Billy Fury, who was well known here in the 60s.  A year and a half later I went into another musical called Summer Holiday with Cliff Richards.  Now Sir Cliff Richards.  He was terrific as well.  What was lovely was early on you were mixing with pop stars and I was a young boy on the red London bus and it’s a film that is shown every bank holiday.  It’s a fun film.  Perhaps it’s a little bit dated now.  But the song is well known from the 60’s.

Sam:  I haven’t seen it, but I know the song Summer Holiday.

Jeremy:  Everybody knows it.  But what was funny was that in Summer Holiday, although I was the veteran actor because I had done television, I was also the youngest member of the cast.

Sam:  So Summer Holiday came out in ’63?

Jeremy:  We filmed it in ’62 but it was shown in ’63.

Sam:  Now a lot of Star Wars fans probably don’t realize it, but long before you did the Star Wars movies you were in another one of the biggest sci-fi franchises of all time, not to mention my personal favorite,  Doctor Who.  That started in ’63 and I know you did one of the early William Hartnell episodes.

Jeremy Bulloch as Tor in the Doctor Who serial "The Space Museum"

Jeremy:  That was in ’64 with William Hartnell.  It was in The Space Museum and it was in black and white.  When I looked at it the other day it, once again, was so dated but William Hartnell was a good Doctor Who.  When I was working with him he would explain [things] to me.  I’ve worked a lot with elder actors.  I can say that now as an elder actor, but he would say “Now pay attention.  Watch what I do, son.  I’ve been an actor a long time.  Watch what I do and you might learn something.”  So you had all that to put up with but he was getting on a bit and was quite crotchety but he had this enormous experience so I said “Certainly Mr. Hartnell.”  You didn’t call him Bill.  So I said “Certainly Mr. Hartnell I will watch.”  And he’d say “So when you grab a hold of me remember it’s pretend.  Don’t jump all over me.  It’s pretend.  Okay?  See what you can do about pretend.  Don’t whack me in the back or anything.”   I said “No, I certainly won’t.”  So as well as being directed by the director, I was being directed by William Hartnell.  The good thing is, when we finally finished the last scene, he said “You watched and listened, didn’t you son?  Well done!”  So that was his way of saying “I gave you good advice, so let’s hope you take it on from there.”

Sam:  Did you find him to be difficult?

Doctor Who's William Hartnell: "He was getting on a bit and was quite crotchety but he had this enormous experience"

Jeremy:  Yeah, he was a bit difficult but, you know, you’d go in and rehearse everything and then you’d grab him and he’d go “Remember it’s pretend” and I’d want to say “Yes, of course.  I’m hardly touching you.  Don’t worry” but with his experience and his age you used to go with it.  But he was fine with me and in the end he had a wink and said “Well done.  Well done.”

Sam:  And years later you did a Doctor Who series with Jon Pertwee where you had a much larger part as Hal the Archer.

Jeremy:  Yes.  The Time Warrior.  A much bigger part, and there was talk of me getting on board the TARDIS.

Sam:  Oh really?

Jeremy Bulloch as Hal the archer in the Doctor Who serial "The Time Warrior"

Jeremy:  Yes.  As we were filming the episodes of The Time Warrior they kept saying “We don’t know Jeremy.  Are you free in two weeks time?”  And I said “Well, yes, I think I am.” And they said “Oh no no.  It’s nothing.  It’s just that we may.”  And it was already there, because it was Sarah Jane Smith…Liz Sladen’s…first episode and I would become the male companion and go aboard because it was getting a bit dangerous out there with all the battles going on.  So, there was a possibility that I may have been going on.  Funny thing is, just recently I’ve done the audio book of The Time Warrior, and I do all the voices, so that should be coming out soon.

Sam:  What was working with Jon Pertwee like?

Doctor Who's Jon Pertwee: "Jon Pertwee was just a hoot. It was very difficult to keep a straight face."

Jeremy:  Jon Pertwee was just a hoot.  It was very difficult to keep a straight face.  You were going “Oh I don’t want to do this scene again.  He’s going to start laughing again.”  He was a charming man and is much missed.  Everyone has their favorite Doctor, like Patrick Troughton.  I knew him from working years and years ago with him.  He was quite good.  William Hartnell in his way was quite good, and all the Doctors brought something to it.

Sam:  Have you seen the new Doctor Who series?

Jeremy:  Yes I have and you can see they have spent money on it and it does look terrific.  I do like it.  I haven’t watched every single episode, but you can catch up with repeats here.  But it is very good and Chris Eccleston was very good, but I prefer David Tennant.   The sets are quite good and the stories are quite good and it was a gamble to redo it again, but now everyone can’t wait for it to come back.  Maybe I’ll get the chance to appear in it.

Sam:  So you were also in a soap opera as well.

Jeremy:  A soap opera called The Newcomers in the 60’s.

Sam:  There doesn’t seem to be much out there on it because most of it was whipped out by the BBC.

Jeremy:  Yeah.  Well it was in black and white, just before color started in the UK.  It was a very popular series for four years.   I came out of it after three years because I decided that I had to move because you knew it was going to end.  And so by coming out, instead of today when you can go from one show and straight into another, I came out and that was it.  I couldn’t work for the BBC for a while, so I went straight into a theatre tour to sort of lose myself in a way before coming back into television.

Sam:  How long were you away from television?

Jeremy:  About sixteen or seventeen months.  You knew, because I can walk down the street and.  I mean, nobody here knows I was Boba Fett because I don’t walk down the street in the helmet, but in those days I could go down the street and they’d go “Oh, hello Phillip!  How are you?”  They’d call me Phillip because that was my character’s name.  So I’d go on the metro and people would be pointing and nudging and it was a very strange.  It’s never really happened since that people would be pointing at me and saying “Look.  It’s that guy in The Newcomers.”  I mean, it is nice to have that recognition but after a while it was [trying].  I get sort of embarrassed about being recognized.  That doesn’t happen much now.

"O Lucky Man!" (1973)

Sam:  Another film that you did that has become a real cult favorite over the last couple of years was O Lucky Man! with Malcolm McDowell.

Jeremy:  The part I played there was the young man and you see me in three pieces, so I was Malcolm McDowell’s alter ego.  So you see me driving the car into that fog and smashing it up, you see me in the hospital with my head transplanted on a pig’s body and then you see me at the end as the sandwich board man turning around saying “Try your luck.”  So I was really the alter ego of Malcolm McDowell.  Lindsay Anderson is a wonderful director to work with and I worked with him a couple of times.  That was great fun.

Sam:  Now in the 70’s you traveled to Asia and did The Sadrina Project.  Can you tell me a bit about what that was?

Jeremy:  It was quite weird.  It was the beginning of January, 1977 and I went to meet these people and they said “We’re looking at you because you look very English.  You look like a student.  This is a program.  It’s strange.  It’s not really a thriller, although it is, but it’s about someone who is a travel agent and we’re looking at you for this.”  And I went to Singapore Airlines, where we had the interview because it was going to be filmed in Singapore and around the Far East.  So I recorded something and they watched it and asked “Would you come to the India Club,” which was in the West End and we sat down and had an Indian meal and I met the people from Singapore and before I knew it I was signed up for seven months to go out to the Far East to teach the Chinese and Malaysian population English, and to have a good solid story about me being chased around the Far East.  But the difference was, instead of it being a thriller; I would be coming up and saying “Good…Morning…My…Name…Is…David….Foster….I….Believe…You…Have…A…Room.”  So it was all spoken very slowly so people could get the idea of how to speak in English.  But I had to leave behind my wife and two young boys and that was very difficult, but I had to and I’m glad I did it in the end.

Sam:  Now just before you did Star Wars you did a wonderful comedy series called Agony where you played one half of a gay couple.

Jeremy:  Yeah.  That was in 1979.  I was just finishing it off when I went straight into The Empire Strikes Back.  It was wonderful because I went through the interviews and then finally I was told I got it.  It took all afternoon.  We had to read and then the BBC had to see if I matched up.  Did I look right because I was playing a gay character.  There was all this discussion, but I was glad I got it because it was a funny series, and we did three series.  They sold the idea to America but it didn’t really work so in the end the series filmed in England was shown in America.

Sam:  Well what I found interesting was that the gay couple in Agony is portrayed as being very “butch” which was such a departure from what British comedy was portraying gay characters at that time.  Most comedies would portray their gay characters to be more flamboyant, like John Inman might do.

Jeremy Bulloch was playing gay neighbour Rob Illingworth on the ITV sit-com "Agony" when he went out for the role of Boba Fett

Jeremy:  Well it would have been easy to do that.  It would be easy to camp it up.  But there was one scene where Peter Denyer and I were talking at a party and we both could read each others minds, where we were having a couple of drinks so we both became a little bit camper because we were losing our inhibitions.  So instead of playing straight gays and act like normal people, we started to let our hair down and let people notice that we were more camp.  Funny enough, what a lot of gay people told me that, while we had problems, it was the heterosexual people that seem to have more problems then we did.  It worked out very well and was a very enjoyable series to do.

Sam:  Well I think the series is interesting, because it is written more like a modern HBO or Showtime series.  It was really before it’s time.

Jeremy:  Well your right.  It was shown at 10:15 in the evening here, because it was a little bit risqué.

Sam:  And I think a lot of fans would be surprised that you were being recognized as a gay character when you were cast as Boba Fett.

Jeremy:  Yeah.  I know.  Well people were saying “Oh, I saw you last night on Agony.  What a fabulous series” when I went up for the interview for Boba Fett, which was not really an interview.  It was just getting dressed up in a costume and they said “That looks great.  It’ll be two or three days Jeremy, but welcome aboard.”

Sam:  Well I mean, how do you audition for Boba Fett?

Jeremy Bulloch's most famous character - Star War's favorite bounty hunter Boba Fett

Jeremy:  Well my half brother, Robert Watts, was the associate producer on the Star Wars films and he said to me “Oh, you ought to get your agent on to this.  I don’t believe in nepotism but get your agent on this because there’s a few parts for these bounty hunters and there is this one character called Boba Fett.  It’s a couple of days.  It’s not much work but it might be quite fun.”  And I was working in the theatre in the evening so I thought they might not use me because it might be difficult, but in the end it worked out really well and they said welcome aboard.  And I didn’t know why they weren’t asking me to read, but then, of course, I realized there were only four or five lines.  But, I look back on that and it’s the one [part] everyone reminds me of.  I’m probably better known for covering my face instead of fifty years as an actor.  But I don’t mind.  There is no sense in saying “Now I’m doing Shakespeare,” or “Now I’m doing King Lear.”  Yes, we’ve all done that but I’m very proud of the whole Star Wars Saga.  I had a great time and it’s great to be able to relate stories to people now if you’re invited to certain events around the world.

Sam:  So there is no resentment for Boba Fett being your most famous character.

Jeremy:  My boys will come to me and say “So you are just coming back from where?”  and I’ve just come back from Costa Rica and talked to the people out there and they just love the character.  In a way it’s very lucky for me because the general public will know Darth Vadar, C3PO, R2D2, Chewbacca, Han Solo, Princess Leia, Luke Sywalker and Yoda.  They will know instantly when somebody mentions them.  But, the non-real Star Wars fan will go “Hmmm.  Boba Fett.  Which was that one?”  And fans will go “Well he had a jet pack” and they’ll say “Oh yes!  That one!  Yes!”  So Boba Fett is still on the list, but amongst the real fans he’s a favorite.

Sam:  What do you think the endearing quality of Boba Fett is?

"He’s a dangerous character. He’s very cool and that’s why the kids and the thirty five year olds love the character."

Jeremy:  I think he’s a loner.  I think he does his job very well.  If he was going to shoot you he would tell you first so you have a chance.  He’s very fair and I think somewhere down the line he must have worked with Han Solo.  He’d have to.  They were probably not friends but they would have worked together as pilots or engineers because we never really know.  So something’s happen between that we’ll probably never know about.  There are plenty of books and comics.  But he answers Darth Vadar badly, which is a good thing.  And not many people get away with saying to Darth Vadar “Well, watch me.”  He’s a dangerous character.  He’s very cool and that’s why the kids and the thirty five year olds love the character.

Sam:  Now when you did Boba Fett, you obviously didn’t know that he’d become the phenomena that he became.

"He answers Darth Vadar badly, which is a good thing. And not many people get away with saying to Darth Vadar “Well, watch me.”

Jeremy:  No.  Not at all.  But suddenly, and especially over the last ten years, or a bit longer, letters come in daily and I do try to answer as many as I can.  Some people get silly and say “I want fifty signed photographs of you.  I’ve got lots of grandchildren.”  So, it’s just incredible that lots of people are wondering why he is so popular and I really don’t know.  There is something about that whole outfit and the way that he deals with himself and other people that people respect and like.  It’s quite amazing.

Sam:  What did you think of the back-story that George Lucas gave Boba Fett in the prequels?

Jeremy:  I think it’s terrific.  Originally I would say “I think its wonderful playing Boba Fett but I don’t think anyone should ever see his face.  Something’s happened to him and nobody should ever see his face.”  But now that the back-story has come along it’s good because more and more people know about Boba Fett.  People who may have never been interested before know his back story, that he is a clone.  For years I was telling people that he was a human being but now I have had to change that.  It’s been enormous fun, as long as you don’t take it too seriously.  Well, when I say that, that’s silly.  I’ve collected a lot of Boba Fett toys and things like that but that’s quite fun.  You have the guys that do things for charity, that dress up like Storm Troopers and Darth Vader, but wherever you are in the world they come up and welcome you.  The fans are just amazing.

Sam:  Well another major franchise you were doing around the same time that you were doing Star Wars was James Bond, where you had a reoccurring role playing Q’s assistant Smithers.

Jeremy Bulloch played Q's assistant Smithers in two James Bond films - "For Your Eyes Only" (1981) and "Octopussy" (1983)

Jeremy:  Yes.  [I was in] Octopussy, For Your Eyes Only and The Spy Who Loved Me, where I was right in the beginning of the film on the submarine.  I don’t know what happened, but I wasn’t playing Smithers.  But they got me in to do the opening scene.  It looked like [Smithers] was going to be a running cameo role and when they would come into the laboratory of Q then Bond would say “Hi Smithers” [and I’d say] “Hi Bond” and then you’d show whatever the explosion is and Bond would say “Smashing.”  It was sort of brief.

Sam:  But it’s a cute bit.

Jeremy:  It’s huge fun.  Its a little cameo.  I did three the films with Roger Moore, and he is just the best.  He is just the nicest man in the world.  He’d just laugh and giggle and say “Hi.  How are you?   Goodness gracious, your not back again, are you?” and silly sort of jokes like that.

Roger Moore as James Bond: "He is just the nicest man in the world."

Sam:  Well when you watch a Roger Moore Bond film he looks like he’s having fun, which is what is different from all the other Bond films.

Jeremy:  Yeah.  In their own way I like all the Bonds and when you see Daniel Craig, who’s excellent, he’s the one Bond who you think he could actually take this guy out.  It takes it to another dimension.  Sadly they are not doing the laboratory scenes anymore.  Tim Dalton, who I’ve worked with, was a very good Bond.  More of a serious Bond.  Piece Brosnan kind of grows on you.  He grew on me, and I thought he did a great job.  Connery, of course, was the first, and I think fantastic.  But Roger Moore just had the twinkle in his eye.  The slight giggle.  If a Bond film comes up on a rainy Sunday and nothing is happening here I’ll just sit and watch it again.  I might have seen it six months ago but it is still to me all new and entertaining.

Sam:  Of course, another series you were famous for around that time was when you played Edward of Whickham in Robin of Sherwood.

Jeremy Bulloch and his son Robbie in "Robin of Sherwood"

Jeremy:  In Robin of Sherwood, again, I was originally doing one episode and they started writing me into more episodes each time.  They still show it on one of the satellite channels, and they have a new Robin of Sherwood out which is okay, but not because I’m not in it, but I just don’t think it matches what the original series did.

Sam:  Now when you were doing Robin of Sherwood your son got involved in one of the episodes.

Jeremy:  Yes.  [They said] “Is any of your young sons ideal for playing the young Matthew of Whickham” and I said, “Oh yes.  Robbie.”  Because Robbie did a film a film with Daniel Craig and Morgan Freeman called The Power of One and I thought that it looked like he was going to turn to acting.  But now he works for the foreign office so he’s got a very good job.  And I’m glad.  Christian, my oldest one, did a bit of acting [as well] but I’m glad that they didn’t carry on with it because it is a nasty profession.

Sam:  Why is that?

Jeremy:  Well, it’s enjoyable but it can be nasty.  People are saying “Oh, I’m not working.  Oh, I don’t know what’s going to happen now.  I don’t know what to do.”  Certain people are not right to go into the acting thing because when it all starts to crumble; they don’t know how to deal with it.  I’m not saying that about either of my boys.  They could have dealt with it, but I’m glad that they got more sensible jobs.

Sam:  Now you’ve done a lot of British television, but I was surprised to see that you’ve done a few American series.  Is there a big difference between doing a British television series and doing an American one?

Jeremy:  Well yes, I think there is.  I’m a huge fan of Frasier and that’s one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen, and we have some wonderful comedy here [in the UK].  Years ago there used to be some wonderful comedy shows, and there are still some good ones, but it’s not like it used to be in the 70’s.  But the American’s seem to get the idea from the English and then do their own version.  Sometimes it doesn’t work, but The Office did work really well.

Sam:  Now you’ve worked with a lot of incredible people.  Who are the folks who really stand out in your mind as the favorites from your career?

Jeremy:  I think people like Sir Alec Guiness.  I actually auditioned with him for a play that I didn’t get, but he was so lovely and helpful.  Cyril Cussack, an Irish actor.  A wonderful actor.  Roger Moore, because he was so kind and so funny.  Bernard Lee, who of course played M.  I’ve worked with him in a television play.  There were many and I would say the majority of 99.9% are very lovely people.  You always get the one that you don’t see eye to eye with.

Sam:  One final question.   What advice would you give to actors trying to get into character acting?

Jeremy:  Well character acting is something you just fall into when you get older.  Either you work or you don’t work.  You sort of disappear and it gives you up.  I’ve managed to carry on and character acting comes with age.  When I was younger I played all the teenage parts but now I’m playing the older parts and called an old man.  In The Doctors I was called an old man and I thought “What?  I’m not old!”  But in that part I was.

So, dear readers, take a good look at Jeremy Bulloch’s face.  Study it.  Memorize it.  Get to know what he looks like without the Boba Fett helmet on because, as you walk through the pop culture journey, you will continue to recognize Jeremy in productions both past and present.  Jeremy Bulloch’s journey still continues.  In 2008 Jeremy appeared in the British programs The Doctors and Bonekickers, and he will be involved in George Lucas’ next Star Wars project The Mandalorian Legacy, which focuses on, of course, Boba Fett.  But as you can see, Jeremy’s career goes far beyond Boba Fett.  It’s time to recognize the man behind that mask.

POP CULTURE ADDICT NOTE: I’d like to spend a special note of thanks to Dean Shewring for helping with the research for this interview.  Dean’s help was valuable in helping me with pulling together source material and information of Jeremy’s career on British television.  Thanks Dean for all your help.