In early 1967, Hammer Productions began filming The Viking Queen in locations around County Wicklow. It was a fairly mundane attempt by Hammer, known mainly for horror films, to diversify into the epic genre. Indoor scenes were shot at Ardmore Studios in Bray with set exterior pieces filmed on the Powerhouse Estate, Enniskerry, at Loch Tay, Wicklow Gap, Sally Gap and on the Kilruddery Estate. Hammer hired Don Murray as the lead actor. Murray was a well-known Hollywood face who came to prominence in the 1956 movie Bus Stop, starring Marilyn Monroe. It was a romantic light drama. He played rodeo rider Beauregard Decker and became a star overnight. He was tall, dark, handsome and athletic, and more of the latter attribute later.
His future career included co-starring in the James Cagney, Irish rebel film Shake Hands with the Devil, as Sid Fairgate in TV’s Knots Landing and as Bushnell Mullins, in the series Twin Peaks. Throughout his career, aside from acting, his CV includes writing, directing and producing. He also founded, with his ex-wife, actress Hope Lange, a refugee centre in Sardinia that continues its work to this day.
But, the core point of this story links Don Murray with nearby County Westmeath where, in breaks from filming, he spent some time working on his fitness. He had the opportunity to enter a fourteen-mile walk around the Mullingar circuit and grabbed the chance to participate. When he registered, the organisers thought it was a show business publicity stunt but unknown to them Murray worked out in gyms several nights a week and was determined to complete the walk. Word and excitement spread like wildfire that Hollywood was coming to town.
On the Sunday of the event, it rained heavily for most of the day prompting Murray to remark over the loudspeakers: “It’s not a walk, it’s a swim. This will sort the men and women from the fish.” He removed his raincoat to reveal a green track suit and adjusted his flat cap before heading off at a steady pace but soon realised he would have to walk faster to keep in touch with keen walkers up ahead. Befitting a Hollywood star, Murray’s Rolls-Royce and chauffeur stayed close in case he wanted to give up halfway through. But super-fit Don, relishing the challenge, had no thoughts of retiring. He was more than happy to acknowledge cheering spectators with enthusiastic waves and wide movie star smiles.
One and a half miles from the finish, he decided it would be easier on his feet to remove his shoes and socks and run barefoot. His chauffeur handed him a boxer’s skipping rope and Murray skipped the last part of the walk to the delight of the crowds. Although it was not classed as a race as such, he finished in the middle of the pack.
Murray was presented with a Fitness Certificate that declared the walking distance was 12 miles, but his chauffeur clocked the mileage on the car at 14. When Murray queried the discrepancy, an official explained: “Well, of course, we’re dealing with Irish miles. Sure, they’re much longer than anyone else’s.”
To underline his general fitness, Murray reported for work early the next morning to shoot a physically demanding series of scenes for The Viking Queen. Much, much later in his life when he turned 91, he was asked by a magazine what it felt like to be this age. He replied: “To tell you the truth, it doesn’t feel any different. The only thing is that now I don’t run as fast as I did when I was 70.”
The film is not memorable. The plot tries too hard to be historically worthy, as illustrated by the narrator: “This was a land where Druid priests held sway over people’s minds and prophesied that one day a woman would wear armour and wield a sword against the Romans, a woman who would be called The Viking Queen.” The budget was just over £400,000 and, in its effort to imitate a spectacular epic film, the end result was never a threat to the likes of Ben-Hur. The director was Don Chaffey who was the director of the much more successful Raquel Welch movie One Million Years B.C. a year earlier.
On the plus side, Don Murray gave the people of Mullingar and County Wicklow several great memories including the one about your man from America skipping down the road in bare feet in the pouring rain, flanked by a Rolls-Royce.
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