Christopher Atkins will never forget his kiss on the screen with “Cougar” television Linda Gray.
The actor played the advisor to camp Peter Richards, the much younger lover of Sue Ellen Ewing by Gray in the successful television series “Dallas” from 1983 to 1984. The now 64 years old, a budding filmmaker, is currently funding for an upcoming project.
“They gathered me with Linda, and she was the very first cougar,” Atkins told Fox News Digital. “Our very first kisses scene, which solidified this moment between us, was on a platform at this place on a lake. And everyone stands there watching. Usually everyone is home after their scenes … They say “action”, and we had our moment. We have our big kiss, we separate and they cut. ”
“Linda said to me,” So how was it? ” He recalls. “I think,” What am I supposed to say to that? ” Oh, was it terrible, do we still do it? What do you say? I said, “Yes, it was good.” And suddenly, my lips become completely numb.
“It was my introduction to” Dallas “,” he glea.
The Torrevision Romance Torrid made the headlines in its time. Sue Ellen, who was married to the Philander Jr Ewing oil magnate (played by Larry Hagman), was represented with her boy toy, USA Today reported. Atkins, 22, and Gray, 43, covered the American magazine with the title, “flying the cradle”.
“I will never forget, I walked … In a hotel, and this lady, you could see her, she looks at me,” he said. “This woman begins to come directly on me, goes up (to) my face and says:” You are too young for her! ” That’s what it was.
Atkins has described the distribution of “dallas” as pranks – and no one left the studio unharmed.
“They were all practical jokes,” he said. “They were all crazy. They were just fun and crazy.”
As part of its role of sexual symbol, the producers of “Dallas” made it carry tiny swimming trunks.
“I obtained a note from the network saying to stop stuffing my speedo,” Gloussa Atkins. “I thought, what is it?”
At that time, Atkins had already stripped for his first film, “The Blue Lagoon” in the 1980s. He was 18 years old and his co-star, Brooke Shields, was 14 years old.
Shields and the film crew have long supported that she used doubles for nude scenes and her hair was glued to her body to avoid exposing her chest, reported people.
Atkins auditioned for the role in the hope of simply obtaining the rights to boast that he has read for a major film. He ended up being chosen from 4,000 hopes.
“I continued to be recalled,” said Atkins. “The last was with Julie Warner, who was in” Doc Hollywood “with Michael J. Fox for years later. She would have obtained the role if Brooke had not done so. I knew that the director wanted Brooke Shields, but I didn’t know much about her at the time. ”
“I lived on (a) a boat off the island (where we turned) … She had not yet come,” he said. “She had another week about before she arrived here. The director had put his photo on my bed so that I could start falling in love with her before the start of the film. It was my introduction to Brooke Shields. ”
Although the film was controversial to represent the two young characters in sexual intercourse, it was not the first time that Shields raised the eyebrows. People Magazine reported that two years earlier, she played in “Pretty Baby”, where she played a 12 -year -old prostitute.
“The crew was all Australians,” said Atkins. “At the time, all the Australian beaches … were naked breasts. It was very natural and liberating for the Australians … And being on a desert island, there were no tourists, nothing. It was just us on this island … (and) these two children, in a natural environment (and desert), they should not wear clothes.”
“Over time, it has become more and more natural not to have clothes,” said Atkins. “The crew made things very, very easy. Randall (Kleiser), the director, made him very, very easy on this subject. (The scenes) were absolutely important for the film, but it was not grandiose. It was not something that was there for the exhibition of the film. He really wanted it as natural and as real as possible. I thought.
“As I finished leaving this island four and a half months later, it (was) really difficult for me to keep my clothes at a beach,” he joked.
People magazine noted that criticisms hated the film. However, he was nominated for an Oscars for the best cinematography. The point of sale reported that the film had collected more than $ 58 million, making it the ninth highest film of 1980.
By thinking about his career in Hollywood, Atkins insisted that there are no regrets.
“I got to a point in my life where I got married young,” he said. “I wanted to be more dad than to continue the business … When I was 16, I used to teach Sailing to Rye, New York, in Little Kids. From this lean pay check that I received, I used to put a dollar for one day when I got myself.
“I was blessed,” he said. “I made more than 100 different television films and television programs. Now, my children have their children, and it’s quite remarkable … I did everything in this business, except to make my own film. This is the last box that I now want to check … This is what I am continuing right now, putting very good projects together … so there are no regrets.”
