A PENSIONER has recalled fond memories of the time he was an extra in a film shot in Poole, starring the late Kirk Douglas.

The Hollywood legend died on Wednesday aged 103, and Geoffrey Hill, 76, remembers the week he spent filming The Heroes of Telemark in Poole when he was just 21 years old with the Hollywood star.

Mr Hill lived in Corfe Mullen at the time, and now resides in Winton.

He said: “I have such fond memories of not only acting in the film but actually as Kirk was on the next dining table as myself, when I saw he had finished his meal I went across and had a chat with him for about 15 minutes and he was extremely friendly and respectful to me.

“I asked him how he liked filming in the UK, and he said he loved being here, and the British people were lovely and so very friendly and welcoming to him. Michael was also on set, and during a break in filming I went across to have a chat with him.

“Asking what he was doing on set with his father, he told me he was learning the trade and was practising at working the spare camera.

“I asked if he intended to follow his father into acting, and he said at the time he had no thoughts of doing so, but history was to prove he was to became a star in his own right in the years to come.”

Mr Hill played a German soldier and a petty officer, the assistant director asked him and another extra if they’d work till the end of filming in Norway.

However, the 76-year-old declined as he had to continue his work as an electrical apprentice and he didn’t want to leave his girlfriend, who he’d go on to be married to for 30 years.

“The other chap, Dave I think, was unemployed and, with nothing to lose, took up this exciting offer,” he continued.

“Five years later I bumped into Dave in Poole, and we both pointed at each other and shouted ‘Heroes Of Telemark’ and he told me how he had made a career out of being in the film to the very end, and had rarely been out of work, even being in a couple of James Bond movies. I have no regrets though. I have had a great life.”

Mr Hill said he then built his own house in Snowdonia, joined a local drama group and was in the film First Knight with Richard Gere and San Connery.

“That filming with that wonderful Hollywood star will always be a very lovely memory, it inspired me to dip my feet into acting over many years and has enriched this grateful and still lively pensioner for always.”