David would, very occasionally, take a little nap on set..
And, on those rare occasions, invariably somebody would have a camera at hand…
David found a little cave-like area near the church in San Gimignano, where he could beat the heat and nap. When Baird found this out, he followed suit. I call these pictures Cinematographer and Studying to be a Cinematographer. Marget Wallace, Tea with Mussolini
“But one last rumour to be tested, and that came without prompting – the Watkin penchant for sleeping on set; “I will always light a set as if I am lighting a scene, not a shot. I will light it so that it is fireproof. I will watch the rehearsal and I will have a very good operator and a very good chief electrician who will watch the shooting and if anything goes wrong they will wake me up – I will retire to a quiet corner of the set and probably have a sleep because I’m very fortunate that I don’t snore and I can wake up instantly. It’s great for shocking Americans. Cameramen try and look like cameramen out there – they don’t go to sleep”. Charles Hewitt interviewing David in Eyepiece, June/July 1994
