“I play an atheist who gets people’s attention by playing music. I graduated from a rock and roller to a politician. Then he ran for president with God written on his cuffs. I played the part of God Hilliard. I had this cult. We shot at this cathedral in San Gabriel. I was living there by now. The end scene I take the communion from the church and take it home. I hold it up in one hand and hold a pin in the other and I say, ‘If you’re really a god, show me if there’s something mightier than man.’ Then I start stabbing it and nothing happens. The wafer breaks and I start laughing, ‘Nothing but a piece of bread! Mother you’re dead forever!’, and walk outside and then all of a sudden blood starts dripping out fast downstairs. Out the house and I’m scared, but go back into the room and this light hits me. We shot it in black and white, but at that point we change to color. And I yell, ‘Oh my god’, and get thrown up against the wall and it cuts now to the wafer and the credits come on. I’ve been trying to  locate the negative of the film for years. Mike Murphy and his wife Cheryl are trying to run it down.”

– Timothy on The World’s Greatest Sinner (1962), Psychotronic Video magazine #6, Summer 1990; interview by Michael Murphy and Johnny Legend, research by Michael J. Weldon

Happy Easter, everybody!

(photo from “Cracked Actor,” Film Comment Jan/Feb 2004)