Remembering Geoff 'Rat' Jamieson

it is with considerable sadness that the New Zealand film industry lost one of its great key grips, Geoff ‘Rat’ Jamieson, at the end of May.

An excellent send-off was held for him in Auckland on 28 May, where we touched on his highly successful worldwide career, and his transition from a Queenstown mechanic to working for South Pacific Television, TV2, and TVNZ’s drama department in Auckland as a key member of the grip, generator and mechanical team.

Later he became a highly sought after owner/operator of Panarat Film Services Ltd. More information of this can be found on www.nzonscreen.com

Rat’s early career began when he landed a job working with Vic Yarker on location shoots initially in the South Island on The Mackenzie Affair and Hunter’s Gold, where he took on the roles of genny op with an Aussie-imported, fully blimped generator that was mounted on a Land Rover cab and chassis. Rat took care of this vehicle, the rentals and the rest of the TV2 fleet and, having modified a balance machine to serve as a camera crane, the genny became the towing vehicle and carrier of his mechanics tool kits. Never far ahead was the grip truck with the best part of a workshop aboard.

Rat’s ability to fit seamlessly into either grip or lighting departments, along with his mechanical skills, sense of humour and common-sense approach, meant that moving productions were able to keep the ‘shows on the road’ for South Pacific Television throughout many productions. By 1978 Rat was gripping alongside key grip Vic Yarker, all while keeping a keen eye on the entire fleet of vehicles and still doing his own job.

The tricky shoot Children of Fire Mountain was the first biggie on the Wheeler farm, located on the opposite side of Lake Wainamu in Auckland’s West Coast settlement of Bethell’s Beach. This required farm-road access that had Rat and Vic watching over road building activity around the lake to the film set site. Again, his diesel mechanical skills along with his 4WD and bulldozer understanding helped the Wheelers build the roads, bridges and piers on the farm. During filming they also used an aluminium stern-drive boat to ferry crew across the lake to set, but not without the odd comical mishap, much to Rat’s delight and a few grey hairs for the production manager Brian Walden. Upon wrap of this monster production the road out of Wainamu was not what it had once been in the summer. Great skills by Rat were required to get the trucks out of there that day!

After many more New Zealand feature films, including work on The Piano, Quiet Earth and Willow, a successful international career followed, with Rat working alongside the likes of Arnold Schwarzenegger on Predator in Mexico in 1986, and other films with Kevin Bacon, Val Kilmer and Robert de Niro. Retirement came when Rat was in his 60’s, after Johnny Wheeler took over his Panarat empire. He stepped down and rebuilt a car or two, which was always his number-one passion. He left behind a magnificent legacy of great skill, dry wit and a wonderfully twisted sense of humor, a naughtiness and love of fine women. It was only fitting that five lovely ladies carried his coffin, along with his son who, like his dad, was not in the least bit intimidated… after all he is a Jamieson.

Rest in peace Rat.

Brian Walden and Sioux MacDonald