Memories have been stirred for one Weymouth pensioner ahead of the release of a new movie adaptation of Thomas Hardy’s Far from the Madding Crowd filmed in Dorset.

While some locals have talked of their roles as extras in the new Hollywood blockbuster due for release in May, Don Selby’s claim to fame stretches back to a version shot more than 40 years ago.

He played the part of a farm labourer and circus strong man for the 1967 film of the Hardy classic directed by John Schlesinger and starring Julie Christie, Terence Stamp and Alan Bates.

Former Portland dockyard worker Mr Selby, now 74, recalled how he was involved in two weeks filming as an extra in 1965 in locations near Weymouth.

Grandfather Mr Selby, who is married to Joy and lives at Westham, said although the new version looks good, the 1967 film is closest to his heart.

He recalled how people wanting to be extras went to the Royal Hotel in Weymouth for the casting.

Mr Selby said: “I got picked as a strong man and I got a job as a labourer right at the end of the film, when there was the flooding and Alan Bates, who played Gabriel Oak, came towards me.

“I had to improvise something. I couldn’t get it out.

“He said ‘Not as bad as last year’s storm.’ I had a chap with me with two Dalmatians in the film and he said ‘Improvise, just say something.’ “I just sort of mumbled.”

Mr Selby spent two weeks on set filming in the Preston area which he said got a ‘little dull’ at times as there was ‘lots of hanging around’.

For the circus scene, in which he played a strong man, Mr Selby had to wear a moustache.

Together with two others he had to stand on stage and improvise some strong man-style muscle movements, while the camera panned along the stage.

He said: “They said improvise, do what you want.

“I didn’t think it would be in the final film, but it was.”

The new adaptation due for release on May 1 stars Carey Mulligan as heroine Bathsheba Everdene, an independent woman who attracts three very different suitors: sheep farmer Gabriel Oak (Matthias Schoenaerts), dashing soldier Frank Troy (Tom Sturridge) and wealthy bachelor William Boldwood (Michael Sheen).

In the original, Julie Christie played Everdene, Terence Stamp played Troy, Alan Bates was Oak and Peter Finch was Boldwood.

Like the original, the new adaptation was shot around Dorset, with crews using Sherborne Abbey as a market place and Mapperton House near Beaminster was turned into a farmyard and false walls were put up.