At first she was oblivious to the hysteria surrounding her - “I had just met my first boyfriend, and I was really interested only in him. I hated photo shoots and going on promotional trips, but I did it without thinking about it. I did what I was told.” The early days, she says, “all passed by in a blur, although she can remember in vivid detail the day she met Bob Dylan. ”It was 1966, at his first ever Paris concert. I remember this because I was shooting a movie called Grand Prix in Monaco, and I had to get permission from the director John Frankenheimer, in order to go. Dylan wasn’t well at this time and it wasn’t a good show. The audience were very cold and unreceptive in the first half. I remember, I was sitting in the front row and during the intermission someone came up and told me that Dylan wasn’t going back on stage unless I went to see him. He was my hero, and there he was asking to see me!” Fearing a riot might break out if he didn’t finish the show, Hardy duly went to the Dylan’s dressing room. ”I had no idea what we talked about, as my English wasn’t too good and I couldn’t understand a word he said. I only remember that he looked very ill and I had a very bad and strong feeling he would die very soon. It was very frightening. In fact he almost did die soon after, in a motorcycle accident.” -F.H
