Tell me what it was like growing
up in France? Were you bilingual?
I was born in France during the war. My mother was an
American and we were helped to come back to America in probably forty-two. So,
I never did very well with my French. We were a headline in the New York Times
as the last Americans out of France. My father was from Europe and happy to get
out.
When did the acting bug bite? At
a very young age?
My parents were painters and although they both became
successful, I found my mother's struggles particularly frightening. So I
decided acting was a better idea. In those days, the business of acting was
different then it is now. Work was plentiful. The Stanislavsky Method had
just come into being and there were some truly amazing teachers in New York,
each of whom put his or her personal spin on it. Harold Clurman. Stella
Adler. Uta Hagen. Sandy Meisner. Lee Strasberg. I auditioned and was accepted
into the Actor's Studio and had the chance to study with an impassioned group
of young actors including Al Pacino, Bob DeNiro, Dustin Hoffman. We lived and
breathed acting and would gather at Joe Allen's or Jimmy Ray's to celebrate
whatever was happening.
The Glass Menagerie was casting. It was produced by
David Susskind and was to be shot in London. It was 1973. I had done the
play in stock with Dustin Hoffman. Bill Devane wanted me to call Alixe Gordin
the casting director. When I didn't do it, he plugged a dime into the pay phone
and handed me the receiver.
I was asked to read the Gentleman Caller scene, but I
had prepared a scene with Amanda. So Katharine Hepburn agreed to read with me,
and she cast me on the spot. It was truly a wonderful experience. Katharine
Hepburn was an exciting person, who made the set a very demanding place. She
even rode around London on her bicycle. It was a pleasure to work with the
director Tony Harvey, who had just directed The
Lion In Winter. Of course Michael Moriarty and Sam Waterston were the best.
Let’s not forget Tennessee Williams who couldn’t have been more pleased.
Tell us about your involvement with
Star Trek. It seems that the
best actors get to play wildly fun roles in this series. Did you have fun?
Star Trek was such an unlikely job for me. It was
1991 and I was asked to play the role of Perrin, the wife of Sarek, who was
played by Mark Lenard. I'm still invited to Star Trek conventions and frequently asked to sign autographs. Due
to the magical mind of creator Gene Roddenberry, my character was Spock's mother
despite the fact that Leonard Nimoy was nine years older than I. The sets were something wonderful. I brought my young son
one day and the crew activated the doors and set pieces to give him a treat. A
lot of it was activated by ropes from the rafters. People seem to be very
fascinated with this show.
Any other film role remain a
favorite of yours? If so, which one?
I appeared in a film called Born Innocent, which, because of its subject matter, became
instrumental in creating the network television family hour. It was about a
young girl who was a constant runaway. She was played by Linda Blair, who
is incarcerated and finds herself caught between her brutal peers, her abusive
family and the system. I played the only care worker who understood.
My husband, Michael Brandman, is a producer and in
partnership with Steven Spielberg and Kathleen Kennedy. He put together a
series of films for television, all written by playwrights. It gave me the
chance to work with some pretty impressive writers: Arthur Miller, David Mamet,
Wendy Wasserstein and Horton Foote. I appeared in all six films, playing a host
of different characters, some of them unrecognizable.
To the project at hand. Tell us about Front Door Open. How did you become involved
in this project?
A few years ago I developed a series of short plays called
“Women In Shorts”. One of those plays was about a woman with agoraphobia. I
went to the writer Tom Baum and the director Asaad Kalada and asked if they
would be interested in developing the short play into a full length play. They
agreed and here we are.
What role are you playing? Does the play have a topical theme?
The part I’m playing is Eleanor, who has Agoraphobia
and hasn’t left the house in many years. In my research I found out that one in
fifty people in our country have this problem. The play is also about what this
condition can do to the family.
Have you and David Selby worked
together before? If so, in what?
Yes, David Selby and I have worked together before. We
played husband and wife in a film starring Hume Cronyn, that Horton Foote wrote
about life after his wife and life time partner died. Hume told me that for
years he developed work for himself and Jessica Tandy. He didn’t wait around
for someone to offer him something.
What other observations about the
business today would you care to comment on? Are you happy with where you
currently are?
As I mentioned at the outset, the business has changed
significantly over the years. There was a time when there were plenty of
roles for older actors in movies and television. Those days are gone. Unlike
England, where older actors are celebrated and important work is plentiful,
here they're put out to pasture and are rarely, if ever, seen again. I'm proud
to be active in the west coast branch of The Actor's Studio. I'm delighted to
be acting and writing and even producing plays in the vital and energized Los
Angeles theatre scene.
Don't miss award-winning actress Joanna Miles in Front Door Open!
The play runs five weeks; Nov. 13 - Dec. 13, Fridays/Saturdays at 8pm, Sunday evenings at 7pm at Greenway Court Theatre (near Fairfax High). TIX at www.greenwaycourt.org or call: (323) 673-0544.
The play runs five weeks; Nov. 13 - Dec. 13, Fridays/Saturdays at 8pm, Sunday evenings at 7pm at Greenway Court Theatre (near Fairfax High). TIX at www.greenwaycourt.org or call: (323) 673-0544.
