She
is a neat, trim figure in boots, a striped jumper and a long
purple skirt cut in triangular patterns around the flared edges.
She drinks coffee in an austere place that looks like a school
cloakroom.
A
long-awaited break in recording has been called at the Thames TV
studios at Teddington. Stephanie Beacham, 26-year-old star of
the series Marked Personal, is discussing the day's
problems with her producer, John Russell.
With
a resigned smile she tells you: "I'm feeling awful." I
know why. I have just come from the gallery of Studio Two, where
she has been making a particularly trying episode. Someone held
up recording by wandering on to the set. Twice Miss Beacham
tripped over words. The producer said it was the worst floor he
had had for ages.
You
say soothingly that it is early days yet, and she replies: "Nothing
of the sort. Everybody else is nervous today and it's affecting
me."
In
Marked Personal, Stephanie, once described as "a
gorgeous giggle of a girl", is in modern dress. Her
tumbling blonde locks have been replaced by a fluffy, cropped
hair style. But she is more at home in her favourite costume
pieces: tragic heroines, scheming aristocrats, duped lovers,
spoilt belles, moody socialites.
Miss
Beacham's life is ruled by professional demands under which
militant workers would probably revolt. On recording days she
can put in a 12-hour day on Marked Personal; rehearsals
let her get away earlier. Either way, it means a six-day week. "I've
got no time to see my dogs, let alone anyone else," she
laughs.
Stephanie
is a shy girl whose private life is very much her own. She
answers personal questions with a disarming reluctance, but just
meeting her for a few minutes is a delightful experience.
She
is always on the move. Nottingham or Edinburgh one day,
Yorkshire or Guernsey the next, Canada for a few days to see
John in a play.
She
sees her husband, actor John McEnery, 28-year-old star of films
like Bartleby and Nicholas and Alexandra, for
only a few hours each day. Marked Personal shot round
her while she was seeing him in Canada. That was an expensive
five-day holiday, but Stephanie, old-fashioned in many ways,
says marriage is more important than money.
Born
on February 28, 1947, RADA trained and a former National Youth
Theatre member, Stephanie lives with John and three King Charles
spaniels in a smart Hampstead flat.
She
has been keen on acting ever since her days at Queen Elizabeth
Grammar School, Barnet. She first auditioned for RADA in 1964.
In 1965 she got in at the second attempt, choosing as her
audition piece Phoebe in As You Like It.
In
two years at RADA she went through a rich variety of classical
parts: Blanche in The Male Animal, Portia in The
Merchant of Venice, Maria in Twelfth Night, Jocasta
in Oedipus, Irina in The Three Sisters, with a
lightweight diversion as a Hot Box Dolly in Guys and Dolls.
She
was luckier than most girls on leaving RADA in 1967. BBC TV got
her for The Queen's Traitor, in which she played Mary,
Queen of Scots. Since then she has moved between films, TV and
the theatre with equal success.
Stage
work has included Harold Pinter plays in London and Nottingham,
and a season early in her career (with Christopher Gable, of
The Boy Friend) at Oxford Playhouse. At Nottingham
Playhouse she scored a personal success as Nora Helmer in A
Doll's House.
Henry
James Thriller
There
is a fragile beauty about Stephanie that stirs a man's
protective instincts, yet hints at an explosive sex appeal. For
proof look at The Nightcomers, made in 1970. The story
was based on Henry James and it would be a grim, demanding part
for any actress, let alone a 23-year-old girl. She played a
puritan governess trapped in a fatal love affair with an evil
gardener. Some critics thought she was miscast and too young,
but Stephanie is grateful to The Nightcomers for two
reasons: it was the making of her professionally and led to her
recent nomination for the Evening News Most Promising Actress
Award.
The
Nightcomers indirectly helped her TV career, now
flourishing, by lifting her from the obscurity of supporting
parts. A diet of more original drama has culminated in her
recent personal success as Adele Hugo in a BBC 2 special on
Victor Hugo.
She
feels a special compassion for the tragic Adele, worn out by
continuous child-birth. "Five children in eight years.
Beautiful, an accomplished artist, a good mother, yet that man
made her feel an idiot. I couldn't have stood him." Recent
TV parts have included Paula Fraser, the girl in Joe Lampton's
intrigues in Man At The Top; the temperamental film
star, in Special Branch, Blanche Ingram, catty and
self-conscious, in Jane Eyre.
Marked
Personal is Stephanie's biggest challenge: maintaining a
standard from day to day on the treadmill. It is hard work but
good experience for an actress at her crucial age. How much of
Stephanie is there in the character of Georgina? Quiet
confidence, for one thing; a charming simplicity about life
offset by a sophisticated bearing and a quick brain. A lovely
girl.
