The following
interview was conducted by Greg Turnbull at Stephanie's North
London home on 13th January 1984.
How
did you become an actress?
I wasn’t
going to be an actress, I was going to teach deaf children
because I am somewhat deaf myself [in one ear]. I was in Paris
studying mime and I missed a boyfriend I had in England. So I
left Paris and went back to Liverpool, where they were
auditioning actresses. They had just started at a theatre called
the Liverpool Everyman. I auditioned with a speech I remembered
from my ‘O’ level English and got in. I then I went to
RADA [Royal Academy of Dramatic Art] after that.
Did
you ever consider any other potential careers?
Yes, mime. One of
the major disabilities that deaf children suffer from is not
being able to have rhythm, to ‘feel’ music. You can
feel music through the pulse, through solid objects. I felt that’s
what I wanted to do with my life; acting was purely because of a
boyfriend, I just sort of fell into it so that I could stay with
him.
What
have been the best moments in your career?
Oh always the
latest ones; the one I’m doing at the moment. I have no
vision outside of what I’m doing at that present second.
The last job I’ve just done (Hammer’s Mystery &
Suspense TV series) was definitely one of those, it was so
smooth. I love John Hough, and I love David Carradine. we were
very tight the three of us; we had some very difficult things to
do, and after every scene David used to say, “That was so
easy.” I think it amazed him just how well it flowed.
What
was the character you played in that episode (‘Distant
Scream’)?
Well I was lucky
enough to be able to play a grown up person. I was playing a
woman who was unhappily married, and was deciding whether or not
to leave her husband. Then we get into an extraordinary script,
which Martin Worth wrote, in which time gets juggled around;
David Carradine plays himself as an old man and as a young man
at the same time. It was very interesting and totally enjoyable.
It was lovely to work with all the people from Hammer again. It
was ‘blast from the past’ time because all the
technicians were the same people with slightly more crows-feet
and pot bellies (laughs). A lot of fat tummies on that unit that
I can’t remember from when I worked on Dracula A.D.
1972.
How
did Cornwall work itself into the story?
David and I were
playing a couple having an illicit weekend in Cornwall, so that’s
how we got to be down there.
How
did you get the part?
John Hough just
asked me to do it. He just thought, “I know the woman for
this.” I had worked with him years ago on something for
Gerry and Sylvia Anderson [Creators of the Thunderbirds
TV series, Ed.], when he was a very young director and I was a ‘baby’
actress. Then, suddenly, ten years later... I don’t know
why it was, I never know why I get cast for anything except that
they needed somebody who could actually run the words together
properly. It was a question of looks, but it would have been
silly to have had a dolly bird who couldn’t have done the
part, and David Carradine isn’t a baby now either.
John
Hough seems to be going through a few people who previously
worked for Hammer.
Well they used
the same people on the crew; I think they’re quite a loyal
lot which is lovely.
How
did you get the part in Dracula A.D. 1972?
I don’t
know, I was quite hot at the time; I was offered a lot of things
at that time. Scripts arrive, I read them, and I either fall in
love with them or I don’t - it’s as simple as that.
So
you liked the Dracula script?
As Michael Winner
said, “Everybody does a Dracula, and it’s perfectly
all right to do it.”
Did
you enjoy doing it?
Oh yes, Marsha
Hunt and I became best friends. All the people on it had a huge
laugh, they were all very talented people.
Peter
Cushing, Christopher Lee,...
Oh yes, Daddy
Cushing, I’m so fond of him, I really am. I was cast as his
daughter, and then he fell so ill after Helen died that we had
to change it to grand-daughter. There was no other way. He was
lovely, but a bit eccentric: wearing his gloves for smoking a
cigarette. I just thought the other day that I really want to
get in touch with him again. I haven’t seen him in ages and
he was such a dear man, he gave me a lovely book.
Has
he been doing any films lately?
I don’t
think so, I don’t think he’s that well. He doesn’t
care anymore, he just wants to join Helen. As far as I know,
that’s what he wants. He’s an old man now. Whereas
Christopher Lee has suddenly gone from strength to strength,
hasn’t he? But he’s a very ambitious man. I would not
call Peter Cushing an ambitious man; Peter Cushing is a
wonderfully dear actor, a very good actor, a generous actor, and
a lovely man. Christopher Lee is an ambitious man, a totally
different person. They were dear friends, but it was a strange
friendship of complete opposites.
Christopher
Lee never does ‘horror’ films now.
Oh no, he would
think they were quite beneath him until he wasn’t wanted in
Hollywood, and then he’d be grateful for them, Hammer aren’t
doing horror films now either, they’re mystery tales. The
one I’ve done is really quite a subtle, intricate story.
Did
any amusing incidents happen during the making of Dracula
A.D. 1972?
Amusing
incidents, no, but Marsha Hunt and I laughed so much that we
became very good friends.
I
have a Super 8mm production trailer showing Christopher Lee
putting his fangs in...
I don t find that
sort of thing funny at all. Well maybe,... Some people used to
say it was the most difficult acting he would do. As far as I
was concerned it was just put your teeth in and you were off. It
was laughing with Marsha at just about everything. One of the
things that made me laugh more than anything else was the fact
that she had to be blacked up (laughs); she wasn’t dark
enough. I went with her to take Karis (who now Mick Jagger is
great friends with) to America; I was the white representative
to show her family that not all whites stank, I was the ‘honky
rep.’ That was good fun.
Did
you stay long in America?
I understand
there was a script and a bouquet of flowers waiting for me at
the Beverly Wilshire, but I never turned up. I hung out with
people in Venice. I think I’m more ambitious now than I
ever was. I had no ambition at all then. I used to star in
films, it was fun, but it didn’t mean a thing, not a thing.
I remember Mummy phoned me up once and said, “Darling what
are you doing now?” I said, “Oh it’s nice, I’m
co-starring in a film with Marlon Brando.” And she said, “Just
a minute darling, I must write that down and tell Aunty Molly,
who was it, Brandy Marlo?” She’d never heard of him!
Did
Hammer offer you a contract like they did Kate O’Mara,
Ralph Bates, and others?
I’m afraid
so, but when I was a baby (when I was twenty or whatever it
was), I turned down contracts from Paramount, 20th Century Fox,
you name it, I turned them down - you can ask anybody who was
there. What, get tied up with a film company, you’re
joking! No thanks, I might want to go off and do a French
theatre somewhere. I think you’ve got to be careful... Now,
if 20th Century Fox offered me a contract I’m sure I’d
leap at it [Editor’s Note: Soon after this interview
Stephanie went back to America to do Dynasty and The
Colbys]. When you’re young people just like to put you
under contract. They like to think they’ve found you and
can own you. And they can do that for far too little money. Omar
Sharif starred in film after film but he made no money out of
them at all while he was under contract.
Did
you get on well with Caroline Munro and Janet Key on the film?
Oh yes, well
Janet and I had supper together last night. I thought Caroline
was one of the sweetest girls ever. I couldn’t believe that
anybody so pretty (so beautiful for heaven’s sake) could
possibly be so nice, but she was. She had no confidence in her
acting, but on the other hand she could do that as well. She was
lovely, she was a good knitter as I remember (laughs); she used
to do a lot of knitting - really! Far too lovely hair, it was
just immaculate all the time, and she used to look disgustingly
good at six o’clock in the morning! I can remember that as
well. But I didn’t stay in contact with her. I did with
Janet, and I did with Marsha.
How
did you get into the Amicus film And Now the Screaming
Starts?
No idea, I was
just asked to do it.
Another
one that you felt was interesting?
Yeah, it just
fitted in terribly nicely between two other films. I didn’t
know how good the film was going to be. I was very fond of Roy
Ward Baker, and still am. I’d love to see him again too, he
was the first person I ever made a film with. He was the first
person who taught me (I was on The Saint with Roger
Moore at the time) that if you go out of a door, don’t look
down because you don’t want to walk into the next shot with
your head down. I can remember that one thing he taught me. Roy
wanted me to do it, and it was a very nice experience.
Ian Ogilvy, who
just did the Happy Family play with me, is a dear
friend. I remember he carried me upstairs seventeen times on a
take that we had to change in the end! I was wearing a very
heavy dress and he was pouring with sweat by the end of it all,
he could hardly breathe, and he said, “Are you all right?”
He was a dear. And Geoffrey who played the woodsman, we couldn’t
stop laughing I’m afraid. Janet Key was in that one as
well, she played the maid. What was funny was that we were
having supper sometime before, and I said “What are you
doing next?” She said “I’m doing a film”,
and I said “Oh that’s good, I’m doing a film as
well. What are you doing?” She said “I’m playing
a maid.” I said, “What do you mean, someone who
upstages the mistress all the time?”, and she said “Not
half”, so I said, “What’s the name of the film?”
She told me and I said, “Well I’m the mistress, so
watch it!” (laughs).
The
mechanical hand must have been amusing?
Not at all, that
mechanical hand was completely and utterly boring. It was the
reason Ian had to carry me upstairs seventeen times, it never
did what we wanted it to. It wouldn’t walk upstairs, but I
don’t blame it, poor little hand.
You’ve
done a few Peter Walker films...
Well you see
Peter’s such a dear. I’d had Phoebe six weeks
beforehand and he asked me to go along and speak to him. So I
went along covered with nappies and safety-pins and everything
else, and he said, “How would you like to make a film?”
I said, “I’d love to, how would you like a baby in a
basket on the set?” He said, “I’d love it.”
so I said “There you are then, we’re on.” That
was the first one (House of Mortal Sin) with Suzy
Penhaligon and Norman Eshley.
Then for the
second one he said, “How would you like to do this film?”
And I said, “Well, how would you like someone who’s
pregnant and having morning sickness all the time, and who’s
hardly got any hair left because she’s playing a part in
the theatre every night?” He said, “Sounds perfect.”
Pete made the working conditions so easy for me, it was so
casually done and so enjoyable, as far as I was concerned. It
was probably a hard film, I don’t know. But the attitude
towards it was so friendly that I could do the first one after
just having had a baby, and the second one while being pregnant.
You
haven’t made a film since Inseminoid?
Well I have, but
only for television; all the big series’ are on television
now, Inseminoid was a very low budget [Sci-Fi] piece,
and I don’t think that’s an awfully good idea all the
time. I think television’s a better standard of filming
sometimes.
What
do you find difficult about films?
Having to look
good I suppose; having to care about what you look like.
You
don’t find it difficult to have to re-take the same shot
from different angles and things like that?
No, I don’t
find any acting difficult. Acting is easy for me, I’m very
lucky. I’ve found the peripheries extremely hard to cope
with in the past, but I’ve got better at that over the
years. I used to find publicity impossible, I wasn’t
equipped for it, I couldn’t do it, I hated it.
You
mean trying to promote things that you’d been in?
Yes, I used to
think that the work was what’s important and after that
they [the film companies and producers] have no right to me
whatsoever. I don’t agree with that now. I do see that
things have to be properly publicized. I was much criticized for
it in the past, for not being co-operative with publicity, which
was very foolish. But I must confess to being less than keen on
it. Anything to do with acting I love, I can do that.
Do
many people come up to you in the street and say, “Oh I
enjoyed you in Tenko? [Editor’s Note: Tenko
was a BBC three-series drama about a Japanese prisoner of war
camp for women; Stephanie played Rose Millar in the first two
series.]
Yes, but what was
lovely about Tenko was that I played such an alarming
woman. I mean she was such a cow that only very confident people
would come up to me and say anything about it at all (laughs). I
can remember one day I was trying to get two children (Chloe was
three months and Phoebe was two and a half) on a bus. I had two
huge bags full of shopping and was trying to fold a push-chair,
get on this bus, and try to stop a two-year old from running
away, and this woman came up to me and said, “Oh I think
you’re wonderful, blah, blah, blah,...” And I thought,
“Well help me onto the frigging bus then!”
No, I don’t
enjoy any of that side of it really. I’m in it for the
acting, the purity of the acting. If there’s a beautiful
photo of me in the newspaper, and it hasn’t put me out to
get it there, then of course I’m delighted (well not really
delighted you know, it’s not that important to me).
Did
you ever worry about being typecast in ‘horror’ films?
Yes, but that was
rather stupid of me. The truth was that I could have had a much
broader career, but because of my lack of co-operation with
publicity, the American connection (which would have given me
more international films) was closed. I behaved rather badly and
didn’t co-operate. There was a time when I could have been
as big as Julie Christie or anybody else.
I was poorly
advised, but I was also very pig-headed and wasn’t that
interested. I thought, ‘stars’, who’s bloody
interested in being a star? I want to be a human being thanks.
If you look at the whole list of my work, with the theatre and
other things then you don’t think I’ve done a lot of
horror films. When you put just the films together, then it’s
horror film after horror film. That’s because what’s
made in England are horror films [sadly not any more, Ed.]. I
didn’t make the international connection because I behaved
badly.
You’ve
done many plays, which do you prefer: comedy or classical?
Comedy now. I
want to do comedy, it’s definitely my favourite. I’ve
just turned down a situation comedy which really hurt me, but it
wasn’t quite the part I’ve been waiting for.
Have
you done any comedy on the TV?
No, and this is
why I want a situation comedy on the television very badly, and
I’ve just turned one down (pretends to cry).
Do
you think your good looks have hindered you in any way in being
considered a serious actress?
Yes, I suppose
so, for those people who haven’t worked with me. Anybody
who’s worked with me knows me for myself and knows that I’m
not even slightly good-looking [Editor’s Note: Most of
Stephanie’s fans will disagree with her there!]
What
sort of things do you do for hobbies?
Well I make my
own films, I take lots of photographs, and I collect dolls-house
furniture.
Do
you enjoy making things for dolls-houses?
Yes I do, but I
think my main hobby, when I have time, is people. I just love
meeting specialists, it doesn’t matter what their specialty
is, be it butterflies, or roses, or whatever. Just meeting
people who know what they’re on about.
That’s
an unusual hobby.
Yes it is, but of
course my family is incredibly important to me too; however, I
love packing my bags and going off for a month or so to foreign
parts. You know, put me in a jungle in Malaysia and I’m
blissfully happy. Katmandu was wonderful, I could wander around
India for quite some time.
You’ve
never fancied going into directing or writing?
Yes, I’d
enjoy making a documentary. At the moment I have a subject I
would like to do a documentary on: the effect of women on the
fundamentalist Islamic movement in the middle (and Far) East.
That’s what I would go and do if someone would let me loose
with £100,000 I could easily spend it and turn up with a
very good film. I made a short documentary talking to women
about the fundamentalist Islamic movement. People talk about
Communism but they seem to be ignoring what is, to me, the
biggest thing happening in the world today, which is the rise of
Islam. People don’t seem to be noticing it. (GT: No.)
Do
you enjoy watching your own performances?
Not really, for a
laugh with the children perhaps. The last series of Tenko
I hardly watched at all.
What
type of things do you enjoy watching?
I enjoyed The
Jewel in the Crown, but I don’t get the time. I haven’t
been to the cinema or to the theatre by myself the whole of this
year. I’ve been working in it, but I haven’t been to
it, and I haven’t been to the movies. I’ve been
working all the time.
You
must have spent a long time doing things like Marked
Personal and Hadleigh, did you enjoy doing those?
Well I bought a
house with Marked Personal (laughs), so I enjoyed that
enormously. I think I was rather foolish to do it though, I was
conned into it a bit. I was told it was probably going to be a
bigger series than it really was.
It
must have made you well-known with the public? [Ed: Marked
Personal was a daytime TV series]
It made me
terribly famous with policemen, customs officers, and
greengrocers. There wasn’t a greengrocer in the land who
didn’t know me. I think they all closed shop at lunch time
and watched television (laughs).
What
are your future plans?
Going to India,
There are a lot of films being made in India. I have become
extremely fond of Asia, I was in Pakistan and Katmandu, and all
around the place. I would like to do some movies in India, and
the one I’m going to do should be a very good springboard.
Will
it be in English?
I think they are
going to make two versions, because the Indian film market is
very keen to get out of India. Their film stars are huge stars,
like we used to have, so that will be very exciting.
No
plans for any more plays?
I don’t want
to go on the stage again for a long time. Happy Family
definitely made me realize that I don’t want to do that. I’d
be happy to do some situation comedy now, I would like a
situation comedy here, and a few Indian movies - that would suit
me fine. I don’t want to go in the theatre all the time, it’s
the hardest thing to do. When you’ve got a slightly
glamorous image, and you’ve done a lot of horror films, you
have to work quite hard to get total credibility even within
your own profession. Kate’s [Kate O’Mara] done it, and
I hope I’ve knocked it on the head too now.
Thank
you for giving up some of your valuable spare time to talk to
me.
