In
June 1986 Stephanie was a guest on Terry Wogan's chat show. The
following is an edited account of the interview taken from the
book, Wogan On Wogan by Terry Wogan published in 1987.
Book
Introduction
As
you may have noticed, things are not much different in 'Dynasty
II
- The Colbys'. Stephanie Beacham made, as we all
noticed, a remarkable transition from her roles in Tenko
and Connie to the character of Sable. Needless to say,
she resisted the urge at first...
Interview
Highlights
It
all began wlien my agent phoned and said 'Will you come to
London and do a test. They're going to do a "Dynasty
II".
I said 'What? No. No way.' Then I phoned my next door neighbour
to ask how my fish and my plants were doing. She said 'I've done
the most terrible thing. I've left the key inside your house!
I've locked your fish and plants up without food and water and I
can't get in.' So, since I had to come up to London to feed the
fish, I did the test to be kind to my agent. Then I got greedy -
the rest you know.
I've
just seen a playback of about episode four, and thought my
goodness me, Sable is just a character in search of a hair-do -
help! The idea is, we take her very near the edge - an
unforgivable woman - and then we turn her over and show she's
got a bit of vulnerability. When I started I thought I was there
to play the Alexis on Colby's. But in fact, Sable's
turning into a different sort of person altogether.
I
have learned that all that's important on The Colbys -
or any soap - is whether the earrings are going to shine well
enough, and whether your face is going to be well enough lit.
But you don't do any of the internal rehearsal. Would you
believe that any script changes have to be in 72 hours before?
If you want to change an 'and' or a 'but' it's 72 hours before?
You see, where they put their money in America is making sure
that it looks good. And it does, even though I have to play a
woman who's a frightful neurotic - she gets very upset if things
don't go her way. In reality, I sometimes feel the urge to go
over to the fireplace and burst into uncontrollable laughter.
Wogan
On Wogan by Terry Wogan1987
