Anneke: In a way it
started with my Mother's influence - she said "You will be
an actress!" and indeed I was, writing and directing plays
when I was eight. And I made my first film when I was eleven.
The film was called Child's Play. And it was in 1952 with Peter
Sallis. It was the most wonderful treasure of a film because
there you see England before TV and cars and everything. So it
started very early. Christopher Beeny was also in it, an
absolute star. I wrote a couple of plays, all hand-written, and one was shown at
school and I got my first notices when I was nine.
Digger: Was your
mum pushy in that sense?
Anneke: No she
just encouraged. In a way the inspiration came from within. I
must have been an actress in many lives before and you get the
feeling "Right, I'll just get on with it." This was
early 1950s and we got our TV around about the Coronation and
I was watching things like Muffin the Mule. I was only little!
Crackerjack and so on. I went to see Errol Flynn in Kim and
later on Alan Ladd - we saw Shane (Sings "Do not
forsake me oh my darling......)
Digger: So who
were/are your acting inspirations, both male and female?
Anneke: Having
grown up a bit and gone to RADA by this time, Peggy Ashcroft,
Paul Schofield and then Robert De Nero and DAVID TENNANT! I
think he's the best thing on telly. He's astoundingly good.
He's a magic being who happens to be an actor. I think that
David Tennant is the best Dr Who since Patrick Troughton -
there you are, I've pronounced!
Digger: But you
have got a bit of a soft spot for Patrick.
Anneke
Anneke: Yes, I
think he had that magic quality and David Tennant has that.
William Hartnell played an old man whereas Patrick was
different and he was making the character and was thinking of
the Marx brothers and the Goons and Charlie Chaplin.
Digger: At the
Dr Who conventions, are there are a lot of wrinklies or
do they cover all age groups?
Anneke: Oh, no no no, they go right across the board.
Digger: Do you
agree that being 40 or 50 these days is nothing compared to
the 1950s and 60s? I was watching an old Gideon's Way the
other day and two thugs beat up an old man with wild white
hair and they said "He was an old man, he was about 50"
and for a while I was totally mortified because I'm 50 this
year! We all look and act younger these days, wearing jeans
and getting out and about more, don't we?
Digger: Can you
describe where you are now?
Anneke: I'm
sitting in my window looking out at the cows grazing in a
field on the edge of Dartmoor. But get back to the questions!
Digger: Gaining
fame as Polly in Dr. Who, what were the positives and
negatives of being famous?
Anneke: I wasn't
famous! These days the Paparazzi would be there, like with
Billie Piper, but in those days we just slipped into the roles
and I don't even think there was a mention in the Radio Times.
I had been sort of recognised on the street since I was young
and people would just say "Oh hello, I see you're working
again". Patrick and me and
Michael Craze could walk into any pub in London and not be
bothered.
Digger: It's
amazing isn't it?
Anneke: It wasn't
this kind of madness that goes on today. I wasn't famous, but
I did become an icon and if I hadn't I wouldn't be talking to
you now. There are very few actors who stopped working, went
and did lots of other stuff and forty years later they're
still answering fan letters. And I still get them every week
from all over the
world.
Digger: What are
your enduring memories of that show?
Anneke: Read my
book! Our launch date is early October and all that
information will be in there and I go into a lot of detail. I
never kept a diary but the memories are all there, it's just
getting everything assembled in the right order. Doing this a
lot more comes back. We're going to have a book launch party
at the Troubadour and at that time in the sixties it was
a coffee bar run by friends in west London. And then you
realise that Bob Dylan first SANG at The Troubadour and
Jimi Hendrix first PLAYED at The Troubadour. In the
research for the book a lot of facts come to light and then
you go "Oh yes" and that sparks your memory and then
off you go.
Digger:
What do you think about the comments that fans of cult TV are
anoraks?
Anneke: The 'Who'
fan club is immense and covers all sorts of people. I get very
angry when they are called anoraks. The wonderful Toby Hadoke
who wrote 'The Moths ate my Dr. Who scarf' - he gets fed up
too. People were talking about Jon Pertwee after he died and
they talked about the wobbly sets. Toby went back and looked
at the entire show and said there are actually five seconds of
wobbly sets in all the programmes. In how many hours of all
the stories in Dr. Who, so I get fed up with that. It's just a
way of putting it down. IT WON'T BE PUT DOWN! (melodramatic
laugh.)
Digger: How would
you describe swinging London in the 60s, what are your
happiest recollections of that period and who were the most
interesting people you met?
Anneke:
It just was an immensely creative time and I met people from
Peter Cook, John Lennon, Spike Milligan. I actually did a Juke
Box Jury with Spike Milligan. Sammy Davis Junior was my friend
and Mary Quant. It was an honour to meet these people,
although you didn't know it was an honour at the time, these
were just people who were involved in what was happening at
the time.
Peter Cook
John Lennon and Spike
Milligan
Digger: What are
your biggest accomplishments?
Anneke: I've
thought about what I've done and do you know the thing I'm
most proud of?
Anneke: No. I
drove a fully loaded truck across the Rockies in the middle of
winter. It was a job and I drove from Calgary across The
Rockies down into Vancouver and it took me four days to do and
it was a very brave thing. It was completely icy and I got
through without a scrape. That's completely out of character and
when I got there I had people taking photographs of me leaning
out of the truck. I was very proud of that.
Digger: What are
your biggest regrets?
Anneke: I can't
regret anything because every experience has made me the
person I am today. At the same time, I never saw The Eiffel
Tower, I never spent time in Greece, I never went to Macchu
Pichu.
Digger: You've
been all around the world and done lots of amazing things but
never seen the Eiffel Tower? That's a surprise.
Anneke: I know, I
was taken around Paris but the people I went with (laughs -
I'll make a
note of this for the book) wanted to go off to The Louvre so
I never actually went up the Tower.
Anneke
Digger: Who would
you like to have worked with that you missed and on what sorts
of projects?
Anneke: I
auditioned for the RSC but didn't get in. I went up for the
part in the film The Collector with Terry Stamp but didn't get
it. Samantha Eggar got it and I could have played it and I was
sad I didn't get it. And also I went up for an audition for
Mike Nicholls in 1963 for a play in New York and he wanted me
but I couldn't get a visa. It was called The Owl and The
Pussycat.
Digger: You are in
the middle of your autobiography. What is more difficult and
what do you prefer - acting or writing, and why?
Anneke:
It's all an expression of creativity. Which this being
(pointing at myself) needs like food. I have to be creative.
I've done it all my life. When I was doing Dr. Who I was
sitting at the side crocheting ties for people to wear. I get
up and I create until I fall asleep. When I'm doing the book
it's an EXTRAORDINARY thing to do, to write your own life story.
Digger:
Particularly when it's the story of a life that has been as
full as yours. How has it been writing about what some
would see as a very unorthodox and turbulent life? Has it been
difficult, cathartic or what?
Anneke: It hasn't
been particularly difficult because over the years I've done
my 'inner work' but it has been immensely enriching and it's
given me a huge appreciation for having been there at the
time. And it's deepened my love for my family.
Digger: Have you
got in touch with people to check facts and dates?
Anneke: Yes, yes,
I have - like old lovers who are now 86 and they say "Oh,
you were the love of my life!" (laughs)
Digger: Do you
keep in touch with these people by email or 'phone?
Anneke: I don't do
the Internet. I decided very early on when people were talking
about floppy discs and I thought I'd rather have my hands in
the earth thank you very much. I let other people do that for
me. And I agree it is wonderful and fantastic. One of the
things that was amazing was me on the 'phone and my friend on
the Internet and we looked up The Railway Children because I
was in the original TV version in 1957, the role which
Jenny Agutter played later. And he said he could play me the
theme music from the show and I hadn't heard it played
although it was emblazoned on my heart from that day to this.
And I'm listening to the music over the soundwaves. It was
Grieg symphonic dances and it was just so haunting and
beautiful.
Digger:
What would you have been if you had not been an actor?
Anneke: I have
been everything I wanted to be (laughs) - an actor, I've been
a writer, I've been a director and I've been a painter and an
interior designer. And a lorry driver! But I would like to
have sailed boats and flown planes. It's too late now and I'm
ready to grow sweet peas and make marmalade now.
Digger: When you
first saw the scripts for Strange Report, what did you think?
What was your relationship like with Anthony Quayle and Kaz
Garas?
Anneke: What we
thought was that they were pretty obviously American and so
Tony Quayle and I did quite a bit of work on our scenes to
make it more British.
Digger: It did
have quite a different style, even down to the freeze frame
credits at the beginning.
Anneke: Yes, yes.
It was '68 and the bra burning took many years to take off. And nobody
discussed character development in those days (laughs) -
we had no time, we only had ten days so we just had to get on
with it, you know.
Digger: So how did
you get on with the guys?
Patrick Troughton and
William Hartnell
Anthony Quayle
Anneke: Ah, very
well. We were a very good team and I've always been a team
player. And of course it was wonderful to have, every week,
the fantastic actors of the time coming on board - John Thaw,
Julian Glover and so on. As an actor it was a great treat to
be working with these wonderful people. And doyennes of the
stage. I had my own suite of dressing rooms and I was
making my own clothes.
Digger: And
knitting people ties.
Anneke: Yes
(laughs)
Digger: I find
Strange Report an unusual and slightly edgy programme for
the time. When I spoke to Annette Andre about Randall and
Hopkirk, she said that her character developed from a token
female into something more meaty as the series developed.
While you are seen as an independent, strong and able lady
in your part in Strange Report, they nevertheless did often
have you making the tea while the chaps did the
analysis/investigating. How far do you think women
have got in achieving full equality in real life?
Anneke: It's
totally changed. This is a massive subject and one that I
have lived through to tell the tale. It's been a HUGE
transformation for women in the last century.
Digger: There
have been a lot of very strong women in history, but these
days women are expected to be like men too.
Anneke: Finally,
it's not so much about equality. When you think that when I
first started working I had to get a passport and a bank
account and neither of those things could I have without a
male signature. We've come a long way, but it's not
about being equal with men, we're different from men. And
the point is to know and love and appreciate yourself and
each other.
Digger: What are
your favourite TV, film and music of all time?
Anneke: TV? - Dr. Who!
Films? - the last one I've seen. I do love is the quality
English films like Gosford Park - we do those better than
anybody else. If you watch the Geraldine McEwan Marple, the
SETS are SO RICH and the characters are SO good. When I
started working in telly your character wasn't three
dimensional at all but nowadays it's so rich. I also love
Planet Earth because that's ASTOUNDING television and the way
they can do the wildlife photography these days is just
amazing.
Digger: What makes
you laugh? What makes you angry?
Anneke: Paul
Merton and Ian Hislop make me laugh. The closing down of post
offices makes me SO angry - we'd better stop or you'll get me
on a roll here!
Digger: If you
could arrange a dinner party with guests from any place or
time in history, who would be there and why?
Anneke:
Rabindranath Tagore the poet and philosopher, John Lennon, can
I have Jesus and Buddha? And Peter Cook and Pat Troughton to
get things going a bit.
