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Actress Annette André is interviewed by Digger
Australian ballet dancing/acting
beauty Annette André arrived in London with impeccable timing in
the early 1960s. She appeared in several classic British tv shows over the next few
years - The Saint, The Avengers, The Prisoner and, of course, Randall & Hopkirk where she starred
as Marty Hopkirk's widow Jean. Romantically linked with comic Benny Hill and
footballer George Best and a prominent member of Swinging London and the 'jet set', Annette
lived and worked in England until a year or so ago when she moved to New York state with
her American Producer husband. She graciously agreed to talk with me on the phone and here is
the result - an insight into the life and work of one of Britain's busiest and most popular
actresses of the sixties.
D. Can you tell us about your background
in Australia
and how you came to Britain to work in the sixties?
A. I started life very, very early, at
the age of four,
in ballet. It was really because my mother thought
that it was a nice thing for a girl to do and
I needed it for my health at the time. But, she didn't
realise that I was going to become absolutely besotted
by it. I became totally involved in ballet and kept
on and did it for several years. I think I was the youngest
in Australia at the time to be as advanced as I was. I was
taking exams two years ahead of what people usually did
then. We were aligned with the Royal Ballet company in
England and every two years there was a scholarship given
to Sadlers Wells - the examiners came over specially from
England. I was in line at the age of about sixteen because
of the fact that I was predicted to get that scholarship
that year. And I danced a little bit with the Australian
ballet company. Then I suddenly, for no reason at all,
just decided to throw it up.
D. So there weren't any injuries?
A. No, nothing like that. I
think the trouble was
that I'd advanced too quickly and for about two years
I was just doing the same steps, the same things, over
and over. I danced for the Australian ballet company
for a brief time until they discovered I was under age and
that was it, I was out. And I lost all my enthusiasm.
It was a bad move on all the teacher's parts, actually,
to push me through so quickly. They shouldn't have done
that because your enthusiasm wanes when you can't advance.
D. My youngest daughter is into all of
that at
the moment so we'll try and encourage her in the
right direction.
A. Yes, never send them on too quickly.
It's a killer.
D. Yes, I think it's a temptation with
parents and
teachers. When they see a talent they want to try
and push it don't they?
A. Yes, well my mother didn't actually want it to happen
but the teachers did.
D. So, how did the acting come about
then?
A. Because I knew I wanted to be in the
theatre
and I knew the ballet had broken me in to theatre and
given me a lot of training throughout the years.
I continued dancing and I did productions where I
could dance or I did cabaret work. I did anything that
I could do that would keep me involved in theatre.
And then a nun ( laughs )........
D. Oh yes, because you're a Catholic
aren't you?......
A. No! Not anymore. I didn't
like being a Catholic
and haven't been for 15 years.
D. A lapsed Catholic, like me?
A. No, I'm now a Buddhist and
feel marvelously freed
and secure in not being a Catholic. Because of all
the guilt - I don't hold with all of that.
D. Oh right! Confessions and all that
stuff?
A. ......Yes. So a Nun from my Catholic
school who was
a music teacher said that I had to do something in
theatre. I guess I must have been talking to her one
day but I'd left school by this stage. She knew a woman
who ran a radio school through the technique of radio
acting because radio was very, very big at the time.
D. What year was this?
A. Oooh.....it was in the mid to late
fifties and she
got me into this school. It was a very professional school
and you had to pass the audition to get in. So, that's
how I started and I began to go to auditions and I got
into radio. Radio was a big thing with theatre in
Australia then until television started, a couple of years
after that, which was when I got involved in television
immediately. It just happened that way and I got some
really good and big roles on television in the first few
years of television in Australia which was interesting.
And when I look back at it, it WAS interesting ( laughs ).
D. Do you ever get a chance to see those
performances?
A. No, because at the time it was live.
D. So there's no video tape or anything?
A. No! Not then. So, I did hour and two
hour plays,
live on television, and things like that.
D. That's a good training ground.
A. Hmm. And then it started to go into
tape. I did a
lot of comedy work and lot of straight girls to comedians
- a lot of visiting comedians; Benny Hill, Bob Cosby
and a whole group of people used to come to Australia.
D. Dick Emery?
A. No, I worked with Dick Emery in England.
D. Oh, I see, because I knew that you'd
been
connected with him.
A. He was in England. And so I did a lot,
I did everything
I could to make a living out there because you could
be starring in a theatre at night and waitressing during
the day and doing little commercials if they came along.
All those sort of things, to keep you going until
something came along.
D. Very glamorous.
A. A lot of training which I don't think
you get today.
It's not the same sort of work. Practical training
where you're practically sweeping the floor of the
studio one day and starring in something at night and
doing something else. But it was fun.
D. How did you come to England?
A. Because in those days in Australia,
most actors
and actresses, if they actually wanted to advance,
couldn't because it wasn't known in the acting world.
It was known for opera and ballet and things but the
acting world was just so far away. Nobody knew about
you and you could only advance, so to speak ..... for a lot
of people interested or really wanting to advance they
would take the big plunge and say, "I'm going overseas".
D. Did you have some contemporaries that
came
over with you?
A. No, I came alone. I actually went to
Rome first.
D. Right, the 'Mother country'. Or
'Father country'?
A. Yes, my 'Father country'.
D. That's a beautiful place.
A. Oh, absolutely gorgeous.
D. One of my favourite towns.
A. Yes, it was beautiful then but I
haven't been
back for a very long time, but it was beautiful then.
And, I went there because I actually fell in love
with somebody who was Italian. A tennis player
........who was famous..... ( laughs ).
D. Oh, ok. Keeping him nameless?!
A. And, so that's what took me to Italy
first.
Then I worked in some movie sets like in crowd
scenes and small parts in things like Cleopatra.
So, I had a small part in Panic Button in which I had
two or three little scenes with Maurice Chevalier.
And...what else did I do? Oh, just the little odd things
there and then I met up with a producer called...and
now my mind's gone, I'm afraid...he was well known at
the time. He was casting a theatre production, a musical
production, of Vanity Fair and I could sing but I
couldn't sing well enough for the part I went in it for,
which was one of the leads. So he said, "You can't
waste away here in Rome. You've got to come over to
England and I'll give you a part in it anyway.
Though it may be small, but it will still be a part."
D. So what was that, '63, '64?
A. '62, I came to England.
D. Excellent timing, if I may say so. You
know,
you're just there at the start of the...
A. All the television...
D. And Beatlemania and all of that - all
the energy.
A. I had the whole of the sixties which
was fabulous.
D. Yes, so there you were, a beautiful
woman
who's involved in telly and all that sort of stuff.
So, you must have had a great time.
A. I had a wonderful time. No, I think
nothing can
beat all those times...(laughs)...the ups and the downs
were all dramatic, no matter what.
D. How did you land the part of Jean
Hopkirk?
A. Oh, because I worked. I started, I
think the very
first time I ever did anything in a television series
of that nature was The Saint.
D. Yes, I've seen that episode.
A. Which is the very first one, black and
white?
D. Yes.
A. I've seen that recently. You know,
they show it on
the Cult television and people have sent me copies so
that's very good. And I've got all the series of The
Saint but um...
D. They work very well.
A. They do actually.
D. Did you love Roger ( Moore ). You
know, people
say he was a great practical joker and...
A. I ADORED him. I really did, and we
became
very good friends.
D. And you were supposed to be a bit of a
giggler.
Or is that unfair?
A. No, I was. Part of the reason I did so
many,
I think, was because we had good times together and
we could laugh together and he liked me, as a matter of fact.
We had a lot of laughs and he'd say, "Oh God, I feel like a
laugh. Let's have Annette back!".
D. All the photos I've seen of you two,
you're always laughing.
A. Oh yes, we had a marvellous time.
D. That's great, isn't it? If you can
enjoy your work and
apparently, he was a really hard worker as well
and really helped people out.
A. Yes, he was very professional and very
helpful for
me when I started Randall and Hopkirk because he would -
he gave me a lot of very good advice as to how to handle
a series. As opposed to just an episode.
D. That was recording next door, wasn't it?
From the Saint? Is that right?
A. Um, in the Saint studios. I don't know
if the Saint
was still recording at that point. It was 1960......
D. '68, '69, I guess.
A. '68, '69? I don't think...
D. No, you'd moved on, I suppose.
A. Well, it might have been. I know he
was at the studio.
Yes, perhaps it was then. Perhaps it was just at the
end of the series or something.
D. So why do you think these series
....... you've been
involved in several of the cult ones ......
why do you think they endure so well?
A. I think because they came out of an
era which,
for England, was a completely new thing to begin with.
And with progression for women, I think, in terms
of becoming more prominent......
D. That's a good point, actually. Sorry!
I'm interrupting you.
A. No that's alright, go on.
D. Well, in Randall and Hopkirk in the first couple
of episodes..... I mean you're sat there.....
A. I didn't do very much.
D. Well, exactly. So was it you or did
they say
"Hey, this lady can act".
A. I think it was a bit of both and it
may have been
Kenny ( Kenneth Cope ) and Mike ( Mike Pratt ) too.
Because I was saying "I'm not doing enough in this"
and I talked with Denis Spooner and, you know,
I let it be known I wanted to do more. I think they
wanted to see my character, how it worked with
the boys and everything.
D. It worked really well.
A. It did actually.
D. It's a hilarious concept for a
programme. But it didn't
seem to go down too well in America for some reason.
Why do you think that was?
A. It didn't get the right sort of
publicity. And I don't
think that in those days English television did do
very much for America. There was the one, The Avengers
that was popular. With the women, you know, Honor
Blackman and so on being involved in the action.
I think for them here, then, it was different, it had a
spark that appealed to them. But on the whole they
were doing their own series and they didn't really look
to other countries for product. They were very much and
still are in fact very insulated in their own.... you know,
America is America, I love it but ( laughs ) it doesn't
recognise the rest of the world. Except, of course,
the individual. In those days there were some marvellous
English actors around who weren't a market product
who they liked.
D. Hmm. It's weird what they embrace.
Monty Python
and The Avengers like you say and Benny Hill.
A. Monty Python came later. Monty Python
was
the seventies. Wasn't it?
D. Strictly speaking it started in 69!
A. Yes, well. I have no idea what
accounts for what
they like here and what they don't like here. But I mean,
The Saint wasn't a big player over here. The Persuaders
I don't think did.....
D. No it didn't do very well.
A. And most of the series I don't
think..... I'm not sure
about this but I don't think The Champions was even
heard of. Our series played here in New York and it
played in Los Angeles. It wasn't on network and it
was called 'My Partner The Ghost'. And I actually
had Americans who recognised me, you know, tourists in
England or whatever who said "we love your programme".
D. Excellent.
A. It wasn't given huge press. It was
shown on
syndicated programme and wasn't networked so it
wasn't a big deal. In today's world there's much
more of a possibility of certain series taking off on
certain channels over here. Even now.
D. I mean you've got opportunities now
because of all
the technology you can be famous for a second time with
videos and DVDs and all this stuff.
A. Yes. There will be a market over here
eventually
for more of these series. We have got so many
channels that they need material all the time. I think
the reason - we go back to your original question which
was "why do they endure" and this was because they
came out of a time when England was suddenly blossoming
and changing - for the better or the worse whichever
way you like to look at it.......
D. Oh, for the better.
A. .......of enormous change. A time for
women to come
into their own. A time for glamour, which you know
England isn't known for and actually it was gorgeous
in England at that time with fun and colour
- a lot of colour and I think you know a lot of the
comments I get about Randall and Hopkirk - people say
"Oh gosh, I just love your clothes. You always
looked wonderful."
D. Well, you did.
A. The colour and all of that. And I
think, well you know
they look at things today, which is so colourless.
D. Did you chose the sort of look?
A. Yes.
D. Oh, it was very good.
A. Yes, I had a very good particular
idea.
D. Yes?
A. With help from, you know, wardrobe
people and
everything. I had a pretty good idea. And, uh, there
were a lot of series in those days where, you know,
the women were gorgeous. And they dressed well and
it had colour and it had a certain type of glamour.
D. I mean, that could lead me onto
another question
which is did you socialise with the contemporaries,
you know the other ladies who were sort of around
at the time like Jane Merrow and Alexandra
Bastedo, Diana Rigg...
A. I knew them - I certainly knew Jane.
We were all
around at the studio and we knew each bit that we'd
work in. They'd work in my series and I'd work with
them in other series, you know, whatever. And you
knew people. Sue Lloyd, who was my very close friend.
D. Oh yes.
A. Still is. Old friends from those days
- we'd see
each other in the studio and...(laughs)...I worked in her
series, she worked in mine and um, when I say mine,
Randall and Hopkirk.
D. Yep!
A. So it was um, you know, yeah, I
knew most of
the people. I didn't particularly socialise with a
lot of them. Sue was, became, a great friend and
there maybe were a couple of other people but you...no,
I didn't socialise a lot.
D. What? You were going home
and getting some
sleep? I don't believe it...
A. No I socialised...(laughs)...but not
with the other
actresses particularly. Yes, just a couple that I
became very, very good friends. The others were
people that you, you know...
D. You just work with...
A. .....that either you didn't like and
you worked
with and you saw from time to time and you might,
you know, know them for a little while and
hit a round of golf, or something...(laughs)...
D. What about Ken and Mike?
How did you get on with them?
A. I got on brilliantly with them. Yes,
they were lovely.
D. And it looked as though you were
having a
great time again...
A. We did. We got on very well together.
They were terrific to work with.
D. Ken was on telly again today actually.
I just happened
to flip on the telly and he was in a Carry On film.
A. Oh yes, oh yes. He did some of those.
Because
Mike I'd worked with before. We did a movie a
couple of years, oh several years before called
'This is My Street'. I'd worked with Mike and I
worked with Mike in television before that so I
knew Mike. I didn't know Ken but I knew Mike before
I even went into it and I always liked Mike.
I thought he was great.
D. So how difficult was it acting with
somebody
who wasn't supposed to be there?
A. Oh, well, just, it was quite difficult
to start off.....
it was difficult all the way through because, uh,
it didn't cause a problem. I can't say it was
problematical. It was just, you had to get used to
not reacting to somebody.
D. Mmm, and I suppose there were all
sorts of
tricks, were there?
A. Oh...yes...(laughs)...I'd have ended
up a lot of
times when we'd have to re-take the scene because
we'd all be on the floor ( both laugh )
D. It's a shame they didn't keep those or
do you
think they did somewhere? Do you think maybe
they'll come out...?
A. Yes, in those days they didn't do out-takes and things.
D. Ah, it's a shame, isn't it?
A. There were a lot of, lot of times when
we
were just hysterical.
D. Can I ask you if you believe in
ghosts?
A. Hmm?...did I believe in ghosts?
D. Do you believe in ghosts?
A. Oh, I do. Oh yes, I do.
D. Have you had any experiences that
you'd like to...?
A. Oh yes, I have. Yes, quite serious.
Which I won't go
into, quite honestly. A couple of the stories
are a bit hairy...........
D. Okay. That's alright.
A. ....... and rather long. We actually
had a ghost in our
house in London. There actually was a spirit there
that caused me a few problems. It was fine to me but
it didn't like other ...... at the time I had friends
living there in the downstairs part of the house in a
separate flat and the spirit didn't like these people
and it caused a little problem ( nervous laugh! ) But it
seemed to be alright with me.
D. Well, it knew you had credentials, you
see!
A. Er, I guess it did. And I had great
sympathy for
this spirit. I felt it wasn't malevolent, but it didn't
like certain types of people. And when I threatened
to have it exorcised it calmed down. Several people
experienced that spirit in our house. Although some
probably didn't realise it.
D. My Dad used to know some old ladies
down
on Dartmoor and had several spooky encounters
down there and I visited there once and I saw
something and felt something - a definite coldness -
and the dog reacted too. Real cliche stuff but it was
true.
A. Er, yeah I've had several and I'm very
respectful
of spirits. I have great respect and you don't play
around with them. And I don't like to delve into it.
D. Okay.
A. No. I don't mean by talking! I mean
there are a lot
of people who are spirit seekers. I am NOT a spirit seeker
- I don't want them hanging around me. Um, but there are
also good spirits which are in your life.....
D. Do you think they're like Guardian
Angels?
A. Yes. Yes. Yes, in a non- Catholic
aspect ( laughs ). I stress
that. Yes, there are Guardian Angels, absolutely.
D. I'll change the subject now, if that's
okay?
A. Sure.
D. When you were working on The Prisoner,
were
you aware that you were working on something special?
A. No. I thought I was working on
something absolutely vile!
D. ( Surprised - laughs ) Why??!
A. I didn't understand anything about it
whatsoever.
I didn't understand from the beginning - I think it was
two weeks or something like that. I didn't understand
a single thing that was happening from the minute I
went in to the minute I left ( laughs ).
D. Was that because you shot it in a
different sequence
to how it appeared?
A. No. It's just that there was no
explanation as to
what this thing was all about. Nobody bothered to
even try to explain. Alexis, um....... Kan ..... Kanner?
D. Yes, that's right.
A. He tried to explain a little bit about
it.
I really hated Patrick McGoohan who didn't make
things pleasant. Um, no. I didn't think it was special
at all. I thought it was a load of garbage.
D. Watching you two together it was
strange 'cos
I thought - he's a New Yorker - New York Irish and
there's you, an Italian Australian both of you with
very English accents. That just appealed to me, I
don't know why.
A. I didn't know that he was an American.
D. Oh yeah.
A. You mean he was born in New York?
D. That's right
A. Really?
D. Yup!
A. You know, I had no idea of that.
When did he go to England?
D. I'm not sure, but it must've been
fairly early on.
A. Yes.
D. I mean, he went back to The States
obviously.
But he's a ( bad imitation of a NY accent ) New Yorker!
A. Yes. Well I hope I never have the, er,
pleasure of
running into him! ( laughs ) In a million years! ( both
laugh )
D. Do you want me to put that on the site?
A. I have ..... I don't care at all. I
mean, I didn't
like the man and no use in pretending that I did.
D. Well all that I can say is that it
didn't come across
in the acting that you didn't like him. Or that you didn't
know what you were doing either!
A. ( Laughs ) How that happened I don't
know but I was
completely bemused from beginning to end. I actually
wanted to get off of it but it wasn't possible.
D. You shared that bemusement with
probably 99% of
the people who were watching it in the late 60s.
A. I think so, yes.
D. But it has definitely become a cult tv
series now.
A. Well yes, it has and obviously, you
know, it was very
interesting in its way but I could never come to terms
with it. And I think that if you speak to a lot of
actresses who were in it that you'll find they have
the same opinion. Most actresses I've met who
worked in that, not that there were a lot, um,
hated it. ( Laughs )
D. That's very interesting. Have you got
any production
secrets from Randall & Hopkirk that you could share
with us? I mean, we think that one of the stars wore
a wig for example!
A. One of the stars?.....
D. ( Laughs )
A. I'm not saying anything! I'm not
saying anything
about that. It was for a CERTAIN look.
D. I think even in the new one, Vic
Reeves is wearing
one of a similar ilk. So yes, it is for the look.
A. Yes. There's got to be a certain look.
Well listen,
who wore wigs? I wore pieces.
D. Sean Connery was wearing wigs in those
days too.
A. Well a lot of people did. John Wayne
and a whole
lot of other people I could name did.
But also my hair too. We'd wear hairpieces that
looked like it was your own and build it up. I've
got very fine hair so sometimes it doesn't look the
luxuriant head of hair I had in Randall & Hopkirk.
D. How difficult, or enjoyable, was it coping with being.
successful and recognised in the sixties?
A. Oh, that was fine - it didn't worry
me. People
vaguely knew me from other series anyway and
because, you know, in those days had we but known
what it would grow into come the late seventies
and eighties where merchandising and marketing of these
things became so big. We could have made a lot of money
out of that and would have been even more recognisable.
As it was, we were very recognisable and you had the
same problems as anybody else who had a series on
television which was not, seemingly, the fanatical thing
that it can be today. Because today, you know, so much
publicity goes on, so much merchandising, so much
advertising and all of that, that it makes people into
huge legends. It was nice. I liked people saying "Oh, I
love your series". It didn't particularly bother me a lot.
You could go to a restaurant and you know have
somebody coming up saying "I love your programme"
but it wasn't desperate - it was rather nice that's
all. Got me out of trouble sometimes - a parking
ticket or whatever ( laughs ).
D. Using it to your advantage sometimes?
A. Yes. It wasn't a problem and it didn't
really effect me.
It was nice.
D. You've sort of touched on technology -
we're talking
here and you're going to be on the internet in a couple
of days if I can get my typing sorted out. You were
talking about all this stuff that's available in imagery
and sound.
A. You see, I don't understand the
internet at all.
And I find all this technology very, er, dehumanising.
D. It can be.
A. I find it that way. And therefore
cringe from even
looking into it. It may be an old-fashioned way of
looking at things but I'm steadfastedly hanging to my
bough, my branch above the flooding waters.
D. Technology can work both ways. It can
also be
very good in the sense ......
A. Oh yes, I agree. Apparently on the
internet there's
a lot of information that can be good.
D. There's a lot of rubbish on there but
there are
some really excellent sites with information -
I'm not going to say that mine is! - but that
provide information and a forum for people.
A. It does. I still find that opening up
a book - going
to a library and looking up references to things
I want to find out is much more interesting.
The idea of going onto the internet it seems to
take so much time, getting warmed-up - I hear
all these things about it - I don't know. And mice
crawling all over your screen ( both laugh ) .
You know, I've just been out on our deck, here
we're in the middle of a forest on a mountain
and it's stunning, it's gorgeous and with the
spring the birds are starting to come back and
I was out on the deck and identifying the birds
around the trees and I ran inside to get my book
to make sure I was identifying them right. 'Cos
I'm very much into wildlife and birds and all of
that - both my husband and I. And I opened the book
and the pictures were there and it was wonderful
and I had my information within ten minutes.
D. Right, but that's because you have the
book there,
though. A lot of people wouldn't have but likewise
they could type in, I don't know, 'FOREST BIRDS'...
A. But I didn't have to type in anything.
I just opened a book. And the idea of typing things
in and communicating with someone by typing all
the time absolutely turns me cold.
D. This is much more civilised, isn't it?
Just having a chat.
A. Yes, I mean you can hear the voice and
if I get
annoyed with you, you can tell I'm annoyed,
if I laugh I'm laughing. But what do you say on a
screen? You type in 'hello, something, something,
something laugh laugh laugh brackets'.
D. No. There are special symbols you can
type in to
show whether you're happy or sad. A whole
language has evolved.
A. I'm sorry but it just freezes me.
D. It's alright, I'm not defending it.
A. I know there are people who love
technology
and I respect that - it's absolutely fine. It just
frightens me that there is so much now happening
on computer which can fill in for being an actor
or an actress. I see this computerised idea sort
of taking hold of the world and everybody
eventually being clockwork.
D. I think we need to be aware of that
and fight
against it, especially those who are involved in
computers.
A. Well, they do, but can they?
I mean here in America you get so much of
it now. There are people who literally do not
move out of their houses. They shop on-line and
the huge sales on the internet through women have
gone up so much - it's just frightening. It's so much
easier to shop. The days when I want to look at a screen
to shop instead of getting in my car.......... ( 'cos
unfortunately I've got to get into my car where
I am - If I walk it's up a mountain ) .......
D. I bet you haven't still go that Mini!
A. No ( laughs ) ....... I never did have
the Mini except
in the series. Um. I've never owned a Mini in fact.
D. That's a shame.
A. I never got around to that. I drove
around in an
MGB for many years.
D. Excellent. I've got an MGF now.
A. I don't know that one.
Is it a nice one?
D. It's the 3 years ago sort of model.
It's got all the
posh trimmings like the CD and all that stuff.
A. We drive Subarus to get up here.
D. So the mud is real and not designer
mud.
A. It's real mud, absolutely, just about
shortly
to be washed off. There from the winter........
but anyway, let's get back.
D. With the new series of Randall and
Hopkirk, was
it true that you weren't approached in any way?
A. No I wasn't.
D. Does that seem strange to you? It
seems strange to me.
A. I thought it was actually. It would
have been rather
nice and a bit of a twist to have had us in there as
guests.
D. You should have been a baddie
in there.
A. I know. I'd like that. To play some
truly evil, really
really wicked but quite glamorous woman.
D. Now this is on the internet maybe the
producers
will see this and get the message.
A. I hope so. I think it would be quite a twist for Ken
and I to be involved, singly or together - whatever.
D. Are you both in touch regularly?
A. No. Now that I'm here. We used to be in touch
from time to time but I know that Ken spends a lot
of time in France now. But no, we're not friends. But
we've always kept in touch.
D. So what would you class yourself as -
I mean you've led
a very international life. Where do you consider home?
And what nationality would you consider yourself?
A. I'm British nationality. I have an American green
card and I guess I've always considered myself British.
And you know I still consider myself British. But
obviously now I'm living in America and my husband's
American and I've spent quite a lot of time over here
in the last 10 - 12 years. Actually, I feel very
comfortable here. I still consider myself British - English.
D. You sound it!
A. I've not fallen for the American
accent yet.
But I feel very comfortable, and I think particularly on
this coast. I love New York - I feel better here than I do
on the west coast.
D. Do you still come back to London quite
a lot?
A. Well, we only actually moved here a
year ago.
But of course my daughter's over there and friends are
over there and if they offer me work I'll go back.
I mean, acting all over the place - it doesn't really
matter where you live.
D. What sort of projects are you working
on
at the moment?
A. Absolutely nothing. At this moment.
Because
I wanted a little time to spend on setting up a new
place here and I wanted to just draw breath a bit really
and try to find out what I wanted to do. And I want
to work again. I auditioned just before Christmas for
a play on Broadway which I wasn't right for. And I did,
I think, a very good audition but I knew when I went
for the audition that I wasn't right for the part.
And now I intend to start seeking out - I've got a manager
in L.A. but I'm looking for people on this coast, so I've got
to actually have a kick up the arse and start doing
something about that.
D. I love the way you said arse rather
than ass ( both laugh )
Oh, well best of luck with that. It's quite right that you
want a bit of time to get yourself sorted out - you've
been very busy here over the years.
A. It's so beautiful here and so
different that I just
wanted time to enjoy it. Now I'm getting back to
thinking it would be nice to work again.
D. Are you still involved in the 'Born
Free'?
A. Yes I am. Not as much because it's
English-based
and I don't have the opportunity to do what I did
over there. That's another thing I intend to get
involved in again over here.
D. Is it Bill Travers' son who's looking
after it
these days?
A. Yes.
D. And how do you get on with him?
A. Oh, fine. He's lovely. And of course
Virginia McKenna's my friend and I think she's
absolutely wonderful and the whole foundation
has done a huge amount, in England at least, if not
further afield. But both Arthur and I concentrated
on the zoo aspect, or anti in that respect, performing
animals and captured animals, but particularly our
passion is the cats. And I intend to do more of it
over here. This is a bad country for things like that.
And I want to still do work for 'Born Free' in terms
of investigations of the zoos and keeping them up to
state as far as I can with things the way they are here.
I would either like us to open a chapter of the 'Born
Free' here, or to be involved in another animal
situation here. Captive wildlife or suchlike.
It needs people in public life to speak for the animals
and I think there are a lot of actors and actresses
involved because you hear about them.
D. You get a lot of Hollywood stars who
have wild
cats running round their houses with chains.
A. Yes, that I very much disapprove of.
I have no - Tipi Hedren who has a sanctuary
and has had for many years - I've never been
to it, at some point I will go. I really want to
meet her.
D. And Doris Day as well.
A. Doris Day is a hard worker.
Amazing things she does for more domesticated
animals. She's got her own project for cats and dogs
- the neutering and stopping them from breeding all
over the place. Pet farms and that sort of thing, because
so many of them end up in shelters and two thirds of
them end up being put to sleep. A horrible situation.
D. Well, you've certainly go a lot to get
on with
there from the sound of things.
A. Oh, there is. It's really a change as
I'm not
exactly a spring chicken any longer and it was a
huge move to make at this time, I think, in my life
and a completely different life which is like a new
life - a new phase.
D. Did Hubby come from New York - you'd
given London a
shot for a few years so you decided
in the end to move out there?
A. Well, he's lived in England for a
number of years
and he loved it, we both did and then we just felt
it was time to move. Both of us are restless and have
both travelled a lot in our lives.
He felt he wanted to come back and I wanted a
change and now if I can go back to work it will
be with a whole new outlook. Which should be
very good for my work.
D. Annette, it has been great talking to
you.
I must admit I was nervous to start with and
the old heart was pounding a bit - I watched one
of your episodes before to get in the mood - sod's
law it was your least favourite one with 'that man'
who shall be nameless!
A. Don't worry about it. It was fine. I
enjoyed it.
The
Portmeirion Hotel and Village
.jpg)
Actress Annette André who appeared in The Saint, Randall and Hopkirk,
The Avengers and Patrick McGoohan's The Prisoner cult TV series.
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