Hello everyone from glorious London which is basking in lovely spring sunshine.I went to the talk with DJD and John Miller at the National last night and it was wonderful. She seemed quite at ease and comfortable although she was constantly fidgeting around in one way or another. Most of what was said we know already from the book, but the way she told some of the stories was just hilarious. She had us all in stitches. One incident was from the new Miller edition where she describes her arrival in Rome at that ghastly hotel which was "a knocking shop". Her imitation of Joan Plowright who rang her barely five minutes after they had arrived and insisted they go somewhere else was lovely! Here are some new things:
She's finished filming "The Last of the Blonde Bombshells", but didn't really enjoy it, not because of other cast members or anything to do with the filming, but because of herself. She said she wasn't really in the mood and was glad when the filming had finished.
She likes filming better now and feels more at ease, she said she was looking forward to "Chocolat" which would start shooting in June/July, she's going to France for three weeks for that. Also, the Iris project is coming under way with Michael Gambon starring opposite her. everyone clapped at this to show their appreciation to which she replied "Don't clap yet, wait till you've seen it."
She alluded to the ATGB group who had come to London to see the filming 2 weeks ago. John Miller asked her how she felt at being recognised in America now since Mrs Brown and the Bond films. She said "I'm not recognised for Mrs Brown or the Bond films, I'm recognised for As Time Goes By. And it's lovely, people are so friendly, they stop you in the street in the nicest possible way to chat, and a group of them - some of whom might even be here tonight, I don't know - came two weeks ago to see us at the BBC."
She also said she would love to do another play or musical at some point. "I'm just waiting for offers...could you all hear that??!!"
After about half an hour of chatting with John Miller (sharing lots of jokes and being very much the great actress on the stage that we all so much appreciate), she took audience questions. Nothing much new in the answers, but loads of fun at her tone of voice and the looks. Some little anecdotes and advice for young actors, emphasis on a good training at drama school to learn discipline; one question was did she approach musicals differently than plays, and she said no she didn't. Doing a musical and singing was similar to launching into a great Shakespeare soliloquy. Sometimes her answers were very long, and she would suddenly interrupt herself and say "Did that answer your question?" or "I can't even remember what the question was". She really made us laugh.
After the talk, she and Miller signed copies of the book. People queued up in a long line, I did as well and got both their signatures, but didn't stop to talk to them. I was tempted to say hello and introduce myself, but there were so many other people wanting to talk and chat and say hello that I just grinned at her, said thank you very much for her autograph and stepped aside. I did take my camera and took some pictures of her and John Miller while they were signing. She signed everything people handed to her, seemed to be having a good time doing it, and was very generous talking to people.
I stood aside and watched for a little while and I bumped into Rosemary who had returned from travelling around the UK with her son and was there for the talk. We chatted for a little while and then I left to get back to my books.
It was a great evening, so good to see her live and talking to people, I still can't believe I was standing only about 2 feet away from her...
Ok, that's it for now. I have one week left in London before leaving the metropolis, and there's so much to do and see before I make my way home.
Christina
3/11/2000
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