From TVGEN Q&A
Lesley-Anne Down
...AKA: Olivia on Sunset Beach
From soaps to Shakespeare and everything in between, British beauty Lesley-Anne Down has seen it all, done it all and, she freely admits, married some of it. Her days are spent sobbing on Sunset, but her real-life husband, Don Fauntleroy, and her family, including infant son George, are her first priorities. — Jonathan Reiner
I assume George is a handful?
It's a constant reorganization thing. He's going to start crawling soon, so we're setting everything up.
Like baby-proofing?
Living off the ceiling, I call it. Let's just glue everything to the ceiling — that would be safe and look absolutely hysterical!
It would certainly look interesting.
Well, I actually did that once! I stayed in a hotel in Amsterdam when I was doing a film years ago with Burt Reynolds called Rough Cut. And the hotel said a band called Deep Purple stayed in the suite before me, and they locked all the doors. Four days later when they came out of the suite, they had glued everything to the ceiling. It was mad.
Now, you do the online thing?
That's so interesting. I'm computer-illiterate and totally unproud of it.
What about Don — is he computer-illiterate, too?
No, I don't think so. He sits there and does things, and the children do also, but I don't go anywhere near it.
Why don't you have an interest in it?
Because it's a sitting occupation, and I like to move around. When I'm actually sitting, which is very rare, I like to read — even though I get very little time to do that. Maybe if I had a laptop, it would be more to my liking. I could use it in the car, but I don't have the time for it, I suppose. I watch Don on his computer doing his things, and then the computer would crash, or whatever they do.
Didn't you have any interest about going online when Sunset started? There was that big online romance between Meg and Ben, who met over the Internet.
No, I had no interest even then, I'm afraid. There is a gentleman who lives in England who has absolutely pursued me in such a darling way for years and years about a fan club, but I'm just not into all of that. Something has always come up, and I haven't called him back or something like that. Anyway, the years had gone by and a little while ago we got online, and suddenly my son showed me this web site, as you call it. And there I am. I have to say that it's tedious, because it goes on and on forever. Well, I love reading about myself, but it's like, "Darling, can you turn off the computer? Dinner is ready."
Are your fans surprised at how down-to-earth you are?
I can't honestly answer that question. You'd have to ask them, because I don't know what people expect to begin with. I'm told that I'm down-to-earth and not affected. But on the other hand, I don't know what they mean by affected. Do they mean these horrid people who talk about nothing but themselves? I don't know. That's what giving an interview is about, isn't it?
In a sense.
Which is why I don't enjoy doing them. I don't dislike them, either — it's a part of my job, but I don't really enjoy it. I'd much rather talk about other things.
OK. Well, why did you decide to settle in Hollywood, rather than stay in England?
The usual — a man. I was married to another man in England, who was Argentinean, and I met (film director) Billy Friedkin in England. And wham, bam, all kinds of things happened in a very brief two-month period, which culminated in me being pregnant and an engagement ring — which was a little prickly because I was already married to the Argentinean.
But, life being what life is, we sent lawyers off to Cairo who annulled the wedding, and I sort of waddled down Jerry Weintraub's grove, I suppose you'd call it, and the minister pronounced Billy and I man and wife. And that's how I ended up here.
Did you meet Don in America?
Yes, I was married to Billy and I was doing North and South back in 1984-'85 when I met Don. Again, within a couple of months the same routine, I'm really a repetitive person — wham, bam etc. I'm flippant about it and I don't mean to be, because in this instance we both had children. Don had two little girls who were 3 and 5 at the time, and I had a little boy (Jack) who was 2. Don and I were married in 1986.
Let's talk a little about Sunset. When the show debuted, did you ever dream it would take such a wacky turn, and that Olivia would become this melodramatic, almost larger-than-life heroine?
I don't know what Olivia is. It's really hard for me to stand outside and look in. Is that how she's perceived, as melodramatic and larger than life?
Honestly? Yes.
Is there no realism about her at all?
There probably was, at the very beginning, but there really isn't anymore. I'm not saying that it's a bad thing.
No, I understand. I'm just very interested in how it is.
That's also a part of her appeal.
What about the other characters? Is there realism there, or are they all larger than life as well?
I think it depends on the characters.
I see. So it's what the characters have to do rather than how the actors are portraying what they have to do that you're talking about, to a degree. Obviously Annie is an over-the-top, larger-than-life character.
Olivia and Annie were hilarious during the earthquake.
OK, I see where you're coming from, as far as Olivia is concerned. Now, let's get back to the question: Am I aware that she's melodramatic? No. Am I aware that the situations she's in are melodramatic? Absolutely. I don't know whether I succeed, but what I try to do is to take the situations that they give, which are, of course, unreal to an enormous degree, and bring some kind of realism to them.
I have always tried to go for the truth. I have never in my career, in everything I've ever done, gone for the campery of it, the ultimate silliness of "let's have enormous fun with this." I honestly don't think that's what will make people want to watch you on a daily basis, because soap-opera plots become very frivolous to say the least.
In your opinion, how are the British soaps different from American soaps?
That's a very difficult question for me to answer, because I haven't watched British television for 20 years. I'm American as far as my viewing is concerned. I can tell you what Masterpiece Theatre is like, but so can any other American out there.
That's interesting. Were you familiar with American soaps before you took this role?
Yes, of course.
Did you know the workload that you were in for?
Absolutely not. I thought the reverse would be true. I thought the workload would be different. As I've said many times, especially to the people who scoff that you're doing a soap opera, I take my hat off and applaud every actor who has ever done them, because they're immensely hard work. You don't realize how mentally demanding they are. Not just on a level of learning 30 pages a day, but as a character going through these outrageous plots that they put you in the middle of. Those things do affect you. You are living two lives; you're living your life and the character's life. Some weeks the character's life takes up more hours of your waking moments than your real life does.
Does that make it hard to leave Olivia at the studio?
No, I certainly don't bring her home. I've never been one of those people who, because I'm playing an ax murderer, I'll turn into an ax murderer. But the constant dialogue, constant acting and constant emotion, which is very deep and exhausting at times, can eat you up.
I'm sure! You've been front-and-center since the beginning. I have to say that the very first episode when Olivia killed the fly was classic.
It truly was a rather brilliant idea.
But Olivia doesn't behave that way anymore.
If you go back and look at those first episodes the characters were very different than how they are today. I don't honestly think that anybody knew... it's like giving birth. It's a slow process, and even though it was discussed, I don't think people knew what these characters were. Actually the scene, which was well written, wasn't very much like a soap opera. It was like something in a film — it didn't have any relation to anything before or after. It was just there.
There was nothing going on that was about any other characters. If I have a gripe about soap operas, it is that they do repeat information too much. I think that they're constantly giving the same information to their audience that they gave yesterday or last week. It's because they think new viewers have to know.
But that's a part of Sunset's appeal — the fact that everything is beaten into your head over and over in case you're not 100 percent sure what's going on!
I got a fan letter from a very sweet girl in England and I memorized it immediately because it was such a sweet letter. She wrote how much she loved Sunset Beach and that I was her favorite. She said, "I think it's marvelous even though you all talk to yourselves all the time."
The funniest thing is that they spend more time talking to themselves than to each other.
I know! It's like they're all mad.
Are you pursuing other projects outside of Sunset?
My family. I pursue nothing else. I'm truly ready for the gold watch. I'm 44 and I started work when I was 10 — that's 34 years I've been working.
What would you consider the top three highlights in your career?
Upstairs, Downstairs — getting that series changed my life completely. And not doing The Thornbirds. I was pregnant with Jack so I couldn't do it. That changed my life completely because had I done The Thornbirds, I wouldn't have done North and South, therefore I wouldn't have met Don and I wouldn't have had my little Georgie.
No. 3? I think probably doing Sunset Beach, because it has allowed me to be an 80 percent full-time mother and still get that injection of work and be paid for doing something. I know you wanted me to say "Oh, the thing that changed my life was working with Harrison Ford (in the 1979 film Hanover Street)."
Or you could have mentioned Hunchback.
Yes, I could have said The Hunchback. It was great! I did two jobs back to back with Anthony Hopkins, which were The Hunchback and Arch of Triumph. One of them was a Hallmark Hall of Fame, but I can never remember which one, and the other one was a television movie. It was a really great experience. He's such a cool guy and my type of actor.
You've had some career!
Yes I have. Sometimes Don and I talk about our past and what we did. and I'm like, "Oh, my, I did that! I met him!" I mean, I actually danced with Fred Astaire. Sometimes I gasp at some of the people I've met or some of the moments that I've had, because sometimes I can hardly believe that they were me.
You should write a book when the time comes.
Maybe I will! I always thought I would when my children were grown up, but now I have another child.
You can't keep having children just to put off writing it!
It sounds good to me. I like that.
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