| Marianne Gray meets |
| ALICE KRIGE |
| Alice Krige glided somewhat ethereally down the steps at her front door. A picture of grace and elegance. She wore no make-up, just the lavish honey-brown hair hanging loose over a jacket covering a distinctly Victorian blouse clipped at the throat with a delicate brooch. In real life, almost a typecast of her two screen triumphs, Sybil of Chariots of Fire and Alma of Ghost Story. Soon I was to find out that she is a far, far cry from either of her screen images. To her great sadness she does not sing like Sybil, the Gilbert and Sullivan songbird, despite endless singing lessons. And to her relief (I would imagine) she is not at all spooky like the character of Alma, the tantaliser who returns from the dead. Rather, she is a warm and friendly person who still has her vulnerable edge and youthful charm. And the rootlessness of an outsider (she is South African) carving a niche for herself abroad. Although it is 14 years since she first stepped on stage in a South African opera house as Little Eva, the child who climbs to the clouds in the "King and I" - the sudden focus on 27-year-old Miss Krige (pronounced Kreega) is barely a year old. Undoubtedly she was prepared for it, but perhaps not quite so rapidly. "My first real acting was at school as Bianca in 'Taming Of The Shrew'," she said. Wanting to further her knowledge of acting craft and skills she chose London's Central School and went to work for Esta Charkham, the casting director of Chariots of Fire, who put her name up for the part of Sybil. Filming Chariots wasn't as daunting as it could have been for the novice. "Luckily friends of my parents knew friends of the real-life Sybil and that led to her son lending me her diaries and scrapbooks and also meeting a lady who had sung and danced Gilbert and Sullivan operettas with her. Gradually it all percolated through and the character built up." Chariots, as we were to see, became an international success. Luck intervened again in her next film, the eerie Ghost Story in which she has a double lead, playing Alma and Alma reincarnate Eva, opposite Fred Astaire, the late Melvyn Douglas, John Houseman, Douglas Fairbanks Jnr, Academy Award-winner Patricia Neal and newcomer Craig Wasson. It called her to do nude scenes. "I never anticipated just how tough doing a nude scene would be. When I read the script the nudity seemed almost integral to the story and I thought it would be easy. But it is so very, very difficult to take your clothes off and act a scene in front of ten others you hardly know. No matter how calmly and professionally it is handled - and was, what with a closed set and choreographed movements drawn up by the film's illustrator so that everybody knew exactly what was to be done." "At the time I supressed any anxiety or insecurity I might have had and the delayed shock came much later with considerable force. When I saw myself on screen, all my mannerisms and nude as well...we-lll!" She wonders how much of it will be cut "back home." Alice also has some TV credits of distinction ranging from a three-hour version of Tale Of Two Cities (as Lucy, with Kenneth More and dame Flora Robson) to plays for the BBC and an episode in The Professionals. Yet, strangely she doesn't own a TV set and says she prefers to live alone in the tiny, pretty flat she "inherited" as a student, nestled quietly in a sidestreet in the heart of Hampstead. Decidedly non-Hollywood in attitude, with conviction she assures herself and me that nothing, unless it is a very good part, will get her there. She's an actress, not a star and her new-found fame appears to be an uncomfortable reward for her efforts. Poised on what looks like the threshold of a burgeoning career, I suggest that there might be plenty more of this thing called Fame. She just smiles an enigmatic and enchanting smile. "There might be!" is all she's saying. Circa 1982/83 Source: An unkown UK publication |
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