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The Drama Queen Actress and A.C.T. mainstay Olympia Dukakis is ruler of the stage. |
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posted on October 18, 2007 |
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Olympia Dukakis may have checked “win Academy Award and Golden Globe” off her lifetime list of to-do’s, but that hasn’t stopped the prolific actress/director/author from constantly adding slashes to her steadily growing list of occupations in her 40-plus years in the biz. The understated New Yorker—probably best known for playing such strong female roles as Cher’s mother in Moonstruck, the resilient Clairee Belcher in Steel Magnolias and, of course, Anna Madrigal in the TV adaptations of Armistead Maupin’s Tales of the City novels—has become a Tinseltown fixture. But it’s her love affair with the theater (she’s appeared in more than 130 off-Broadway and regional productions) that keeps her touring and teaching around the world. Dukakis, who is in town this month to be honored at the Elios Society’s biennial Hellenic Charity Ball (November 3) and to perform in Martin Sherman’s one-woman play, Rose, at the Jewish Community Center (November 9 and 10), tells us about her guilty pleasure, her stolen Oscar and how to spot a Greek. Have you taken on any personality traits from your iconic characters—namely Anna Madrigal and Clairee Belcher? I wish! I used to say, “When I grow up, I want to be like Anna Madrigal.” She’s survived herself, which is the most incredible thing any of us do. She’s very nurturing to the people around her. She manages to enjoy her life. Clairee was a very protected woman who lost her husband and was somehow finding within herself the will and excitement of going forward in life. Have you read Maupin’s new book, Michael Tolliver Lives? It’s sitting on my desk. I’m dying to get to it. Is there going to be another TV installment of Tales of the City?They keep talking about it, [but] it’s been a number of years, and they probably won’t, although there are a couple of other books that they could still do. I’d be there in a minute. Is there still one role you’re dying to play? I’m going to be doing Tennessee Williams’ The Milk Train Doesn’t Stop Here Anymore in the East in the spring. I’m looking forward to that. And, of course, doing Racine’s Phèdre, which will probably be a joint production between Stratford [Festival of Canada] and [San Francisco’s] A.C.T. I’m playing Oenone, who is the woman who really motors the play in her efforts to help Phèdre move step by step through very tragic events. For Tennessee, I’m playing Mrs. Goforth. She goes forth! In the Martin Sherman play Rose, you portray a concentration-camp survivor. How did you prepare for such a harrowing role? I did a lot of reading; I went to a Holocaust museum in New Jersey, they gave me a lot of videos—all of that. I don’t know what will prepare you for that. A lifetime of insanity? You’ve taught at NYU for 15 years, and you still teach master classes throughout the country. What keeps you teaching? You always figure out a different way to do something. I like that I can work with young students and seasoned professionals who want to come back and mess it up a little bit again. What’s one very Greek thing about you? My tenacity. Where do you keep your Academy Award? I have a little office, and I keep it up on a shelf. Does it get any special treatment? The housekeeper dusts it from time to time. My original one got stolen. I gave an interview and told them where I was keeping it, like what I’m giving to you. And somebody broke in and took it. But I called them up and said it happened and wanted to get another one, and they said, “Okay, but it’s going to cost you 75 bucks.” But that’s all right. My husband had insured the first one, so I got $10,000 for it. You’ve had a little experience with presidential campaigns—who are you leaning toward in the upcoming race? Right now, it’s Hillary. I have had a number of opportunities to introduce her and to hear her speak, and I have a real respect for her, for what she believes in and her willingness and desire to function collaboratively. I think she’s an incredibly knowledgeable woman. What is your guilty pleasure? Maybe one too many tequilas! That’s about it. I do everything I can to be able to work. I want to play strong parts, which means I have to keep my body strong and flexible. Are there any lines from your movies that fans always ask you to repeat? They don’t ask me to repeat them so much as they yell them at me as I’m walking down the street! “I love ya more than my luggage!” That’s Steel Magnolias. And then Moonstruck gets a lot. “Do you love him? That’s too bad!” They yell them at me, then go right by. Do you find that odd? Not at all. ... In New York, it’s a way, I suppose, of people saying, “Hello, I enjoy your work.”
Olympia Dukakis may have checked “win Academy Award and Golden Globe” off her lifetime list of to-do’s, but that hasn’t stopped the prolific actress/director/author from constantly adding slashes to her steadily growing list of occupations in her 40-plus years in the biz. The understated New Yorker—probably best known for playing such strong female roles as Cher’s mother in Moonstruck, the resilient Clairee Belcher in Steel Magnolias and, of course, Anna Madrigal in the TV adaptations of Armistead Maupin’s Tales of the City novels—has become a Tinseltown fixture. But it’s her love affair with the theater (she’s appeared in more than 130 off-Broadway and regional productions) that keeps her touring and teaching around the world. Dukakis, who is in town this month to be honored at the Elios Society’s biennial Hellenic Charity Ball (November 3) and to perform in Martin Sherman’s one-woman play, Rose, at the Jewish Community Center (November 9 and 10), tells us about her guilty pleasure, her stolen Oscar and how to spot a Greek. |
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