Jane Seymour's Story - written
by Jane Seymour exclusively for Hello- Part Three |
There's a saying in the industry "If you agree to do the role of a Bond girl in a Bond movie, you will destroy your career forever. You never do anything interesting again." Every time a new 007 film hits the screens, critics never fail to remind everyone of the famous old curse. And they add that the one exception to this rule was Jane Seymour.
Whenver they bring up the matter with me, I contradict them. I tell them there's no such curse and refresh their memories. I'm not the only one to have survived a Bond film. Look at Diana Rigg, for instance.
Live and let Die was very positive for me. It was a great opportunity that launched me on an international scale.
In spite of this, I realized then that after the film I would have to be a bit more choosey about the roles I agreed to do. I had to show everyone, including myself, that I was quite able to play more demanding characters. People in those days didn't think that taking part in a Bond film was a serious affair, so I promised myself that I would show them I could do really serious work and I plunged headlong into the theatre.
A day after I finished filming Live and Let Die, I started on Frankenstein; The True Story. This would be the first film in which critics concentrated on my acting rather than my looks.
I worked very hard during the following months. And for a year I dedicated myself exclusively to the theatre. It was a big change. Lots of interesting roles. Good press comments. And .. little money.
I know that I should have waited a bit longer to fall in love again. But it's easy to say this in retrospect. In my opinion, the Jane of those days was a very insecure young girl who still hadn't found her true identity. I should have found myself first, then had an adult relationship. But I couldn't wait. I needed the support, the security of a strong man by my side. I found him very soon and I fell in love with him.
I knew Geep (Geoffrey Planer) from a long time back. He was an old school friend of my husband's and we had seen much of each other during the five years of my relationship with Michael. Our friendship slowly changed to love after my separation.
It all happened in a natural way, Geep was great fun. He was alone, I was alone and one day he phone me up out of the blue. "Would you like to come with me to the boat races?"
We were having a spate of good weather. I was free, I said I would go.
It was the first time I felt comfortable with a man since my break-up with Michael. Geep was (is) a gentleman. So courteous, so romantic,, we went out again a few days later. And then another time, and another. I woke up to the fact that I had fallen in love. It wasn't too difficult to fall in love with Geep.
Michael and I had similar temperaments. We were both very interested in our chosen careers and that was one of the things that split us and later one, curiously brought us together. Geep was different. He was a businessman who was at the head of his father's firms. He knew nothing abut the theatre or the cinema but he was very generous and from the very first day he gave me all his support. I loved him dearly. Everything about him seemed perfect to me. Some time later we started living together.
I stuck with the theatre during the first few months of our relationship. But I hardly earned any money. Geep used to say: " Don't worry. I earn enough for both of us. Go ahead. Learn. Work at your future. Some day your time will come." I felt safe by his side.
Some time later, as a result of the success of Live and Let Die, I started getting some offers from the United States. It wasn't anything too important, but it was something. They wanted me to go to California for some tests. I talked about it with Geep and he encouraged me to go.
"Go, you've nothing to lose. If you get the role, splendid. But if you don't you'll always have jobs on London."
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I decided to follow his advice. I went to Los Angeles. The experience was very frustrating. I didn't get either of the two roles. They said they were very sorry and sent me packing. i found myself in that city alone, without work, sad. I thought that I would never make it over there. To make matters worse, that week I met a man who almost destroyed my career. When things get bad, they get really bad. He (I won't mention his name) was a very influential man in the film industry who was used to getting whatever he set out to get. And I was just an innocent young girl who wanted to work. We met. He said: "You're very good-looking. You could get anywhere you wanted to. But you need someone to take care of you. To tell you what to do," he said. "Yes," I said. "I'm looking for an agent." But he didn't have that in mind. He took my hand and said"You need someone like me.." In a few words, he told me that if I wanted to be his lover, I would get everything I was after. Work, fame, everything. I rejected his offer as tactfully as I could, but he was not used to people saying no to him. He got angry. "You'll never work in this country," He snapped. "Never!" I walked out, went back to my hotel, packed my bags and left on the first plane to England. I"ll never be an actress,' I thought so I headed back home in misery. A story like this would never affect me today, but then, in 1974, it was quite a different matter. I didn't have much experience of life, at the time, and all the men I had known up till then were gentlemen. The whole point of my trip to Los Angeles was to work in the movies or on television, even in the theatre. Work, nothing more. I wanted to get on with my profession. Most of the people who work in the media are very professional. But sometimes you do come across people who are not too scrupulous in their dealings and that's what happened to me. I don't think the best way to get on with your profession is to find yourself a protector. What really matters nowadays both in the film and television world is just how professional you are. Production costs are so steep that when the director shouts' Action!" no excuse is good enough for not knowing your lines. You must know how to act and you must be into your role. If you're not professional, then no amount of protection will help you. But I didn't see this so clearly at the time, and after my encounter in Los angeles I decided to abandon my career. I became a housewife. I cooked, I cleaned. I washed the dishes .I took care of Geep. I had lots of spare time and since I can't just sit around empty-handed, I took up embroidery. I made some beautiful blouses, which I think sold to the best boutiques of the city. in this way I earned a bit of pocket money and managed to keep myself busy for nine incredibly slow, months, until one day.... |
