LUCK ESSENTIAL IN ACTING WORLD

Press, Volume CXIII, Issue 33382, 14 November 1973, Page 6

LUCK ESSENTIAL IN ACTING WORLD

Luck goes hand in i hand with success in the i acting profession, ac- | cording to the English television actress. Honor Walters, who arrived in I Christchurch yesterday for a week’s holiday [with friends. “I have been very lucky [because I’ve been working [solidly now for about four land a half years. In England, about eight per cent of actors find regular work but the other 92 per cent are unemployed a lot of the time.” Miss Walters studied acting at drama school—something she feels is essential for any actor. “You can always tell an actor on the stage who has had drama school experience. It tells in the-way he moves, his voice and his breathing. We all think we know how to breathe but we don’t. Learning acting technique is very important.” REPERTORY When she left drama school she joined a small repertory [company in Wales and later [transferred to the Bolton [repertory company in the [north of England. “We performed in a theatre known as the Octagon Theatre. The Bolton company has a very high reputation and has often performed some rather controversial plays.” From there she found herself in the highly competitive field of television acting. “There is a vast difference [between stage and television [for the actor. I was very [lucky and had a good direc-

tor for the first programme that I did. Telly is just ‘stand there and face that camera and say your lines’ and then ‘stand over here and say them to this one.’ It is a very different kind of world—very close —and the people are all very nice.” TV ROLES Miss Walters found herself with a lot of television work' —“I guess I was always lucky enough to have the right face for the part”—and has had roles in “Z Cars,” “Softly, Softly” and “The Power Game” as well as a leading role in a new television series just completed in England called “The Team,” which is centred on the world of motor racing. For about two years she played the role of the girl in the West End production of “There’s a Girl in my Soup,” which was later made into a film starring Peter Sellers and Goldie Hawn. “I prefer to do stage work but, of course, telly is where the money is. I can earn in two weeks of television work what would take me 12 weeks of stage work to make.” One of her early theatrical experiences was as a dancer in a show which toured the Far East. DANCING TOUR “A friend of mine from drama school went for a job and was told there was a vacancy for two dancers. Neither of us knew how to dance—she did a high kick and landed flat on her face—but we did a crash course with a very good choreographer and got the job anyway and found ourselves shortly afterwards in Kuala Lumpur.”

Miss Walters is spending a week in New Zealand before going to Australia. “My husband is Australian and we are living there for about six months. I might have a look around and see what work offers. Anyway, this is my first holiday in several years.”