Kate Jackson glad she is no ‘Angel’

Press, 19 June 1984, Page 15

Kate Jackson glad she is no ‘Angel’

ANNE CRAWLEY,

Features International

Stepping back into the limelight in what she calls the “daredevil glamour stakes,” Kate Jackson jokingly insists that this time round she is “no Angel.” For which Miss Jackson — who shot to fame and fortune in “Charlie’s Angels” — is not at all sorry.

Now appearing as Amanda King in the television series, “Scarecrow and Mrs King,” she is confident that she will not experience the unhappiness that marred her previous television success.

Kate Jackson admits that she is still bitter, because “my role in “Charlie’s Angels” not only lost me the co-starring role with Dustin Hoffman in “Kramer v. Kramer,” but it came close to ruining my life, both professionally and privately. “From the moment I read that movie script, I knew that it had Oscar-winning potential, and Meryl Streep’s success proved me right,” Miss Jackson said.

“Losing that role was the biggest disappointment of my life, and it wouldn’t have happened if the TV bosses hadn’t been so bloody-minded. “I spent a great deal of time researching the whole movie with Dustin,” she said. “I went to New York with him and we went round lots of schools just chatting to the kids.

“We wanted their views on divorce, about parents splitting up, and things like that.

“Some of the kids we got to know had such rough experiences it almost broke

your heart to listen to them.“ Even then, Dustin and I knew deep down that ‘Kramer vs Kramer’ was potentially hot stuff. It had to be a success. “It would have been the most powerful role I’d ever have played, I think. The studio producing the movie went to great lengths to make their schedules fit in around “Charlie’s Angels.” “They spent six or seven weeks in endless negotiations with the TV producers. Then some really high-up bigwig decided that I couldn’t be spared for the movie.

“I was really furious,” Miss Jackson said, “because the movie would have been a turning point in my career.

“After that experieince, “Charlie’s Angels” was washed up as far as I was concerned and I couldn’t wait to leave.

“I had been thinking of leaving for some time, anyway,” she said. “I’d come to the conclusion that the studio was treating the three of us like barbie dolls in a toy-shop window. “We were really fighting hard to keep up our own personal acting standards. “Everybody I knew reckoned I was crazy giving up such a lucrative sinecure. But I’d become frightened that, if I stayed with the show for much longer, I’d forget how to be an actress. “Also, working on an hour-long television show is so emotionally and physically draining that it can destroy every aspect of your personal life. “After about 14 hours a day in the studio, you’ve nothing left to give to anything, or anybody else, when you get home.

“I reckon it had quite a lot to do with my marriage breaking up, too,” Miss jackson said. “It wasn’t easy deciding to kiss goodbye to a milliondollar career. But I suddenly realised that I was starting to hate acting — and that’s the one thing I love above all else. “Then we all started to feel that the scripts weren’t as entertaining as they had been at first.

“It was no use complaining. The only reply I ever got was to keep quiet — and ‘keep laughing all the way to the bank.’

“It all began to affect me — even my personality. I found that I was spending all day worrying about my shade of lipstick, or worrying in case I was getting too plump around my hips. Silly things like that. “So I quit. Even so, it took me many months to relax, settle down and become a normal, sane human being again. “Now, I’ll never worry about things like that again. “I think the biggest boost I’ve had in a long time has been the American success of ‘Scarecrow and Mrs King.” I’m hoping it wil take off in other countries, too.

“It’s got everything — drama, thrills, sophisticated comedy and a lot of good, tongue-in-cheek humour. “Recently, somebody described me as the actress who’s determined to prove that not all the fallen Angels are forever damned,” Miss Jackson said. “I thought it was rather a nice compliment. I’m pretty sure my new series will go a long way to proving that’s a damned accurate prediction!”