Bond girl seeks acting role in N.Z.

Press, 5 December 1985, Page 18

Bond girl seeks acting role in N.Z.

Tanya Roberts, the leading Bond girl in “A View to a Kill,” is looking for an acting role in a New Zealand film. She visited Auckland recently to publicise this latest James Bond epic, which is now showing at the Regent. “But that’s only half the reason I’m here — maybe one of your pro-

duc'ers will use me,” Tanya said.

“The problem with acting is that you’re afraid of not ever working again. So you take what you can get. It’s very hard to hold out, hoping for something better,” she said.

Tanya has already proven her willingness to travel by going to Kenya for the filming of “Sheena, Queen of the Jungle,” in which she plays the title role. “When I first agreed to make ‘Sheena,’ it was a serious story about a girl in

the wilds of Africa, but they changed the script and turned it into a dumb movie. I was heartbroken,” she said.

Tanya had completed work on “Sheena” only a few weeks before being offered the role of leading lady in “A View to a Kill.”

“The opportunity came out of the blue. I was attracted to the role of Stacey because she is much more than just a pretty girl clinging to the arm of

James Bond,” Tanya said. “She is integral to the plot, and very involved in the pursuit and destruction of the villainous Zorin. Because of her well-to-do background and education as a geologist, she certainly is not a dumb blonde.

“I loved working on this Bond film. It’s classy. They didn’t cut any corners to save costs — money was no object. The lavish buffets and costumes for the scenes in France were splendid.

“It took six months to film ‘A View to a Kill” because they are perfectionists. Some of the crew have worked on the last eight Bond films, and they know what each other wants. “The crew acts as a wonderful support system while working on location, away from home. Otherwise, you would feel alone for months on end.

“Roger Moore was great also. He is a total pro — no tantrums,” she said. Tanya was born in New York, the product of what she calls a “middle-upper class family of Austrian and Irish descent.”

She spent her teenage years in the Bronx, and recalls that “you had to learn to be a survivor quickly.” During this turbulent period, Tanya ran with street gangs and married at the age of 15 — a bond that was annulled just seven months later.

Tanya said that these brushes with reality brought her instinct for survival to the surface, allowing her to file the experiences in her memory for later use in her work as an actress.

Tanya, now touching the age of 30, met her husband, Barry Roberts, a successful screenwriter, in a line outside a cinema when she was 16. They have been together ever since.

He tries to accompany his wife whenever she travels to distant locations. Throughout the filming of “A View to a Kill,” they

were together in London, France and San Francis-

Tanya credits her marriage to Barry with making a significant contribution to her well-being. “Our closeness and friendship give me a tremendous feeling of stability,” she says. Tanya began her acting career in the theatre at the age of 16. She appeared in several off-Broadway productions, including “Picnic,” “Antigone” and “Liliom.”Not long after moving to California in 1980, she was cast in TV’s “Charlie’s Angels.” This led to parts in the feature films, ‘‘California Dreaming,” “Tourist

Trap,” “Racquet,” “The Beastmaster,” “Sheena, Queen of the Jungle” and “A -k View to a Kill.” ' “I’ve made enough money over the years to be selective about my work, and ? hope to find something a ’J little more serious, and a ■*- little more intimate, next,” J Tanya says. “However, this is still dif- 4 ficult for a woman in Hollywood, where there is only -v; one part for every 15 men’s •• parts in the movies.

“It’s a chauvinistic busi- *> ness. There are just as X many women on top as men J- — but in supporting roles to £ the men,” Tanya said. £