Elizabeth the Great

Well, she's gone. She had been ill so long that we were used to hearing almost weekly about her trials but she seemed immortal and I will miss her. In the last years of her life she did not present a great or a very admirable figure but the sum of her achievements is huge.

Many images of her near perfection bombarded us through the sixties and seventies. Her private life, fabulous jewels and love affairs filled magazines and she seemed preened for the most casual interviews in the manner of royalty, as Sophia Loren often was. It was beguiling and heady to watch and of course she was, as Paul Newman put it "a practicing voluptuary." If only more men would remember their favourite sirens so graciously.

Looking back on 'Cleopatra' it is in many ways silly and wayward but it was spectacular at the time and she certainly came off as a mighty woman of the world and a convincing conqueror of conquerors. She was paid a million dollars for her role and it propelled her into the headlines for life.

Despite this she raised a family successfully and carved a career for herself which gained the respect of the world and on top of it all she was one of the great beauties of all time. We had Taylor and Loren, Bardot and Monroe and many others. Never say there is no beauty in the world.

In the latter part of her life, she sustained her self with business enterprises which succeeded and a dedication to Aids Charities well before it was accepted or acceptable. In this short video covering her performance in her first feature film as an adult albeit only seventeen, you get an impression of the grace of the girl and the steel of the woman.

Things that go Gurgle

One of the never ending pleasures about reading for ABC Radio is the high standard of material you are given to perform. An unpleasant side effect is that, with the pressure on and efficient earphones clamped onto your ears, you hear every noise in great detail.

So, if for instance, you are in the middle of a suspenseful moment which has been building up for some pages and you hear your stomach rumble under it, all is certainly lost and you have to start again. It sounds like a tsunami and is quite alarming considering we spend most of our lives blissfully unaware of these routine digestive processes.

I have tried everything - no breakfast, huge breakfast and all stages in between. Nothing works and, as Andre our Sound Engineer was quick to point out, I am not the only one. All the actors in the booth have this trouble and he thinks it is because actors are there to perform and so...every part of them does. That is very generous of him considering he has to patch up the endless retakes.

Is there a scientist out there who can make a potion that will stop this? We might call it the 'Performers Friend.' The ABC shop would stock it and export it all over the world. And I would order several dozen bottles.

To see Paul Newman and James Dean not handling performance pressure, click here.




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