I don’t want to be Cher, where my face never moves
have a lot of titanium. You wouldn’t want to go through airport security with me. All sorts of alarms go off. My pain’s mostly manageable. So it’s not really in the way, it just stops me having some fun.”
While she could no longer show off her gymnast’s athleticism, she could lend her famous husky voice to the animated character of Jessica Rabbit in Who Framed Roger Rabbit? And she had a role in the Simpsons too.
More recently she took the stage in the West End production of The Graduate opposite Matthew Rhys.
“Some of my stories have dimmed,” she says. “I’ve sometimes felt invisible but I think that’s not limited to being an FRAME GAME actress. A lot of older women feel that. We’re not taken as seriously as many men.
“But I have found, in a way, it’s mostly exciting. I love teaching. I do master classes in universities. And I love directing. This past year doing a full-length cabaret for the first time was a whole new area to explore.
“There will come a time when I may not physically be able to do eight shows a week. Fine. I will teach more.
At 26, nude scenes with William Hurt establish her as a sex symbol.
Kathleen’s character tells Michael Douglas: “When I Write books.”
Kathleen is now fronting a new BBC documentary to choose the greatest icon of the 20th century and does her utmost to convince viewers it must be an entertainer.
She points to Charlie Chaplin’s prophetic speech warning of the dangers of Germany’s leader years before Hitler was recognised as an enemy. She tells of Marilyn Monroe’s more
ON THE AGONY OF CONDITION STALLING ACTING CAREER
watch you eat I just wanna smash your face in” – then punches him.
She is saved from blazing scaffolding by Michael Douglas on a crane.
Unveiled on fight to be taken seriously, Billie Holiday’s battle against racism and how David Bowie’s genius helped shape our times. She says: “I had my doubts about Marilyn Monroe at first because I didn’t think she was a great actress. But I had a wonderful conversation with a professor who made a great case for her by telling me how hard she fought.”
How is Kathleen, a die-hard Democrat, coping with life in stage as Chandler Bing’s dad – drag act Helena Handbasket.
As cartoon siren Jessica Rabbit, quips: “I’m not bad – I’m just drawn this way.”
ON BEING A GLOBAL SEX SYMBOL
America under the presidency Donald Trump?
“With great difficulty. I worked very hard, as many people did, to elect as many democrats and women as we could. We thought Hillary Clinton would be the next President.
“I have to watch this man who understands nothing, has no history, no sense of history, no knowledge, and absolutely no understanding of the repercussions of anything he says as he just flat-out lies. People now have to see he is losing it, deteriorating.
“I met him in the 80s. There is a picture of me in between him and my ex-husband Jay. And I’m looking at my husband with an expression that says: “Get. Me. Out. Of. Here.” ■ Icons continues tonight at
9pm on BBC Two. of
Arthritis did a great deal of physical damage to me... I have a lot of titanium KATHLEEN
My attractiveness was indeed an asset – but that did not control my role choices at all KATHLEEN