Jacqueline Bisset Opens Up About Her LEADING MEN
THE ICON ON SINATRA, NOLTE & DATING IN HER 70S
When Jacqueline Bisset was young, men wanted to take care of her. On the set of her breakthrough film, 1968’s The Detective, star Frank Sinatra “was very protective of me,” the 72-year-old actress tells Closer. “The writer was a bit mean to me one day, and Sinatra said, ‘Leave the kid alone — she’s got good instincts!’ ”
That she did, but the same year, while filming the cop classic Bullitt, Steve McQueen “was protective, too,” recalls Jacqueline, who co-stars with Charlie Sheen in the upcoming World Trade Center–set drama 9/11. “I was well brought up, and people used to tell me it was hard to be nasty to me because I was polite and English.”
Still, that didn’t stop Nick Nolte and Robert Shaw from ribbing her relentlessly while shooting 1977’s The Deep. “They were such naughty kids,” she says. “They were teasing me left, right and center — ‘Let’s get Jackie!’” Millions of men shared that sentiment after Jacqueline’s much-hyped wet Tshirt scene in The Deep. “People were looking at my chest all the time and not looking me in the eye,” she sighs. “That was rather boring.”
Over the years, Jacqueline has proven she’s more than just a pretty face — and she can thrive without a man. “Marriage was never on my favorite-things-to-do list,” says the star, who’s never wed. “Having somebody in my life is deeply important to me, but I’ve also been on my own at different times.”
She’s had long-term relationships, most notably with two-time co-star Michael Sarrazin from 1967 to 1974 and dancer Alexander Godunov from 1981 to 1988. In recent years, Jacqueline’s beaus “have all been slightly younger than me,” she says. “I seem to connect with people who are younger but very grown up.”
Not that Jacqueline thinks there’s anything wrong with aging. “I’ve been blessed with my genes, and when I have to, I’ll do my makeup and hair, but that’s got nothing to do with how I feel about myself,” she says. “I’m not into plastic surgery because I haven’t seen it be successful — people look slightly different, and I don’t want that.”
Authenticity is most important to Jacqueline: “I want to be like the old oak tree — I want to have very strong roots.” For 40 years, she cared for her mother, who suffered from multiple sclerosis and dementia. “I became a parent to her,” says Jacqueline, who has no children. “That didn’t allow me a lot of time in my life.”
So she’s determined to make the most of her life now. “My motto is a Winston Churchill line: ‘Never, never, never give up,’ ” she says. “It’s inculcated in me, and that’s probably why I’ve survived a lot of things and hung in there.” — Bruce Fretts, with reporting by Barbra Paskin
“I’m touched by men’s emotion.
They’re such a mystery, men.”
— Jacqueline