It’s time to take me seriously as actress, says ‘zany’ Ullman

TRACEY ULLMAN has said she wants to be “taken seriously” as an actress and not just seen as a comedienne.

Ullman, 61, has starred in dramas including Mrs America and Plenty, as well as her US variety show The Tracey Ullman Show. However, she said her initial plan was to be a character actress rather than work in comedy and fears she is pigeonholed.

“There’s still an impression of me as a wacky, zany comedienne, and that’s not what I do,” Ullman told BBC Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs. “I started off as a character actress and going into comedy was just a fluke. It wasn’t what I thought I would do.” Ullman said she did not “take acting seriously” and pursued dance because she thought someone with her accent could not be an actress.

“I realised women had been given a shot in America much more so than in English comedy,” she said. “America got started earlier on that stuff.”

Ullman also explained her decision to move back to the UK after the death of her husband Allan McKeown in 2013. “There was more dignity to being a widow in London,” she said.

“It’s very lonely in Los Angeles and, of course, it was full of memories of Allan and him dying, and I wanted to shake it off a little.” Desert Island Discs airs today at 11am on BBC Radio 4.