The jewel that is James
Actress Geraldine James was born to appear on stage and screen. Now, she’s championing newcomers to the British film industry and there are few more qualified for the role Portrait: Jenny Lewis Interview: Jeremy Taylor LEGENDARY THEATRE DIRECTOR Sir Peter Hall was surprised to find himself facing a potential showdown with a young actress. The founder of the Royal Shakespeare Company and director [...]
Actress Geraldine James was born to appear on stage and
screen. Now, she’s championing newcomers to the British
film industry and there are few more qualified for the role
Portrait: Jenny Lewis
Interview: Jeremy Taylor
LEGENDARY THEATRE DIRECTOR Sir Peter Hall
was surprised to find himself facing a potential
showdown with a young actress. The founder of the
Royal Shakespeare Company and director of the Royal
National Theatre was not someone that any rising
star would usually want to risk clashing with.
Geraldine James had already made a name for herself for her roles in the TV mini-series Jewel In
The Crown and the multi-Oscar-winning film Gandhi.Then, in 1988, James was to appear in the new Peter
Hall Theatre Company season and had just heard rumours about plans to change her role.
“Peter had told me I was going to play Rosalind in
As You Like It; one of the great Shakespearian roles for
a woman. I was so thrilled,” she remembers. But her
delight turned to frustration when Sir Peter changed
his mind and revealed the next performance would
be The Merchant of Venice instead.
“I wanted to play Rosalind so much! Then, I asked
him who would be playing Shylock opposite my
Portia and he replied Dustin Hoffman. I only needed
30 seconds to think about it; I agreed straight away.”
The play sold out during its 1989-90 run in London’s
West End and Broadway. The New York Times reviewer Frank Rich,
often a harsh critic, described James’s performance on the
opening night as “a delight which drives the production”.
Looking back on it, James says: “I would have been a fool toturn it down. The problem was I had played Shylock’s
daughter, Jessica, several years before and never liked
the play, but working with Dustin changed all that.
He was the first major Hollywood star to come to
England and appear in the West End to work with
an entirely English cast. He was fabulous.”
These days, James’s run-ins with directors are
few and far between, which should be a relief to
those taking part in the Rushes Soho Short Film
Festival, held annually in London, for which she is
the spokesperson. Events such as these, designed
to showcase new talent, are particularly close to
James’s heart; as a young student, she cut her teeth
performing in many drama college films.
“The film-makers who attend this festival should be encouraged as much as possible. They are the movie directors of the future. Without them we cannot have the great cinema this country is famous for,” she said while attending this year’s festival.
James can claim a not-insignificant part in making
British cinema famous. Awarded an OBE for acting
in 2003, the actress is one of our most enduring
stars of stage and screen. She next graces our (small)
screens in this autumn’s heavyweight political thriller
The Last Enemy, a five-part drama with Max Beesley
and Robert Carlyle. “I play somebody in the Prime
Minister’s office at a time when technology is turning
Britain into a surveillance society,” says James. “It’s
very relevant and will make compelling viewing.”
Then she’ll return early next year in something very
different: as a gang’s moll in the BBC comedy-drama
Medieval Heist, which is being billed as “Monty Python
meets Ocean’s 11”. “It follows a team of guys who
join together with some crooked monks to get their own back on King Edward I!” James explains.
The leap from drama to comedy is typical for
the actress, whose versatility comes from years
of treading the boards. James, 57, was born in
Maidenhead and educated at Downe House in
Newbury, a private boarding school whose other
posh alumni includes BBC sports presenter Clare
Balding and royal artist Susannah Fiennes. The
school has a strong emphasis on the arts and
helped develop James’s love of the stage.
Fortunately, the actress was reconciled with
her father before he was diagnosed with cancer.
“We had time to discuss the matter and tie up
loose ends before he died,” she said.
After leaving school, James took a place at Drama
Centre London. “It was a brilliant place for people
like me. All I wanted to do was be on a stage and
I just remember the enthusiasm there,” she recalls.
It paid off. One of her first TV roles was playing
Dennis Waterman’s girlfriend in The Sweeney, a
rough-and-tumble police drama screened on primetime
television. “The Sweeney was hugely popular
at that time and because of that I was offered
a different type of part in a television dramadocumentary
called Dummy,” she says.
Based on the true story of a young deaf girl
who becomes a prostitute and is accused of
manslaughter, the black-and-white, 1950s-set
film didn’t pull any punches. It confirmed James’s
resolve to tackle grittier roles. “It was my big break,”
she recalls, “and I was nominated for a BAFTA.”
Offers of work came flooding in and put James in
a position to pick and choose between film and theatre
roles. Then, along came one particular offer that she
knew was too good to miss. James was invited to
Shepperton Studios in London for lunch with Lord
Richard Attenborough and a screen test. The film in
question was about the life of Mahatma Gandhi and
the part she was up for was Mirabehn, a British woman,
formerly called Madeleine Slade, who became a
devoted follower of the Indian independence leader.
“I think it was one of the strangest lunches of
my life,” she says smiling. “I was seated with Lord
Attenborough, Ben Kingsley [now Sir Ben] dressed
as Gandhi and 15 other actors trying for the role of
Prime Minister Nehru, all wearing identical period
costumes.” Despite the unusual set-up, James
impressed Attenborough enough to offer her the part
that same day. It led to six months on location in
India and an experience she will never forget. Filming
attracted a huge media circus and crowds of onlookers.
The biopic opened in New Delhi in November 1982
and was immediately selected for a string of Oscar
nominations. It picked up eight Academy Awards,
including Best Actor for Kingsley, Best Director for
(then) Sir Richard and Best Film. James’s appearance
hadn’t gone unnoticed either, but her next major role
was for television. Jewel In The Crown was a 14-part
mini-series, which helped confirm British excellence
in drama and again put James in the spotlight.
Based on the four novels of Paul Scott’s Raj
Quartet, the drama tracked the last few years of the
British in India, a popular subject in the 1980s.
“It was a totally different experience returning to
India for filming,” says James. “The crowds weren’t
there but the end product was exceptional drama that
made Charles Dance and Art Malik household names.”
In 2000, industry judges put the series in 22nd
place in a list of the 100 greatest British television
programmes of all time, confirming James’s verdict:
“Jewel In The Crown was ground-breaking television
that moved boundaries and raised the bar.”
For her part in Sir Peter Hall’s film, She’s Been Away,
James won the Best Actress award at the Venice Film
Festival in 1989. Following this, she took on her most
controversial role to date: playing a prostitute in the
Bradford-based TV drama, Band of Gold. For James
and co-stars Samantha Morton, Cathy Tyson and
Barbara Dickson, it was a major gamble.
“It was a touchy subject for many people and we
didn’t really know how it was going to work out at the
start,” admits James. But the risk paid off: the 1995
series won critical acclaim and ran for three years.
After a busy year, James is now looking forward
to spending some time away from her
London home at her West Sussex cottage
with her husband Jo Blatchley, a director
at RADA, and their daughter Eleanor, 22.
But she won’t be away for long. “I know
my heart lies in theatre and film,” James
says. “There are such wonderful roles offered
to me and the only real problem is trying
to get the balance right between appearing
on the stage or film set.”
For information on the Rushes Soho Shorts
Festival visit www.rushes.co.uk/sohoshorts
