| Katie Ekberg, TV
Times, 8th February 1992 |
Out
of love, but not hurting, down-to-earth actress Zoë Wanamaker
is content with her looks and her life. But at 42 she still
fears criticism from Dad. Katie Ekberg reports. |
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Zoë Wanamaker clearly remembers the holiday spent in France as
a child, sitting on a beach staring at her mother who was
covered by a huge dress and a large hat.
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'She was feeling extremely fat and I thought, I'll never do
that, I don't care what size I am - I will never deprive myself
of going for a swim or getting my body brown. However ugly I
feel, I won't do it!' she exclaims, in the kind of theatrical
voice that seems to boom from floor to ceiling and fill every
corner.
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Today, Zoe Wanamaker, the actress, has kept to that childhood
decision - her skirt is skimpy but there's no excess fat here.
The chiffon scarf that billows around her shoulders is draped
for decoration, not for the purpose of concealment. She wears no
make-up, but flawless skin belies her 42 years. She sits, legs
delicately crossed, whilst deftly rolling her own cigarettes.
|
Despite
this contentment with her appearance, Zoë admits that she was
not high up in the queue when the pert little noses and pouting
mouths were handed out. |
It's precisely that individuality which has won her praise and
helped create her reputation. |
'The pain of growing up is accepting the fact that you are who
you are - resigning yourself to the fact that you will never be
Jerry Hall, Isabella Rossellini or Meryl Streep.' |
But showbizzy she is not. She hates the glammy make-up sessions,
and although we meet in the heart of the film industry in
London's Soho, Zoe displays no affectations, not a jot of
stardom. It was the down-to-earth nature of Tessa Piggott [in
Love
Hurts] that attracted her to the role. High-flier Tessa
gives up her well-paid job to work for a charity, ends her
affair with a married man and now spends her spare time trying
to hold plumber (Adam Faith) at bay. |
'She is a three-dimensional character,' says Zoë. 'She's feisty
but vulnerable. She's honest, she cries by herself. She's not
drippy - she even strips her own wallpaper.' |
The daughter of actor-director Sam Wanamaker and Charlotte
Holland, a New York radio star in the Forties, Zoe left America
for England at the age of three when her father was blacklisted
during the McCarthy communist witch-hunt. Sister Abby - six
years older - is a speech therapist in America. Her other sister
Jessica, who is six years younger, is a London councillor turned
lawyer. |
'When I first started out it was quite a responsibility carrying
on the Wanamaker name,' says Zoë, 'You don't want to let your
parents down. You want to emulate them, if not be better.' |
She still turns to her father for advice and is in constant fear
of him not liking her work. 'Praise from him is very important.
It's terrible when he hates something, it's one of the most
awful... I mean...' she pauses, lost for words to describe how
awful it is. |
Zoe
now lives on her own. She shared her home with an actor for 12
years, but is philosophical about her solo status. Today there's
not even a cat to come home to. 'It's hard enough to find time
to feed myself, let alone be responsible for anything else.
I'm
not good on my own in that I can't fix the video if it goes
wrong, but then I'm not saying I wish I had a man around. That's
boring.' |
And children? 'I don't have any regrets about not having had
children. What's the point? It's just something else to beat
yourself up over,' she shrugs. |
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