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The first thing you notice upon meeting Billie Whitelaw is that, despite her rather sublime Algonquin Hotel digs, she is neither fancy nor pretentious about her role(s) in life. She's a simple, down-to-earth lady, and although she doesn't deserve the title of her recent autobiography Billie Whitelaw... Who He? (St. Martin's Press, $24), there is a sense of her working-class origins determining her career. In fact, her capsule bio in Quinlan's Directory of Film Stars says it all:
"Tawny, tigerish British actress, often in strong-willed roles; can play tough, sexy, or friendly. A familiar radio voice from an early age, notably as 'Henry' in the long-running Norman and Henry series for children, she has since made shamefully few films, and it is some mystery why she did not make the front rank in the British cinema."
So I knew what my first question was going to be, almost immediately after I'd refused her generous offer of tea and other less-genteel libations-just what had happened to her movie career? After all, in her book, she'd devoted reams to her theatrical career as a devoted muse to playwright Samuel Beckett but only ten pages to the flickers:.
"Oh my God, to me Gina Lollobrigida or Marilyn Monroe is a film actress. I'm not a film actress. I'm not a film actor. I'm not glamorous enough. I have a dreadful inferiority complex. I... I didn't seem to fit. I didn't have a great deal of respect for the J. Arthur Rank brand of filmmaking. You see, when I was offered roles in my early days, it had to be..." and her voice goes up appropriately, "...in friLly bras and frilly panties, and I was ill at ease."
But what about the acclaim and plaudits (NY Film Critics Award, 1967) for Charlie Bubbles, a classic study of a simple man (Albert Finney) thrust into the limelight?
"I have a very good intuitive sense. In my gut, when I went to work for Joan Littlewood at ten pounds a week, it was a good thing. My agent thought I was crazy, but... I hate seeing myself on film!" And there was the sense that movie popularity was so fleeting.
"My first film after Charlie Bubbles was Leo the Last, and...