Читать книгу Meghan Misunderstood - Sean Smith - Страница 14

Meghan could still be found most days after school on the set of Married with Children. She was part of the furniture, but she herself was becoming more aware of the world of television. Her interest in performing that had been nurtured at elementary school, inspired at the Agape camp and encouraged by Immaculate Heart, was becoming increasingly important. She wasn’t just turning up to give Buck a cuddle – the much-loved dog retired in 1995 – but to watch what was going on and study the actors. One of them, Amanda Bearse, who played Marcy in the show, remembered Meghan as ‘quiet’ and ‘respectful’.

Life at the studios, however, wasn’t all about acting. Meghan became fascinated with food and the beautiful dishes that were served every day to the cast and crew. Sometimes Tom, who was popular on set, would suggest she help out in the craft services department where all the food was prepared. She explained, ‘That’s where I started to learn about garnishing and plating. I saw the appreciation of the food. I started to learn the association between food and happiness and being able to entertain.’ She was happy to take over the cooking duties back at the apartment on Vista del Mar.

Meghan’s first job as a young teenager involved food but there was nothing to interest Michelin at the wittily named Humphrey Yogart, a frozen yoghurt store in the Beverly Connection shopping mall on La Cienega Boulevard. The owner, Paula Sheftel, shrewdly realised that the youngest member of staff was a big asset, popular with the customers who appreciated her ‘outgoing personality’.

Although she didn’t earn much – just four dollars an hour – Meghan had her own money for the first time. Of more long-term significance was an encounter in the car park next to the parade. She was taking out the bins when she spotted an off-duty Yasmine Bleeth, famous for playing Caroline Holden, one of the swimsuit-wearing babes in Baywatch – not exactly a show at the forefront of female empowerment.

Meghan, however, was star-struck and blurted out, ‘Oh my God, I loved you in the Soft and Dri commercial.’ The ad for an anti-perspirant was all over the television screens at the time and featured Yasmine purring into the camera, ‘What’s the most important thing you put on?’

The star smiled at Meghan, shook her hand lightly and said, ‘Ok, thank you!’ She made a point of asking Meghan her name. Her gracious reaction would set a benchmark for how Meghan would react to her own fans and well-wishers in the future – look them in the eye and be kind. She never forgot Yasmine.

Meghan’s own acting career at school was progressing steadily. In many ways it would mirror the path of her professional career – a collection of minor roles while waiting for more recognition. When younger, she had no expectation of becoming the next Shirley Temple. She did, however, strike lucky – a real-life former child star was in charge of the drama department. Her name was Gigi Perreau and she had a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

From the beginning in middle school, she noticed that despite being ‘very green’, Meghan was one of those students who could absorb ideas. Gigi had plenty of them, as well as a lifetime of experience in Hollywood that began when she was just two years old and was cast as the baby daughter in the 1943 biopic Madame Curie that starred Greer Garson as the famous Nobel Prize-winning scientist. She clinched the role because unusually for someone so young, she could speak both French and English; or at least, gurgle in both languages. Gigi called it a ‘beautiful film’.

She had made thirty-six films by the age of twenty. Her favourites, other than Madame Curie, are Enchantment, a war film in which she played the role of Lark as a little girl – portrayed as an adult by Oscar-winner Teresa Wright; and The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit, in which, more grown up as a teenager, she acted alongside screen legends Fredric March and Gregory Peck. She was awarded her star on Sunset Boulevard in 1960.

In between making movies, Gigi – short for Ghislaine and pronounced with a hard g – attended Immaculate Heart, so always had affection for the school, wanting to give something back to her alma mater. She returned as a member of the faculty in 1986, only forty-five and still acting. ‘It’s kind of wonderful to share,’ was her simple philosophy, although it always made her laugh when she told friends about her career change. ‘What are you teaching?’ they would ask. ‘Nuclear physics,’ was the reply.

The drama group at Immaculate Heart is known as the Genesians, named after Genesius of Rome, the patron saint of actors. Gigi had been happy for Meghan to become involved in drama in middle school even though most of the roles in school productions went to older pupils. ‘Meghan was just so eager,’ she recalled. ‘She had such a really dynamic personality, even as a child, that she just kept growing and growing – each play, each class, everything.’

Immaculate Heart was not a renowned theatre school, so Gigi was given carte blanche to shape classes as she saw fit. Her idea wasn’t to make drama lessons just about plays and musicals: they were also about speaking and presenting yourself in the best possible light; and about listening. They would act out one-to-one scenes just as you might in real life at a job interview or an audition.

Singing was the one aspect of drama class that Meghan did not enjoy. For someone so very open in the other aspects of performance, she was shy about singing and not too keen on auditioning for any of the musicals. Right from the start, Gigi told her she had to push herself a bit and try out for one.

Gigi cast her as a porter in the production of George M!, the show based on the life of the legendary Broadway star George M. Cohan. Meghan was on stage for the showstoppers ‘Give My Regards to Broadway’ and ‘The Yankee Doodle Boy’. The title role was played by Joseph Leo Bwarie, later to become an acclaimed Broadway performer as Frankie Valli in the Tony award-winning Jersey Boys.

Joe, as everyone called him, handled most of the choreography for Gigi’s productions even though he was still at high school himself. Typically, she insisted that he audition for the role of Cohan even though it was his original idea to do the show. He had a quality that Gigi would also recognise in Meghan – an inbuilt professionalism. When they went off stage they weren’t grabbing a soda and reading Variety; they were running lines with other people.

Gigi cast Meghan again as Delilah in Back County Crimes, in November 1995. The drama with music was written by the prolific post-war American playwright Lanie Robertson in 1980. It’s the story of life in a small town called Duty as told by the local doctor and features love affairs, sordid murder, comic misunderstandings and tragic events – quite grown up for a school production.

Meghan shared a place on the cast list with Luis Segura, a pupil at St Francis High School, in La Cañada Flintridge, a city in Los Angeles county, about fifteen miles from Immaculate Heart. These cities, such as Malibu and Pasadena, are dotted all around LA. Meghan and Luis dated on and off for a couple of years.

It was common practice for Immaculate Heart to call on all-boys schools if there were male roles that needed to be filled. The arrangement was reciprocal and girls could audition for female roles at St Francis and other similar schools in LA. Luis was a couple of years’ older, which might have been an attraction for a teenage schoolgirl. Meghan was already a mature, well-travelled young woman. She had enjoyed a trip to Europe in the summer holidays with Ninaki Priddy, her parents Dalton and Maria and sister, Michelle. While Niki was not involved in drama, she was in Meghan’s class at school and they remained close.

This was a dream trip for anyone, taking in Belgium, Switzerland, Paris and London, where the two girls posed for photographs in front of Buckingham Palace. Much corny significance would be made of this picture many years later when Meghan actually met the Queen, but for now she was just another tourist taking in the sights of the capital as millions of others have done. At this point in recent history, by far the most interesting and charismatic person within the Royal Family was Princess Diana, who was much loved in the US.

Meghan was readily accepted by the Priddy family, a common theme throughout her life – until she met Prince Harry. She was also well liked by the Segura family and was a regular visitor to their Pasadena home while she was dating Luis. It helped that his sister Maria was at Immaculate Heart, in the year below. Meghan also got on well with his younger brother, Danny, encouraging him to try his hand at acting, too.

Meghan’s own acting was progressing; she came more into her own in her next role in the perennial favourite, Annie. She played two parts – the quiet orphan, July, and Star-To-Be, an up-and-coming Broadway performer, which was exactly what Meghan hoped to be. In the latter role, she had a small solo in the song ‘NYC’.

For each production, Gigi would audition something like fifty girls for maybe no more than twelve roles. She was what she termed ‘colour blind’ in that she cast on the basis of ability and audition – not on ethnicity or the colour of someone’s skin – a way of thinking that TV and the motion picture industry is only now coming around to. The role of Annie herself, for instance, was secured by Meghan’s friend, Danica Rozelle, a young African–American girl.

Gigi kept it as professional as possible, with proper callbacks before she made a final decision. For Meghan, it was good practice for what would become her life as a working actress. After she had cast each role, Gigi checked to see if any of those who missed out would like to be in the crew. Everybody involved would then be called for a reading – the cast on chairs around a long table with the crew sat right behind, listening so that they too would really get to know the play or musical.

Gigi gave all her girls with acting ambitions one important piece of advice – she told them that there were no small parts. Gigi explained, ‘I wanted everyone to know that they were part of the whole. If they just had three lines, they needed to know that those three lines were very important.’ Meghan would remember that advice during the years when she struggled to get substantial roles.

After casting, it was six weeks of intensive learning of lines, songs and then rehearsing. Meghan’s dad turned up to watch one evening and was swiftly enlisted as Gigi’s technical advisor. She observed, ‘I am very grateful to him. Very honestly, he was my right-hand person for many years.’ Tom’s involvement was an encouragement for Meghan during high school. ‘Theirs was a very warm and very special relationship,’ continued Gigi.

The week before opening night was a frantic one, with rehearsals starting right after school at 3.30 and continuing until 6pm. Tom would slip out to McDonald’s to fetch much-needed fuel for the troops. He was at the helm for tech run-throughs while the musical numbers came under the watchful eye of Joe. On the Thursday before the Saturday opening, the all-important dress rehearsal would go on late into the evening. This was crucial for Tom, because the lighting was different after dark.

Annie ran for four nights in March 1996 when Meghan was fourteen. As a school tradition the programme had lots of thanks and little notes and best wishes. Meghan’s ‘biography’ said ‘she loves singing, smiling and dancing, and hopes to shuffle off to Broadway some day. Meghan is proud to have two roles in this year’s musical and wishes to thank everyone who helped and supported her (especially Ashley, Danica and, of course, Yasmine).’

Tom received special thanks for ‘parental sweat’. He wrote, ‘To my ‘Star-To-Be’ and the cast and crew of Annie. I’m proud of you all. BREAK A LEG. Love Tom Markle (Daddy).’

As part of Gigi’s preferred policy of alternating a musical with a more conventional drama, Meghan was cast as one of the would-be actresses in a production of Stage Door, the successful play that had been a memorable film in the thirties starring Katharine Hepburn and Ginger Rogers. Luis was in it, too, which was a bonus.

Meghan had the role of Judith Canfield, played in the film by Lucille Ball who, coincidentally, had donated to Immaculate Heart the stage on which they performed. Her daughter, the actress Lucie Arnaz, is another former pupil of the school; fittingly Meghan’s favourite TV show as a child had been Lucille’s classic comedy I Love Lucy.

It was time for Meghan to make more of an impact. She had her most substantial role yet in the Stephen Sondheim musical, Into the Woods, the clever interweaving of favourite fairy tales. Meghan was cast as Little Red Riding Hood and, in Gigi’s opinion, ‘just stole the scenes that she was in; she was really adorable’.

Meghan worked very hard in rehearsal, especially singing ‘Hello, Little Girl’. She needed to; Gigi would sit at the back of the hall during run-throughs and bellow out that she couldn’t hear her, encouraging her to project her voice to the four corners of the auditorium.

The spring term production ran for four nights in late March 1997. This time the programme notes made fascinating reading: ‘Meghan is happy to be skipping on stage as Little Red Riding Hood. Meghan wants to pursue acting at Northwestern on her way to Broadway. Meg wishes to thank her supportive parents, her loving boyfriend, and the always encouraging Becca and Michelle. I love you all so much.’

Her father gushed, ‘Congratulations and Best Wishes to my Wonderful Daughter Meghan and the entire fantastic and hard-working cast and crew of Into the Woods. You are all just great! Break a Leg … Tom Markle.’

Meghan may have been only fifteen but she was already clear about what lay in store for her – Northwestern University in Chicago followed by the bright lights of Broadway. In her junior year, the conventional play was The Women, the famous all-female comedy of manners by Clare Boothe Luce that was first performed in New York in 1936. Renowned as a passionate public speaker, the writer was a figure to inspire any ambitious schoolgirl – the first American woman to be appointed an ambassador abroad when she headed the US Embassy in Rome.

The film had become one of the most famous films of the thirties, starring Norma Shearer, Joan Crawford and Rosalind Russell as Sylvia Fowler, the role that Meghan would play. She followed that with the part of Maisie in the Sandy Powell musical The Boy Friend, a vivacious homage to the 1920s. Meghan had gradually worked her way to close to the top of the cast list in school productions. This time the Segura family was represented by Danny.

Drama at school was very much Tom’s domain. He even continued helping after Meghan had graduated. Gigi only remembers meeting Doria once or twice during the whole time that Meghan was involved in productions at Immaculate Heart. Her mother was still encouraging her caring side, however; she supported her decision to return to Skid Row and help at the Hippie Kitchen, three years after her first visit.

Meghan was inspired by Maria Pollia, who had been her theology teacher as a junior. They talked about the teenager’s misgivings. Maria, who herself volunteered at the kitchen, was able to reassure her that those feelings were perfectly acceptable and understandable but that she should remember ‘to put the needs of others above your own fears’. Maria was herself an alumna of Immaculate Heart and had been given the same advice when she was a student.

Meghan went back to dish out plates of food and clear tables with fresh resolve. She remembered the names of the people she served. She began to properly understand the meaning of community spirit – something that would serve her well when she connected with the women of The Hubb Community Kitchen following the Grenfell Tower fire of 2017. She was continuing to develop her personal empathy.

That became even more apparent when she was the first to be chosen as a team leader at a Kairos Retreat organised by Immaculate Heart at the Holy Spirit Retreat Center in the upmarket neighbourhood of Encino. These four-day breaks were popular throughout Catholic schools and colleges in the US. While Kairos originally comes from the Greek for the ‘right time’, in biblical terms it is better translated as ‘God’s time’.

The principle purpose of the four-day retreat was to build empathy, giving the young women time and space to talk openly about their problems and concerns without having to worry about dashing off to the next class or what grade they might be given for their homework.

Meghan was one of six seniors leading groups of eight in daily discussions, trying to make sure every girl had the chance to express themselves. She also had to give a half-hour presentation in front of everyone in which she talked in a mature way about her own life journey. It was a chance to share some personal feelings about her parents’ divorce.

Theology teacher Christine Knudsen, who organised the retreat, observed, ‘Any young person struggles when their parents are divorced, even though I think she knew that both of them loved her, and they were both in her life.’ Meghan was an ideal choice to be a leader because, added Christine, ‘she had a lot of depth, probably because of her own experience of her parents’ divorce. She’d take conversations to a deeper level.’

Meghan’s ability to share thoughts and feelings was of particular benefit to one girl, who struggled with her shyness and was the quietest and most reserved of her group. Meghan wrote her a note in her distinctive and immaculate handwriting: ‘You are so strong and so wonderful – your courage and strength in times of hardship is as admirable as your optimism and friendly nature. Never stop sharing your beautiful spirit and always remember how special you are.’ She ended the letter: ‘I am here if you ever need me. I love you. Meghan.’

Meghan was fortunate that three of her classmates and closest friends were also team leaders: Susan Ardikani, Erin Carr and Michelle Blade, who would go on to become one of the best-known artists on the West Coast. As well as their responsibilities to the Kairos Retreat itself, the classmates had the chance to talk late into the night about their aspirations. Meghan was aiming big, declaring that she was going to be president one day.