A conversation with
“Though None
Go With Me”
star Cheryl Ladd
By David Martindale
Many actresses view aging as
an enemy, as a career killer.
But not Cheryl Ladd. The
former “Charlie’s Angels” star, now in her 50s, says she has never savored
her life or her work as much as she does today.
“I don’t want to be 20 again,”
says the star of “Though None Go With Me,” a Hallmark Channel Original
movie. “I like being the age I am. I have a wonderful, fulfilling life and
I’m enjoying my craft more now than I ever have.”
In fact, Ladd finds acting so
satisfying now BECAUSE she’s older. “I’m more comfortable with the roles I
get,” she explains. “Everything doesn’t have to be about looking young and
beautiful, about being the ‘hot’ one. The things I’m offered now, there’s
much more depth to them. Of course, maybe there’s more depth to me too. I
have lived a lot of life, after all.”
This is why Ladd - who also
has a recurring role as James Caan’s wife on the hit NBC series “Las
Vegas” – was immediately drawn to the role of longsuffering Elizabeth
Bishop in “Though None Go With Me.”
“It was an interesting
opportunity to play a woman from 50 to 75 years old,” she says. “It was an
interesting acting challenge, for the first time in my life, to play a
character of that age, as well as a physical challenge to completely alter
how I look.”
Ladd endured three hours of
makeup and prosthetics applications every day for two weeks to transform
herself into a 75-year-old. “I had no idea it was such a complicated
process,” she says. “And then, after a hard day’s work, in which I’m every
scene, it took 45 minutes to take it all off. You can’t just rip it off or
wash it off. You have to use special solutions; otherwise you damage your
skin. I’m not sure I would have signed on had I known what I was getting
myself in for. ... No, that’s not true. I was happy to do it. I was
thrilled.”
Ladd’s character is a woman
whose spiritual faith is often tested, but never broken throughout a
lifetime of loss and heartache. The tragedies in her later years include
the death of her only son (after which Elizabeth must raise her
granddaughter) and her husband’s agonizing battle with Alzheimer’s
disease.
“One of the things that I
admired and related to is how she lifts herself up by her
bootstraps,” Ladd says of her
character. “I mean, she would be in difficult situations and, instead of
sitting around and feeling sorry for herself, she got on with her
life. She pulled through and tried again.”
Ladd says she related because,
although the parallels aren’t exact, she too has weathered her share of
setbacks and loss. “Been there, done that,” the actress says. “We all
have. Loss is an inevitable part of living a life.”
Ladd also related to Elizabeth
because “I share an abiding faith in God. I think it’s unfortunate that,
in our industry, it’s not widely perceived as cool or hip to admit
that. But I’m not worried about being cool and hip any more.”
Another actress, Amy Grabow,
plays Elizabeth in her early 20s, when she must
choose between two adoring
suitors. It’s a meaty storyline in which Grabow gets to shine. “She’s a
darling girl,” Ladd says of her younger counterpart, “and she’s just
lovely in the movie.” But Ladd never once wished she could get her hands
on that love-triangle plot. “I’ve already done that plot in more than a
few movies,” she says. “So I figure, ‘Let Amy do that story this time.’ ”
Contrary to many actresses who
say there are fewer parts after 40, Ladd feels there are plenty of good
ones to go around. In fact, she believes she has detected a recent trend
of more good parts going to “mature” actresses.
“I think some networks and
studios are figuring out that there are 40 million women in menopause in
this country,” Ladd says. “And there are men of that age too. That’s a big
audience. And they don’t all want to sit and watch 22-year-olds in
everything they see. So the networks are finding there’s an audience for
performers who are over 40. I think that’s refreshing.”
Though None
Go With Me
airs Saturday, April 8th on the Hallmark Channel
@ 9pm; 10pm and 1am.