A cruise through the hills of Beverly reminds Anjelica Huston and Carol Kane of the peaks and valleys in their film careers. by Gerald L'Ecuyer Photography by Darryl Estrine

Carol Kane, her dog, George, and I are on our way to pick up Anjelica Huston and her dog Minnie for a drive to the beach.
Gerald: We're on Sunset, aren't we?
CAROL: Yes. I remeber how strange this drive was the first time I came out here from New York. I also remember turning up this street right here to visit my friends Doug Chapin and Barry Krost. At the time they were managing Richard Gere, and they used to have all these poker parties. I didn't participate. I was in the tv room, lying on the couch and watching movies. But the most significant drive for me is going up Mulholland Drive on the way to visit Jack.
GERALD: Jack?
CAROL: Nicholson. Because when I was very young and came out here, that's where I used to stay. He had a guest bedroom called the Garfunkel Suite. It was a tiny little maid's room.
GERALD: How old were you?
CAROL: I was 18. He was kind enough to let me stay there. I didn't have any money and I had done Carnal Knowledge. He was the only person I knew out here.
GERALD: What was the first night like at his house? Alone in the maid's room.
CAROL: I remember that Helena greeted me.
GERALD: Helena?
CAROL: Kallianotes- she's the woman in Five Eagy Pieces who complains about the garbage. She's a formidable person when you first meet her. Turns out she's more like a child than anything else. But I did feel very much at home there. And for years and years whenever I drove up this way, I felt the same way.
Let's see, we're coming up to the Beverly Hills Hotel. I stayed here when I was nominated for Academy Award [for Hester Street]. I was broke then. I was more than broke ; I was on unemployment! I stayed at the Beverly Hills Hotel to do publicity and went to the unemployment office every week! Theoni Aldredge offered to design my dress as a present. I couldn't have ever bought one. I was in shock to the point where this very funny thing happened to me. Now, you have to understand that when you're nominated you do so many interviews that there is always someone coming to the door. People want to know you all of a sudden. They come out of the woodwork. You get used to saying hello to people you've never met.
So, I heard a knock, opened the door, saw somebody vaguely familiar, and said, "Hi, come on in!" It turned out to be Steve Lawrence. You know, of Steve and Eydie? He thought he was visiting George Barrie [then the head of Faberge], who had the room next door. And I'd said "Come on in" because I thought I had a meeting with him.
GERALD: Where are we now?
CAROL: Benedict Canyon, and I just went through a red light! Now, what was I going to say? Oh yeah! Tying this all together...The day after the awards, when I didn't win, my first and only call was from Jack Nicholson- who did win. He and Anjelica took me to lunch because he knew what that day is like. I mean, you think you'll go insane from how many times the phone rings the day before. But the day after, you have to call the switchboard and ask if the phone is broken! It gets so quiet! [We arrive at Anjelica Huston's house.] George is excited because he knows he's going to see Minnie. Don't worry, George! You'll see her in a second!
[Anjelica offers toast and coffee]
GERALD: You wre born here, weren't you?
ANJELICA: Yes, but I left when I was five months old.
GERALD: So no memories?
ANJELICA: No, but when I came back, everything seemed recognizable to me. I just knew it up and down.
CAROL: [entering] I missed something. I'm upset.
ANJELICA: Morning is the time for those deep revelations!
GERALD: We were talking about very early memories. I have this memory of a huge formless shape coming down at me. Now I realize what it could be, but I think it's too early in the morning to mention.
CAROL: Breast-feeding!
GERALD: Yes! And I'm sorry, because it's too early to mention.
ANJELICA: [laughs] Well, it is breakfast!
GERALD: But you were talking about having a sense of surroundings as opposed to specific memories.
ANJELICA: A very early memory I do have is wearing a green boilersuit when I was very, very small. It was a hand-me-down from my brother.
CAROL: What's a boilersuit?
ANJELICA: It's like a jumpsuit. It had a little hat that went with it. And I'd taken a very early fashion stand about it. I hated it. I've seen pictures of me wearing it. I must have been two years old. I didn't like the way it looked! I also didn't like the fact that it had been my brother's!
GERALD: Interesting that you had such definite opinions so early.
ANJELICA: I really did as far as that goes.
GERALD: Do you each remember the first time you met each other?
ANJELICA: Vividly! It was at Ara Gallant's apartment in New York. It was a festive night. It was the actual night that Joni Mitchell wrote that song about going to people's parties. Verushka was there. Jack was there. It was a Carole King concert in the park.
CAROL: Oh yeah, I remember.
ANJELICA: Carol was introduced as Whitey. Jack was calling her Whitey and they were making The Last Detail together. She was absolutely amazing. Perfectly Victorian. Her hair was white. She wore a black dress and drank only white wine and ate only white food. Exquisite.
GERALD: What's your side of the story, Carol?
CAROL: Well, I feel that Anjelica is so articulate; a tale is always being woven.
ANJELICA: You mean I'm long-winded.
CAROL: Just the opposite. It's so mesmerizing and enchanting. Like a whole world is being created. I was watching that story in my mind just like I was there. I remember trying to act with self-control like I was supposed to be there.
GERALD: There are two traits generally associated with the Irish. The first is drinking. The second is storytelling.
CAROL: Anjelica is a great storyteller. I can hear the same story again and again and fall right into it each time.
ANJELICA: I'm prone to repeat stories.
CAROl: No. You know what I mean.
ANJELICA: You're from Canada, aren't you!
GERALD: Montreal.
ANJELICA: I was in Montreal shooting Enemies and I loved it.
GERALD: It's actually very Irish in a way. Full of seminaries and churches.
ANJELICA: I was wild about Montreal. The way it's placed on the river. Very majestic.
GERALD: Any city that has a mountain with a huge cross on top of it can't be all bad.
ANJELICA: Right! And I love religious artifacts. There wer so many Madonnas everywhere. I saw a Joan of Arc in Montreal that was magnificent. Twelve feet tall and gold. It was too hard to transport, or I would have it in this house right now. [We prepare to leave.] I think I'll wear my Grifter's jacket.
GERALD: Grifters?
ANJELICA: The Grifters is the new movie I just finished with Stephen Frears. It's from the Jim Thompson novel and it's about con people.
GERALD: Con people are great movie characters. Have you ever seen Trouble in Paradise.
ANJELICA: Yes!
GERALD: The great scene near the beginning when a male and a female con artist are having dinner and slowly realize that each is conning the other. They finally start pulling out watches and wallets that they have pickpocketed from each other. Then they fall in love. It's perfect. It starred...
ANJELICA: Herbert Marshall.
[We climb into Anjelica's car with the dogs and start off.]
ANJELICA: See this Deep Canyon Drive? When I first came to Los Angeles, there was not a single house up there. There were only three or four restaurants. And one of those were Chasen's! Los Angeles has grown incredibly.
GERALD: Carol was talking earlier about certain drives that evoke memories for her.
ANJELICA: For me, I guess it would be Beverly Glen. I remember that road during the floods in about '82 or '83. It rained for over 40 days and 40 nights. And Beverly Glen was awash. Your car was just floating. And the hills began to melt and fall into houses. Huge mud slides. Oh god! We just sailed past the photographer.
[The pictures are taken. We get back on the road and head for the beach.]
GERALD: You once told me how enchanting the earlier version of A Midsummer Night's Dream was...
CAROL: The Max Reinhardt version. It's incredible. Magical.
GERALD: Anjelica, do you have a particular film that...
ANJELICA: La Belle et la Bete
Cocteau.
GERALD: What about the Sternberger-Dietrich films? Morroca. Scarlet Empress.
ANJELICA: Absolutely beautiful. I love them. So stylized.
GERALD: The misfits is enjoying something of a renaissance. Were you around at all when your father was shooting it?
ANJELICA: No, I was in Ireland.
GERALD: It really is mesmerizing to watch, and the cast is so incredible. Marilyn Monroe, Montgomery Clift, Clark Gabel.
ANJELICA: It was a beautifully made film. And that was traditional with my father's films. They came out and were badly reviewed, but 15 years later they hold up wonderfully well. It happened with Reflections in a Gold Eye. Same with Beat the Devil. Give Wis Blood and Fat City another five years. He was very much ahead of his time.
GERALD: There's a quality to The Misfits...
ANJELICA: It's modern. I mean, he put Marilyn in blue jeans and cowboy boots. Clark Gable was fantastic. My father took these megastars and made them real again. They hadn't been real for a long time before that.
GERALD: I remember reading Norman Mailer's description of Marilyn in that movie. He said it seemed like she didn't have any clear edges.
ANJELICA: There's a shot of Monty Cliff with his head on her polka-dot dress that's unforgettable.
GERALD: So many great movies get overlooked during their time because other movies are simply more popular. Raging Bull is a good example.
CAROL: Raging Bull! Now, there's a movie that I watch over and over again. I'll watch sections of it.
ANJELICA: Scorcese is a fantastic filmmaker. Imaginative and daring all the time. He produced the Grifters, actually.
GERALD: Do you remember the day you shot the staircase scene in The Dead? I can close my eyes and see you closing your eyes and listening to that hymn.
ANJELICA: I remember the day very well. What's extraordinary about that film is that it was made in the shadow of Magic Mountain in Valencia. These Irish actors arrive in Hollywood. They were staying at the Ranch House Inn. That's all they saw. That strange landscape with Denny's in the background. They were fantastic. The thing about the Irish is that they can form their island anywhere. The first day after rehearsal they were straight off to the bar! That was it!
CAROL: Did you spend a lot of time with them?
ANJELICA Oh, yeah. We played cards all the time. There was one actress, a beautiful woman, who would do everyone's wash! She'd gather up everyone's underwear. It was so sweet.
GERALD: Where are we?
ANJELICA: UCLA is on our left. We're in Brentwood. I used to make this trip a lot after my father remarried.
GERALD: It would be fun to write a road movie. Stranger Than Paradise. And the great Easy Rider. Maybe the greatest of them all.
CAROL: I remember that Mike Nichols said that Wild Strawberries was a road movie, but I can't remember why.
GERALD: It's Wim Wenders sho actually maintains that there is emotion in the very idea of motion. I think it's very true. Is The Lemon Sisters a road movie?
CAROL: No.
GERALD: It's a singing movie. You sing in it.
CAROL: In a manner of speaking!
ANJELICA: What are you talking about? You sing beautifully,.
Carol: And your mother's a singer.
CAROL: In The Lemon Sisters my character doesn't sing very well. [pauses] I do love a long drive. I must say. I love being driven someplace.
ANJELICA: I like getting outside the city limits and putting my foot on the accelerator. I have a ranch up north. To drive there you have to go through miles of orchards. I'd like to go up there and just lose myself for two months. You know, you can drive from one end of Ireland to the other in a day.
GERALD: There's one thing I've always wondered about Ireland. Has the backlash against alcohol affected them in any way? Drinking issues have become such a focus in North America.
ANJELICA: There are only two places to get together in Ireland. One is church, the other is the pub.
GERALD: Alcohol and God.
ANJELICA: Plus, it's a major undertaking to stay warm in Ireland. It's a damp cold. For some reason drinking seems to take a greater toll there. You can drink Guinness in Ireland and not feel terrible the next day. Maybe it has to do with the moisture in the air.
GERALD: Is AA big there?
ANJELICA: Oh, sure. When I was growing up I would see people who had "taken the pledge" and were wearing the little AA badge.
GERALD: You were going to talk about the day you shot the staircase scene in The Dead.
ANJELICA: The first time I did the shot...Well, it had become very easy for my father and I work together because we didn't have to express ourselves a lot. Often when I needed something all I had to do was look at him. He was weakened but somehow more brilliant than he had ever been. Anyway, I did the scene and looked over at him and saw this huge videocamera lens staring me right in the face. I felt incredibly angy. I asked if I could do the shot again. I was furious. And he asked why. I said, "Because I can do better." And the videocamera immediately retreated. I really question those "making of the movie" crews being around. They can throw off the delicate balance that's needed.
GERALD: Even the presence of a boyfriend or girlfriend on a set can-
ANJELICA: -throw the whole thing off.
CAROL: You can see it in the result. Many years ago I was in film and I had to kiss this man. And the leading man's lady was there on the day of the shoot. She was making her presence felt. And the kiss was not what it should have been. So in a sense she's there in the movie. He didn't want to linger over the scene because she was there.
[We arrive at Pacific Palisades Beach}
ANJELICA: It's better if we take off our shoes and roll up our pant legs.
[We start walking along the beach.]
GERALD: Carol, I wanated to ask you about the early acting classes you took. They had a big effect on you, didn't they? I know you don't like talking about "technique."
CAROL: Not really, but I love hearing about it. I don't feel that I have any great grasp of technique that I should pass along to people. And I feel it's a very personal thing.
ANJELICA: Wasn't Kurosawas's speech at the Academy Awards fantastic?
GERALD: You mean when he said that he still hadn't conquered filmmaking and was still learning?
ANJELICA: Right. A director suggested once that I go to class. I wasn't wild about hearing that. But like anything negative, the best thing to do is to turn it toward you and make it work for you. It's actual negative feedback that has motivated me more than the positive. It's like anything else. If you want to learn how to ski, you have to make a complete idiot of yourself. You have to fall, and it can be horribly embarrasing. Your instinct is to protect yourself.
CAROL: It's very hard to remain a student in life. To know that it's all right not to know something. It's somehing I really admire about my mother. She loves to be a student. She's constantly looking for a teacher, and she's a great teacher herself. It's harder for me.
GERALD: When did each of you feel that you were able to stand on your own two feet, take care of yourself financially, and think that things were going to be okay?
ANJELICA: I still haven't felt that. Have you, Carol?
CAROL: Definitely not!
ANJELICA: That's the insidious thing. It's like that for anyone in the arts, really. It doesn't hurt to worry a bit.
CAROL: Is anyone hungry?
ANJELICA: We could go up to the fish place.
CAROL: What about the dogs?
ANJELICA: We can sit outside. Dogs are allowed.
[We head up the Pacific Coast Highway and stop at an open-air fish place.]
CAROL: There was a documentary on your family last week. It was wonderful.
ANJELICA: Yes, I've seen it.
GERALD: When you were talking about your father, there was such an unforgettable look in your eyes. It was very clear how much you love him.
ANJELICA: It;s hard to talk about it and I felt bad because I got lost and was an hour and a half late! They were very nice people. But when I sat down I sort of saw why I may have subconsciously gotten lost. The first five minutes are those photographs of him when he was young. It was so upsetting. I wanted to run out but I couldn't. They wanted my opinion. I was choking in my chair, fighting back the tears.
GERALD: I think ideas about families have changed drastically. I think your family is so intriguing becasue it was so openly complicated.
ANJELICA: No question about that! But we love each other. You can have a difficult family and still love each other. In my family there were dramas every two seconds. Serious dramas. But that didn't obscure our love for each other. It made a little more painful sometimes.
[We get back on the road. George has cllimbed onto Anjelica's shoulders.]
CAROL: As a child, I was a little fixated on death. I would read the obituaries every day in The New York Times. It still is the first thing I might turn to if I get a paper.
GERALD: I don't recall having any idea of death until much later.
ANJELICA: Not me. I thought about it constantly as a child.
CAROL: If my mother said she'd be back from the store at five, and she was three minutes late, I would be convinced she was dead.
ANJELICA: I was always convinced my father was going to die. It never occured to me that anything occured to me that anything would happen to my mother. Everyone always talked about my father being on his last legs. And he outlived all of them! [pauses] Shall we drive back through Malibu Canyon?