Interview with Sarah Douglas upon her joining the cast in 1983:
Sarah Douglas of 'Falcon Crest': British do bitchinesses best
By VERNON SCOTT, UPI Hollywood Reporter
Oct. 20, 1983
HOLLYWOOD -- Whatever happened to the well-bred, genteel Englishwomen who glided through Hollywood movies like fine porcelain with fluted Mayfair accent and impeccable manners?
Greer Garson epitomized the elegant breed, as did Deborah Kerr, Kay Kendall, Audrey Hepburn and latterly Julie Andrews.
They were as sweet and delicate as a bouquet of spring tea roses, their flawless ivory skins tinged with just a touch of pink. They were bright, crisp and delightfully regal in carriage and demeanor.
At one time or other they graced the Court of St. James at command performances to meet their monarchs almost as equals, at least in the eyes of American moviegoers.
Alas, this ladylike band of gentlewomen has been replaced in American television by a pair of tarty, catty babes from blighty in the persons of Joan Collins and Sarah Douglas.
Unlike their slightly haughty, rarely naughty English predecessors, Joan and Sarah play a couple of trouble making trollops in 'Dynasty' and 'Falcon Crest' respectively.
The British press is delighted with the empire's latest export to the colonies, the unmitigated English hoyden.
One newspaper headlined: 'British Bitches Are Best.'
Miss Douglas is as happy as the London tabloids about the change in fortunes of British actresses in Hollywood productions.
'American prime time TV series have invented an entirely new category of roles for British actresses,' Sarah said. 'And I must give credit to Joan for her marvelously malevolent part in 'Dynasty.'
'I play more of an outright villainess than bitch as Pamela Lynch in 'Falcon Crest.' Pamela is a throroughly bad woman and a delight to play.'
Sarah says British women are more convincing as back-biting, vengeful vixens than Americans because bitchiness is not expected from them.
She believes the upper class English accent and America's preconditioned concept of British manners and morals sets the stage for shocking reversals of behavior on the part of English actresses.
'The really important thing is our turn of phrase,' said Sarah, a tall, rangy brunette with a quick wit and a fondness for Americans (she's married to American actor Richard LeParmentier).
'A British woman's way with words makes her more cynical than her American counterpart. We get away with murder when we deliver bitchy lines with a wry smile and a theatrically trained voice.
'The delivery disconcerts the audience because they never know whether we quite mean what we're saying. Most of the time, of course, I very much do mean what I've said, and so does the character of Pamela.
'I'm basically trashy, but the accent helps because Americans can't possibly believe they've heard what I've said, especially if it is wickedly racy.'
Sarah quickly unburderned herself of a string of epithets that caused the waiter, attending her at lunch, to nearly upset his tray.
She flashed a sweet, disarming smile at the befuddled man, who clearly convinced himself that his ears had deceived him. A woman of Miss Douglas's obvious breeding could not possibly have used those four-letter words.
It proved Sarah's point beyond question or doubt.
'Historically, a certain class of English family has made a point of rearing female children to be frightfully British in manner,' she said. 'It is most clearly seen in the royal family -- the stiff upper lip.
'Maggie Thatcher is another vood example of the Englishwoman's aloofness and concealment of emotion.
'Actually, I'm quite well-bred. I was brought up in the English tradition of ever-so-nice circumstances, taught to be a thoroughgoing lady who finds it unnecessary to reveal her true feelings.
'Things are slowly loosening up for British women, thank God. I can be obnoxious. I know because my husband tells me I can. But like many other Englishwomen I've become bored with being a voody two shoes.
'However, to this day, when I say or do something outrageously shocking, my mother explains to friends, 'Oh, Sarah is, after all, an actress!''
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