| North and South Miniseries |
The 45 minute interview was conducted over the phone on 05/26/04 at 10:59 a.m.
Lesley: How are you?
A: I’m pretty good.
Lesley: Where are you calling from?
A: I’m calling from Kansas…
Lesley: Dorothy….didn’t Dorothy come from Kansas…
A: Yes, Dorothy… The Wizard of Oz, We get that a lot
Lesley: Yes, I bet you do…so sorry.
A: That’s ok
Lesley: So you have some questions you want to ask me.
A: Yes
Lesley: Ok, cool
A: This has been a long time coming
Lesley: I’m sorry, Don has been away and he’s the one that organizes all of these things, so you know I haven’t been in the loop lately.
A: Well that’s okay, I guess we’re in the loop now.
Lesley: Yes, we are now looped.
A: Ok well my questions deal with North and South, I’m like the biggest North and South fan ever.
Lesley: Oh, good.
A: I have all the books, all the movies everything.
Lesley: Really oh, my gosh.
A: My first question is within the series you ride a horse side saddle…did you already know how to ride that way or did you have to learn how to do that?
Lesley: I think I had ridden side saddle at one point in my life, years ago, really I love the thought of riding, but reality is a different story, it’s like you
dream you can fly, but in reality you can’t. That’s like me and horses. I dream I can ride, but when I get on them it just doesn’t quite work for
me…However, riding side-saddle is easier than regular.
A: Oh, really
Lesley: Oh, yes by far. It’s pretty easy.
A: My second question is did you already know how to play the piano.
Lesley: No, I don’t play the piano. Did I play?
A: (described the scene where she plays the chords of the main theme.)
Lesley: Oh, they probably taught it to me. I was kind of like a dog, you know sit, stay, roll-over. You do a lot of stuff like that when you are an actor.
Actually I remember practicing for a few days, just enough so you could see my hands play the notes.
A: Well you were quite a natural.
Lesley: Oh, really….hehe….
A: What was your favorite scene that you were in?
Lesley: I cannot answer that, people ask you that all the time, favorite scene, actor…I cannot honestly say. When you look at it you can say that was a
good sequence…not just a scene, I do think that, emotionally the stuff when she was married to Le Mont… What was his name? I have forgotten all of
their names.
A: Justin.
Lesley: When she was married to Justin but really should have been with Orry Main, you know all of that was my favorite, because it was so romantic, I am
a romantic.
A: Well, so am I, that’ s what drew me to the show.
A: The next one is a personal question: Who was a better kisser, James Read or Patrick Swayze?
Lesley: The best kisser, well how fun. Well it’s hard to say, Actually I don’t remember kissing James Read very much, oh, yeah that big love scene. but
well it’s hard to say.
James was quite a good kisser in retrospect. (Don mentions something to her.)
Oh, that’s right, Patrick, no. Yes, James was a better kisser. Don just reminded me of something. Definitely James.
A: There were so many guest stars within the series, were there any that totally left you star struck?
Lesley: Yes, of course…uhm…uhm…(Don mentions a few people) Jimmy Stewart, of course…(speaks to husband.)
A: What was it like to work with him?
Lesley: Oh, he was just lovely. He was just so old, so delicate. I have to say that those people that you get to work with, not the old ones but the great
ones. The old and great ones, they have much more class than today’s actors do. Much more class.
A: He did strike me as being quite a classy guy.
Lesley: Yes, much more class. I guess him.
A: Were there any others?
Lesley: I would have to say, yes, what was her name, Linda…
A: Linda Evans
Lesley: Yes, Linda Evans. She was really famous at that time she’d just come off of a thousand years of Dynasty or something. So she was pretty famous
at that time. She was a pretty classy lady as well. You know she had a lot of class I would say. It was nice working with her as well.
A: My mother is as big of Gone with the Wind fan as I am North and South and we wondered if you were on the set at all when Olivia De Havilland was/ did
you get to actually meet her or anything?
Lesley: I’ve known Olivia since I was 17. Olivia and I did a movie together called “Pope Jones” and it had a great cast. A whole bunch of people…A very
weird film…..continued talking about the film…and we worked again together on a tv movie called “Murder is Easy” continued talking about that. We got
along very well together. She’s very lovely.
A: It is totally cool, that she was in GWTW and in N&S.
Lesley: Yes it’s amazing that she was alive to do both.
A: I read somewhere that Ashton, Terri Garber, was your favorite co-star.
Lesley: Yes, I love Terri, she’s lovely. We’re still friends.
A: Is there a particular reason she’s your favorite? You don’t have to answer…
Lesley: No, its just like love, some people you just click with, and others you don’t….it’s not that I didn’t get along with the others, just we didn’t click.
A: What was the biggest challenge of playing Madeline?
Lesley: With all of us that were in books one and two and then even three the age thing was a big deal. I mean to have to come back 9 years later, and
still be the same character. That was very difficult, because you were not the same person, you were very different. I suppose in a way that worked out for
the better, because having gone through a war, as those characters would have gone through, would have effected them hugely and age them quickly.
Gave us all the maturity that ware would have done in reality. Had one two and three been done close together we wouldn’t have that maturity.
A: Were you surprised they decided to do three so much later than the other two?
Lesley: Yes
A: I read somewhere that during the “sex scenes” in the chapel that neither you nor Patrick had any clothes on, is this true?
Lesley: WE WERE COMPLETELY NAKED….if you take a look and freeze the frame you can see we don’t have any clothes on. The wide shot where they
are backing away from the church watch closely, neither of us do.
A: Are scenes like that odd to do or is it just acting? Were you quite nervous?
Lesley: I don’t think anybody thinks it’s like a walk in the park. But on the other hand, it wasn’t too bad. It was a bit nerve racking.
A: I would be quite nervous.
Lesley: You know what makes all the difference? It’s how you feel about yourself. If you feel skinny or particularly chubby that day. It’s about the same as
wearing one of those revealing evening dresses, it’s a lot easier to go out in one of those at night when you are not having one of your puffy days that we
all have of course.
A: well yeah.
A: When you were approached to play a part in the series did you get to pick the part of Madeline or were you chosen for that role?
Lesley: No, they asked and said I could choose which character I wanted to play because we were all sort of the same age to begin with….they said they’d
prefer me to play Madeline. It was marvelous I was very happy.
A: Well you did a fine job.
Lesley: Well thank you very much. She was a very easy character to play, she was incredibly well written.
A: Do you feel you have similar characteristics to Madeline?
Lesley: I don’t know I think that when you get a really good part, a part that is made for you it’s not necessarily that you have the same characteristics but
you understand the character’s motivations, you have empathy for how they react to situations, or what they are going through. It’s almost like the
character becomes an alternate ego. Not necessarily the character is going to what you have gone through. Obviously I have not gone through anything
Madeline has gone through, but how those characters respond to situations is kind of the way you might to it….so in that regard you feel empathy
towards them.
A: During the filming were there many ad-libed lines or did each script change have to be approved?
Lesley: No, there was nothing that was ad-libed that I can remember. We did more changes to the script on book three than the other two. There were of
course little things, but nothing to speak of. They were good scripts.
A: On average how many takes did you have to do per scene?
Lesley: Gosh, it’s hard to say. I’d think probably three as an average. Never less than three though.
A: Did you have a stunt-double?
Lesley: Yes, I did….Didn’t I fall down the stairs or something like that?
A: Yes I believe one time when Madeline and Justin were fighting you were pushed down the stairs.
Lesley: (shouts to her husband Don—“Darling, did I have a stunt double?”
Lesley: I don’t honestly remember.
Lesley: (in background talking to Don) Not in one or two? What about when I had to fall down the stairs?
Oh…..yeah I had a stunt double…giggles…Definitely had a stunt double.
A: Do you remember any other scenes you used a stunt double for?
Lesley: No, I really don’t remember having a stunt double but Don says I did.
A: I read somewhere that you ended up breaking David Carradine’s tooth.
Lesley: Yes, I chipped it.
A: Do you remember which scene it was?
Lesley: The scene where we are outside the church and he rips my dress…Don’t I hit him or something like that…I hit his face, and chipped his tooth.
David is a very good actor, but he had absolutely no idea how to pretend to hurt somebody.
*****Topic suddenly veers to discussing the mouse she just found in her house. *****
A: I hate mice….
Lesley: How could you hate Stuart Little?
A: Stuart Little isn’t real…
Lesley: Either is Madeline “Bloody” Fabre
**Laughs**
***Conversation then veers to discussing food. ***
Lesley: The Atkins Diet really works!!! OMG it’s amazing.
***Conversation then veers to something about a weird woman walking a cat***
A: Do you keep in touch with any of the cast members?
Lesley: Only Terri (Garber)…Actually I did an interview thing for the North and South DVD release and I was supposed to meet Patrick Swayze to do the
interview together but I wasn’t able to make it at that time.
A: How did you prepare your Southern Accent?
Lesley: I had a dialogue coach, who confused me more than helped me, I must say. He was very good…I have never found a southern accent difficult to
do…it was easy so I didn’t prepare. ***Then she does a southern accent***
A: When exactly is the DVD supposed to come out?
Lesley: I don’t know… (Shouts to Don in distance) when will the DVD come out, Hun...Within the next couple of months.
A: That’s all the questions I have for you….I hope I didn’t take too much of your time…
Lesley: No, not at all it was fine…In fact it was pleasant. It was a distraction from housework.
A: Thank you so much…
Lesley: It was no problem. My pleasure… I would like to speak to you again….
A HUGE thank you goes out to Leslie and Don for everything!!
Lesley: How are you?
A: I’m pretty good.
Lesley: Where are you calling from?
A: I’m calling from Kansas…
Lesley: Dorothy….didn’t Dorothy come from Kansas…
A: Yes, Dorothy… The Wizard of Oz, We get that a lot
Lesley: Yes, I bet you do…so sorry.
A: That’s ok
Lesley: So you have some questions you want to ask me.
A: Yes
Lesley: Ok, cool
A: This has been a long time coming
Lesley: I’m sorry, Don has been away and he’s the one that organizes all of these things, so you know I haven’t been in the loop lately.
A: Well that’s okay, I guess we’re in the loop now.
Lesley: Yes, we are now looped.
A: Ok well my questions deal with North and South, I’m like the biggest North and South fan ever.
Lesley: Oh, good.
A: I have all the books, all the movies everything.
Lesley: Really oh, my gosh.
A: My first question is within the series you ride a horse side saddle…did you already know how to ride that way or did you have to learn how to do that?
Lesley: I think I had ridden side saddle at one point in my life, years ago, really I love the thought of riding, but reality is a different story, it’s like you
dream you can fly, but in reality you can’t. That’s like me and horses. I dream I can ride, but when I get on them it just doesn’t quite work for
me…However, riding side-saddle is easier than regular.
A: Oh, really
Lesley: Oh, yes by far. It’s pretty easy.
A: My second question is did you already know how to play the piano.
Lesley: No, I don’t play the piano. Did I play?
A: (described the scene where she plays the chords of the main theme.)
Lesley: Oh, they probably taught it to me. I was kind of like a dog, you know sit, stay, roll-over. You do a lot of stuff like that when you are an actor.
Actually I remember practicing for a few days, just enough so you could see my hands play the notes.
A: Well you were quite a natural.
Lesley: Oh, really….hehe….
A: What was your favorite scene that you were in?
Lesley: I cannot answer that, people ask you that all the time, favorite scene, actor…I cannot honestly say. When you look at it you can say that was a
good sequence…not just a scene, I do think that, emotionally the stuff when she was married to Le Mont… What was his name? I have forgotten all of
their names.
A: Justin.
Lesley: When she was married to Justin but really should have been with Orry Main, you know all of that was my favorite, because it was so romantic, I am
a romantic.
A: Well, so am I, that’ s what drew me to the show.
A: The next one is a personal question: Who was a better kisser, James Read or Patrick Swayze?
Lesley: The best kisser, well how fun. Well it’s hard to say, Actually I don’t remember kissing James Read very much, oh, yeah that big love scene. but
well it’s hard to say.
James was quite a good kisser in retrospect. (Don mentions something to her.)
Oh, that’s right, Patrick, no. Yes, James was a better kisser. Don just reminded me of something. Definitely James.
A: There were so many guest stars within the series, were there any that totally left you star struck?
Lesley: Yes, of course…uhm…uhm…(Don mentions a few people) Jimmy Stewart, of course…(speaks to husband.)
A: What was it like to work with him?
Lesley: Oh, he was just lovely. He was just so old, so delicate. I have to say that those people that you get to work with, not the old ones but the great
ones. The old and great ones, they have much more class than today’s actors do. Much more class.
A: He did strike me as being quite a classy guy.
Lesley: Yes, much more class. I guess him.
A: Were there any others?
Lesley: I would have to say, yes, what was her name, Linda…
A: Linda Evans
Lesley: Yes, Linda Evans. She was really famous at that time she’d just come off of a thousand years of Dynasty or something. So she was pretty famous
at that time. She was a pretty classy lady as well. You know she had a lot of class I would say. It was nice working with her as well.
A: My mother is as big of Gone with the Wind fan as I am North and South and we wondered if you were on the set at all when Olivia De Havilland was/ did
you get to actually meet her or anything?
Lesley: I’ve known Olivia since I was 17. Olivia and I did a movie together called “Pope Jones” and it had a great cast. A whole bunch of people…A very
weird film…..continued talking about the film…and we worked again together on a tv movie called “Murder is Easy” continued talking about that. We got
along very well together. She’s very lovely.
A: It is totally cool, that she was in GWTW and in N&S.
Lesley: Yes it’s amazing that she was alive to do both.
A: I read somewhere that Ashton, Terri Garber, was your favorite co-star.
Lesley: Yes, I love Terri, she’s lovely. We’re still friends.
A: Is there a particular reason she’s your favorite? You don’t have to answer…
Lesley: No, its just like love, some people you just click with, and others you don’t….it’s not that I didn’t get along with the others, just we didn’t click.
A: What was the biggest challenge of playing Madeline?
Lesley: With all of us that were in books one and two and then even three the age thing was a big deal. I mean to have to come back 9 years later, and
still be the same character. That was very difficult, because you were not the same person, you were very different. I suppose in a way that worked out for
the better, because having gone through a war, as those characters would have gone through, would have effected them hugely and age them quickly.
Gave us all the maturity that ware would have done in reality. Had one two and three been done close together we wouldn’t have that maturity.
A: Were you surprised they decided to do three so much later than the other two?
Lesley: Yes
A: I read somewhere that during the “sex scenes” in the chapel that neither you nor Patrick had any clothes on, is this true?
Lesley: WE WERE COMPLETELY NAKED….if you take a look and freeze the frame you can see we don’t have any clothes on. The wide shot where they
are backing away from the church watch closely, neither of us do.
A: Are scenes like that odd to do or is it just acting? Were you quite nervous?
Lesley: I don’t think anybody thinks it’s like a walk in the park. But on the other hand, it wasn’t too bad. It was a bit nerve racking.
A: I would be quite nervous.
Lesley: You know what makes all the difference? It’s how you feel about yourself. If you feel skinny or particularly chubby that day. It’s about the same as
wearing one of those revealing evening dresses, it’s a lot easier to go out in one of those at night when you are not having one of your puffy days that we
all have of course.
A: well yeah.
A: When you were approached to play a part in the series did you get to pick the part of Madeline or were you chosen for that role?
Lesley: No, they asked and said I could choose which character I wanted to play because we were all sort of the same age to begin with….they said they’d
prefer me to play Madeline. It was marvelous I was very happy.
A: Well you did a fine job.
Lesley: Well thank you very much. She was a very easy character to play, she was incredibly well written.
A: Do you feel you have similar characteristics to Madeline?
Lesley: I don’t know I think that when you get a really good part, a part that is made for you it’s not necessarily that you have the same characteristics but
you understand the character’s motivations, you have empathy for how they react to situations, or what they are going through. It’s almost like the
character becomes an alternate ego. Not necessarily the character is going to what you have gone through. Obviously I have not gone through anything
Madeline has gone through, but how those characters respond to situations is kind of the way you might to it….so in that regard you feel empathy
towards them.
A: During the filming were there many ad-libed lines or did each script change have to be approved?
Lesley: No, there was nothing that was ad-libed that I can remember. We did more changes to the script on book three than the other two. There were of
course little things, but nothing to speak of. They were good scripts.
A: On average how many takes did you have to do per scene?
Lesley: Gosh, it’s hard to say. I’d think probably three as an average. Never less than three though.
A: Did you have a stunt-double?
Lesley: Yes, I did….Didn’t I fall down the stairs or something like that?
A: Yes I believe one time when Madeline and Justin were fighting you were pushed down the stairs.
Lesley: (shouts to her husband Don—“Darling, did I have a stunt double?”
Lesley: I don’t honestly remember.
Lesley: (in background talking to Don) Not in one or two? What about when I had to fall down the stairs?
Oh…..yeah I had a stunt double…giggles…Definitely had a stunt double.
A: Do you remember any other scenes you used a stunt double for?
Lesley: No, I really don’t remember having a stunt double but Don says I did.
A: I read somewhere that you ended up breaking David Carradine’s tooth.
Lesley: Yes, I chipped it.
A: Do you remember which scene it was?
Lesley: The scene where we are outside the church and he rips my dress…Don’t I hit him or something like that…I hit his face, and chipped his tooth.
David is a very good actor, but he had absolutely no idea how to pretend to hurt somebody.
*****Topic suddenly veers to discussing the mouse she just found in her house. *****
A: I hate mice….
Lesley: How could you hate Stuart Little?
A: Stuart Little isn’t real…
Lesley: Either is Madeline “Bloody” Fabre
**Laughs**
***Conversation then veers to discussing food. ***
Lesley: The Atkins Diet really works!!! OMG it’s amazing.
***Conversation then veers to something about a weird woman walking a cat***
A: Do you keep in touch with any of the cast members?
Lesley: Only Terri (Garber)…Actually I did an interview thing for the North and South DVD release and I was supposed to meet Patrick Swayze to do the
interview together but I wasn’t able to make it at that time.
A: How did you prepare your Southern Accent?
Lesley: I had a dialogue coach, who confused me more than helped me, I must say. He was very good…I have never found a southern accent difficult to
do…it was easy so I didn’t prepare. ***Then she does a southern accent***
A: When exactly is the DVD supposed to come out?
Lesley: I don’t know… (Shouts to Don in distance) when will the DVD come out, Hun...Within the next couple of months.
A: That’s all the questions I have for you….I hope I didn’t take too much of your time…
Lesley: No, not at all it was fine…In fact it was pleasant. It was a distraction from housework.
A: Thank you so much…
Lesley: It was no problem. My pleasure… I would like to speak to you again….
A HUGE thank you goes out to Leslie and Don for everything!!
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