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Jerry Hall has graduated to life after Mick, onstage and off
Joel Selvin, Chronicle Senior Pop Music Critic
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The famously toothsome Jerry Hall may seem an unlikely candidate to play Mrs. Robinson in the theatrical version of "The Graduate," but the long, tall Texan has dived headfirst into stage work since splitting with her husband, Mick Jagger -- a perfect distraction for a new divorcee.
"Yes, what to do with those free evenings," she said, a chuckle lodging in her throat. Picking at some spring rolls and a green salad over lunch at the Mandarin Oriental last week, a diamond the size of a pebble on her finger, Hall, 47, arrived in town to begin rehearsals for the national touring production of the hit Broadway play, reprising a role she did on the London stage for six months. In the past three years, she has given more than 440 performances on stages around the world, but who's counting?
"I love acting," she said. "It's fun. You get paid for it. It's good to have a job you love."
In addition to 12 weeks touring with "The Graduate," Hall has two movies, including Ismail Merchant's "Merci, Docteur Ray" with Vanessa Redgrave, and two TV series coming out this year. Later this year, she is looking forward to shooting "Pretty Boy Floyd" with director Ken Russell and has a London stage production pending, a play written by French actress Jeanne Marine (described by Hall as "Bob Geldof's girlfriend").
"I'm grateful to have work to keep me sane," said Hall, who also said she has discovered the joys of therapy in the wake of her divorce.
Her role in "The Graduate," played on Broadway by Kathleen Turner, features a nude scene that had the London press corps' tongues hanging out when Hall opened there.
"They were very badly behaved," she said. "A hundred photographers stood up and took pictures. The critics all came and reviewed the first preview. It was quite horrible actually, like walking through fire, but I got used toit.
"It's nine seconds and beautifully lit. I have a good body, so I'm not worried. But it's still quite nerve-racking."
To play Mrs. Robinson, a role memorably done by Anne Bancroft in the 1967 movie, Hall said she needed to access a lot of anger. "She's an intelligent woman in the 1960s who got married because she got pregnant," said Hall. "It was a loveless marriage. She is frustrated, has affairs, drinks alcohol and won't conform. She's a bitch, a predator. But I admire her. She doesn't lie down and be depressed. She's still trying to get something out of life."
Hall brought her two youngest children to San Francisco; Georgia Mae, 11, and Gabriel, 5, who, his mother said, "wants to be a Rolling Stone." The kids will stay for the first preview and then fly to Amsterdam to join their father on the Rolling Stones' European tour. Their eldest, Elizabeth, 19, just signed a three-year contract as a model for Lancome.
James, 17, will attend Oxford University on a scholarship in chemistry. Hall herself is working on a degree with the Open University in London; she FedEx'd a term paper on Mozart's "Magic Flute" just before lunch.
Hall and her children live in the Richmond Hill district of London, next door to her ex-husband, whom she first met when she was a 19-year-old fashion model living with British rock star Bryan Ferry.
"He lives next door and doesn't have a kitchen," she said. "I'm trying to get him to get his own place -- with a kitchen. His father still comes every Sunday for lunch. He doesn't realize we're divorced. Of course, it's difficult for guys I'm dating -- he might come in." Actually, she said, relations with her famous former mate have never been better. "He's the most fabulous ex- husband," she said. "He's extremely generous. We never argue about the children. We adore each other."
Then why the divorce?
"He's a sick, addictive womanizer who made me very unhappy," she said cheerily. "He's got a Dionysian thing going that just won't stop. It gets tired -- for me, not for him."
But Hall is grateful that acting has delivered her from her divorce. "The ex-Mrs. Mick Jagger -- I hated that," she said. "What a title. That's who I am? Now it's actress Jerry Hall. Thank God I'm myself again."
She paused, lowered her voice and put on a patented coquette smile. "I was famous before I met him, you know," she said.
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The Graduate: Jerry Hall is Mrs. Robinson in the first national tour of the Broadway play. Through Sept. 7 at the Curran Theatre, 445 Geary St. Tickets: $75-$32. Call (415) 512-7770 or www.ticketmaster.com.
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She looks great! I'd give her lots of oral. |
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