This story is a
chapter of a memoir focused on the insights I gained from interactions with
certain notable people. All these stories are true. I admit, however, my memory
may not be flawless.
Kate Mulgrew: The Adventure
Begins
 |
| Kate in Reno Williams 1985 |
I paced up and down the sidewalk in front of a large
movie theater in Times Square in New York City. It was a cool, clear evening on
October 11, 1985. My girlfriend, Beth, went to the airport to meet her friend,
Kate Mulgrew. They were coming directly to the theater.
I was early. A modest crowd had gathered. We were all
there to attend the premiere of Remo
Williams – The Adventure Begins. It was close to show time when Beth and
Kate pulled up in a cab. I hurried over. Beth introduced me. Kate gave me a polite
hug. She politely said that Beth had told her all about me. A few people in the
crowd called out and Kate waived.
I found myself thinking, my God, she really does look
like a movie star. She had a beautiful oval Irish face, clear blue eyes, narrow
eyebrows and a perfect nose. At the time she was thirty years old, trim and
fit. Her brown hair was swept up and back making her seem taller, more regal.
Inside the lobby a PR person from the studio took a
quick picture of Kate and handed me some tchotchkes: a poster, a flyer, maybe a
tee shirt or hat, I don’t remember. She also gave me a survey form to rate the
movie. That was it.
For a split second I
was a bit let down. I had been hoping to at least shake hands with some of the
other stars of the movie like Joel Grey or Wilford Brimley or even Fred Ward.
Well, it didn’t really matter. Nothing could break the spell. We were walking into
a premiere with a movie star. I couldn’t believe my luck.
We took our seats just as the lights dimmed.
I admit I have never been a big fan of action movies,
but it was quickly apparent, even to me, that this action movie was in trouble.
The plot was impossibly convoluted. The casting of Joel Grey as a Korean master
of martial arts seemed racially insensitive and more than a little implausible.
The biggest problem was that the movie refused to take itself seriously. The
characters constantly made bad jokes that made me wince. If the director was trying
to channel James Bond or possibly Get
Smart it didn’t work. Overall the dialog was dreadful. Even though some of
the stunts were pretty amazing, it was obvious that the movie was going to flop.
It did. The movie review web site Rotten Tomatoes now gives it a 46% approval
rating. That seems a little high to me.
Sitting there in
the dark with Kate in the seat between Beth and me I perked up when Kate’s
character finally appeared on screen. She played Maj. Rayner Fleming, a Defense
Department investigator responsible for monitoring a new weapons program run by
the bad guys. She was terrific in the role. She somehow found a way to be
utterly believable as an Army officer even when trapped with the hero in a
glass cube about to be filled with poison gas.
 |
| Beth and Kate |
I already knew a lot about Kate, thanks to Beth. They
met back in 1975 when both were attending undergraduate school at NYU. Kate was
taking acting classes and had recently landed a role in a new soap opera on ABC
called Ryan’s Hope. In her role as
Mary Ryan, Kate became a television star overnight. She was only 20 years old.
Not long thereafter
Kate found herself pregnant as a result of an affair with a man also working on
Ryan’s Hope. Beth provided unconditional
love and support for Kate throughout the pregnancy. It was Beth who took Kate
to the hospital the night of the delivery. Beth helped Kate during the difficult
time when her newborn daughter was put up for adoption. The day Kate and her
lover finally broke up she sought out Beth. The bond they formed has been life
long.
After the movie the
three of us had dinner then sat up late talking and drinking cheap white wine in
Beth’s apartment near Washington Square in Greenwich Village. I was initially
cautious in my criticism of the movie we had just watched. Thankfully, Kate was
well aware that the movie was not destined to be great. She told us she only took
the part because she needed the work.
The conversation
shifted to how impossible it was for women actors to find good parts in TV or
movies. Women were typecast. The best they could hope for was a role as a man’s
girlfriend or sidekick but more often they were just used as sexy window
dressing. Several times Kate emphasized that she preferred live theater because
the women’s roles were more emotionally well rounded.
The conversation
led me to mention a comic strip I liked called Dykes To Watch Out For by Alison Bechdel. In a comic strip that
appeared during the summer of 1985 two lesbian women characters discussed why
there are so few women heroes in the movies. They proposed a simple test to
determine whether a movie was demeaning to women. To
pass the test a movie needs to have (1) at least two named women characters who
(2) talk to each other (3) about something besides a man. Movie critics
everywhere now commonly refer to these three criteria as the “Bechdel test.” Remo Williams didn’t pass the test.
Kate and Beth
laughed as they agreed that the movies were hopelessly sexist. It amazed me
that with her tough personal experience of the utterly sexist American
entertainment industry, Kate was still determined to work and succeed in that
industry. On further reflection I realized
that even when playing a poorly written supporting role in a male dominated
movie with clear misogynist undertones, Kate was able to find a way to at least
partly escape from the stereotypes. Against these odds, the career military
officer Kate played in Remo Williams successfully demanded to be taken
seriously in a man’s world.
It was very late
when I walked Kate to the corner store for cigarettes. When we got back to
Beth’s apartment we said goodnight. I caught the subway back to my apartment in
Brooklyn. I never saw Kate again. Never, that is, until I saw her ten years
later on television.
I admit I was a casual
fan of the original Star Trek
television series. It aired during my college years and was standard fare in
dormitory lounges. I loved the hokey special effects, the wooden dialog and the
improvisational feel of the acting. It was fun to watch. I was briefly sad when
the series was cancelled.
I was surprised but
pleased when Star Trek was resurrected nearly twenty years later as Star Trek - The Next Generation. Patrick
Stewart was great as Captain Picard. The dialog and story lines were now quite sophisticated
and involving. The special effects were also pretty good. I didn’t watch every
episode, far from it, but I saw quite a few over its seven-year run.
I tried to like the
next Star Trek series, Deep Space Nine,
but somehow I never became a fan. The acting and dialog were good, but the
stories seemed static and derivative. I was still intrigued by the
possibilities of space opera, but I didn’t feel the Star Trek universe was
realizing that potential. I didn’t notice, therefore, when the fourth TV series
was launched in 1995. Then one night while channel surfing I chanced upon Star Trek – Voyager.
Sitting in the
captain’s chair giving orders to the crew was Kate Mulgrew. She had
 |
| Kate as Captain Laneway |
matured as
an actor. She carried herself exactly as a starship captain should. Better
still, she portrayed a character that could make you care about the story no
matter how improbable. She totally disappeared into the role.
I thought back to Remo Williams. Kate brought plenty of
intensity to her role in that movie but her character never had a chance. Still
even under those circumstances I could see a glimmer of the character that made
her a great starship captain. Over the next seven years Voyager gave Kate as Captain Janeway plenty of chances to show what
a strong woman leader might actually look like. In a very real sense Kate had
been preparing for the role all her life.
Voyager passed the Bechdel test in every episode. Not only
were there numerous named female characters, those characters discussed many
issues most of which had nothing to do with their relationships. This is not
too say that the show had shed all the sexist stereotypes of traditional space
opera, witness the revealing costume worn by Jeri Ryan who played “Seven of
Nine.”
Although Kate was wonderful in Voyager, her memoir, Born
With Teeth, makes it plain that it was not easy for her. Although the
entertainment industry was gradually starting to feature women in leading roles
Kate still had to fight to get the role of Captain Janeway. Even after she was
cast the studio executives remained skeptical for months. The show demanded
long hours. This was difficult for her since she was recently divorced and was
caring for her two young sons. I imagine that it was exhausting.
After Voyager
went off the air, Kate toured regional theaters across the country in an
acclaimed one-woman show specifically written for her called Tea at Five about the life of Katherine
Hepburn. These days Kate is appearing on the cable TV series Orange is the New Black where she plays
the truly terrifying kitchen matron “Red” Reznikov.
Kate’s career has been defined by her unbending
determination to portray women as strong and capable people. It certainly has
been an adventure. Now, thirty years after Remo
Williams, she’s still showing us how it should be done.
References:
Born with Teeth, a memoir by Kate Mulgrew (Little Brown, 2015).
