Aphrodite Rising

Chapter #8 - Sylvia - Amazing Grace

After my screen test for "A World of Grace," I was flown to New York to prepare for my role. I was partnered with an acting coach and a vocal coach who were both charged with familiarizing me with the expectations of my role. They taught me so much more. As this was my first film, they let me in on how the whole process worked and even helped me with my lines. They were both character actresses that had retired from the industry in front of the camera in favor of having a family, but they were so well-respected by the studios that they employed them to help people like myself.

I spent two months in New York and while I loved the hustle and bustle of it, my heart belonged in California. I missed my life, I missed my friends, I missed my family. The city was nearly too busy and, seeing as how I was there at the tail-end of winter, numbingly cold. I was so acclimated to the West Coast that I couldn't seem to get warm at all. It was like the freezing temperatures permeated my very soul.

My one enjoyment there was Broadway. I had longed to visit that hallowed ground since I was a child, since my conversations with Mr. Kramer. His descriptions had stuck with me and I found them not to be the fanciful ramblings of an old man but absolute truths. The lights, the glamour, the talent of all who were involved in each and every production I saw just astounded me. I took in as many as I could and made the effort to hang around long after the final curtain to congratulate the performers on a job well done. As others had done when I performed, I passed along. It was this, more than anything, that reminded me why I loved doing what I was doing. I was an actress and I was at home with my own kind.

Once my tenure in New York was over, I was flown back to California. I had little time to rest between my return and the preparation for the film. There were rehearsals with the rest of the cast, whom I had not met before, and costume fittings. For each different look, I was paraded by Mr. Lambright like a show pony, preened and perfect. He touted me to his associates as "The Next Judy Garland," though I never saw the resemblance, short of the young age at which we had begun our careers.

It took four months to film "A World of Grace" and a good majority of it was done on that same sound stage at Paramount. We ventured out only once to an on-location shoot in the hills. My days blurred into one another in a never-ending series of lines, scenes out of order, costume and hair changes and coffee breaks. I consumed so much coffee those days that I began to lose weight and the withdrawals when filming was over were just atrocious. Besides that, I really wasn't hungry. My schedule left so little time to eat that I would devour a small sandwich or maybe a doughnut with my coffee before being whisked off to shoot yet another scene. The rare days that I did have off, I spent cocooned in blankets at home, catching up on my sleep.

Angela was understanding. She would hang blankets across the windows before she left in the darkness of the morning so that the sun wouldn't wake me and as she went about her own business in the apartment, would be as quiet as possible. The nice part about being such good friends is that, when life makes you strangers, you still don't feel like you are handling it alone.

I never realized that making a movie was such hard work, but it was so rewarding. I got so accustomed to the rigor of it, the friendships I had formed with my costars, however tenuous, that I broke into tears on our last day of filming. My leading man in the film, Russell Owens, and I had begun dating, despite the warnings against it. He escorted me to the wrap party and we made the headlines.

Russell was a wonderful man. He was the stereotypical tall, dark and handsome, one of the most well-respected leading men at the time. He was to receive top-billing for the film, but he never let that fame go to his head. He was really a very sweet man, generous, the epitome of chivalrous. I think I would have settled down with him, but it was not in the stars for us. We did enjoy each others company, but, other than chatting about the industry, we had very little in common. Since it was the beginning of my career, I felt no need to be tied to anyone, not that he didn't ask. Russell did propose to me one night over dinner, but I turned him down. Once we were done with our promotional appearances and joint interviews, we drifted apart. I felt no loss, though, because we did remain good friends, albeit distant ones. I even attended his wedding to Julie Brantley a few years later.