Exclusive
Interview | 1000 Years Of Wisdom Behind Her Eyes:
A Conversation With Robin Curtis
Written by: Kage
Alan
During the filming of “Star Trek III: The
Search For Spock”, director Leonard Nimoy explained to then
fledgling actress Robin Curtis that a Vulcan has 1000 years of wisdom
behind their eyes. While
she denies having any such quality herself, what is wisdom if not the
“ability to apply knowledge or experience or understanding or common
sense and insight”? Looking
at it in this light, it seems she may be selling herself short.
Robin’s career in
Hollywood began with a role in the chiller “Ghost Story”, then
continued as she landed a guest star spot on the television show
“Knight Rider” as well as roles in a couple of made-for-TV movies
before winning the audition for a Vulcan character named Saavik in
“Star Trek III”. While
her performance in and association with the “Star Trek” universe
has earned her recognition the world over, it is by far not the end of
her resume nor does it solely define her as a person.
As you’ll read, Robin is someone who isn’t afraid to speak
her mind and she does so with wit, intelligence and an infectious
positive energy.
Kage Alan:
You’ve gone from films where you’re roaming the galaxy to running
from mutant babies to semi-retirement.
What happened?
Robin Curtis: I got
married.
KA:
Congratulations!
RC: Thank you.
I moved away from Los Angeles and came to Cincinnati to marry a
man who lived here and it seemed like a natural course of events at
the time. However,
what’s interesting, at the moment we’re in the process of
dissolving the marriage and so I’m now contemplating another big
change in my life. That
was, if I can shift back in time to four years ago, very sweet in a
way to contemplate leaving Los Angeles, a little bitter sweet
actually. I’d made my
life there for 18 years and a living as an actress during that time
and for that I was enormously grateful.
I had a cozy house in the hills and just the best group of
friends that anyone could ask for and yet it did seem…I never felt
like Los Angeles was my soul’s home, if you will, and I much prefer
the weather of the East coast. I
was born in New York State and, as I tell people since I moved to
Cincinnati, I feel like I’m back in the right time zone again.
I had always been an
Easterner at heart and it seemed like the right time.
I had crested 40 and the business was not what it used to be
and it wasn’t quite covering the monthly nut, not the way it used
to. Then, coincidentally,
I re-meet someone who I had known for many years.
We grew up in the same village together, this was my younger
brother’s best friend and realizing we each harbored feelings for
the other, we began to contemplate a life together.
It seemed, as I said earlier, the natural course of events for
me was to leave Los Angeles. He
was very happy with his work here in Cincinnati and it was time for me
to get closer to home. It
was also time to give the business a break, at least on that level,
the level at which I left it. That’s
not to say that I haven’t been contemplating a way to return to it
that might be a more genuine reflection of what it is I want to do
versus how the business can kind of get you into a position where
you’re doing what it will let you do.
By the end, you’re auditioning for anything that comes across
your path because you’re just so grateful for the chance that you
might get hired and when you do, it’s not necessarily something you
desperately wanted to do or garnered a lot of gratification doing, but
at that point it was a mortgage payment or it was a…you know, it was
a matter of survival really.
I’m contemplating a
whole bunch of different options and career choices now.
If I were to step back in, it would be in a much more revealing
and authentic way than how I had been interacting with the business
when I left it. About a
year before I got out of the business, I did a film (Ed. Note:
“Making Contact”) with some great friends and it felt like a good
swan song in terms of all that had transpired in LA.
It also felt like I’d finally been used in a way that I
hadn’t earlier. It’s
funny too because I’ve found over the years that sometimes I’ve
made the mistake of judging actors by their work.
How foolish of me and how narrow when I think if someone had
placed the same standards upon my career.
How well would I have measured up?
Because certainly a lot of the choices I made really had more
to do with self-sufficiency rather than artistic heights. (loud
laughter)
KA: One of the
things you mentioned when we first started trying to set up time for
the interview is that you went back to school.
RC: Yes.
I went back to school this past fall to study Criminal Justice.
I’ve always been hugely fascinated by the subject of murder,
crime, law, forensics and now, of course, it’s become ever so
popular in the media with shows like “CSI,” etc.
Long before that became vogue, I’d always been drawn to the
subject matter. I don’t
know whether it was my exposure when I was a young girl to all the
crime that hit the front pages of our papers back in that era, the
famous cases like the Sharon Tate murders and/or Richard Speck and the
eight nurses or those killings in “In Cold Blood,” the popular
film. All that stuff had a huge impression upon me back then to the
extent that I did murder drills when I was a little girl.
KA: Murder drills?
RC: I used to practice
escaping my room to save my family just in case those, you know,
horrible hoodlums I’d read about should break into our home and try
to hurt my loved ones. I
went through a phase of doing that and I compulsively never sat with
my back to a door or a window. If
a bullet was coming, I wanted to see it… like I could see something
moving as quickly as a bullet. (laughing)
KA: You could have
been the next Nancy Drew.
RC: There ya go!
So I’ve always had an interest in anything investigative or
along the lines of secret spies. Those kinds of characters have always intrigued me.
KA: You’re also a writer. Are you bringing anything about crime into your work?
RC: No.
Interestingly enough, those two things don’t mix for me.
I have no interest in fictional crime, just the real stuff, so
it’s not necessarily something I would write about.
The writing that I do is really more autobiographical.
It’s very personal, so you can see where those two things
wouldn’t cross over.
KA: Weren’t you
working one time on a one-person performance piece?
How’s that going?
RC: Yes, I still am and
it’s going well. I’ve
chosen very personal subject matter and the question is always “how
much do you reveal?” I kind of hit a roadblock when I came upon a
particular relationship that I think even now I’m still processing.
I’m still trying to decipher for myself how to fit that into
the whole fabric of my life, so I guess I did what any writer might
after suffering from a block for a while; I just leapfrogged over it
and wrote more in the current history.
I let present experience be fodder for my thoughts in the last
couple of years. I still
need to go back and force myself to confront this other…
(short pause) I
won’t say it’s unresolved, but not resolved enough for me to be
able articulate it to someone else.
At least, I’ve been able to conversationally, but trying to
grasp the breadth of it on paper has presented a huge challenge to me.
KA: It’s often
said that writing is therapeutic, but in this case, it’ll come out
only when it’s ready to and won’t be forced.
RC: Yes, I think so.
I think you’re right about that.
So, I continue to sort of till the more current soil and I’ll
get to that old patch of garden in the back there one of these days.
KA: Then the
question is going to be, of course, what are you going to do with it?
RC: Well, it’ll depend
on where I land. I’m
moving back to central New York State where I’ll be living near my
family. It’s funny.
Cincinnati is a conservative town and given the subject matter
of my piece, I had always worried that this would not be the place for
it to be revealed to the masses, but New York might be a different
matter. I’ll figure
that out once I get a sense of the lay of the land there and what sort
of venues are available to me or could I make available to me, that
kind of thing. The idea
would be ultimately to perform it.
KA: I had read that
when you’re not busy on camera or doing the convention circuit that
one of your hobbies is women’s issues.
I’m wondering if you could expand on that.
RC: I had a feminist
mother, someone whose views were not necessarily those of the crowd.
I think she was probably the lone ERA supporter amongst
conservative Republicans and I so admire my mother for that and for
instilling in me the awareness and the consciousness of my womanhood
and how my gender would present certain challenges and limitations.
Consequently, the seed was planted when I was very young and
yes, I believe very passionately in women’s rights and have been a
card carrying NOW (Ed. note: The
National Organization for Women, www.Now.org)
member for many years.
When I first moved to Cincinnati, somebody made me aware of the
need, if I were to reawaken my activist leanings, that this would be
the place to do it. I
decided to start volunteering at Planned Parenthood and got very
involved in the local NOW chapter, ultimately taking the position of
Treasurer. I was involved
in two significant projects we did in the last couple of years and I
feel very good about that.
I call Cincinnati an
alcoholic that doesn’t want to go into recovery.
It likes to think it’s this nice Midwestern town, but the
truth is it does have qualities to be ashamed of.
It’s pretty intolerant and somewhat beleaguered by fear and
an unwillingness to change. You
can get very apathetic about your beliefs if you live in cosmopolitan
areas like Los Angeles and New York because that’s not where the
battles need to be fought, but here in Cincinnati…
Did you know Cincinnati is the only, I think I’m stating this
correctly, it’s the only city in the country with an amendment to
its city charter that excludes gays and only gays from protection
against discrimination in housing and employment because the citizens
didn’t want to give anyone with a particular sexual orientation
special preference?
KA: That battle
has been fought in Michigan as well.
RC: I think that kind of
fear and ignorance is something to just be eradicated on all levels.
It’s just plain ignorance and there’s a lot of it here, and
so it was never a dull moment in terms of city politics.
I was always putting my foot in it at parties, but one of the
benefits of getting older is that you don’t really give a shit what
people think of you.
KA: You don’t
seem to be the type of person who could just sit there and be happy
not saying anything or not pointing something out if you saw or heard
something that you didn’t agree with.
RC: No, you’re right.
I would have a hard time sitting still.
You know, when I listen to people like Maya Angelou say that at
the slightest suggestion of an insult towards any particular ethnic
group or race, she will simply respond “Stop. Stop it!” and she’ll invite that person to leave her
home. I think that’s
wonderful and I think the world needs more like her.
I’ve really admired Faye Wattleton over the years.
For a while there she was a spokesperson for the woman’s
movement and reproductive rights and I admired her grace, elegance and
eloquence under pressure at the hands of people like Phyllis Schlafly
and others of the opposite view who are somewhat histrionic when
spouting out their rhetoric. She
(Faye) always
seemed to maintain calm and composure, in essence, making the other
side look very foolish. She
always made the more cogent argument and that, I think, is the
challenge.
I tend to get a little
too emotional. I feel so
passionately about so many social ills and I don’t know that I help
my argument if I ride roughshod over my opponent.
I think the best grease is gently applied and the best
persuasion comes softly and gently in order to get someone to see
something from a new perspective.
KA: From what I
understand, there’s a battle going on in Hollywood where many of the
actresses are saying that parts aren’t there for them once they hit
a certain age. I think
that’s a shame because a great deal of their talent is being
overlooked.
RC: Yeah, that did seem
to be a common refrain at the Golden Globes.
Nicole Kidman, I believe, said something to that effect,
“We’re good, so keep writing for us.
We are good.” She was so touched that they chose to honor
“The Hours” so many times over.
Yeah, but no, no, it still goes on.
We always think that if the problem is exposed, the issue gets
rectified. The exposure
is one step and then the battle seems to be ongoing.
It never stops.
KA: Turning the
conversation to “Star Trek” for a little while, I have to tell you
that the interview you did for the “Star Trek III” Special Edition
DVD really caught my attention because you gave the piece a jolt of
life that it was otherwise missing.
Now, you’ve said that playing Saavik wasn’t necessarily an
enjoyable experience because you emote so much in everyday life versus
how controlled the character is.
Was it any easier coming back for Star Trek IV?
RC: I think it was a
little easier because I was a year and a half older and a little more
relaxed with everyone and a little more practiced in that style of
acting. I sometimes poke
fun of it at conventions, that militaristic bearing and the evenly
cadenced sound of language. People
don’t speak in fits and starts in “Star Trek”.
Everything is well pronounced and evenly distributed; there is
no stutter. There is no
variance, no up and down the way there is in real life, so the more
you practice, hopefully the better you get at controlling that
tendency. A straight line
across the heart monitor would never be me.
I have a lot of enthusiasm and excitement about the most
ordinary things.
KA: I wish more
people were like you in that respect.
RC: You know, I don’t
know you can have it unless you’ve been given it.
I had a mother and father who had an unbelievable exuberance
and joie de vivre and
I think I was handed all that on a silver platter.
I’ve known people who did not come from any expression, so
consequently their weakest attribute was their ability to express.
Honestly, in this life, I can’t see the point of keeping much
inside. I tend to air on
the other end, which is to expiate too much.
It’s like “Robin, we didn’t need to hear that.
We didn’t need to know that much about you.”
KA: There was a
rumor at one time that Saavik might be pregnant with Spock’s child,
especially since she went through “Pon farr”
(Ed. Note:the time in a male Vulcan’s life when he is driven to
mate) with him. Was
that ever toyed with?
RC: It was never
discussed with me, not on any formal or informal basis.
Certainly I was just as much a…I don’t know if I can say
participant, but a receiver of the rumor and the scuttlebutt at the
time. People really
seemed to think Saavik’s pregnancy was going to be a great idea and
I got caught up in it. Not
that I expected it to happen, but just that I felt I had so little
knowledge of “Star Trek” and the fans seemed to have so much, I
thought they must know what they’re talking about and this is
obviously where this is leading.
However, that clearly isn’t where it led and it was a bit of
an adjustment for me. Nothing
serious in the scheme of life, however I was somewhat disappointed
about it, yet also relieved to see that “Star Trek IV” was such a
well-balanced piece and such a much more fun movie.
KA: They needed to
lighten up at that point.
RC: They did.
They did. When
people say they love “Star Trek III”, I look at them like “Are
you nuts?” I mean, everything about that film is depressing.
Of course, I’ve watched it again since then and I realize
that there was definitely humor present in that film, but for the most
part a lot of things die in it. It’s
about loss and endings.
KA: But it’s
also about beginnings. The
one thing that I saw in the film, and I was 14-years-old when it came
out, was that it was about life.
This is about friendship.
It’s about what people are willing to do and how far they are
willing to go for each other. I
kept thinking at that time and with the friends I had in high school,
how many of us would be willing to go the distance for each other like
that? Am I going to grow
up one of these days and have friendships that are that close?
True, it’s a film, but the heart of it is what friendship is
all about. I kept asking
myself “Am I going to have that one day?”
That’s what I got out of the film.
RC: You know, no one has
ever said that to me. I
think that’s lovely.
KA: The unfortunate
thing, and this is terrible for me to admit, but “Star Trek III”
is the one film I didn’t see in the theatre and the reason for it is
when someone told me that they blew up the Enterprise, I couldn’t
handle it. (laughing)
I mean, now that I’m older and not quite so geeky, I can
admit it.
RC: No, that was a big
deal at the time. That
was a dramatic choice for them to make, a creative choice, and
upsetting to a lot of people.
KA: Going back to
the theme of loss, you are one of the few people I’ve read comments
from about Merritt Buttrick (Ed.
Note: Merritt played Kirk’s son, David Marcus), who unfortunately
passed away in 1989. There
just doesn’t seem to be much out there about him, so I wondered what
your impressions were about the man?
RC: Oh, I liked Merritt
very much. He was very
kind to me and I think of everyone he had the most invested in the
fact that another actress had played the character (of Saavik), so it
was really him who I was most concerned about.
In that regard, he was very forthcoming and generous about what
sort of subtle dynamic they might have established between one
another, or the characters if you will, and to let me in on that in
case there was anything of which I wanted to partake or carry on.
You know, he suggested that their characters had a minor
flirtation, that kind of thing.
I remember he was very
playful, a very creative guy and I didn’t allow myself to really
enjoy him until close to the end of filming.
I was so anxious about doing a good job that I wanted to be
perceived as someone very serious and all that good stuff.
But, after several weeks, his tendency to sing and play and
joke around finally broke down my reserve.
I was blown away when I realized he was a character on
“Square Pegs,” that he had done such diverse work and had been
cast in so many different kinds of roles at that time.
He seemed like someone who was going to do good things and be
successful in the industry. It
was very sad to hear that he was ill and died of AIDS, very sad.
That was back in a time…not that it’s really changed all
that much, but when all of that was kept very secretive and I remember
feeling badly that his family didn’t allow there to be a memorial of
any kind. I think they
probably just wanted to keep it all very quiet.
KA: They didn’t
want his reputation tarnished at all?
RC: Yeah and that made
me sad at the time because it’s like a double whammy.
Not only have you lost a friend, but now you have the
family’s attitudes about how he died coloring the loss and acting as
if it’s something to be ashamed of when there’s nothing to be
ashamed of. It’s just sad.
KA: Speaking of
sad, you once described your role on Star Trek: The Next Generation as
“icky” because of Rick Berman and Michael Piller reacting to you
more as a set piece than as a human being.
Has that become the norm of working on a show like that or was
that an unusual experience?
RC: I don’t know what
that was about, but I do know about just the disconnect. There’s an idea that everybody assumes if you are a part of
Star Trek you’re now a member of a club, that you have a certain
cache, an entrée to the world and offices of those people and nothing
could be further from the truth, at least in my experience.
I’ve never received any kind of preferential treatment. My auditions for “The Next Generation” went just as
routinely as anyone else’s. No
one introduced themselves to me and no one extended themselves to me
as having been someone who was a part of Star Trek for many years.
When I did get the job,
I believe the only time I met producer Rick Berman and Michael Piller
was when we were all escorted over in a van from the set to their
offices in another building. We
were simply brought up there to have our “look” examined.
It occurred to me we were all escorted inside and outside and
no one ever said “Well, hello.
Welcome. It’s
really great to have you guys on board.” I went over with Julie
Caitlin Brown, Cameron Thor and maybe even Richard Lynch, the other
guest stars and it struck me how impolite the whole process was.
It felt like we were made to stand around like set pieces and
commented upon and not regarded as human beings who just got a job and
“won’t this be fun and blah blah blah”.
KA: And all four
of you have had extensive backgrounds, you’re all respectable
actors, so you would expect not necessarily preferential treatment,
but a “Hey, how are you doing?”
RC: Yeah, just an
introduction. “Hi,
I’m Rick Berman. They’ve
brought you over so I can get a peek at how you look.” You know,
whatever.
KA: The human
touch.
RC: Yeah, the human
touch, exactly. You know,
even if you don’t have warmth, the least you can be is respectful.
KA: Speaking of
Next Gen, you went to the premier of “Star Trek: Nemesis”.
How was it?
RC: Oh, I really enjoyed
it. I was actually in a
theatre in Baltimore at the Muvieco. Theatres there, wonderfully huge
theatres with babysitting services and…I mean, it’s just a really
super movie theater and they’re attempting to generate publicity for
themselves, enough to interest movie makers to premier their films
there on the site. It’s the most attended movie theatre location in the
country. More people walk
through their portals than anywhere else and I think that’s pretty
astonishing. They invited
myself and Spice Williams and an actor by the name of Jack Donner (Ed.
Note: Spice Williams played the character of Vixis in “Star Trek V:
The Final Frontier” and Jack Donner played Subcommander Tal in
the original series episode "The
Enterprise Incident")
to go and just be there over the course of the weekend.
KA: I’ve been
looking forward to this one! When
I was looking up information about you on the Internet, I came across
a pattern of films that I have to ask you about because I was cracking
up when I started putting it together.
RC: Oh, God!
KA: You’ve been in
“Scorpio One”, “Unborn II”, “Star Trek III”, “Star Trek
IV”, “Babylon 5”, “Bloodfist VI”, and “7th
Heaven”.
RC: You’re kidding?
(laughing)
KA: At this rate,
you’re going to have to star in the next “Halloween” or
“Friday the 13th” films to continue on with the
numbers!
RC: Oh, I had no idea!
Oh, God, you had me going there for a second.
I thought “Oh, my Lord, Kage is going to make my whole life
make sense to me now” and it turns out it was numbers, huh?
KA: I kept
thinking “Look at all these numbers…I wonder if they fit together. They do! That’s
so bizarre.”
RC: That is bizarre.
I never paid any attention to it.
Thank you for that!
KA: You’re
welcome.
RC:
(laughing)
KA: I know
you’ve answered some of this already, but what’s important to you
in your life right now?
RC: I think my immediate
focus is on this transition and just getting through dissolving
something and building something else and doing it as gracefully and
having taken as a high a road as I possibly can through this
disillusion and then beginning again.
I guess that’s my priority, to do better than to just survive
it, but to walk through it with grace and a generous heart and
smartly. Beyond that,
I’m choosing to have faith that all of this is happening for a damn
fine reason and that I’m going to be living a more authentic life,
and that’s not to get trendy with my word usage, but I do think I
allowed the trappings of life to kind of get a hold of me in a way
that I hadn’t before recently. In other words, I allowed myself to sort of bond to how the
rest of society measures what looks like a good life and I think now
that I really want
to get back to how it is I measure what is good and what is
successful and what makes me feel like I’ve brought something
to the table at the end of the day, that I made a contribution
somehow.
So as I go through this
change, I’m trying to do it as well as I can, but with the idea that
once I’ve physically achieved this transition that then I will
really be in a position to maybe begin again and to do it more
truthfully to my own spirit somehow.
Whether or not that’s creatively, whether or not that’s in
the arena of love or romance, whether or not that’s in the arena of
perhaps even being a parent at some point, maybe an unorthodox
situation where I have the opportunity to adopt an older child, I
really don’t know what life will hold for me, but I’m willing to
look outside the box. I
really let myself get caught up in a Midwestern lifestyle and I look
forward to kind of breaking away from that and, most importantly,
being self-sufficient. I’m
looking to kind of regain my independence so that I don’t make
decisions out of fear, but to make them coming from a position of
strength.
KA: You know, I
just want to say that your attitude sounds so positive and so healthy
coming out of this. I
just hope you hold on to that because I think you’ll succeed.
RC:
Thanks. You know, I
didn’t used to be able to reach out to other people.
If I was in a bad state, either depressed or blue or
experiencing failure of some kind, then I had a tendency to kind of
isolate myself a bit and not let on, but this time I’m telling
everybody. I want to be
able to lean on others. I
have felt moments of intense grief and panic and I’ve been stricken
with thoughts of “what will become of me?”.
If I share that and I let that out, it doesn’t stay for very
long and I’m back in the swing of things in no time.
This time that is the big difference, that I’m letting
everyone know I could use a hand, I could use the help, I could use a
kind word, a supportive gesture, whatever that might look like to you,
I’ll take it. (laughing)
Cuz I’m scared!
I’m scared and I don’t want to be.
That’s why I say I’m looking forward to making decisions
that don’t come from fear, but from a whole place.
KA: And the
future?
RC: We’re going off to
London this weekend, to Bournemouth, to a convention in the South of
England. That’s one of
the things that’s been so incredible about “Star Trek” and my
life anyway, is this enduring association and the ongoing fun and
adventure that I get to have. It’s been such a blessing.
KA: While we’re
on the subject of meeting fans, they tend to see their favorite actors
as larger than life and don’t always get a chance to see below the
surface at the person underneath.
What you would like your fans to know about you as a person and
as an artist when they think of you?
RC: I think if anybody has
met me, then I would hope that I dispelled any sense of separateness
and made it very clear to them that this experience is for me as
insightful and enriching as it is for them and it’s very much a
2-way street. I’ve
learned so much from the people I’ve met who just so happen to like
“Star Trek” and that’s the reason we meet, but I find with most
people if I have more than 5 minutes with them, we can take it beyond
that level to something very genuine and very real between us. My point is just that there isn’t anything I don’t think
that people don’t already know.
If they don’t, please ask, but I would also declare that
I’m learning as well and I’m getting to know them and I’ll
continue to ask about them and I see this as an ongoing relationship
that continues to delight me and teach me.
“Star Trek” has been a
friend and the fans have been a friend that have always been there and
now here I get to go off to England and have a good time and kind of
forget my troubles for a few days.
There will be other marvelous visits this year if all goes well
that are “Star Trek” related, so it’s given me a lot of hope and
a lot of solace over the years and I just hope I can continue to give
back a little something for all that it’s brought me.
My thanks to Robin for
allowing me the opportunity to speak with her so candidly as well as
share that side of her with readers.
While we wait for her return to the world of show business in
whatever form it may take, be on the lookout for her at your local
Sci-Fi conventions and be sure to check her out on Paramount’s
“Star Trek III: The Search For Spock” Special Edition DVD.
FEATURED COMMENTS:
Date/Time of Posting: Apr 29 2003
/ 09:57:12
IP Address: 212.56.83.30
name = Rabindra Hardeen
Email = rhardeen@uk.insight.com
comments = I have just read "1000 years of wisdom behind her
eyes," and I was at the Bournemouth Convention.That's where I met
Robin, your interview was by far the most interesting and well
informed that I've read with the very lovely Ms.Curtis.
It was the first time we met, but I thought she was
"WONDERFUL" and still do.
That same story on the D.V.D of Star Trek III about Christopher Lloyd,
"Beam me up" Robin told during her guest talk.I hope she'll
come back to England soon for another convention.
Regarding what she said about herself, feeling vulnerable and alone.We
all have the same inner fears and self doubts, but it takes a lot of
inner strength (which Robin has) to face them and deal with them.
Thank you again for a very good interview,let's have another soon
please with our Robin.
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