INTERVIEW: ‘Dark Shadows’ legend publishes new edition of Marcel Marceau book
Photo: Dark Shadows actor Kathryn Leigh Scott releases new edition of Marcel Marceau book. Photo courtesy of the artist / Provided by Glass Onyon PR with permission.
In the game of six degrees of Kevin Bacon, it may seemingly take a long time to figure out a connection between mime artist Marcel Marceau, who was born 100 years ago on March 22, 1923, and the Gothic soap opera Dark Shadows. It turns out this is an easy game to play because Kathryn Leigh Scott, who portrayed both Maggie Evans and Josette DuPres on the cult classic TV show, is an enormous fan of the legendary mime. The connection runs through Scott’s former husband, Ben Martin, whose photographs populated the book Marcel Marceau: Master of Mime.
Now, anticipating a year of celebration for all things Marceau, Kathryn Leigh Scott, who is a publisher and writer herself, has decided to release a new edition of the book, featuring an introduction by Anne Sicco, Marceau’s widow. If buying the new edition of the book isn’t enough, the National Arts Club will also host an exhibition of Ben Martin’s photographs until April 28 at their New York City venue. In the book, there are more than 300 photographs that Ben Martin took of Marceau, according to press notes. Theirs was a relationship that began with a magazine pictorial in the mid-1970s and blossomed into a lifelong friendship.
To talk about all things Dark Shadows, Marceau and book publishing, Kathryn Leigh Scott, a Minnesota native, recently exchanged emails with Hollywood Soapbox. In addition to that paranormal soap opera that continues to attract fans, she is known for her roles in The Eleventh Green with Campbell Scott, Three Christs with Richard Gere and TV’s The Blacklist. Her own books include September Girl and Dark Passages, among others. Questions and answers have been slightly edited for style.
What inspired you to re-release this new edition of Marcel Marceau: Master of Mime?
I wanted to reissue Marcel Marceau: Master of Mime as a tribute to the legacies of both the legendary mime, Marcel Marceau, and Time/Life photographer, Ben Martin, who collaborated as friends and fellow artists to create these stunning photographs of Marceau behind the scenes, rehearsing, applying makeup and performing. Anne Sicco, Marceau’s widow, has written a beautiful foreword to the book. I can’t think of a better occasion to reintroduce the legendary mime to new generations than the centenary of his birth, March 22, 2023.
How influential was Marceau and his art? Do you see that influence in 2023?
Marcel Marceau created “Bip” — the white-faced clown in bell-bottom pants, sailor’s pullover and crumpled flower opera hat — that continued a century old tradition of pantomime. Just as Marceau was influenced by Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton in early cinema, Michael Jackson borrowed his signature “moonwalk” from Marceau’s “Walking Against the Wind.” The art of silent acting lives on in the best of today’s actors, who know how to express emotion through body language and facial expression.
When did you first realize you wanted to write and publish professionally?
When I was 8 years old, I commandeered my mother’s clunky Underwood to plonk out adventure stories and a play about Martha Washington that my second-grade class performed. I played Martha, of course, and gave myself all the good lines. Acting and writing have always been twin careers, and I need both in my life. Writing is solitary; acting is a shared endeavor. What’s more, I know that my writing informs my acting and vice versa.
Do you look back fondly at your time on Dark Shadows?
My dear friend, Lara Parker (Angelique on Dark Shadows), said it best: “Imagine that your first acting job is one of the best you’ll ever have.” True! Dark Shadows gave us the opportunity as young actors to play different characters in several different time periods in costume drama, learn the ropes from our company of veteran actors and work each day on a new script with great directors — how good can it get? And we worked “live!” Whatever the mistakes we made in one episode were quickly forgotten as we began a new day with a new script. The irony is that those mistakes live on in endless “blooper reel” replays!
How did you first get attached to Dark Shadows? Was it an audition?
I auditioned about four times, the first time at Dan Curtis’ office with Louis Edmonds and Nancy Barrett in the waiting room with me. My final audition was a camera test with Mitch Ryan and another actor to determine who would play Burke Devlin — it didn’t occur to me at the time that I must have the role of Maggie Evans and was auditioning two actors for the role of Burke!
Why do you think Dark Shadows is still so popular among fans?
It comes down to the creator of Dark Shadows, Dan Curtis, who drew on great literature (The Picture of Dorian Gray, Wuthering Heights, Jane Eyre, etc.) and chose to have his cast function like a repertory company playing multiple characters in different time periods. He nurtured his dream and wasn’t afraid to take chances. When the series was almost canceled after 13 weeks, he introduced a vampire and discovered there was an audience for paranormal fantasy and romance at 4 o’clock in the afternoon. Bless him, he was one of a kind.
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
Marcel Marceau: Master of Mime, featuring the photographs of Ben Martin, was recently re-released by Cumberland Press. Click here for more information on the book. To learn more about the National Arts Club exhibition of Ben Martin’s photographs of Marceau, click here.
