THE MICHELLE PHILLIPS INTERVIEW, PART ONE
By Arthur Swift and questions from members of KnotsLanding.Net
December 19, 2003
Michelle Phillips has had many identities in her lifetime. Model, international pop singing phenomenon, 60s culture maven, a veteran of tabloid-style romances in the 70s, frequent episodic television guest star, mother of another international pop star, and dramatic actress and comedienne. The last two definitions came to fruition on six seasons of Knots Landing. As Anne Matheson, Phillips “crossed the barrier” and dazzled audiences with her timing, range and wealth of ideas for the comic vixen she played. As young and captivating as she was nearly 40 years ago, Phillips reflects from her home in Los Angeles in this exclusive chat, featuring questions from Knots Landing Net members.
Arthur:
So you filmed an episode of 7th Heaven last week. How did that
go?
Michelle
Phillips: It went well. I’m going to be
doing two episodes. In the first episode I had one long scene
with Catherine Hicks, I play her half-sister. And the second
time is not the next episode but I’ll show up for the
one after that.
AS:
Are you playing the same character as you did before?
Michelle Phillips:
Yes.
AS:
What have you been doing this year, professionally?
Michelle Phillips: Ahh, not much. (Laughs) This has
been a very slow year. I did a movie called Harry and Max, which
is in major competition at Sundance. It’s a little independent
film. I read the script, liked it, but it’s a very small
part. Again, it’s really only one long scene but that’s
fine with me.
AS: Why’s that?
Michelle Phillips:
Oh, you get in and out of there. (Chuckles) Last year I did
a movie called Last of the Pershing Point Hotel which was also
a small part but I loved the part. I played an abusive mother
to her grown daughter, and that ended up winning a lot of awards
around the world. I like being in movies that are big and commercial
but these small parts are just as good because they enhance
your credibility.
In February I’m going to South
Africa to film a documentary about a plant called Marula. Marula
creates something that can be used in liquor called Amarula.
It’s really funny, the company Brown Forman from Kentucky,
which has one of the largest distilleries in the world, they
have Jack Daniels and Finlandia Vodka, invited me to come down
there to Kentucky and present an award. And this is the horsey
set, very genteel, and they were having a dinner honoring the
newest breeders and suddenly they said, “We’re making
a documentary about a liqueur named Amarula and maybe you’d
like to be a part of it.”
And the more I looked into it, the more
fascinating it became. Amarula comes from the Marula and it
is picked up off the ground and only women in these remote tribes
are allowed to touch it. Women wait for the fruit to drop and
then it’s taken to a Cape Town distillery. In this documentary
I’m hosting they wanted to emphasize it changes the entire
economy at the time of the year when the Marula starts to drop.
It’s basically a story about the economic impact of Marula
on these small tribes. So I’ll be there in February when
the Marula starts to drop. And we’ll be in the middle
of Kroger National Park with elephants and all the big animals.
AS: Will this be an industrial film?
Michelle Phillips: I don’t think they know yet.
It could be that.
AS: Sounds like something that could
go on The Discovery Channel.
Michelle Phillips: Yes, exactly. I know they’re
going to have showings in LA, New York, Toronto and London so
it might very well turn up on The Discovery Channel. In any
case, it works in with my personality. I love to travel and
I love to drink. (Laughs) Of course, I’m saying that a
little tongue in cheek.
AS: Of course. Let’s take some
questions from around the world for you about Knots Landing
and maybe about another thing or two you did in an earlier life…
Michelle Phillips:
(Laughs) I’m ready.
Tommy Fairgate from Miami Beach,
Florida asks
“First let me say how much I've enjoyed everything you've
done in your career from "The Mamas and The Papas"
to Knots and beyond. What was the back-story to you being hired
to play Anne Matheson? It was perfect casting and you played
the part so well. Were you brought back in the role of Anne
to fill in the blonde void Abby left?”
Michelle Phillips: As they were developing a crisis
between Mack and Karen, a young woman came to the door and said,
“I’m your daughter.” Now Mack and Karen were
the social backbone of the show so it was pretty shocking that
he knew nothing about this girl. But her story was pretty convincing;
he knew her mother, was in love with her, had an affair with
her but when he left her he didn’t know that she was pregnant.
After all these years, this young woman returns.
Chynna Phillips was brought in to read
for the role of this person. She was 18 at the time and looked
about 11. They liked her but they didn’t think she looked
old enough, so they cast Nicollette (Sheridan). However Chynna
being there got them to think about me. Nicollette was six months
into the role and it was time for Mom to appear. David Jacobs
took me to lunch one day and said, “We have written a
part for you.” He said she was a wealthy Easterner and
had a child with Mack. I said that this was great but the problem
was I had never seen Knots Landing. “You’ve never
seen Knots Landing?” he said. He was stunned! So this
lunch was on a Thursday and he told me, “Well, I’m
going to have the last two episodes sent over to your house
and the third one is on tonight so maybe you can catch three
hours of the show and see what you think.” And I watched
the three hours and I was completely hooked into it.
I had never been signed onto a series
before and in this case they wanted a five-year contract, so
I was a little nervous about that. But I came on the show and
loved the process. I loved the character they wrote for me.
In a way, though, I think I might have done too good a job playing
Anne. With Mack and I there was definitely some chemistry and
it definitely scared the shit out of them. I think they thought
that Anne could really damage that marriage and they didn’t
want to go that route. So what happened was that Mack did a
180, one minute we’re practically making out and the next
he says, “I want you to go away” and boom! I was
gone. (Laughs)
But it’s true when Donna left they
wanted to fill a void and other things were going on. After
my one season on the show they made my contract null and void.
AS: You had a five-year contract though.
Michelle Phillips: Well, they have to do that to hold
you but then they have the right not to pay you if they’re
not going to use you. So I wasn’t in the entire next season.
But one day Nicollette came into David Jacobs’ office
and said (in whiny Paige voice) “I want my Mom back.”
And I remember it very well in the season after that I was in
Idlewild and I got a call from my agent and she said, “They
want you to come back to Knots Landing” and I was so happy
that I wept.
AS: Was that the time you had that classic
droll line, “Yeah, and I’m the Queen of England.”
Michelle Phillips: (Laughs) Yes it was. What was that
in response to again?
AS: When Paige said that Greg Sumner
loved her and was going to marry her, you said, “Yeah
and I’m the Queen of England.”
Michelle Phillips: (Laughs loudly) Oh, right, right.
I remember that. One line that I absolutely loved was one that
I wrote and it was at my father’s funeral. I was wearing
this Thierry Mugler suit, very tight at the waist, very Anne,
and Paige says, “Mother, the least you can do is cry”
and I said, “I don’t cry, it ruins my makeup.”
(Laughs heartily) And I got that from a Kirk Douglas movie called
Ace in the Hole. There was a great actress in that whose name
I don’t remember who said at one point, “I don’t
pray; it runs my stockings.” Do you remember who that
was?
AS: (Laughing) I don’t, but I’ll
look it up.
Michelle Phillips: I remember I was at dinner sitting
next to Kirk Douglas and he had just converted to Judaism and
everyone was talking about religion. They were talking about
Catholicism and “I was raised a Baptist” and then
they asked me what I was. I replied, (in Southern accent) “I
don’t pray; it runs my stockings.” And Kirk remembered
it! Here is this obscure line and he knew it.
AS: I have Leonard Maltin’s 2002
Film Guide right here and it was Jan Sterling who said that…
Michelle Phillips: Jan Sterling, yes.
AS: In Ace in the Hole aka The Big Carnival,
1951.
Michelle Phillips: That’s it. So there were times
I changed whatever the script said and the great thing about
the writers was that you could call them up and say, “I
want to change this” and they were fine with it. With
William Devane I wouldn’t even bother to learn my lines.
He’d just rewrite the script as it went along. He’d
tweak it and add lines and almost always make it better.
AS: I’ve heard that a lot about
the writers which is surprising because you’d think writers
for ego purposes would want to keep their text intact.
Michelle Phillips: It wasn’t a very writer driven
show like that.
AS: Not like Aaron Sorkin then.
Michelle Phillips: Not at all. And certainly not like
Esther Shapiro who created Dynasty. I heard this one time when
Joan Collins had to wear a negligee. And Joan wanted to wear
a black negligee for the scene and Esther Shapiro said it had
to be purple. Joan said, “No, I’m wearing black,”
and when it came time for the scene, she had black on. Well
Esther sees this in the control room and comes marching down
to the set and said, “Get one thing straight. I’m
Alexis, not you! Wear the purple.” (Laughs loudly) Esther
Shapiro had to have a lot of balls to say that to Joan Collins.
AS: There’s actually a second part
to Tommy’s question and here it goes… “Also,
the scene when you were homeless and in the department store
and the clerk wouldn’t finish your makeup and you had
to be asked to leave was worthy of an EMMY, I can’t imagine
a Linda Evans or Donna Mills ever trying a storyline like that.”
Michelle Phillips: Well, I can’t either. I was
given such a broad palette as Anne. I was allowed to do almost
anything. I remember the first time I posed nude was when Mack
was supposed to find these pictures of me in my place. And I
had never posed nude before but the producers said (the pictures)
will be very tasteful and nice and it turned out to be that
way.
As for the homeless story, it had been
in the news, we were reading about how these women in Beverly
Hills were three bad decisions away from sleeping in their cars.
So with Anne they made this wonderful storyline where they stripped
away all her glamour. And for the first time it made people
feel sorry for Anne. (Laughs) Her daughter wants nothing to
do with her. I can vividly remember this scene where I’m
pleading with her at the door. But Paige for once is standing
up for herself. I’ve embezzled her money, flirted with
her boyfriend and she’s saying, “I’m not going
to take this anymore.” It was a very frightening moment
for Anne. She goes to a shelter and sees her reflection in the
window and there is this haggard old woman. When I did that
scene I was so overwhelmed that the tears streamed down my face.
I remember that was done by a great woman director.
And when she goes into either a Saks
Fifth Avenue or Neiman Marcus to get her face washed. Any woman
would feel the grave humiliation of getting one eye done and
not being able to have it finished. She pleads with the woman
doing her makeup to do the rest of her. Do the rest of her.
It was such a very powerful moment.
Shari
from Clermont, FL asks
”Besides money, which was probably was Anne's driving
force, what did you as an actress bring to the character that
the writers didn't or couldn't see for Anne as they wrote her?
I really enjoyed you on the show, and LOVED you at the Rock
and Roll Hall of Fame. Thank you Michelle, you are an amazing
lady! “
Michelle Phillips: I gave Anne a back-story that was
not written. I told them what her back-story was and filled
in a lot of the gaps. There was this one episode where we were
all wearing flowing gowns and you learn that Anne’s father
tried to buy Mack off with $5,000. You learn that I was so controlled.
By that point I was not a child and yet the father was willing
to pay him off. And what I tried to get across is that she and
her father had the closest thing to an incestuous relationship
as there was on the show. Maybe it didn’t go as far as
sex but her father was clinging onto her and this suggested
something wrong. I think a lot of Anne’s abhorrent behavior
came from that, actually. As the original victim of something,
Anne was not the product of a healthy and loving family. I grew
up in a loving home but the way Anne was written it was a strange
relationship with her father. Very few fathers are so controlling
of their daughters. I think there was something sick on his
part.
AS: I never thought of that interpretation
before. You would make a good script doctor.
Chris Sumner
Matheson from San Antonio asks
“As Anne on Knots Landing, we got to see many different
sides. The bitch, homeless Anne, bad mother Anne, and my favorite,
scheming Anne. Which was your favorite to play?”
Michelle Phillips: I loved the scheming Anne and I loved
the Mother from Hell. I think those were my favorite ones to
play.
AS: You were also Nice Anne for a while,
too.
Michelle Phillips: Nice, yes, but not for long. I remember
that scene when Anne tells Paige that she has just married Greg.
Now the audience knows that Paige is the love of his life and
there is this look on this poor woman’s face; there’s
shock, sadness and anger. And then I can’t forget the
look after when Anne says, “Well, you dropped the ball.”
And Nicollette had a look of such disgust; it was great!
Towards the end Anne was getting her
style back. Do you remember what happened after I married Greg
and she found out she wasn’t pregnant?
AS: Wasn’t there a pretend miscarriage?
Michelle Phillips: Yes, Anne was willing to risk her
life by riding a horse at breakneck speed just to prove she
had a miscarriage. They asked me, “Do you ride a horse?”
And I said, “Yeah, kinda.” So they said, “Great.
Time to get on this horse.” They put the camera in front
of the horse and I rode it as fast as I could go. Then they
had the stuntwoman take the fall.
Anne was a woman who would get her way
one way or the other. She got out of being homeless by posing
as a model for Benny. That whole story prompted my second nude
sitting.
AS: So you actually posed nude? This
wasn’t some effect?
Michelle Phillips: No these were real nude photographs.
And because of them I got into a big fight with the production
office. The office submitted them to Vanity Fair. Vanity Fair
called me and said they loved the photographs and wanted to
publish them. I wasn’t happy because this wasn’t
done with my permission; I was posing for the show not for a
magazine. But Vanity Fair was a high-end magazine and I didn’t
think it was the worst thing. Well, Vanity Fair then decided
they weren’t going to run any more nude photos after the
controversy with Demi Moore posing nude when she was pregnant.
I thought this was over but then a couple
of weeks later I heard GQ had the photos and they were going
to run them. I thought, “GQ?! How did they get them?”
It turns out that Conde Nast owns both Vanity Fair and GQ so
the photos were passed from one magazine to another. Now, Vanity
Fair would have been fine but GQ is this men’s magazine
and I didn’t like that at all. It’s almost as bad
as posing in Playboy. I begged Art Cooper, the editor of GQ,
not to run them but he said, “No, we’re going to
run them and you’ll like them; they’ll be fine.”
I tried to get Lorimar to stop Conde Nast from running them
but I realized they were all in cahoots and my contract was
up for renewal so what was I going to do? Lorimar wanted the
publicity and they didn’t step in. And it didn’t
help that I signed a contract that said any pictures I posed
for on the show were the property of Lorimar. It pays to read
the fine print.
AS: So did the pictures run?
Michelle Phillips: Yes they did. There was a full-page
picture that made me look like a Greek goddess, but it was tasteful,
no nipples, no pubic hair. I was nervous about my Dad seeing
this but he said, “You’re cuter than the day you
were born.” (Laughs)
AS: Well, that doesn’t sound too
bad then.
Michelle Phillips: No it wasn’t. The spread was
titled “So this is what 49 looks like” and they
had a few really nice pictures inside. I just didn’t like
the way it was all handled but I’m not mad about it now.
AS: Sounds like a collector’s item.
Maybe I’ll start checking on eBay…
Michelle Phillips: (Laughs) Yeah. I have it here.
Pearsonsf from San Francisco
asks
“Is there a storyline that you wished they had done differently?”
Michelle Phillips: Yes, the ending. I wanted something
more than her going off to Monaco. Kathleen Noone and Lorenzo
Caccialanza and Michelle Phillips … didn’t like
that rivalry. It never seemed solid. It didn’t have the
kind of realism that was there in my relationship with Paige.
And certainly not with Karen. I remember scenes when I moved
into the cul de sac and I used to leave messages for Mack, (in
a dopey voice) “Mack, can you tell me what Trash Day means?
I don’t know what it means.” And one time Karen
says to me, (in defiant Karen voice) “Trash Day means
you put your trash on the curb. You don’t need my husband
to help you with Trash Day!” I loved that; so funny.
AS: Michele Lee spoke very highly of
you when I spoke to her. She called you “a good broad.”
Michelle Phillips: Oh that’s very nice of her.
I loved when she directed me. She could look at a scene and
milk it for all it’s worth. For example, she’d say
to me after reading a script she was directing, “They
have you and Nicollette in the kitchen having this conversation.
But how would you like to do the scene in a bubble bath?”
And it really worked. The first time I kissed Lorenzo on camera
she was practically down our throats. It was almost a dream
state. I’ve done a lot of kissing before on screen but
the way she filmed that may have been the best. The way she
moved the camera around gave her directing substance.
Alex Wade
from Ferndale, MI asks
“Michelle, two comments and a personal question. One,
throughout college my friends and I listened to the Mamas and
the Papas incessantly - and that was in the early 1990s. I think
what we responded to was the unadulterated joy in the music.
Now, my second comment, which sort of relates. In the beginning
of your tenure on Knots, the character of Anne was sort of a
miserable neurotic bitch, but ultimately what made her so completely
lovable was her joyous nature. It looked like you were having
the time of your life playing her. Were you? And personally,
how do you continue to cultivate such a joyous lust for life
that is reflected in nearly everything you do - (even when playing
a Mermaid on Fantasy Island)?”
Michelle Phillips: (Pausing) Well, I appreciate all
those kind words. I loved the character. I was able to lose
myself in the character of Anne Matheson. I think I do have
a joie de vivre. I was raised by my father, my mother died when
I was very young, and I was raised by a man whose philosophy
was that you should have the best time that you could possibly
have. He was extremely adventurous and fun and good natured,
and he tried to cultivate that side of my nature. I had a very
happy childhood and I’ve been very lucky. I was lucky
to meet John Phillips at 17 years old. He taught me how to sing
and perform and how to love making music. I was very lucky to
meet Aaron Spelling. He put me as an actress on TV for the first
time.
After Dillinger, I was not getting anything
and I really needed work. Aaron set me up with Death Squad.
I didn’t even read for the part but Aaron liked me and
so did Candy, that’s very important, and I wound up doing
every one of his shows. Originally I had not thought of doing
TV work, there was a stigma attached to it back then, and I
was reluctant. I remember getting the script for Fantasy Island
and Chynna was 10 or 11 at the time and she said, “Are
you going to do this?” And I said, “No, I don’t
think so.” And she said, “Why not? You really should,
she’s a mermaid.” And I said, “Really? Maybe
I will do that.” I played the mermaid named Nyah in three
different episodes. Then they offered me The Love Boat and I
resisted that but when I found out that this was a boat that
actually went somewhere, like Fiji and Australia, I said I want
to be part of this! So I wound up doing every show he did. Let
me get rid of this lurker. (Clicks off to take a call waiting;
after 5 seconds returns) Aaron Spelling gave me the opportunity
to learn my craft and I took the advantage; I worked and worked
and worked. After doing 7 episodes of Hotel David Jacobs saw
me and that led to Knots Landing.
I knew things were changing when I went
to this thing called the Rock and Roll Sports Spectacular and
there was this popular teen actress at the time who had seen
all these Movies of the Week I had done and said she really
liked my acting. The group Boston was sitting right by us. This
little redheaded girl, whose name I wish I remembered, said
she was doing an album. She said, “It’s awful; it’s
so hard. It’s so much harder doing an album than acting.
You have no idea.” And the band Boston was there snickering.
She just went on and on about hard it was to do an album and
I’m replying, “Really? It’s that hard, huh?
You don’t say? I didn’t know that.”
AS: That’s hilarious.
Michelle Phillips: The actress had no idea what I had
done before. But I was glad – I crossed that barrier I
guess. (Laughs)
Freddy
from Rhode Island asks
“Hi, I first saw you as Abby Malone on Beverly Hills 90210,
I liked you as her and I really liked you as Anne. My question
is, when is your movie about the Mamas and Papas coming out?
Are you making progress with it, I know I would love to see
it.”
Michelle Phillips: Abby Malone was another very good
role to play. We are making progress with the movie. They have
picked up our second option at Fox and we’re in the process
of looking for a director. You don’t want to get too confident
about things like this because ultimately the movie might not
get made. But Fox and John David are committed to making a romantic
musical.
AS: It’s going to be a musical?
Michelle Phillips: Well, that’s what it is, don’t
you think? I mean, it’s not like the cast is going to
be breaking into song like in Chicago but there’s going
to be a lot of music in it so therefore it can be called a musical.
It’s a very complex love story – my marriage to
John, my friendship with Cass, Cass’ love relationship
with Denny, John and Denny’s friendship and my love relationship
with Denny and the consequences of that. It’s kind of
Grecian in scope: love and friendship and betrayal and forgiveness.
AS: Why is it taking so long then?
Michelle Phillips: Things like this take time. It took
almost two years to get the deal done for acquiring all the
rights. Some chucklehead had said he had the rights to John
(which held things up). Of course they waited until John Phillips
was dead to make this claim. You know someone once said to me
that films aren’t made, they’re willed into existence.
I’m beginning to really believe that. (Laughs)
AS: Have you done casting for it yet?
Michelle Phillips: Oh no, not yet. By the time this
actually gets filmed whomever we’ve chosen would be too
old. There’s a very small window for these actors. They’d
either have to be in their early 20s or late 20s or in John’s
case, early 30s. I doubt there will be any “names”
attached. We’d need people really, really young to make
the kind of mistakes we made. You’d have to be able to
feel the naïveté.
Ren from Portland, Oregon asks
“Aside from your acting career, I've always enjoyed your
talent as a singer. Any chance we'll get to hear you sing again?
Do you still enjoy singing? Do you ever miss the four-part harmony
you were a part of in The Mamas & Papas?”
Michelle Phillips:
I doubt I would ever sing again professionally. I’m a
group singer. That was the hardest work I ever did in my life.
To get that sound, to do what we did, took every eyelash out
of my eye. I was the least experienced in the group and I was
required to learn parts that professional singers would find
hard to do. I was thrown into the pool. The first time I ever
sang with the Mamas and the Papas was at the Hollywood Bowl.
AS: Yikes.
Michelle Phillips: I remember I was scared to death
as I was waiting in the wings and I heard the announcer say,
(in a grandiose voice) “And now … the Mamas and”
(simulates vomiting). And Cass said, “Honey, it’s
too late for that, now let’s go.” (Laughs loudly)
AS: (Laughing) Oh that’s great.
I don’t remember that from your autobiography.
Michelle Phillips: (Continued laughter) When you sing
in front of 18,000 you really get an education. I never got
over that stage fright either, I don’t think. That’s
why I don’t really do plays. I did The Vagina Monologues
but that’s about it.
AS: Well, do you ever sing around the
house or anything?
Michelle Phillips: Oh yeah, I love to sing. Just not
really in public.
AS: I remember when you sang on Knots.
Michelle Phillips: I never did that.
AS: Yes, you did “When the Red,
Red Robin Goes Bob, Bob, Bobbing Along.”
Michelle Phillips: Oh right! (Sings) “When the
Red, Red Robin Goes Bob, Bob, Bobbing Along…” I
love that song.
AS: You were bringing breakfast in bed
to Greg Sumner and what was great about the scene was how they
didn’t shoot your face and we only heard you. Part of
the mystique that was very effective.
Michelle Phillips: Yes, it was. And of course there
was the scene with “Dedicated.” Mack and Anne having
their tete a tete.
AS: A lot of people would say that was
the most famous scene you were in on Knots.
Michelle Phillips: What was brilliant about that scene
was how the music comes on and you hear my voice at the perfect
pivotal moment. At first they suggested having “Dedicated”
on in the background and I thought this was the stupidest idea,
and I said no. When it came time to filming the scene and we
were going through it I called up and said, “This is the
best idea I’ve ever heard. Please put the song in!”
It was great as we were filming it that the camera pans over
the Mamas and Papas album cover very briefly, but enough to
see it. Kevin and I actually kissed in that scene but they cut
it. Beth Brickell directed that, great episode.
AS: The Block Party … you were
listed in the credits but weren’t in the actual show.
What happened there?
Michelle Phillips: I was working, I think. I remember
that. I would have loved to have been in that.
AS: So you weren’t cut from that?
Michelle Phillips: Oh, no. They wouldn’t have
done that. Now being cut from the reunion, that would have been
another story… (Chuckles sardonically)
AS: There’s a question about the
reunion coming. Let me move that up.
John Mello
from San Antonio, Texas asks
“Michelle, I think you were wonderful on KN you and Nicollette
really had a chemistry. Were you ever happy with the direction
that Anne took in the reunion? It seemed off. Like almost a
new character.”
Michelle Phillips: (groans) They didn’t know what
to do with me so they just stuck me in there.
AS: You were turned into this strange
comic relief. Annie the Psychic.
Michelle Phillips: It was a mess. It happened too quickly.
They really wanted Nicollette to do the reunion but she didn’t
want any part of it. She wanted to do feature films. I remember
calling her and saying, “Come on you have to do it.”
After all, this is the part that made her famous. So she was
in it but was only in that one scene in the beginning.
AS: And she was uncredited.
Michelle Phillips: Uncredited? Oh, dear. She obviously
really didn’t want to be in it then. Another problem was
that there were too many of us in there. You can’t do
a Knots Landing reunion in two hours and try to catch up on
everyone there. And I don’t even think Kevin Dobson was
in the reunion.
AS: Yes he was there.
Michelle Phillips: Really? Because he was doing a series
in Canada so maybe he did the movie on a weekend. (Laughs) I
don’t remember him there. There wasn’t one person
who was happy from (the reunion) from what I saw. They didn’t
bring Lorenzo back, which was a bad idea.
AS: Do you think there will be another
reunion?
Michelle Phillips: No.
AS: You say that so quickly.
Michelle Phillips: Because it’s true. It didn’t
work and more importantly, it didn’t get the numbers.
If it got the numbers they would have had three of them by now.
Minimarty from Australia asks
“Hi Michelle,
During your time with The Mamas and the Papas you must have
met a lot of cool musicians. Was there any one artist that you
met who left you gobsmacked or left a lasting impression?”
Michelle Phillips: Janis Joplin certainly pulled me
out of my complacency. I didn’t know who she was when
I saw her at Monterey Pop. But she was on stage with a bottle
of Southern Comfort or Wild Turkey. And she was singing the
blues. I thought only black chicks did that!
I met Frank Sinatra. I met Elvis. Elvis
was so sweet; we went backstage to see him in Las Vegas, John
and I and Annie Marshall. And Elvis said, (in Elvis voice) “I’m
so glad you came to see me. I think you guys are the best. I’m
so honored that you’re here.” And I’m like
‘What?!’ The King is honored to meet me? (Laughs
uproariously)
And then Cass Elliot, Denny, John and
I are at this club and this woman comes over to me and says,
(in a lilting Southern voice) “You and Cass sing like
angels. You’re the best thing since white bread.”
John comes over to me later and says, “How do you know
Dinah Shore?” (Laughs) I had no idea who she was! Hey,
I was raised in Mexico, I missed out on things like that. (Laughs
more)
Petey Hollister
from Fayetteville, AR asks
“I recently read in Helter Skelter, Vincent Bugliosi's
account of prosecuting the Manson family, that you were interviewed
by the police about the crimes. Being only 26, I obviously wasn't
around during that strange summer of '69, but I am more than
a little fascinated by the subject. Can you tell us what it
was like living in Hollywood during the months before Manson
and his girls were caught? Was there rampant paranoia? Were
members of Hollywood royalty really as terrified as Helter Skelter
makes them out to be?”
Michelle Phillips: I didn’t read Helter Skelter.
I did not want to read any more details than I already knew.
(Pauses) Last week I walked all the way up Cielo Drive for the
first time in 34 years and went to where the house is. It’s
a different house, I know, but that’s where it was …
yes, there was rampant paranoia, unspeakable pain, terrible
horror. I walked up halfway before but this was the first time
in 34 years that I went all the way up and it made me cry. (Pauses)
But I really can’t talk about this.
AS: I can understand. The emotions must
still be raw.
Michelle Phillips: Very raw … Very raw. I …
went to a funeral last year and was standing in this cemetery
and I realized this is where Sharon (Tate) and the baby were
buried. I wondered where they were buried and thought about
looking for the grave. Somehow I then looked down and there
they were. I almost fainted. But that’s really all I can
say. I can’t talk about this.
AS: Before we go, let me ask you: do
you have a favorite song that you sang?
Michelle Phillips: Oh, let me think. “My Heart
Stood Still” I really loved. “My Girl”. “Go
Where You Wanna Go.” And then there was (sings) “Fools
rush in, so here I am, Awfully…” (Remembering) Glad
to be Unhappy. I always liked Creeque Alley, too.
AS: How wonderful to hear you sing. This
has gone so well -- I’m thrilled that you’ve taken
all this time to speak with me today. I’ve never done
this before, but what do you think of finishing this up at another
time? After two hours you probably want a break. (Laughs) I
still have questions I didn’t get to so if you’re
up for it, we can do this one more time…
Michelle Phillips: Sure. Why don’t you call me
at the end of February when I get back from South Africa and
we can continue.
AS: All right then. So dear readers,
come back in February 2004 for Part Two of the Michelle Phillips
Interview. Thanks, Michelle. This has been my favorite Knots
Landing chat.
Michelle Phillips: Why thanks very much. I had a lot
of fun doing it.
AS: Happy Holidays to all! And to all
a good night.
Very special thanks to Knots
Landing Net members for their questions.
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Copyright KnotsLanding.Net 2003
Arthur Swift is a journalist and screenwriter. |
