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Redbook
- 14th July, 1988
Interview with
Stephanie Beacham
Audiences
know her as the scheming Sable Colby on "The Colbys" and from
her appearance in the ABC miniseries "Napoleon and Josephine: A
Love Story". But few people know that actress Stephanie Beacham has
been completely deaf in her right ear and quite deaf in her left ear
ever since birth. And yet, the successful actress and mother of two
girls - Phoebe, 13 and Chloe, who turns 10 in March- refuses to let her
disability interfere with her busy life. Below, Beacham talks frankly
about her handicap.
Redbook:
How does your deafness affect you on a day-to-day basis?
Beacham:
Well, it causes me to get headachs more often then some people do. I
have to concentrate more intently when people speak. I always have to
position myself on their right side so that I can hear out of my left
ear. I sometimes get a crick in my neck from listening. But I don't
there's too much else.
Redbook:
Social interactions must be more difficult for you. How do you cope?
Beacham:
I genuinely enjoy talking one-to-one. I have no shyness about that. But
I am completely confused in a room full of people. I don't hear a word
anybody says. I'm not able to enjoy parties for that reason. I'm very
happy to go to a nice, loud, noisy concert where nobody can hear
anybody. But I find that cocktail-party situation, where I am expected
to make conversation, most difficult. I mean, you will find me in the
broom cupboard talking to somebody. I'm the one by the backdoor-I am not
the one in the middle of the party.
Redbook:
Do people interpret your behavior as shyness or aloofness?
Beacham:
Naughtyness, actually. Nobody thinks I'm shy. People just think I'm a
beast. I sometimes cut people off dead, not knowing that they have
sopken to me. I have been accused of rudeness.
Redbook:
How does your deafness affect your work?
Beacham:
Once, I appeared on a television program and the host said something to
me that I heard as "Is your hair all right?" I said, "I
don't know. You're looking at it." And he said, "Oh my God,
you really are deaf, aren't you?" I said, "What do you
mean?" And he replied, "I just said, 'Can you hear all right?'
" But as far as my work is concerned, I see no impediment, and
various advantages, to being deaf. My deafnes doesn't stop me-infact, it
aids concentration.
Redbook:
Were the people you worked with on 'The Colbys' sensitive to your
problem?
Beacham:
They got uesd to me sort of shifting around to their right. Obviously,
if there was a camera setup of if a director had a special reason for
wanting me on the other side, there was no problem. I mean, we'd do it.
But during dramatic scenes, particulary those I did with Charlton Heston,
he just accommadated himself whichever way I wanted to go. He was a
darling.
Redbook:
Do you read lips?
Beacham:
I do, but I'm not very good at it. I took some classes in sign language
when I was in my early teens because I was told that I would be
completely deaf very early. But I never really wanted to learn. And I
was lucky enough not to have to, because complete deafness never came to
pass. Nothing is going to improve my hearing. I've only got to prevent
it from getting worse.
Redbook:
You have two sisters and one brother, but you were the only one in your
family born with a hearing problem. Were you treated exactly like you
siblings?
Beacham:
Oh, good heavens, yes.
Redbook:
Was nothing made of your deafness as you were growing up?
Beacham:
No, I don't think my parents made much of it. Mummy and Daddy just
brought all of us up with an amazing attitude, which is, "You are
capable of doing anything you want to do." They set very high
standards on everything. But I don't think they were too worried about
me. They never said, "You must do this or you'll never make it
life." Make it in life? What is "making it in life?" I
think our parents simply looked at the glow in out cheeks. Being happy
and cozy is all my mother cared about. When we're all around her and she
is really happy, she clucks like a chicken and says, "Now isn't
this cozy?" That is her criterion for anything. Grandness? No, she
is not interested. "Cozy" is the word.
Redbook:
Did other childern ever make fun of you because you couldn't hear?
Beacham"
Yes. To this day I will not be called Steph. I can't bear it "Steph's
deaf."Children are desperately cruel, aren't they?
Redbook:
Did your parents think it odd that you decided to become an actress?
Beacham:
I remember I was in a play in London, and Mummy and Daddy came to see
me. Afterwards they came backstage. Daddy became silent, and Mummy said,
"Darling, what are you thinking?" and Daddy said, "You
know, I think that Stephanie is every bit as good as a real
actress." But the important thing to them was always that their
childern be happy.
Redbook:
Do your parents live in England?
Beacham:
Yes. Daddy is 80 and Mummy is not far behind. She's so vain, I won't
mention how old she is. She's gorgeous. She puts her lipstick on when
she hears Daddy comming down the stairs. They're retired and live in
Dunster, In Somerset.
Redbook:
Has your hearing problem made dealing with your daughters difficult?
Beacham:
Yes. They always want to be on my left side, because they know that when
I ask, "Would you like some ice cream?" the one on my left
side is the one whose answer I will hear. So they fight over my left
side.
Redbook:
What do you do when you see this happening?"
Beacham:
I put my handbag on my left side and I say, "Walk by yourselves,
then, if you can't discuss this properly." It makes me sad that
they should think of me so disabled that only one side of me is any
good. Sometimes they say jokingly to each other, "Oh she can't
hear. She's deaf." You know that type of thing. But they're good
girls. They help me whenever and however they can.
Redbook:
You and your husband Johe McEnery, who is also an actor, are seperated,
not divorced.
Beacham:
A few years ago, if I had decited to obliterate his memory, and marry
another man, I suppose I would have divorced him. I decited not to do
that. I went through the hard years. And now I don't really think that I
will get married until the girls are secure. I've senced tensions in
other homes where the woman had remarried. It's too hard on everybody.
I'll live without. I'm not that keen on it.
Redbook:
How often do the girls see him?
Beacham:
Whenever they want, whenever it's possible. They adore him. And quite
right, too. He's their father.
Redbook:
Are you basically on good terms with each other?
Beacham:
Yes, he's a dear friend. It's weird. You go from love to loathing to
hate to resentment, and then it all fades out and hopefully you're left
with friendship.
Redbook:
How has the seperation affected your relationship with the girls?
Beacham:
I am both Mummy and Daddy to them. I am the breadwinner, and I am the
protector. I am the person who buys the bandages as well as the person
who put's them on their knees. I think that sometimes that we are almost
too close, actually. They sometimes compete for my affection.
Occasionaly one of them will say, "Mother, you don't really love
her. You really think that I'm the prettiest." I only hope that I
have my mother's ability to make each of my children feel special.
Redbook:
Is it true that, before you decided to become an actress, you wanted to
teach deaf children?
Beacham:
Yes, I wanted to teach dance. I'd studied ballet and mime, and i wanted
to help people. I could always "hear" the music, especially
through my feet. Vibration is a much greater part of hearing the people
realize. I can not remember even thinking that I was deaf when I was
dancing. One of the reasons I wanted to teach deaf children was because
it made me very sad that they spoke so clumsily and that they moved with
less grace that I knew was possible of deaf people. And I thought,
"I know that I can teach them to dance through the bass notes on a
wooden reverberating floor." I was convinced thta they could learn
real rhythm. There's no reason why they shouldn't understand waltz time,
three-quarter time. It was a youthful dream, but I still think it could
be done. It doesn't really take any amazing amount of effort. It takes
good strong soundproofing, a wooden floor and a really sensitive
teacher.
Redbook:
Now that you 've starred on TV, do people recognize you on the street?
Beacham:
It depends on where I am. Some do, and they stop me and say hello. But I
don't need the attention.
Redbook:
How do you feel when you are approached by a fan?
Beacham:
Well, if they want to say something nice, how can that be awful? When
"The Colbys" was on the air, there was a period when I would
get hissed at on the street because people didn't know how to relate to
me, I suppose, but they wanted me to know that they recognized me. More
recently it's been much nicer. People just sort of tap me on the
shoulder and tell me how good I am. And that's great.
Redbook:
Is stardom something you aspire to?
Beacham:
Aspire to? It's something in that, in the past, I've consciously
avoided. And now I think that, if it were offered to me, I'd be churlish
to refuse.Wher I was twenty years old very firm about being a serious
actress, not a film star, because it seemed that stardon required too
much exposure of flesh, too much talk from people in business suits, too
much talk generally about things I didn't understand or didn't seem able
to relate to. Now, I feel, well, if I can't relate to something, that's
all right-I'll get somebody who can translate for me. What I mean to say
is that I'm old enough now and confident enough now not to be frightened
of any of the possibilities life might offer. Also, I think it's rather
silly to be half-famous, so let's be utterly famous.
Redbook:
Do you ever worry that your deafness will prevent you from achieving
your dreams?
Beacham:
No. Actually, I consider myself pretty lucky. It doesn't exactly stop
me, does it?
By
Linda Konner |
