Karen Allen's performance in the Roundabout Theater's revival of Clifford Odets' The Country Girl seems willfully designed to shatter the strong preconceptions that surround this underrated actress.Long perceived as youthful, wholesome, spunky and spirited, Allen portrays Georgie Elgin, a bitter, desiccated cynic who must exert all of her energy to prop up her alcoholic husband, a former stage star who lost his talent, his will, his money and, along the way, his daughter. If the play is to work, Georgie must first appear to be the villain -- and Allen perfectly embodies stale dreams and rancor as she shuffles about in her oversized sweater and frayed shoes, her face devoid of makeup or emotion, and her mouth, which usually sprouts into a grin, set in a straight, grim line.
One theater insider who has worked with Allen several times called her "criminally underused and undervalued. She has the power and sensuality of a Debra Winger and the elegance of Anjelica Huston, but she's been trapped in these thankless roles where she goofily grins at the male star." He went on to say, "Someday soon, she'll be in some film where she'll blow everyone away and then win an Oscar. Then people can say they never knew she was so good. It must drive her insane."
Allen doesn't seem fazed by her typecasting. though. While she was a bit defensive when asked if she felt her image had hindered her in any way, she is, for the most part, grateful to have done as well as she has. She is most proud of her stage work, which includes tours of duty at the Williamstown Theater Festival and an award-winning performance as Helen Keller in William Gibson's Monday After the Miracle, a play that told the audience what happened after the Annie Sullivan student uttered the word "water."
Buoyant, clean-scrubbed and glowing after a day spent with her four-month-old son, the upper West Side resident settled down for coffee and conversation. She had requested that our interview be limited to 30 minutes. The time flew by effortlessly, for no one listens quite like Allen, who is very friendly and very intense. Dressed simply but colorfully in jeans and a large sweater, she looks 25, although her driver's license says 38. She speaks in a loud, clear voice, and honesty does not frighten her.
The Spirit: You seem to have a very strong, fixed public image. When your name is mentioned, a certain type of character instantly springs to mind, and that type of character is at odds with the role of Georgie Elgin. Do you find that perception a hindrance to you when you tackle a role that is so different?
Karen Allen: It's odd, but to tell you the truth I don't feel that I really have a strong public image. I still feel like a young actor, who is convinced that any role can be conquered, any character portrayed. And I really feel that I've had a good, varied career.
It's true that I received a lot of attention for Raiders of the lost Ark, and I think people at that time saw me as that character -- you know, tough. But I've also played a rather mundane woman in Split Image; a somewhat sweet, romantic person in Until September; a sexy femme fatale in Backfire; and Laura Wingfield in The Glass Menagerie, who is very frail and tortured. I think that's a pretty good spectrum. So maybe you're best known for the role you played in the biggest hit.
The Spirit: You play lots of dutiful girlfriends and fresh young things. Are these roles you sought? Is that how you see yourself?
Karen Allen: For reasons I can't explain I have been cast in roles that can be described as wholesome. And believe me, wholesome is not how I see myself. When I began acting -- in the theater -- I never played the ingenue. I always played disturbed tormented teenagers. So when I began going up for films, I was shocked to always find myself reading for the sweet young things or what I call "river-rat" roles like in Starman, where I never combed my hair or wore makeup or changed jeans. None of these roles -- the river-rat roles -- fit my perception of myself. But who can figure the business out?
The Spirit: There's been a lot of talk about your portraying Linda Ellerbee in the film version of And So It Goes. That would be a stretch for you. and a new kind of role. Acerbic, humorous. strong.
Karen Allen: I've heard that from several people -- even my mother, who read it somewhere. But no one has contacted me, so at this point I must just be in someone's mind as being right for the role. No one's spoken to me. Wish they would.
The Spirit: Did you have a particular goal when you first decided you wanted to he an actress? And have things worked out as planned?
Karen Allen: I went about becoming an actress in a very slow manner. When I was in high school, it never crossed my mind in be interested in dramatics. In high school, I really turned myself into something of a tough. I wore black leather and smoked cigarettes, and the kids who were in drama class were not the ones I hung out with.
The Spirit: You were beating them up?
Karen Allen: (Laughs) Oh no. I wasn't really tough. I played at being tough. I postured tough. And my goal was to be a designer.
The Spirit: A tough designer.
Karen Allen: Right. And when I first came to New York -- I had been in Washington, D.C., in high school -- I went to the Fashion Institute of Technology (F.I.T.). I had always been taken with shape and color and playing with yarns and fabrics. Well, the kids I was in class with were extraordinarily hip and talented and on the cutting edge. They could just sit and sketch designs and they knew so much and they were rich and fashionable. I was nonplussed. So I quit. I just couldn't keep up.
The Spirit: So you then went into acting?
Karen Allen: Yeah, I went back to Washington, D.C. There was a small group of actors in their 20s, run by a man who had experience with Peter Brook and Grotowski, and I spent five years with them, producing, directing and acting. And then I felt a part of the business, although it turned out later that I really wasn't, but the feeling was important. Others from the group have done well. Cotter Smith [TV's Equal Justice] and Caroline Aaron [Crimes and Misdemeanors, Edward Scissorhands).
The Spirit: After your five years with the group, did you then come to New York?
Karen Allen: Yeah, and I was lucky enough to be working right away. I was very lucky, and within three or four months, I was working on a film.
The Spirit: Was that National Lampoon's Animal House?
Karen Allen: Yes, and I was so lucky. I was very broke and I was taking classes at Lee Strasberg's Institute and I saw a 3 X 5 index card on the bulletin board advertising for college-aged girls for a film. That was Animal House.
The Spirit: Did you have an agent?
Karen Allen: No, I don't think any of us did. It was the first film for most of us. Tom Hulce, Kevin Bacon, Peter Reigert, James Widdoes. This film really made us all.
The Spirit: And you've never really had any problem finding work since then, have you?
Karen Allen: No, knock on wood. I've been really lucky, although if I had it to do all over again, I would have developed myself more in the theater before going into films. But I had no money and the offer to go into films was a godsend.
The Spirit: So you never really gave films any thought?
Karen Allen: None at all. When I first came to New York, I only thought of being a theater actress -- someone who paid the rent from doing what she loved to do. I had no ambition toward working in films because I didn't know anything about them.
The Spirit: Is there a character you'd like to play in a film? A character no one has ever thought to offer you before?
Karen Allen: Yeah. Carson McCullers [The author of The Heart is a Lonely Hunter and The Ballad of the Sad Cafe]. I even started writing a screenplay about her once. I would love to play a part like that. Outwardly, she was so gangly and seemingly wholesome, but inside she was very twisted and dark and tortured. I would love to play that part.
The Spirit: I understand you recently had a child.
Karen Allen: Yes, a son. His name is Nicholas and he's four months old.
The Spirit: How has his birth changed your career ambitions?
Karen Allen: Well, my support system is now all about getting enough rest. I just want sleep. For instance, last night was the first night in about ten weeks that I got a full night's sleep. I also think that having a baby will crystallize things for me; simplify things. I don't really know yet. I'm taking things slowly.
The Spirit: Do you have any films coming up that we should know about?
Karen Allen: Yeah, I'm very excited about Sweet Talker, a film I made in Australia with Bryan Brown. It's set in a tiny town in South Australia and it's very sweet and mythological in a way. I fought to play the part I was given as an Australian, but the director was adamant on my playing it as a displaced American. The film should be out by Easter.
The Spirit: What would you like people to know about Karen Allen?
Karen Allen: That they should just keep watching. I have a lot of other things to show. Surprises.
Copyright © 1991 The West Side Spirit