Career Paths Pt. 2

Why are the British such excellent actors?  I mean, have you ever seen a performance by an English thespian and said to yourself: "Boy, they really can't act."  I'm guessing it's either a flat out "No" or you're going to have to really rack your brain to think of one.  I mean, even with their famous reserve; and you can see it when you're watching--they still manage to be completely, authentically emotional.  Americans, on the other hand, go running around on stages and in front of movie cameras trying to relive personal trauma to make their acting more "real" and "authentic" while the Brits just sort of go out there and do it without all the fuss and usually out-act their American peers.  Just an observation. 
​And we might observe the young lady above.  She is Jenny Agutter.  She's British.  This a still of her as "Jessica 6" in the 1976 movie, Logan's Run.  Pretty stunning.  And that costume.  She's completely nude beneath it (if you watch the movie, it's quite apparent).  But she's entirely unselfconscious about it.  That is quite apparent too. Now, Ms. Agutter does not strike me as an exhibitionist.  It's more like she said: "Oh, I got cast in this movie about a city full of people who rather run around naked.  Well, I suppose I ought to get comfortable then."
But before I get into more about Ms. Agutter I wanted to examine something that came up in part 1 of this blog.  In the opening credits of Makin' It, there's one of those special credits at end.  You know, like: "...and Carol Channing as The Beaver."  In this case it's "And Lou Antonio as Joseph Manucci."  Lou who?  Why did Mr. Antonio warrant this special credit.  Did I miss something (and I watched a lot of TV)?  If anyone, it was Ellen Travolta who should've received the special credit.  And what about the other actors listed in the cast?  Let's take one, for example: Denise Miller.  Was this the height of her fame.  If it was, why?  Why didn't she go on to the movies and entertainment stardom.  What separates one actor from another?  What is it that takes Tom Hanks to the stratosphere and Peter Scolari to the entertainment hinterlands when both of them were equally good (and I would argue Peter was cuter and funnier than Tom)?  Was it because Tom was taller?

This is an interesting clip; and my hat is doffed to the person who actually had the time (and the interest) to put it together.  It's every actor who "Guest Starred" on the 70's detective show Cannon.  Sure, you've heard about many of them; know who many of them are.  But I would say a good three-quarters of them you'll say?  Who?  You'd never heard of them before Cannon and then you never heard of them after Cannon:

It starts to sound like a high school graduation roll call to oblivion.
But back to Jenny...
OMG, I forgot all about Walkabout​!  

Jenny was just a teenager when she appeared in this 1971 film.  An arthouse hit at the time, which led to Logan's Run.  But after Logan's Run, Farrah Fawcett was the actor from that movie that went on to super-duper-iconic-stardom.  Jenny must've gone back to England.  So, it was five years until she did Werewolf.  She and David Naughton had off the charts chemistry.  So what happened?  I guess we'll never know for sure.  Is it simply fate and luck in conjunction that determines who makes it to what level?  Maybe Jenny simply didn't care whether or not she became a Big Star.  There are people out there like that. Also, Walkabout is a fantastic movie; somehow forgotten now.  I urge you to see it.  And Logan's Run (which is a bit dated but still fun).
I had a friend and room-mate when I lived in Los Angeles.  He was an actor.  He got ​cast in a "featured guest star" role (like all those actors in the Cannon clip) on a show called Reasonable Doubts.  It starred Marlee Matlin and Mark Harmon.

He was a featured guest star.  His name was in the opening credits.  And then...nothing.  He just gave up.  All I ever heard about was his aspiring acting career and wanting to be a star and then he actually gets himself on a major network TV show; and then nothing.  I was actually kind of pissed at him.  Do you know how many actors and aspiring actors and wannabe stars get nowhere close to that point?  Do you know how many actors ever get beyond "extra" (if they're even able to get to that point)?  The answer is: next to none.  Apparently after all those years of struggling; Reasonable Doubts was the apex for him.  But the thing is, he didn't struggle all that long.  A couple of years before that Doubts gig.  Nah, he gave up too soon.  I'm still pissed at him.  I'm kind of pissed at myself too.  All those years of living in L.A. and I never pursued "the acting thing."  It was a submerged desire that I'd submerged because frankly, I had friends who, in a way, actively discouraged me from it.  And I listened to them.  It's amazing what a few well placed doubts from a "friend" can do to you.  It wasn't until I left Los Angeles that I started acting on a regular basis.  Ya live ya learn, I guess.

Actually, in researching this, I've come across a lot of "cheese-cakey" pictures of Jenny.  Maybe she was a bit of an exhibitionist.  Or I think more comfortable with nudity (and not afraid to use it to her advantage).  Hey, if you've got it, flaunt it!  She still works.  Currently she's playing a nun(!) on the PBS show Call the Midwife.  But there's something about her other than a gorgeous body and pretty face.  There's a magnetism.  Watch anything she's ever done.  She steals every scene she's in without even trying.  Your eyes are constantly drawn to her in any scene.  She has "It."  She has The X factor by the bucketload.
Her birthday is December 20th.  So that's it.  She's a Sagittarius.  Well that explains it all then, I should think.  She simply didn't want to be a Big Star. ;)