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ANNE LOUISE LAMBERT |
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- Some heated 1970s press and publicity for the soap opera starlet - |
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Actress
Anne Lambert was born in Brisbane in 1956 and began her career as a soap
starlet in roles that capitalised on her youthful good looks and sexy image. The lissome lovely first
gained prominence in 1973 as the very brazen bed-hopping nymphomaniac Sue
Marshall in Number 96. The role lasted several weeks
and called for the nubile starlet to appear semi-nude in several scenes. Anne
Lambert was then cast as Peggy Richardson in Class of ‘74. In a
teasing move, her schoolgirl character was nicknamed “The Iceberg” by other
characters in the show due to her prim and proper ways, while heated
publicity promised viewers that as the series progressed Peggy would come out
in a big way. Whatever it was that this coming out entailed, Class of ‘74’s early evening timeslot meant that Lambert would remain covered-up
this time. Lambert
then shot to international stardom after playing Miranda in Peter Weir’s
classic film Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975), though the recognition
the role brought probably had more to do, again, with Lambert’s ethereal blond
loveliness than her dramatic range. After this role it was back to sexy TV
roles, and Lambert joined The Box playing the “sexy and
promiscuous” Trish Freeman for six months in 1976. [1] After this Lambert eventually travelled to the UK, where she found that
another actress was operating under the name Anne Lambert, so thereafter she
became known as Anne Louise Lambert. Despite
the instant recognition that Picnic at Hanging Rock brought, Lambert’s subsequent
movie work has been sporadic. She would take a leading role in Peter Greenaway’s first film, The
Draughtsman’s Contract
(1982), and appear on stage in Sweet Bird of Youth opposite Lauren Bacall. Through the 1990s Lambert appeared in several
Australian features, including Lillian’s Story (1995). Heated
Publicity
In 1974
Anne Lambert spoke to the Australasian Post magazine and mused over the
vagaries of soap opera fame and spoke about the upcoming storylines in Class of ‘74. “I’m not
allowed to tell people what’s going to happen in future episodes,” she told Post.
“So if you’ve heard that I’m going to be turned into a sexy tart then you can
say that if you want to, but don’t say you heard it from me.” Lambert then
chatted about the nude scenes she was required to do in Number 96.
“It was never a complete strip for me though. I usually took off only my
blouse and my bra and even then I think I had my back to the camera most of
the time.” she said. “I was amused by that back-to-the-camera instruction I
always had when I was doing a semi-nude scene. I think they had my back to
the camera because obviously I’m no Raquel Welch as far as my bust line goes
and the directors must have thought I didn’t have enough to show off, so it
wasn’t worth showing!” [2] Lambert
goes on to explain that she firmly believes an actress should be called on to
disrobe only where it is essential to the plot. “If I read a script and I see
they’ve got me down to get my clothes off in a scene where its
totally unnecessary, I’ll go straight around to the producers and put up an
argument against it,” she said. “I won’t strip unless its
a natural action according to the scene concerned.” [3] Despite this steadfast attitude,
Lambert was later cast in another sexy soap with nude scenes, The Box.
Unfortunately for Lambert, this role would require bedroom scenes and nudity.
On signing with the series Lambert told TV Week “I have seen such scenes in some
previous episodes and I thought they were handled well. I hope mine will be
handled modestly”. [4] Lambert
insisted that the fame and adoration generated by her Class of ‘74 character was much easier to cope with than the reaction her Number 96
character elicited from fans. Of her Number 96 character Lambert told TV Week
“Sue was a particularly nasty character and people used to come up to me in
the street and abuse me, as Sue, for all the things I’d been doing,” she
said. “It became a bit exasperating when I couldn’t get away from my working
life. I wasn’t artistically fulfilled after the role and I guess I became a
bit disenchanted with the idea of acting,” she told TV Week.
[5] Of the Number 96
workload Lambert explained to Post that “It was a tremendous change
from the way I’d lived before, but luckily my boyfriends were very
understanding about the whole thing. I don’t think it must be much fun going
out with a girl from Number 96. For a start, the working hours
and rehearsals take up a lot of time and its just
not possible to have two late nights in a row,” she said. “It’s a bit the
same with Class of ‘74, but for some reason the general public
don’t treat you like freaks if you’re from ‘74. But if you’re from 96 they
just stop and stare at you as if you were something behind bars in a zoo.” [6] Obviously
those classy ‘74 viewers are far better behaved than the sex-mad 96ers! |
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Page originally uploaded May 2000 Last updated 13 November 2008 |
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