BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. _ During their struggling years, actors often hold down all sorts of odd jobs. But Scottish actress Julie Graham's was unique. She worked in a strip club in London's Soho. Not as a stripper, she's quick to add.
"I worked in the reception. The club was called Pussy Galore. It was in a place on Brewer Street. I really loved the strippers," she says. "They were so kind to me. A lot of them were young mothers, and they would do things like bring me little food packages because they knew I didn't have much money ... "
Graham was only 18 when her mother, actress Betty Gillin, died of cancer. Her father wasn't in her life, so she was on her own. "What happens to you, you just get on with it," she says.
"It's the confidence of youth where you think, 'I've just got to do it. I've got to get on with it.' I don't think you're scared so much when you're young because it's a new world, and also I had no money, but I worked in a lawyer's office in the day."
She had applied to drama school, but was offered a part in a movie and never looked back. "My drama training was actually doing it. It was a baptism of fire.
There's nothing like learning your craft on the hoof," she says in her Scottish lilt.
"When I started working in theater _ which was the majority of my work first _ I watched so many actors who I really respect _ who also hadn't gone to drama school. And my mum hadn't gone to drama school either. So for me, it wasn't so intimidating. I think drama school was more about sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll rather than actually learning," she laughs.
Her own form of dramatic training came from those around her. "The strippers would say, 'Come out for a drink with us.' And I said I didn't have any money. They said, 'You don't need any money.' And they'd take me out, and I'd end up in some drag club until 4 in the morning in some terrible basement filled with these fabulous drag queens who were just SO interesting," says Graham.
Today she's applying all that "schooling" to her latest role as a former World War II code breaker in "The Bletchley Circle: San Francisco," streaming on BritBox. As the prim Jean McBrian, she joins her wartime colleagues in adapting their keen analytic logic to solving a series of murders in San Francisco.
Growing up Graham saw the downside of the acting profession by observing her mother. "I think I'd had a good grounding because I'd seen it wasn't all sunshine and roses and it's quite a tough profession, and there's a lot of rejection, and a lot of time being unemployed," she says. "I guess I had a good basis in reality, whereas a lot of people think you're going to be rich and famous. And that's not why I wanted to do it. I just wanted to tell stories, I guess."
The mother of two girls, 12 and 14, Graham has co-starred in shows like "Survivors," "Shetland" and "William and Mary." And while she feels life experiences enrich us, she's endured more than her share of tough ones.
Not only did she lose her mother at such a young age, her ex-husband hanged himself three years ago. "It was really hard for my girls," she says, pausing.
"They knew that their dad had problems. They were very aware that he had issues and problems, so I think that they'd already coped with a lot to do with him. And, of course, they were devastated and, of course, it absolutely rocked their world. But they had me, so I knew they would be OK. It's been a long, rocky road, but I think we've come through it," she says.
"We talk about him a lot and they're starting to remember the good times and forget about the bad times. So it's a process. It's always changing for them."
But it's not changing for her. Six months before her husband ended his life, her best friend died suddenly. "We were very, very close ... One minute she was there and the next minute she wasn't there. And that really changed me. It changed me for the better because it made me live in the moment. It was so shocking. She left behind two young children, one of them is my goddaughter and that, to me, just changed everything because I realize life can change in the blink of an eye," she says.
"My husband's death wasn't a surprise to me. It always seemed inevitable in a way, but with her, she was such a life force, vibrant, sexy, intelligent, fierce. She was Irish and my hero, and all of a sudden she was gone. It made me appreciate everything so much and career and getting old, and all the things you worry about became less important."
FOX TO LAUNCH A UNIQUE SINGING COMPETITION
Borrowed from a South Korean hit, Fox will be bringing "The Masked Singer," to TV screens in January. This is not your father's singing competition. No, this includes a mysterious twist: Who is that masked man (or woman) singing their hearts out? Yep, the competitive singers _ all celebrities _ will be camouflaged from head to toe so the judges, audience and fellow competitors won't know who they are. One of them will be eliminated each week until the big reveal. Ken Jeong, Jenny McCarthy, Nicole Scherzinger and Robin Thicke will serve as the judges; Nick Cannon will host.
A NEW SPOCK WAITS IN THE WINGS
It must be in the blood. Gregory Peck's grandson, Ethan Peck, will climb aboard the Starship Enterprise when "Star Trek: Discovery" returns to CBS All-Access next year. Peck will play the phlegmatic Mr. Spock, following in the footsteps of the great Leonard Nimoy and later Zachary Quinto. "We searched for months for an actor who would, like them, bring his own interpretation to the role," says executive producer Alex Kurtzman.
"An actor who would, like them, effortlessly embody Spock's greatest qualities, beyond obvious logic _ empathy, intuition, compassion, confusion and yearning. Ethan Peck walked into the room inhabiting all of these qualities, aware of his daunting responsibility to Leonard, Zack and the fans, and ready to confront the challenge in the service of protecting and expanding on Spock's legacy." Among Peck's credits are "10 Things I Hate About You" and "Madam Secretary."
FX WILL SERVE UP ANOTHER 'SHOGUN'
FX will have another go at James Clavell's best-selling novel "Shogun," serving it up as a 10-episode limited series. Clavell's book was published back in 1975 and NBC launched it as a miniseries starring Richard Chamberlain as the dashing sailor John Blackthorne, who finds himself adrift in an alien culture. The great Toshiro Mifune played his nemesis in the original, which went on to establish the miniseries as a viable form for television. No casting for the remake has been announced, but filming will take place in the U.K. and Japan. It will premiere next year.
