AND HERE’S TO YOU, MS. HALL

On the eve of her Houston run in The Graduate, Jerry Hall talks about the play, her Houston ties, and her famous ex

by Bradley David Williams

Jerry Hall is bemused that people forget she was famous before she ever met Mick Jagger. The modeling icon, now divorced from Jagger, is in the process of ensuring she’ll be remembered for much more than being Sir Mick’s mate. The 47-year-old mother of four (ages 5–19) has been garnering attention for her acting, including a six- month run in the London production of The Graduate. She is currently starring in the play’s first U.S. tour, which comes to Houston’s Hobby Center, September 23–October 5.

Hall also has two movies coming out, including the Ismail Merchant film Merci, Docteur Ray, which stars Vanessa Redgrave and was the closing night feature at this summer’s New York International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival.

With her one-of-a-kind accent—an exaggerated Texas drawl punctuated by frequent British phrasings and pronunciations—Hall recently talked to OutSmart about everything from playing Mrs. Robinson to coming home to Texas.

OutSmart: How is the tour going?

Jerry Hall: Great. We’re here [in San Francisco] until September 7. Then we’re going to San Diego for a week, then Austin for a week, then Houston for two weeks, and then L.A. for three weeks. I’m just doing California and Texas, for like three months, because they’re BIG.

OS: You’ll be back in your home territory.

JH: Yeah, I can’t wait. I [originally] come from Gonzales—all my family is down there, so they’re going to all come to Austin.

OS: Do you ever get home to Mesquite?

JH: Yeah, my mom lives near there and my twin sister and my sister Rosie, and I go back once a year. Last year I did the Vagina Monologues in Austin and they all came.

OS: Do you have friends in Houston?

JH: Yeah, Lynn Wyatt I’ve known a long time, and my agent Neil Hammel, who’s been my agent at Ford Models for years—he’s from there, so he’s got some people giving us a party. There’s a woman—I can’t remember her name, but she is called in the papers “the new Lynn Wyatt.” I’m sure Lynn Wyatt doesn’t appreciate that too much…

OS: Maybe Carolyn Farb?

JH: That’s her, yeah, she’s giving us a party.

OS: How did you get the part in The Graduate?

JH: I had done an off-Broadway play, Bus Stop, like 12 years ago, and it had gone to London. And then the people who were producing The Graduate—I had gone to see it; I saw Kathleen Turner in it and I was laughing my head off—they sort of saw me there and thought, “Hey, what about her?” They asked me to audition, so I worked with an acting coach and gave an audition and got the part, and I was thrilled about it. And since then I’ve just been doing lots of plays, one after another.

OS: OK, every interviewer must ask you about the nude scene in The Graduate.

JH: I’m not completely nude—I have on high heels [laughs]. But it’s quite daunting the first time. But I did it for six months, so I sort of got used to it. It’s a funny part in the play. It’s sort of an essential part of the story really; they couldn’t take it out, unfortunately.

OS: Do you remember the first time you saw the movie with Anne Bancroft?

JH: I saw it ages ago, and I loved it. It’s a fantastic movie, because it’s about an older woman who’s sexually empowered, and she’s considered attractive. And the movie is one of the funniest movies of all time. But this has been turned into a play, which is a separate entity, and it’s written and directed by Terry Johnson, who specializes in comic plays. So the play is actually funnier. It was a book, then a movie. The play is based more on the book, although we do take some of the funnier scenes from the movie and incorporate them.

OS: Being a supermodel, you must have been around gay men your whole life.

JH: I went off to Paris when I was almost 16 and lived with three gay guys for two years. Antonio Lopez—he started me—he was a fashion illustrator, and I lived with him and two other guys. Antonio and Juan have passed away, but Paul is a painter and I just saw him—he came up and saw me in rehearsals. We’re still great friends. Yeah, we had some great times in Paris in those days [giggles]. I just did a movie with Ismail Merchant, which was just shown at the Gay and Lesbian Film Festival in New York. It’s called Merci, Docteur Ray, and it has a great cast, including Diane Wiest and Vanessa Redgrave, who is fabulous. I love her.

OS: Wasn’t there talk about you doing an American version of Absolutely Fabulous?

JH: There was, yes. I think it was Roseanne Barr that was putting it together. I would’ve loved to have done that, but Mick kind of put his foot down about that and said he didn’t want me to sign this long contract where I’d have to be in L.A. for years with the children and all that.

OS: Are you still spending most of your time in London?

JH: Yeah, I live in London, because my children go to school there. We’ve been living there quite a few years now. When I got a divorce, I wanted to move to Austin. I went there and looked for houses. I love Austin.

OS: Now, you have another connection to Houston—a certain movie that was filmed here quite a while back.

JH: Yeah, I did Urban Cowboy. That was fun. For the premiere, we had a big party at Gilley’s. My sister Cyndy was in Urban Cowboy with me. We’re in bed with John Travolta.

OS: And you also knew Fred Hughes, who was mentored by Dominique de Menil before he left Houston for New York and started his career working for Andy Warhol.

JH: Fred was one of my best friends. We were great friends for a long, long time. I loved Fred. And of course I knew Mrs. de Menil. I’ve been out to the de Menil’s museum in Marfa about three times. I love it there. I go on holiday—Mick and I and the children, we’ve been quite a lot on holiday down to that West Texas ranch, Cibolo. We love that.

OS: Growing up in the middle of the Bible belt, did you have to go to church on Sundays?

JH: Oh yeah, and our grandmother was constantly telling us, “Idleness is the devil’s workshop.” Maybe that’s why I work so hard.

OS: Your acting career is really taking off. Do you aspire to be a big movie star?

JH: I think having aspirations is a very important thing, and I aspire to be a better person every day. I think that’s the most important thing. Acting, I love. I love doing it. I love comedy. It’s instant gratification. With comedy you know when it’s working because they’re laughing, and this play is just so full of laughs. I mean there’s triple, quadruple laughs. It’s just so exhilarating to see this play.

OS: Can Jerry Hall sing?

JH: I’ve never sung [publicly]. I like singing, but it’s not something I’ve ever gone into. But I do my vocal warm-ups and I sing Crazy every night before I go on.

OS: Any plans to write another book?

JH: Well, not for the moment. I’m too busy living in the moment. I’m in my second year of a university degree, so I’m having to write a lot of essays at the moment.

OS: What? You’re going to college?

JH: Yeah, I’m working towards a humanities degree through The Open University in England. I’m doing it because I want my children to go to university. Because my eldest daughter, Elizabeth, she finished school and started modeling young like I did, and she said, “Well, you did…,” you know. And she’s got a three-year contract with Lancôme. I’m really proud of her. But I wanted my other three to go to university, so I thought, I’ll set an example and go myself and show them that it can be fun. And in the process, I’m really enjoying it.

OS: There were reports that Mick wasn’t happy about Elizabeth becoming a model so young.

JH: Yeah, he wanted her to finish her education, to have more options. But he’s very proud and amazed at her success. And she’s financially independent at 19, and so he’s quite impressed with that. She says she’s going to do like me [and go to college later]. She might go next year and do some art courses.

OS: Are the kids traveling with you?

JH: I had them with me. They’ve just gone off to visit their dad. He’s on tour too, with the Rolling Stones. They’re in Amsterdam at the moment.

OS: Do you and Mick talk on the phone every day?

JH: Yeah, we talk about the kids every day, and we’re very, very friendly. We get along really, really well. We love each other dearly, and we’re very committed to being good parents.

OS: Do you think you might get back together down the road and grow old together?

JH: Well, I don’t know. I mean, he’s a big womanizer. That’s kind of tiring.

OS: Do you have a boyfriend?

JH: No, I don’t. I’m single at the moment.

OS: Maybe you’ll find somebody in Houston?

JH: That’d be nice [laughs].

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