Everybody with Angela Williamson is made possible by Fire Heart Entertainment and viewers like you.

Thank you.

From the glitz of the Bob Hope classic stage to captivating audiences as an award winning actor and singer.

Our guest has lived a life in the spotlight.

Tonight we get to hear her story.

I'm so happy you're joining us.

From Los Angeles, this is clicks PBS.

Welcome to everybody with Angela Williamson and innovation, Arts, education and public affairs program.

Everybody with Angela Williamson is made possible by viewers like you.

Thank you.

And now your host, doctor Angela Williamson.

I'm so excited about our next guest.

You are going to learn so much about her life, but you're actually going to take you down some memory lane as well.

Lisa London is here.

Lisa, thank you so much.

Thank you so much for having me.

I'm delighted.

I mean, this is such an honor for us because you have been able to maintain your life in the spotlight for, you know, quite a few years.

Yes.

And I thought I thought, what a great way to start our conversation, to refresh our audiences memory about the Bob Hope classic, because it was right at our backyard.

And you were actually part of that, right?

I certainly was.

I grew up, I was born in Santa Monica, and I'm your native Southern California girl to the core.

But I was raised in Palm Springs and Hawaii.

I'll fill you in on that later.

But summers were basically too hot.

So we went to Hawaii or Newport Beach, but not Palm Springs.

But my father was a disc jockey, and so I grew up on radio.

I grew up with the microphone, like right in front of me and learned at a very young age that you can't just nod your head on radio.

You have to open your mouth and speak.

And I loved watching my father.

I mean, he had such an incredible career.

He was a sportscaster, but he also interviewed everyone from Eleanor Roosevelt to Ted Kennedy.

And he was best friends with people like Bob Hope and Frank Sinatra.

My grandfather was actually really best friends with Sinatra because he owned a restaurant, and they actually knew each other from Los Angeles days.

But in Palm Springs, he was there all the time, too.

So I was always around celebrities, and from a very early age, I loved mass communications, broadcasting, journalism, and I was gearing to just, you know, follow in my father's footsteps.

I went to college on a full scholarship in high school.

I actually interviewed every single major tennis player that was around, and the most hysterical thing was I was 16 years old and I had the only international radio interview with Bjorn Borg, and everyone's like, how did you get that?

Well, he was 17, and he asked me like kind of out.

I mean, as much as a 17 year old and a 16 year old can do that.

So that's why I got the exclusive scoop.

But you're showing.

But I was good.

Well, you're showing us even at 16, you knew how to network.

That's a good thing.

Absolutely.

So.

Yeah.

So.

Okay, so now back to the Bob Hope classic.

So my father was the announcer for the Bob Hope classic for over 30 years, which was a huge thing in sports.

Like, I mean, Bob Costas doing Olympics.

It's very rare that they do it for that many years.

And, I, I became a Bob Hope classic girl, which was like, I don't want to say beauty pageant because it really wasn't about that, because it was sporty.

Girls like you had to be an athlete.

And I did play tennis and I swam, and it was just, girls that were like up and coming like that.

We're modeling locally, which I was doing all of that, and everyone thought I got that because of my father and I did not.

I submitted my photo blind without my last name on it, because I wanted to prove to myself that I could do that.

But I do have a soft spot in my heart for anyone who you know doesn't like Nepo.

That whole nepo thing, because it's not your fault that you would have a parent that's successful.

And if you do get something on your own merit, and nine times out of ten, you have to because you're because no one, no matter how powerful, can really just give anyone a role.

There's so many powers that be in moneys.

It plays in everything.

So a role or a, you know, a pageant like that or something.

I think you really do have to have what it takes on your own to achieve what you do in life, no matter who your parents are, but your but also two people don't realize it's when your parents, they have that talent.

A lot of times that talent comes to you just because you're immersed in it as well too.

I mean, but it took you, it took guts to submit something without them knowing who you were.

And I think it's just important to talk about that because, I mean, what you used to get into that situation, it's pretty much what you've used for your entire career.

It's that tenacity, right?

Yes.

Well, I always say that if you have talent and if you want something, I always tell all new actors, if you don't want to act as much as you want to breathe, don't do it because it's not about the stardom and or the fame.

It's such a journey as an actor, you're exploring emotions 24 seven.

It's a beautiful but very it's it's hard core on the psyche.

What what all artists do.

But I think acting has that special thing that all we're about is trying to connect and make people feel things at, so that we can have this discussion, this conversation about what our emotions mean, what our feelings mean.

And that's, I think, very distinct to actors as opposed to other art forms, because it's that's internal, though.

It is so internal.

And I mean, when you're a musician singing, I mean, even even singers that don't, play an instrument, it's still you are you're voicing something.

Only it's not.

It's not.

I mean, of course there's performance involved, but acting is so bizarre because your body, your face, your eyes especially.

I mean, that is it.

It's like you is the art, but you are bringing that to the table because you're taking your talent in.

And what you're doing is educating us in it and letting us know, you know, every we just enjoy what we see on screen.

We enjoy when we see you doing these different roles with, you know, these actors.

But we don't realize there's a backstory to it and you are taking the time to give us that backstory.

That's why I was so excited.

Yeah, to show and I appreciate it too.

But at that point, you know, you're you when the Bob Hope classic.

Is that how it works?

It was actually they were called the Bob Hope Classic Girls Girl, and it really was Bob Hope and classic.

And I even forgot which one I was.

I'm like, wait, which one was it?

Because I have the most bizarre memory I can memorize lines like immediately for a play, a movie, anything, songs when I'm singing, but then they go right out of my head.

That would be too much information to keep, I guess.

So it seems to work still.

So I think I'm I'm on the right road the way I do doing what you're doing.

You're doing a great job.

And and so with this point, though, at this point you are still rather young.

Yes.

I was 16 years old.

So at 15, well, okay.

My first modeling job actually was when I was five years old, and it was, modeling a first stole for some, very famous, guy who designed in mink and space and his name right now, but he, I was five years old, and I remember my mother was so upset because they said I was six, and she said, no, that voice came from a five year old, not a six year old.

But other than that, I really started modeling.

I, I modeled for, barely legal swimwear, Jordache jeans when I was like 16 through.

I mean, I still model because, I mean, I probably saw you, but but that was like the big days of, like, the young modeling stuff.

But my parents thought I was just going to keep going with my journalism and my broadcasting and sportscasting.

I went to Arizona State on full scholarship, and I was there a semester.

And then I realized all I've ever really wanted to do, but never voiced it, was act.

I had never taken a single acting class.

I had never done anything in school, no drama classes, no theater.

And I came to LA with $200.

My parents love me, but they were being like, no, this isn't what we want.

You to do, so go for it and you're on your own.

You're on your own.

And, the very first audition I had that wasn't modeling or commercials were for an actual theatrical movie was for hearts, which was it became a cult classic, and it was the female version of animal House.

I had never seen a script.

So when I went in to read and I'll never forget this, because this taught me also that a beautiful woman can be your best ally.

Women for women always.

And I've had incredible men in my life and mentors.

But it was a roomful of men, probably ten men in the room.

And this gorgeous woman who actually wrote it, her name was Sherry Cafaro, and I think she did a whole bunch of movies that were famous called the Ginger movies, like in the 70s or something.

But anyway, she wrote this movie that became a cult classic.

So I started auditioning.

I started changing my voice and reading all of the character hits you did.

So I thought you were going to read her.

You were reading the motion.

Oh, it's even better than that.

I, I literally was like reading both parts.

And they had a reader there that was like just looking like, what do I do here?

So she went, gentlemen, can I have Lisa for one second?

I'm going to just take her outside for one second.

She pulled me outside.

She said, you know, sweetheart, we don't want to confuse all of these men.

You're so good at O'Hara.

I mean, you you are a redhead with freckles.

Just what we want.

Just read, O'Hara and I. I booked the lead.

That's that's how it.

And that's how that happened.

And I really can say the rest is history.

So this is pretty amazing because not only was it a starring role, I got my SAG card and I learned so much.

Danny Bonaduce was, one of my costars, and he just he just taught me so much.

And I met one of my best girlfriends who, until she passed away too young.

We were like sisters.

And I mean, like Pamela Bryant.

We were absolute sisters.

And we met on that set.

So it was incredible.

I got to see all of America because they sent us on this huge, publicity tour all across America, which was pretty amazing.

And then the most incredible thing, too, was I got to go to the Cannes Film Festival and to like a circle of my life.

Now, a few years ago, I starred in this wonderful movie called Do You See Me that Corbin Tim Burke directed.

And it was just, a really great scary clown movie.

And it's sold at Cannes and it's screened at Cannes.

And I went again, and it was both times I went right around my birthday.

But like 30 years apart.

So that was pretty cool.

That was I can't even believe, this first segment is almost done.

But when we come back, Lisa, I would love for you to pick up talking about the Cannes Festival because I think we see it.

But to be able to experience it through your eyes would be wonderful.

And then you are in so many great movies.

We want to spend the second.

So I'm just I'm going to let you lead, girl friend.

Yes.

Thank you so much.

Thank you.

Good.

Hold on.

Okay.

Come back to hear more from Lisa.

Eyes forward.

Don't drive.

Distracted.

Welcome back.

Okay.

When we left off, you told us about your experience at the Cannes Film Festival.

And we always just see it, but we want to experience it through your eyes.

So tell us what happens when you go the first time, and then tell us when it becomes decades later.

Right.

So circle.

Okay.

So the amazing thing about the first time was of course, it's like overwhelming joy and like, and the feeling that I was 19 years old and I was like, okay, I've made it.

I'm an actress.

But it was also a huge life lesson because it's like I thought, oh, I'll be here all the time.

No.

It took a while to return, but it was incredible.

And I have a funny story, because those were the days when all the nude beaches were something that anyone from America would be.

Just like nude beaches.

I mean, topless beach beaches and, the paparazzi were all over it.

And when my other costars and I, we kept our bathing suit on and everyone kept saying, no, no, no, it's fine.

Take it off.

Everyone's taking it off, everyone's taking it off.

And they took theirs off.

And, you know, it was still just a normal amount of paparazzi, blah, blah, blah.

So I take my it.

It's just, I mean, I'm blushing till this day, a sea of paparazzi light bulbs because, I mean, okay, so that was where were we at this time.

So this is 1980, right?

So it was a lot of the girls there either had enhanced breasts at that time or none.

Okay.

So I don't draw.

They had seen the real world oh so long that I was traumatized.

And then I didn't want to do another thing.

So insofar as the paparazzi beach scene was.

But I got over that anyway.

But but it was okay.

So then going back now, going back decades later, yes, it was astounding that I can honestly say the absolute zest of how movies being worshiped and celebrated, and the beauty of how everyone was so respectful of supporting every event and going to all the screenings, it was exactly the same.

Nothing had changed.

Nothing had tarnished at all.

It was gorgeous.

So how do you keep that going year after year?

I think it's because they don't change the formula at all and art is always evolving.

Different things make us excited to watch.

I mean, the movies.

I bet a lot of the movies have been dated and changed a lot, right?

But the audience, the those, the actors and the fans still want to share that they're the same way.

That's that's how, that's how I would describe it.

They still want to, to share the joy of it.

And, and the other wonderful thing I was so lucky to have experienced it.

I'm at this point in my life where I love giving back to young talent.

I mean, I love it so much I can't even tell you.

It's like I, I used to have a lot of charities that I would be involved with hands on all the time.

I literally spend so much time and getting to know and and trying to support every young actor I work with.

Now that I kind of think of that is like one of my community services that I do now because I genuinely love it.

And and if I can inspire anyone, especially in these days of where there's influencing.

Right.

Okay.

I think you should only influence if you're also inspiring.

So that's my goal and my aim all the time is just to to give back.

Because I was so blessed with the with Clint Eastwood, with Oliver Stone, with, Burt Reynolds, with Steven Spielberg.

I mean, I've had the most incredible people cast me and and give back to me.

And then even now, I just did the morning show.

I'm actually on the Emmy winning episode of season one of The Morning Show.

And to work with Mimi Leader, who I think is just one of the best directors in the world, period.

But I can I can say I think she's the best female director around, and I just it's not just that she's just such an artist in the way she does direct, and the fact TV now is so intense when you're the showrunner and she does that too.

It's kind of it's talk about inspiring.

Well, it's not even we look at inspiring, but when I look at women like her, I look at how they empower us as well.

I mean, not only just what on screen, what we're seeing, but behind the scenes.

Absolutely.

And that's why I love that, that I am part of that.

And that's the exact thing in my small way.

I love doing the same with everyone I work with now.

And I've met some just so many incredible young actors that just are blowing me away.

Well, you talked about people that you work with now, so we can't finish our conversation together without you talking about these two movies that you are doing right now.

So tell us the first one.

All right.

So I, I want to bring these up because that is my theme about empowering younger talent.

And also it's so important as a woman because I went through everything you can imagine as far as the male chauvinist part of Hollywood.

And again, I align myself with unbelievable men my whole life.

But there were, you know, there were the ones that weren't so cool.

Right?

This is way before hashtag MeToo.

And now we're on the other side of where we should really be able to just demand respect from everyone all the time, so that there is no such thing as as having to bring up the era post hashtag me too when it first started and I am so delighted to say that when I work with young actresses now, and young directors, I'll get to that.

They do have a really wonderful strength that I had because I was raised by so many incredible, my, my father, my grandfather, early boyfriends that were older than me, that just really respected me and gave.

Gave me the wind beneath my weight.

Gave you a voice.

Exactly.

So now I. I just keep trying to do that.

So I, star in a film called Mary Day and the Scream Queens with Michelle Bauer, Frank Stephens and Jennifer Moriarty.

Okay, so these are like major scream queen girls.

And the wonderful thing was, we had never worked together before either.

Okay, Jennifer Moriarty is an actress that I've done a whole bunch of movies for Dustin Ferguson.

And, we'll get to a few of those later.

We love Dustin.

I know we love Dustin, but he introduced me to Jennifer because we worked together, and then she wrote this movie to to just show a beautiful woman's journey through life using Hollywood, you know, the art of making movies and how difficult it is because beauty.

If something that no one wants to not see once they've seen it.

And I think that's why they're so hard on women and they start doing that.

The plastic surgery, which, hey, whatever gets you through the night, do it.

I, I never have for one reason and one reason only.

I am petrified of doctors.

Seriously.

I've never had a cavity.

And also I know how blessed I am with great genes.

I do and and I also know I take such care of myself.

I'm a workout fanatic.

I'm vegan right?

Well, I'm not vegan completely.

I eat for a whole long story.

About what?

How I vacillate.

Yeah, I eat very healthy, but I know so much about, vegan and vegetarian food because my sister was a celebrity chef and taught me a lot about.

There's a connection.

Yes.

Well, we.

And then we owned a restaurant, too, which is kind of amazing.

But, back to this movie.

Okay, so Mary J in the Scream Queens is horror genre.

Yes, but it also has the most amazing story of what women go through to survive their own mental health because of that thing of if you're a beautiful woman or an especially a beautiful, like successful person in front of the cameras, no one wants that to ever go away.

They want you to freeze it in time.

Exactly, exactly.

And the thing is, I always say this to people when they say, oh my God, and I say this to male friends, soon they're talking about aging.

Well, I said, look, I said, you're a beautiful young person.

You're a beautiful middle aged person.

You're a beautiful old person.

Then you're a beautiful dead person.

There is nothing else you can do about that.

So you better enjoy every stage, right?

Okay, I love that.

And also, America is the only totally A-list country in the world left.

I've traveled all over the world and I'm sorry, but it's.

We have some work to still do.

Yeah, we sure do in this movie.

This movie brings light to it.

Oh, it brings light to it.

And it just brings light to so many things because it just keeps surprising you.

It keeps.

And it's brilliantly written.

Oh my God.

And and and Jennifer's sense of detail.

It was just it was really special.

And then it led to me doing.

Oh, and in Mary Day and the Scream Queens, the ingenue is Hennessy Moriarty, Jennifer's daughter.

Now, she didn't tell anyone that in the very beginning.

And we just fell in love with her as a complete human and actress.

She's got the goods.

I mean, she's got everything.

So the next thing I did for these Moriarty girls is a movie called anatomy of a housewife, which I couldn't even believe.

It's.

This is Hennessy, her daughter's film.

It's her NYU.

It's a thesis thing for NYU.

Okay.

And, when she told me the topic, I. My jaw dropped because one of the actresses that inspired me more than anything to be an actress was.

It was Jessica Lange and her, her Frances Farmer portrayal.

Frances.

Okay, okay, I know the actress, and now I'm going to have to wait.

She had to have a lobotomy because in those days of a man thought there was something wrong with you, they gave you a laboratory and there was a true story about, the oldest child in the Kennedy family, Joe Kennedy.

So this is JFK and, JFK's father.

She wrote her name was Rosemary, and she was gorgeous.

And I'm pretty sure I think she either got pregnant or she wanted to run off with someone who was something about her.

Just a natural thing in a woman's life moving forward.

And they lobotomized her.

And this gorgeous girl, Hennesy.

Moriarty knew about that story and created this unbelievable movie based on that.

Okay, so you just mentioned two wonderful movies, and we are going to show some of the other movies that we didn't get to talk about because our time is almost done.

But before I let you go, our audience will want to follow you so they can come and see these movies.

So how can we follow you out?

Okay, so on Instagram I'm Lisa London, LA.

And the best way because then you can see everything that I've got streaming everywhere because all my old movies and all my brand new ones like like life Form Phase one, the Dustin Ferguson movie that I'm so proud of because it it definitely was a rare character for me.

That's all the information is on IMDb, which is the International Movie Database.

But also I post really thorough, things for all my, fans too.

So Instagram Lisa London, LA and then on Facebook, it's Lisa London fan is my public page or you can try to find me just Lisa London too.

And oh, and one other thing.

I'm also on cameo, which is this wonderful.

You can get autographs through there and you can also get personalized videos.

So I do lots of happy birthdays.

It's almost like a singing telegram that they made for actors to do.

And every actor that you love is on there practically sucking on the your link and woman.

Yes, absolutely.

Because I'm sure some people from our show will want a personalized message from you.

It's it's really cool and it's, it's really safe.

I love that, I love that, you know, there was so much we wanted to talk about today, especially your singing career.

So we're going to have to arrange for you to come back and talk about your career as a pin up.

So if left, I'm going to just I'm going to take this is my first, first foray into this.

That's how we brought Justin back.

Exactly.

So much.

Liza.

Thank you.

Beautiful.

It was my pleasure.

And thank you for joining us on everybody with Angela Williamson.

Viewers like you make this show possible.

Join us on social media to continue this conversation.

Good night and stay well and.