.

I'm here for the Bermuda Festival. I'm going to be doing the narration of with the Russian National Orchestra Wind Quintet. I'd listened to with my children when they were small, quite often. Mary Ann Allin, who books the Russian National Orchestra, had asked me last year to do (the narration) in San Francisco. I wasn't able to do that, I was working at the time. But she called back this year and asked if I could do it in Bermuda. And I said: 'Yup. Sure could.' She did. She was here for the wedding. My husband (Donald Webster) and I were married a year ago last December and a lot of his friends came down from Washington, DC and she was one of them. No. That's great. Wonderful. I loved doing ? I did that in Stratford, Connecticut. But I also enjoyed the last thing I did in New York. It was called and was a three-character play about George Bernard Shaw, a nun ? Dame Laurentia McLachlan ? and Sir Sidney Cockerell. That was wonderful, yes. We were there at the Golden Globes. And it was great because old friends of ours, Karl Malden and his wife Mona, arrived early as we did and so we had a chance to catch up on everything before Michael and Catherine (Zeta-Jones) and the rest of them arrived. It was a lovely moment.

Actually I was brought up mostly in England. I went to boarding school there when I was seven, and I didn't get back to Bermuda much at all. I came back for about six months when I was ten and then my grades in school slipped so badly that (my parents, Col. Thomas Melville and Ruth Dill) said: 'Obviously you don't have discipline to go to school here.'

So back I went to boarding school until I was 16. And then I went over to the United States and World War Two broke out. I went right into drama school (the American Academy of Dramatic Arts) at the age of 16, graduated at 18, and started working almost right away.

I was very lucky. In my senior year ? after (acting) through all the graduation plays ? I was signed by Warner Brothers. I then, of course, had to come down to Bermuda and get my parents' permission because I was not of age.

My father said on no account could I go to Hollywood unless my sister Ruth ? she was 20 years older than I ? came along as a chaperone. I said: 'Chaperone, daddy! This isn't Victorian times.' And he said: 'Well, that's it. I won't sign the release form so you can go.' So my sister Ruth went along as chaperone and she stayed for some time to get me settled there and that was sort of the start of it.

: Actually at boarding school in England they started us off in Shakespeare very young ? at about the age of eight or so if I remember ? right away acting the parts. So it was not just a study thing it was a very alive kind of thing. And I knew right away this was what I wanted to do. That was it.

I think that I was the first of our family to go into acting. My brother Laurence was a composer and, of course, my father and two of my brothers ? Sir Bayard and Thomas ? were lawyers.

But I swear the legal profession, the ministry and acting all are combined in a way ? watching my father in court, the way he would push his wig up at the back before he made a point. He was quite theatrical.

Q: Do you visit Bermuda often?

A: I was here when I was ten. When I was 14, I came back for a month and then ever since then ? when my mother was alive, I spent two months down here one time when she was not well ? but almost every year I try to get down.

Of course it's more difficult now. When I lived on the east coast, in Connecticut, I was able to pop down quite easily. But it's a bit of a hoop and a holler from California.

Lauren Bacall studied there and my ex-husband of course, Kirk, who's doing very well now by the way. Incredible at his age. I think we were lucky in the way that there was a lot of summer stock when we were young actors. We got a lot of media training on stage. And you had to work fast and hard because you were doing a new play each week and while you were playing one you were rehearsing the other.

You had to get in the habit of learning one act a day, so by the third day, you were able to be on your feet without the script in hand. I think that was very good training.

Of course, you picked up a lot of slick, easy habits, stuff that we knew worked but on the other hand you had that basis of technique which you knew you could fall back on.

When you had something really good, you'd say: 'Wait a minute, I can't just do this off the top, I've really got to dig and work at it.'

I've been in musicals.

I write. I wrote a book, , which came out in 1999 and I've just written a one-act play which we were talking about doing in New York this coming fall but we're not sure about.

I'm going to have a workshop production in California in May so that the New York producer can come and take a look at it ? see if she still wants to do it in New York because she had a couple of unfortunate experiences last fall.

Much longer than I thought it was going to be. It's been about three years since I first started it. I'd go away from it and come back again. I found it very helpful (that) I had a bunch of actors sit around and read it when I was halfway through.

I asked them what would you do if you were this character? And they brought up all sorts of interesting things and I was able to use some of their ideas. It's about (French writer) George Sand and (composer Fred?ric) Chopin when they were in Majorca.

The play has just five characters and Sand's daughter is in it, Solange. One of the actors said: 'Can I bring my little girl? She's not an actress but she'd love to read Solange.' I said sure, bring her. And this kid came up with all sorts of things.

I play golf with my husband. I have two dogs and he has a cat that he shipped in from Washington ? a rather formidable cat. The dogs are scared to death of her even though they're bigger than she is. We have a garden although I'm not much of a gardener myself. We have a gardener who comes in once a week and keeps everything shipshape. Last year was very nice. I was asked to go to the Czech Film Festival which was held outside of Prague. They sent me and my husband over there; we had about five or six days, which was very nice.

Before Don and I were married I travelled quite a lot too ? to Russia and Poland and all sorts of places. And Michael has a place in Majorca so I've been there.

No, I think this is probably it. Yes. In 1990 I did a play, , at the City Hall. My friend Elsbeth Gibson suggested we do it here and so we did.

We did it in July or August, and we were told there was going to be nobody on the island. We didn't have very great audiences at all I'm afraid but we got very nice reviews.

I just did a part in (popular NBC television series) . And I'm going to be doing a small part in a movie called . I have a scene with Annette Bening in that. That'll be in March.

(Chuckles), No.