>> ros welcome to the broadcast. tonight we begin our two-wee vacation schedule withome of the ierestingpeopleho've co to this table i 2009 so far. we begin with something we call grand ladies. they are dolly parton. >> i writell the time. t a day gs by that i don't write down se title, some thought, som idea or even a song or two. >> rose: meryl streep. >> what i learn every time out is how to wrale all the elemen that makeme love what do and make it sort of happen effortlessly. >>ose: and mel len mren. >> it was shakespee that took me into the world of the

imagination terms of drama. and i was just so cometely blown away b the fst shakespearean production i saw. >> rose: grand ladies: dolly pardonmeryl stree and mel len rren next. ptioning sponsored by rose comnications from o sdios inew york city, this is charlie se.

>> rose: the gat dolly parton here. to millionof fans, she was one of the most onic and enduring performing artists inmerica. born on a fm in severe county, tennsee, she was the fourtof 1 children. e starteded rforming in the age of t and says "making musiis all iave ever known. her claics include, "jolene" "coaof many colors" "here you come again" and "will always love you." she has receiv 25 number one billboard hits, seven grammy awds, tenountry music sociation awards and a kendy center honor. here is a listen some of her work. ♪ now if u see that other d, there'shing you might tell her ♪ she need not waste her time away trying tosteel m old yeller away to the westonlsailin ♪ il sa aroun this whole wide world to the on i love t

best ♪ ♪lay a song for me, apple jack apple jack ♪ play a song for me and i'll sing ♪ play a sg for me ♪ apple jac, app jack, play a song letouranjo ring ♪ ♪ and iare notrown my sorrow in t warm glow o yoine ♪ youan't b with money, for i never was that kind ♪ silver threadsandolde edles cannotend this heart of mine ♪ ♪ and the flowers you fwro but they don't smell as sweetas they did whe you picked them for me ♪ and when i think of you and the love we once knew ♪ how i wi we could go back in time ♪ do you ever think back on old memories like that

♪ or do i ever cross your min ♪ iillalways le, i ll always love you ♪ >> rose: thisspring dolly wrote the music and lyrics for the broadway musical version of "9 to 5." e will perform with the musical cast duringthe tony awards on sunday, june 7. i'm pleaser to herere at this table. welcome. >> well, thankou. after lookingt those film clipi surely should he said i wrote the music forhair"! >> rose: i want to know wt's gog on under there. >> i had a little family of pygms living in some of that hair. well, that's the w its. it's so fun looking back at all those tngs. don't know where you got lot that. >> rose: wn you do it that way

you n change anything you want. >> that's tr. and you thinkou lo good and en y look back and.... >> rose: you did look good a still do. >> well, thank you. >> rose: nice have u here. >> thankou, i'm finallglad to be on this show with yo >> rose: what's e secret to longity >> well, lovg what you do, i think. i'm excited everydayith evything. i ver know what i'm going to do. i have aew dream everyday d it's energizing to me and i just wait. i'm a spiritual-minded pern so i st kind of pray that everythingill co right. >> rose: that god has a purpose for you? >> i do feel that way. rose: youo? >> yeah, io. always hav and so it's better to bieve it helps me. takes the pressure off me. i just give him the credit o blame him. >> re: put yourself in his hands. >> exact. >> rose: do you write now other than writior "9 to 5 >> oh, i write all the tim i've been itingince ias a little bitty gl. i started writi serious when i was about sev years old when i learned to play the itar. i'm from ausical family.

all my mother's people py and sing. mostly churcpeople. so tt gift came natally. but i writell the time. t a day goes by tt i don't write down som title, some thought, some idea or even a song otwo. >>ose: why do you think it work out other than god's will for you? i mean,is itpassion? it's talent it's timg? it's luck? and sacrifice. >> rose:ell, talk out sacrifice. sacrifice is rig. >> well, found out rly on that i loved it. as you mentione earlier in the ow, i'm from a fily of 12 children, six girls and sixoys and i have a ster and two brhers older and eight children younger so i wasind of born in one of thosspots that... and i was veryenergetic hyper little kid. i needed a t of attenti. so i just needed it but i sn't getting althe attention. we got lov, of coue, they loved us all the te. >> rose: but there wereso many they cldn't give as much as you like. >> so i found out early on tt

i d to... instead of just staying trole all the time i had to kind of focus on something so i lrned to play the guitar and i learned to love it. >> rose: what would trouble be? boys? >> no, jt being too hyper and too... trying to geto mu atntion and either aggravation or just being loud and not realizing it just being just into everytng. so learned to displine myself through my music a then i start writinghese songs. then people would come arod and mother was very impssed with t fact that i cld write like that. i coul rhyme. >> rose: was it simply bause you worked at it so hard or was it a gift? >>t was a gift. the giftan in t family. i just too it and decided i was going too more. so i would wri all these sgs when people uld come to our house ma would say "run and get ur guitar and ng tt song you wrote." and the i saw i was getting a lot ofttention so i ought "wow, this is goi to be great." so i just keptthat up and i ned in on a of my skillsand

sharpened it with with tha and i really just tught later on after the first time i was ever on stage i thought, wow, thiss great, peopl loveme. and i kn now it was only because i was ttle, i wasn't that good. but i s just up there doingt d i just thought, i wanto make this my wle life. and i have. rose: did you create a persona, or was it you? >> wel you mean the way i look? >> re: no, everything. >> well, iam the way i am, bu i always... was never like a natural beauty. i s not aretty little kid. i us a wanted to be and i was always impressed with... you know, when the town tram, i alwaysell this story but it's the truth. ere was a woman in our hometown of severe county. >> rose: d how big is sere? >> sma. ck tn it was ju 200 people. >> rose:nd she was the town tramp? >> she was. we didn't get t go to town that often but shead yellow ir, red nails, red toenails,high heels. >> re: and what was herame, do you remember? >> i ain't telling. >> rose: (laughs)

>> because her family will kw. but everody looke at her a thought she was beautiful i wod say so andhey would say "oh, she's nothi but trash." and i thought "that's what i'm going to be when grow up, i'll be trash so kind o.. seriously, though, i thought it was that looked that i liked and it seemed to match my personality because i was re outing in my personalty than i loed on the outside. so i just all me together. >> rose: dideople project on to you certain behioral expections? >> you mean wn i was little or.... >> rose: no, when you started... >> because i started looking like that? >> rose: yes. >> it turneout toork well for me. i looked totally artificial. i'd likeo think i'm totally real. >> rose: course you are and people know that. >> a lot of people said i would have done much better much oner, been ken more seriously if iould loed more. like not like joke or a chacter. but that'all right because it worked for me and it came from a serious place and i wouldn't changet now. >> rose:ould you chae anything now? i mean,what... i think to change anything

would change everything. i can'took back like that. i know i've don somthings th other people might tnk arwrong andometimes may think i nder if i should have done tha >> rose: like wh? >> well, atever. decisis you make or if you should have done this then or whatever, you know? u can't jus say what all it is, butthen you think, well, i dot know that would chang anything. you can't live your life like that. >> rose: what are you most proud of? >> well, i proud o all of it. i'm prd that i've been able to make a livg at what i love. >> rose: some kind loving. well, it' tr. m glad i never had to work at anything els i've been very fortunate. but were talking abt sacrice. but you give up a lot. i never hadhildren. i couldn't... you know, just wasn't ithe cards for me to have tm. >> rose: why n? >> well, i just couldn't have children? rose: medically? >> well, we thought we wante childrenmy husband and i of 43 years en we firstarried, we thout we probably would have chdren. soor a while we didn't do ything to t, nothing

happened. anthen my ceer started gng then i start takg birth control pill you know. and then laterwhen iot off of those,othing happen. i just figure it was never meant to . >> rose: d you think about adoption or.... >> well, you thought about it, but by that time i had. i raise a lot of myounger brothers and sisters tha came to live with my husband and i. we sent them to school and we're very involved wi our nies and nephews so wnever rely missed it like i thought we would. but now i'm so involved th everybody's ki i guessit just wasn't meant for me to have kid so erybody's kids could be mi. >> rose: soundlike the marriage worked. >> it did. years. first for both of us. >> rose: how do you explain that >> itay young. it works like a charm. stay gone. we don't have tobe in each other's ce all the the time. i stay gonenough to where it works out and wre excited wn see each other. we're not in theame business.

we don't fht over that, he don't try to tell me how to run my busess because heon't know nothing about it. >> rose: you don't tell h how to run his buness whatever it is. >> i don't tel him how to run his business, eher. >> rose: who was the first big influence on you? >> well, actlly, the big influences in my early life were relatis of mine. i had this woman that was a pentecostal eacher, my aunt, dorothy joust passed away cently. she sang, she plad all kin instruments and she ng in the church and she wrote a these great songs. i was ve impressed with her. rose: she wrotell these great sopg >> yes. and my mher was a great singer. that old tiy... so i was very influenced with my family because my grandpa w a great musician. t outside of that, when i got to hearingnd ole opry, people lik kitty wells, rose maddux,the maddux broths and rose, she workedith her brothers and thewere the first people i saw that wore, like, rhinestone shiny ces and i saw... you kw, you needo have ahow.

>> rose: i show business you need a show. just like now it's so hard.... >>ose: don't wear a t-shirt in jeans. >> it's so rd for m to wear jeans and a shirt.... >> rose: because y're so used to... >> rhinestones. i think i have to shine because i think i'm a star. >> rose: tak me along the track of dolly parton begins with e tale you ve and what was t big song? whatas the best break? >> actually, my big break came... my ule bill owens .... >> rose: prey good. >> my mother's brother is the one that spottmy tent early on. he used to take me ound to differenplac, took me to nashville, hped me with that. but i moved t nasille when i wa18. i graduatedfrom high school moved to nashville the next morning. >> rose: the next rning? >> porter waggoner, he was the one that gave me the firs big break because head the nuer one syndicated telision show at that time. and the girl seasoningerhat had beenith him for years was going to marry and move back home. ros career er. >> yeah. so away he just had seen me on

local t.v., i had a couple of cht records at tt time an he'd seen me around and everybodwas saying "oh there's in new girlin town, she writ and she sings and she plays." >> rose: she looks fine. >> well, maybe they saidhat. but anyway, i went dow to his office and so i sat the and played him some son. >> re: and you wereon t.v. the nextight? >> well, just about. he oered me the job that day. >> rose: how lg did that last? >> seven years. >> rose: youuys were ry close. >> we we. we fought like cats and dogs during that time becaus i had real moved to nhville to be my own star and i had promised to stay with the show just a few years. and then the yearsstarted going by and th we wereetting very famous as a et as well and it was porter's show ande was just... so we fought a lot and i wanted to gond he didn'tant to. rose: you were getting more famo than he was andekind ... >> i d't know that it washat so much. he just di'twant me to go cause it w part of his show and i guess he thought he owned

me then. but i don't... i'm notasy to own. rose: (laughs) no kidding. no one's everowned dolly. >> no. god. >> se: god, buthat's it. >> god and me, thas about it. and i share it with everybody else. >> re: does your career own you? >> no, no. >> rose:ou give erything to your career. does you career. whateverou have to do f your career, you'll do it. >> it's not about my career so much as it's abouty life. it's about who i , what i do and what i'm best at. i do love myareer. but it nev was just about money to me. it was abouthe art. it was about the fact that i wrote. god gave me talent an i think he wanted me to make the most of it. so iout tre and ifeel like i touch people, i feel lik i make a difference, i feel like i can write songs for ople who cat exess themselve so i really think i'm helping, you know? i really feelike i am. >> rose: and if 100% is all the talent you have, how much of it are you using >> well, i don't knothat. i ask god l theime tohow

me new this and new ways but try to give erything i got with what i got to work with. i'd give it a i got. >> rose: (laughs i'd say that. doest getasier? >> well, i love it. >> rose: writing, performing. >> well, i really lovehat i do. i've always love it. sotimes it just gets little weary justecause there's so me m demands on youfter you ge to a certain poin >>ose: being a personality. >> you're product. and people want you do thi and do that to wre it's easy to se your own self. and being as spiritual minde as i am i often worry about losg my soul or don't let nobody steal your soul, hang ono that for de life. sot gets...ou know, it's always been easy for to say yes and it's aays been easy for me to say no. >> rose: it's easy to say yes and it's easy to say no? >> yeah. but it all wks and i certainly am not complaining. want to the do this all the days of my life.

>> ros did you run into a lot sexism? i mean, youmentioned porter's show and all ofhat. >> well, i did. builways used that to m best inrest, because i looked like a girl tt may be easy. t i was serious about my work and it didn't take lg. because i grew up wi s brothers, my dad, all my uncles, al my boy cousins. so inew the ture of men i love m. i love my daddy. i had a great relationship wit myad and he' just a good old redneck guy, you know? but i kno how they... how the think. >> ros you know how men think? >> yes, and always fel like that i... alws say i look like a woman but i think like a man. so whenomebody thought they really maybe had me right where they wanted me or thought woulde, i would... like i've often said thijoking but it's sort of thtruth, i would just ha the money and b gone. or i wouldust say,ook, i think that.... >> rose: this is great!

>> i'm serus, though. >> rose: you are great! >> i wou say i think i've go a lot to offer. i think i can me us both a l ofoney. so'd just go in lling my goods, n myself, you know? myse was part of the goods but i wasn'.. i never slept with anybody to get ahead. i slib with somebody, it's because i wanted to, not because i was doing it to makeny point for somebody. i'm very professional dol parton. i can't tell somebody elseow to be a professnal t i know who i am, i know what i wl, won't do, what i ould and shoun't do. so i've bn able to be fortunateto have... wind up with a lot o nderful people that helped me greatly along the way. >> rose: it seems to me that you have this most extraordinar self-awareness. that that is a signaluality of yours. yoowourself, y know who you are, y know what your talents are, you knowhat you

want. you are prepared to suffer to geit. >> well, that's true. ani think that's a qualit that people ould have. i mean, it's like if you don't know who you a, you can't expect to pay somebody to tell you who you e, you know? if younow who you are, you've got a good starting point. and i've... from a good family, goodeople. couny peopleut there was a lot good stuff inthere on both sides of my family. good rsonalities, depth and tenderness and sensetyty an cari. and e talent,too. so i just saw th there was so ch of that stuff that needed ... and i was very, likeay spirual-minded. i beeved in god and i believed there was something greater than me that i could look to draw strength from. and have... that has guided me and d me roug the years and it's kept me from... it'sept

me strong d it's kept me from ever having ego problemsr having false pride. >> rose: knowingthat somebody laer than you? >> yes. and it's thing that i love. but i am veryware of who i a and i like melf. >> ros food is one of life's pleasures and necessities it has been a subject in society for centuries, rmeating literatu and art and music an certaiy movies. ♪ food,lorious food, what more coulwe live for ♪ >> i don't want to be snging pizza for e rest of my life. >> the best pizza! >> tell me what the rat nts to cook. ratauille, it's a peasant dish.

>> too hot for you? >> no. >> i read your article about ice cream. i have to tell you, i disagree with you about haagen-dazs rum raisin. what can i say? >> you're so vicious abo it. >> i'm a vicious perso. >> blueberry pie a cream! it's the most marvelous bluerry pie i've ever tasted. >> holy cow, what's hapning to your face? violet, u're turningiolet, violet! ♪ these are probablthe worst pies i london ♪ i know what it's lik to taste the pie, i should know, i make them ♪ >> i ate his liver with some fava beans a a nice chianti. >> leave the gun, take the noli. >> he camen, you came in, i figud you know, i'm so happy to see him. look, go inside, ke yoursel comfortable, i'll make us something to eat. >> this is what the cusmer

asks for. make it. make the pasta. make it! ke it! make the pasta! come o let's g >> i like thepie heated an i don't want the i cream on top, i want i it on the side and i'd liketrawberry if you have it. if not, noce cream, than whipped cream. if ift's real, not inse of a n. >> rose: nora ephron has taken her passion for fd and called "julie & july ya." it stars meryl stree and a adams and others and spein of meltrp as julia child the "nework times" says "b now this actress has eausted every spurlive the that exists a to suggest she ha outdone herself is only to y that she's done it again. her perrmance goeseyd physical imitaon, though she has the ronald shoulds and uted voice down perfectly." an the "washington pt" notice "julie and julia migh have tart started out as a pa on t the joys of cooking t it tur out

to be a rerofound preciation of the mutual comprehension and otic chae that defines a great marrie." and finally t "walltreet journal" ora eron's julie anjulia givess meryl strp in a grand comic performance. a fearless aress playing the fearss julia child in post world war ii paris where she is in the process of transforming herself om an embassy wife into a world famous apostle of french cuise here's the trail for julie and julia. >> i'm julia cld, bonappetit! >> before e changed the wor, julia child s just an american livi in franc >> shldt i find sothing to do? what is it that you really like to do? >> e! >> and you'r so od at it! >> i am. >>k at yo i'm growing in front of you! >> but what does julia chd haveo do with ? lowly cubicle work juli

powell? >> how's your job, julie? >> are you the person topeak to abouty surance form? >> you can sak to m >> do you have any power? >> no. >> heart breaking. >> s. >> painful bu not in a bad way. >> if you met me, would y ink "that woman is lost"? i would think hat woman is strangely repetitiv. >> did you he what happened to this one? >> show time bought my blog f a mini series. >> i could write a book. i have thougs. >> wri a blog abo cookg. >>i'm not a real cook like julia child. >> juliahild wasn't always julia chil >> whyon't i go to cooking school. bonjour! >> the jue/julia project. i cook my way thrgh julia chils cook book. 365ays, 524 ripes. i am riskg mywell-being for a derang assiment. is it crazy? yes. >> you shoulhave seen the way those men looked at me! and thenhey discovered i was fearless. >> oh, julia you make it sound

so simple. (screaming) >> your book is going to change the world. >> what if i don't make my deadline? ll have wasted a wholeyear of my le. i used to be thin and now i'm fault. >> just ur faced. >> it's supsed to be a big adventurbut it turned out be lotof meltdowns. >> yuck! there's all of this stu the flr! >> o, never apologize. >> from writer/director na ef fron >> this is good. >> that is good, isn't it? >> meryl streep, amy adams. >> i was drowning and she pulled me out of the ocean. >> don't get carried away. >> what's for diner? >> wt's for dner. oh, my. >> you hav no real talt for cooking. >> rose: i am pased tobe joined by two friends, nora ephron the writer and dirtor anmerylstreep, t great

actress. were you a day vo tae of julia child? >> i was in high school, of course. >> rose: (laughs) >> i was in the eigh grade. >> rose: buthe book has be... had a hundred thousand prints. so it esn't matter what generation you are up front. >> no, n, extly. my mother was not a devotee. it was "hurry up and eat it." >> rose: (laughs) well, do you cook? >> we had a lot of stea, chop tuna fish andoodleasserole. >> rose: du but do you? >> me? yes, i cook. >> if you have seone so pronounc in size, rsonality, voice, distinct and different, easier to do or hard to do? >> hmm. um... well... it depends if they'rthere looking at you. when iade "heartburn" tre she was onheet and i couldn really do her.

buit wasind of. certain elementsere irresistible. d so, you know, i felt like for a stight jacket. >> re: like which es? >> oh, just the way of wrangng a rase and sort of pishing it witthe front of your mouth you know, that wholehing. >> rose: is that what kes her unfrigging belieble? >> but i ink it's beer if th're not thereobserving you. >> rose: can we just goack en you played her wt you were trying to capture. when y played her? >>ulia? >> rose: no! nora >> oh, , no. >>his is old stuff. water under the bridge. (laughter) >> rose: u know, it was... it was veryamiliar... the ouines were very familiar to people i knew that, and , too. buin a way danny ackroyd's version waven more vid in

our mind. so it s already kind of ricatured in you head and i didn't want to... i wanted to look at h in the idealized way julie did. i wanted... bause this is julie's imagined julia in her head. she imagines this gal in paris wi her husband. and i think because it's in this se i can't tel hue, i just wanted to make it a real as it could possibly be. i didn'teel that ieay had todhere to everythg piece of rearch i'd done o julia. i justanted to make a human being that liveed. rose: did you wat a lot ta and all that? >> yeah. yeah. somef them were incredibl unlpful because, you know, the show became ki of more peormed later in her life. the very earliest ones, when she

fit put herself in front of a came and... in tse days hard to remember,people didn't know what they looked like on ta. people weren't beg photraphed from the tal stage, you know, and throw up on the t.v.creen. so she was sort of reall authentically who she was and she was 50 and formed and done, you know >> rose: why was she magic? >> oh, gosh, how do you define charm andhat thing tha certain people have where they exude ja devooef. that's what she had. she seemed to b happy tobe alive eveday tt she was. she lid to be 92. >> rose: and she found the love of herife aft jecting others. >> yeah. >> rose: looking for the ght... yes. i don't know howuch rejecting. she di turn down e guy who

wa going to be... owned the .a. times chaler. >> re: turned him down. >> turned him down. >> rose: she wasn' quite ready. >> yeah. and i think, you knowshe was 6', her sister was 4. i think they were ud to being sort of outsided... out of... sizeout of the competition for men. i felt such... you know, you neveknow, really the ins and outs of apersonality. i mean,t's hard enoug to know... unrstand the people in your own family andour own parents, but to imagine that y know t inner life and conflicts and anxieti of a public persons very, ver diffult. but it's endlessly interesting. it's what makes me want toe an actor. it my great fun. but i thought, u know, i

had... i nev met her, but i did ha an encounterith her. >> rose: what s the encounter? >> during th time that ias working... for about ten ars i was woing with a group cled mothers and oths aligned with the n.r.d.c. which s trying to get organic produce in the local supearkets. a thing at was just impossible and unheard of and nobody... you know you cldn't get it. and i thght it would be a greaidea to enlist her hp. but she really brushed us f in a very sor of dismiive rough way in letter. that kindf... it made my world crumble. because sheseemed like someo o was so sun. and t i... and yet in leaing more about her, i learn that she was ve resistant to the

idea that anything to do with raising yo cholestero might have somethingo do whbutter and allhese well marbled meats and things. >> rose: failure is something you know. >> well, you just always... it that thing where you say... you spoke of earlier, e responsibility to someone wh really existed and who pele love. not the population. i didn't care much about that. but her family.... >> rose: tell me about that. you waed her family to. >> i didn't wan to disappot. yeah. ah. >> rose: yanted them to say you nailed it or you re true to her spirit. >> iaptureder... yes. because really, really, for m it was more like... i mean, honestly it wasore an homage to my own mother whoad so many of the outsized elements of julia's chacter and her joy in

livingnd her sense oun and mischief and being up for anhing and game and not interest in whininghatsoever you know? all thos things. aened i ought, oh, here's mary. and i get to it. >> rose: here is mary, your mother? yes. >> rose: n, areou your mother's daughter? >> i he a little bit of both, think. up? which is... >> well, my mother and my father. and my dad was much re of a romantic and a musiciannd a little melancholynd a little dreamy and solitary. and i have all of those tngs, too. >> rose: did they both live to see all th good things that haened to you? >> yes. ye all the gndchildrenand, yeah. but my mom died in 20 when this takes place. this film.

and it' opening today on her birthday so feel like there's some woerful serendipi at work. >> rose: was that in your mi clearly? >> is never far from my mind, yeah. >> ros you're on a roll, as they s. is she not? >> no kidding. >> rose: no kiddi. i mean, n't it a great time to be meryl strp? >> yeah. i mean.... rose: i mean erything, the family tng. >> i keep looki over my head. >> rose: why? >> ieep thinking "oh, man, i'm getting set here." >> ros no, you're not. i'm st fishing. >> no, i mean jt by fate. >> ros oh. we don't want to look at o good fortun, ally in the eye. but i am vy hpy and lucky and tired athe moment. ready take a break. >> rose: howong is a break. >> well, i de seven movies in two and a ha years. >> w? >> rose: i d't know! because they asked me to and i guess my children were

oldeand said ",go, do." >> rose: d you connue to learn? >> yes. >> rose: in other words, having ne... had this expience, you are better? >> i don't know. i don't know. th was so fun and so... sort of eortless. is i think you learn more from the challenging things. >> re: what was thetoughest? >> o, ah.... >> rose: sophie's choice or... >> no. no, no, no. there have been toh things that i care... i probably won't go io. but just because... just becau they... i... my molecules change in me acrding to how hpy i am and ether... and my crtivity gets. you know, wh i learn every tim out is

how wrang all the elements that make me ve what i do and ma it sort ofappen effortlessly. and when it... wn that doesn't come easil, i don't really have a bag of trick to go to or a method, you know? i don't. so i come unmoored. and part ofhat is a very good thing,because you have to reassele. nobody kno what i'm talking. >> ros no, we do. >> actors do. >> rose: no, no, no and... >>o it's very good. you ha to start blank and figure out how to bin again. how to begin again. it's very good. >> rose:ow are actors different th the rest of us? >> well, they ve a zenife. it'sverything... it' very uncertain. and all les are uncertain, but acto know it. d actors... because you're

unemployed so often. d you live so intensefullyhe ments that you are wking that wnou come back to earth and lk around and that balon has gone andthere's no other one on the horon so y live where you are. i think actors live exactly where ey are. the real good on. and that's why they seemind of crazy. >> rose: well,we should a be there. isn'that where well should want to be >> yes, i think so. i think it's a autheic way to live. yeah. >> rose: dame helenirren is here. for four decades she has acted on televisiond movies and in the theater. makes her a triple threat,it es. some of her work include

"gosford park" "elizabeth" and "prime suspect." in 2007he won the oscar for "the between." here is a look at he i action. >> yes, that's itfwlfrngts set thworldo right. callhe drago mend the sword. speak tharm of making. >> thwarted by both es parents in the same evening. at i family lifcoming to? >> always thought it would be so b so. in engnd the ince always hatethe king >> is that why he' mad. >> if he is mad, sir, you have made himo by your idleness. >> thas all you peoplecan think about, isn't it well, my life won change eith way. >> w are you? >> i m weisman. >> me surehey're probably

laled. puthem down there. >> rose: >> where am any >> i the stab block with the groom. her ladyship isn the chine room. elsie! >>ou're lookingt january! >> febary. >>arch. >> april >> death by my arr. oh,h my. creaming) >> you are gathering edence, you wereoing after lucic. the meeting we had nev took ace. didit evercross your md you mit actually bewrong? >> yes. >> yo offe investigation, take a week's leav >> it is my beliethey wil at any moment reject this... this od which iseing stirred up

the press in far of a periodfestrained ief and ber,rivate, mournin that's the way we do things i this count: quietly with dignity. >> rose:er newest projt is her memoir, it is called "in the frame: my life in words and pictures." i am pleased to ve dame helen mien back at this table. lo at this. welcome,elcome. >> yes, thank you. i know, ny baby. one of my many bies. >> rose: so whydid you deci... (laughs) in here? >> yes, yes. >> ros so why a memoir no >> oh, god. i was asked.. you know, i've been asked or the last ten yearto write a memoir, an autobiraphy, and i resistedt cause i couldn't thin of how to do . and then a very good friend of mine sorof suggested thi picture form, which is ve ea because you don't have write so much. buin the end i did write. i wassked to write 15,000

words and i wrote 56,000 words. so it sort o expanded because actually ieally enjoyed the writinprocess. rose: the processr the actual..i mean... you me the process suggests ere's something about the procs you enjoyed rather than simply putting ur thoughtsçó downand your feelings down on paper. >> well, isn't that st of the press? >> rose: oka, fairnough. >> it's tho quiet ments with the computer a your mory. my memory is terrible. t, you know, memy such a wonderful thg because you can... is like... how can i explain ? it's like a river or a little stream, bule, a brook that starts bubbling d then more and more and more. >> rose: michael caine once said to me "it's much easier than you think. once you get started, thingsou thought about that you couldn't image accessing comeback." they come back andou can go on a rt of memory trip jt remembing one thing. likehe walk to school in the moing. and then you remembe the vement, you rememr the flower bush that you pasd. you remember your uniform.

you rememr ironing you uniform and en all of these things start cominup that you never realized you carried in ur brain. e brain is a wonderful, wonderful ing. >> rose: we' show someof these photographs. but you also... you have t face the question aso wheam i beintoo honest? too candid? too revealing? and who might get hurt in this if i did this? >> yes, i didn't feelhe need to address that because i... i di't feel like attacking or criticizing anyone. there are people in my life who serve to be attacd and criticized, but i just dn't... i don'know. it's mean spited and vain in a particul way and i justidn't el the need for that. wanted the book, reall, to be about theleasure of my life, the love of my life the love i my life. and, you know, i... and onhat level itame very easily. i put the knife into oneperson. rose: who was that? >> i'm not going to say.

yoll have to find him in the pages of t book. (lghs) >> rose: b you hit on the target that i want to talk about. the pleasure ofour life, the love oyour life. what was inside but let's tal about early times first. what w home like growing up with you? >> well, i grew up in an extrely small house, a family of three childrenn a lower income sorof environment. but an environmt full of contradiction whh i think was very healt. my parents were atheistsand my father was pbably a communist or extre socialist but they nt know a caolic conven hool. so that i itself sort of descris the sort of wonderful contradiction in my life as a kid which i think i very healthy. >> rose: theyoved to talk about sues at the dinner table. >> ty did. had no television. we didn't have a radio. >> rose: small talk was not a big thin >> no no, gossip? no. i'm not saying they're stric or made us, but they love to talk about issues le is ther such a thing as a soul, wh is part,

stuff like that. d always encouraged to express my opinion and to have opinions and to talk. but very much withi that sort of family environment. >> rose: how did.. where did this idea of being a performer come fro >> i don't know. you know, it's... i mean, i think it has to beeanetteic to a certain exnt and certainly on the russian de of my fami there was always annterest in the theater. in fact, one of my ancestors in russia started, in a way, the first thter in russia. hetarted a sf theateron his estates in russia in the sort of. i don't know, 18th century 17th, 18th century. it was one of the st of vy rst formal theaters. but... s it's... i gss it's there, my mothe was an enormous drama queen so might ve come from my british working class side of m family. i don't kn. >> rose: now, what who s it

that sd... was it mary mired? who sa "beware of fear?" >> mother mary mdred. my headmistress. a nu you know, she was a cathol none in the convent school that i was in. wh i went for my first interview wi her and i was, o cour, extmely fritened. she just said this very wise thg which was "bere of fear. just be careful wit fear." and it takes you many years to understand t wisdom in something ke that. rose: what was ithat got you on sta and got you interested in th nationalyouth theater and gotou at the royal shakpeare and got you to peter brks? >> well you know, alove of the world of tmagination, i suspect. >> rose: really. >> the ability t sort ofhut the rest of theorld out and enter into a mical world. for me it was shakespear that took me io the worldof the agination in terms of drama. and i was just so cometely

own away by the first shakespearean pruction i saw. what are y laughingt? >> rose: i'm remembering they call you the stratrd... >> yes, wel what can you do? it was my my fault? >> rose: really, who fault wa it? >> the fault of the bloody journalist who wro that. >> ros let's look at the pictures you tk. who is tt? >> that'smy sister and my brother. my sister, me in the middle. >> rose: thi >>hat was a costume fidget. i've always loved costumes. that was m first proper costume fitting at the royal spax pr company. yocan see what a poser am already. >> rose: did you have favorite shakespearean character? >> rose ly is a gat characte >> rose: stratford'sery... it has at come-hither look,. >> maybe. >>ose: come hithern the grass with me. >> i must find the name of that jourlist and send him a tnk you note. thank u for nothing.

>> this is workingith the great.... >> rose:ooks like arthur miller. >> it ishe great arthur miller. up into what impact does peter brook have on you? >> oh, my goodness. ll, probably the work that i did with him probably reverberatg ine in my professional life toughout. >> rose: okay. beuse what? >> becse ihink that he was the... he was the personho try understood. you know, he is a great genius and truly understood that evy actor is an absolute individual. and you canno formourself... and actors always looking at othe actors saying "why c't i do that? they're so briiant? why can't ie like that? why can't i be like her?" and actually all you rlly have is yourself d it'sinding the truth yourself tt you have to sort ofpresent on the stage. >> rose: how d you do tt? find the truth of yourself?

>> y don't find it by looking. that a terbly zen sort of answer. yodon't find it bylooking. and, of course it's.... >> rose: that's a very interesting point. >> actors a so confused because they'r having to look at themselvesnd trying to find themselv all the time in order to reproce... even thoh you're obviously often playing a aracter far beyond yourself. but every characte you pla always kr reis some of urself within it. and the only way you can really perfor any character really well is by giving it of yrself of your own emotional story. >> se: bu you're saying you can't go in search for , you wait f it to com >> in a way. that's aind of stud, dumb answer because you g"what the hell does that mn?" >> rose: (laug) alright. then along comes in 2006, as we go down memory lane, "pre suspect. noit ended in 2006. >> much elier. it ended in 2006. >> ros it came ang in...

>> started in980 somethingr her. >> rose: didou know what this could be for you? >> no, you never do, chlie. these things come kind of... you know, sideways, they hityou ways from the side. >> rose: andho w the illiant person that decided at was perfect for you? >> think probly sally head, who wawas the head drama at grenada at t time. and maybeinda who ote it. i don't know. you never know. these things come upon you mysteriously >> rose: when yo settled in t fit year that you sai "man, this feels good, this is comfortable for me, like the way this... >>ell, it was a great role, anyreat role you feel lik th. it was a... y know, the first episode was wonderfully written by linda and she created a gat great character. and then a we went with it, it w awonderful way to sort of reflect hopefully the world around you. that was how saw it.

>> ros it was about a culture, too. >> about a culture, absolutely. and a history now, because you know it went thrgh, over... i n't know, 15 years or so. >> rose: but we got know you and your flaws and yourense of authenticity. all that stuff. >> yes, i pe so. >> rose: were you sad to see i leave? no, no. >> rose: because you're abig hollywood movi star by then? >> no, nott all, no! >> ros oh,i'm an oscar winner i don't have timfor rime suspec anymore iny life. >> charlie, it ended long befe won an oscar rose: (laughs) i know tha >> an oscar! >>ose: you won an oscar! i was writing a little piece about that, actually. >> re: what were you saying? >> ias just describing the whole process, t whole eveni >> rose: but you were perfect in it. your perfect little ansring spch was great, d't you think? >> i have... i thoht about that. i had think about it because

you couldn... it was too delicate with all of t responsibility of the queen and britain and people's.. that... anytng about the royal family in engla, as you probly know britain, people are sort of... justaiting for you t make a slip. so i had to b careful. >> rose: well, not jus careful. bupeople had a feeling... >> and funny, i hope. >> rose: and they jus thought yogot her and what think surprised me people you liked her. you ew to understd her and admire her. >> wel i don't know about understand, you know. >> rose: i would think undersnd more than lik but you're sing like more than derstand? >> well,ertainly like d maybe love. >> re: maybe loved h? >> yes, maybe loved her. >> rose: because? >> i think a combination of complicated things. rtly because she was so very much of my parents' generation. althoughounger. but, you know, she came out o th pre-war and then the war generation of britain and those

with the years that formed her characteand her personality and that incredible sense of diipline. >> rose:nd responsibility. >> and responsibilit and akind ofacrifice. and adhering to it through thk and thin a absoluly nev waivering. ver wvering. really eraordinary. and as i studied her and the pey dropped more and more about who this person was that i'd kind of takefor granted, like sort of big ben. pass it a million tim in my life, ner reall pay attentn. when i had to actually pay attention, the enormity and the impressivess of what she'd do and achieved st of came upon me. >> rose: now, i know you don't likehese kind of questions but i...'m obsesd with them. >> (ughs) that's hont. i'm dying to know what it is now. >> rose: wel, wh was the

hook? what washe way that you sort of said "aha! " >>here was a littl tiny bit of film that i watch ove and over again. it was only about... about 12 seconds film. >>ose: 12 sonds? >> yes. and it was her getting out of a cawhen she was about 1 or 13. and at that point she didn't know tt she was going to be queen. because, remember,he wasn't brought from e moment she was born. itwas something thlowly dawned upon her. first, obviously, with the abdication of her uncle an then with the fact that her parents didn't have any more childn, which they cld have done. so she didt know that sh was going to be queen. she was getti out ofone of these enormous black cars, you snow and she's about 1 or 13 and she's obviously been told "yo get t and you put your handout and you arpolite to the man who will great you." a beautiful, beautiful little girl and thisbig man in a suit. and she just does it so

correctly, withuch kind of gravitynd grace and, you know, she's doing exactly what she was told todo. but she's doing it wit such, as say, gravity and gracend... what's the word? not honor, i can't think of the right word >> dignity? >>dignity, thank you. thk you, charlie. dignity, exactly the rd i'm looking for. as a 1-year-old,3-year-old. and it makes me cry ever time i look ait. it so beautiful. and she wasa... also, she w a laughi little girl. you e early film of her ipping along laughing, this beautiful ile that she had. d looking after herister, maki sure her sister dsn't mess up, evenas aoung girl. >> ros in the "the frame" the memoir of dame helen. do you like this dame thin >> not much. i don't. i don't. i always forget about it and

people like you remind me. >> rose: see, don't ever know what to say. it's like sir. so people... theyon't want you toorget. >> no, right. >> ros and other people they're uncomfortable, the n't want you to say it. >> i'm t uncomfortable person, a lite bit. i am. i don't... anyway. i don't see melf by th at all. >> rose: ado you. >> do you, chare? >> oh, io! (laughs) even aft four decad. rose: i'm going to get another black eye. one's enough. muchuccess, myear. >> thank you. thank you very much,rlie. ptio sponsored by rose communications captioned media acce group at wgbh accessgbh.org