‘YOU CAN BE SEXY AT ANY AGE!’

From The Railway Children to Call The Midwife, Jenny Agutter has barely left our screens in more than 50 years. She talks breaking the rules, the truth about Hollywood, and how she still feels sexy at 66

Jenny Agutter talks Hollywood, #Metoo and feeling sexy

if there’s one person who proves that age is just a number, it’s Jenny Agutter. As she changes from a colour-pop dress to a sharp trouser suit at the GH cover shoot, each outfit garnering reactions of ‘wow’ and ‘gorgeous’ from the team, it’s clear that this is a woman who not only looks fantastic, but feels it, too.

She is someone who is comfortable in her own skin. ‘I’ve recently been in the Outer Hebrides filming

Call The Midwife, where they put us up in a castle that was catered,’ she says. ‘There was nothing less than four courses at mealtimes; all cream and cheese. I ate the lot, of course!’

Jenny is in the 55th year of her acting career. Having made her film debut at the age of 12 in East Of Sudan, she became a household name playing Roberta in The Railway Children before embarking on a 17-year stint in Hollywood, starring in films including Logan’s Run and An American Werewolf In London. More recently, she’s focused on television, playing Sister Julienne in BBC One’s popular series Call The Midwife. This month, she’s returning to the big screen alongside Bill Nighy in Sometimes Always Never, a film about a man trying to track down his missing son.

Jenny, now 66, lives in London with her husband, Swedish hotelier Johan Tham. They have a son, Jonathan, a junior doctor, and she has two stepdaughters. Here, she tells us why life has never been better.

You have been on our screens since you were just 12 years old. What is behind your success?

I know, I can’t quite believe it! I guess it’s [down to] huge amounts of luck and then just taking the opportunities that come along. My career has taken twists and turns and I’ve not been someone who has carefully managed my life, but I have been someone who has greedily said, ‘Yes, that’s great!’ and grabbed every opportunity.

What are you enjoying most about being in your 60s?

To put it simply, getting over them. Sixty was such a defining line for me; it seems to put you in an ‘older’ phase of your life. Then it happened and I thought, ‘Just forget it.’ I’ve found

a kind of freedom in my 60s; I feel liberated. I’ve started to forget about having to be a certain way, having to make up for the fact that there’s a hell of a lot of stuff I don’t know, and I’m just enjoying life instead. I’m getting on and doing the stuff I want to do.

What’s the boldest thing you’ve done?

Abseil down a wall. I was at an event in London to raise funds for the Cystic Fibrosis Trust, the charity I’m a patron of, when someone in charge said, ‘Let’s do some publicity shots of you at the top of the wall.’ As soon as I was up there, they added, ‘Now just step over and go down it.’ It was a 50ft drop and I screamed all the way to the bottom but, let me tell you, it was pretty exhilarating!

Do you like to break the rules?

Oh, yes, I don’t believe in rules. There’s nothing I feel ‘too old’ to do; why should there be? I love going to rock concerts and I’m seeing Nick Mason from Pink Floyd at the Roundhouse in London this summer, which I can’t wait for. I like going to the summer festivals in Hyde Park, too; I have such fun getting up and dancing to the bands. It doesn’t take a lot to get me on the dancefloor!

What’s your attitude to ageing?

I have lines, lots of them but, do you know what, I don’t mind. We should all enjoy every line we get on our faces, because we’ve earned each one. The part that worries me is when your face starts to fall. I can see it starting to happen to mine, so I just try to work around it. The best thing about wearing a wimple for

Call The Midwife is that you can just pull the strap round and tuck your face in it!

Do you prefer the natural look?

Yes. Some people get away with doing themselves up, but I always feel like a painted doll if I do too much to myself. You see everyone getting their teeth whitened these days, too, but I refuse to do it; I don’t want to look like a fake version of myself, just a decent one!

So, you won’t be going under the knife any time soon?

I’m too squeamish for cosmetic surgery. I’ve also seen the results of it and the forms that people have signed; you’ve no idea what’s going to happen while you’re under anaesthetic. If there was a new invention that guaranteed to keep your

We should all enjoy every line we get on our faces, because we’ve earned each one

muscles doing what they should, that would be a different story… sign me up!

How do you stay in such great shape?

I wish I had a proper diet or exercise regime, but I’m embarrassed to say that I don’t. If my clothes get tight, then I stop eating so much. The cheese, the wine, the chocolate… it has to go. I won’t go up a clothing size, which is the only rule I live by. I love walking when I get the chance and I try to fit in some yoga stretches every day. I’ve also started doing sit-ups recently and a bit of ‘pretend’ cycling on my bed. It sounds a little mad, but I’ll lie down on my back and do the motions with my legs in the air!

What are your style secrets?

I think I look better now than I did in my 30s, 40s or 50s. I look at photos from those years and wonder what I was thinking. A lot of it comes down to style. I’m now much more aware of wearing well-cut clothes that are less about showing off a fabric or design. I look at designer clothes that I’m ‘supposed’ to wear and think, ‘I’m going to look nuts in these!’ I’ve learned that a good pair of jeans and a white shirt go a long way.

Can you be sexy at any age?

Absolutely! Age expectations have certainly changed. When I was growing up, there was a ‘twinset and pearls’ age that you got to: women hit middle age, cut their hair short and got their cardigans out. That’s just not the case any more. Look at someone like Tina Turner, who’s both extraordinarily attractive and an extremely sexy person. She’s carried on being sexy well into her 70s! It’s [about having] a sort of naughtiness and an enjoyment of things.

What makes you feel sexy?

For me, it’s about being able to be yourself and enjoying life, which I think comes with age. I feel able to celebrate what I have to offer as a person now. That’s sexy, right?

Yes! You moved to the US when you were 21. Tell us about that…

I made some wonderful friends, but I was thrust into this glamorous world of red carpets and fancy parties, which, for me, was terrifying. I wasn’t very good at it. When I went to my first Oscars, I sneaked in the back door because I didn’t want to walk the red carpet. Hollywood is very much into projecting an image of someone, which isn’t something I’ve ever been very comfortable with.

While you were there, did you feel pressure to look a certain way?

There was definitely more pressure. Perhaps it had something to do with being in my 20s and caring so much about what people thought of me. I remember having a facial the day before meeting Steven Spielberg about a role and I still had red marks where the therapist had squeezed all my pores. That was slightly unfortunate!

In light of the #Metoo movement, did you ever encounter any problems?

I was lucky because I always worked with good people, but I was aware of it. There were people in Hollywood at that time who had bad reputations. There was no #Metoo, there were no mobile phones, but you heard things on the grapevine, such as ‘so and so flashed’ or ‘so and so touched someone up’. You just didn’t go near it. I didn’t want to be in a situation where I might have to run out of the door, so I did everything I could to not let it happen.

What difference do you think #Metoo has made to the industry?

It’s been brilliant. It has strengthened women and their position and it’s made us realise we don’t have to be in that position, and if someone behaves like that, they need to be reported. There’s still more to be done, though. A young actress recently told me that she had been asked to record a sex scene and send it to a producer as part of an audition. They’re supposed to be finding out if you can act, not whether or not you can fake an orgasm.

You’re returning to cinema in Sometimes Always Never. What was the appeal?

I felt extraordinarily lucky when it came my way. I mean, Bill Nighy is leading it; how could I say no? I’d worked with him on a film called Glorious 39 [in 2009]

and it didn’t feel like any time had passed. He’s a very warm, generous man who helps everyone around him. I play the mother of a missing son, which was a tough subject to cover, but it’s not a bleak film at all; it’s wonderfully hopeful. There are a lot of lessons to take away from it.

What is the most important life lesson you have learned?

To stay in the present. My father died a year ago and I dealt with it very differently to my mother’s death 15 years earlier. She had rheumatoid arthritis and I refused to face the fact that she might die. I was constantly trying to find out what could be done to make things better and, when she died, I looked back and thought, ‘Why didn’t I just stay in the moment and listen to what she had to say?’ So when my father became ill, I was very aware of just being there for him and treasuring his final moments.

You’ve been married for nearly 30 years. What’s the secret of your success?

I can’t believe it. Marriage is constantly surprising to me. I have absolutely no idea why any two people should ever remain together for any length of time, because what you discover is your differences. Almost 30 years on, I’m no closer to understanding how Johan thinks, but that’s actually been our saviour in many ways. It means that there are lots of surprises, and along with the not-so-good surprises come the very good ones.

How do you and Johan manage to keep the spark alive?

Our ‘thing’ is travelling and discovering new experiences together. It means that all of the irritations of having another person in your life, which there are bound to be, are somehow nullified. Our special place is Venice; we’ve been going there since we got married. I love the romance of it. Some of my happiest moments have been taking little trips on the vaporettos and sitting in cafes. Bliss.

What does he think about you being in the public eye?

He’s always told me how proud he is of what I do, particularly of Call The Midwife as he loves the show. But when Jonathan was about six, Johan said to him, ‘Mummy’s on TV, come and have a look,’ and Jonathan said, ‘But I can see Mummy any time!’ That’s the truth of it. What I do doesn’t really matter.

Did Jonathan ever want to follow in your footsteps?

Funnily enough, he always found it easier to be on stage than I did. I struggled with theatre in the beginning. When I was 18, I did my first play at Farnham Repertory Theatre; it was a comedy and it was ghastly. I couldn’t get a single laugh! Jonathan, on the other hand, was absolutely brilliant at drama at school, but he always wanted to be more in control of his life, so he chose a different path. He loves his job now, which is all that matters.

You’ve spoken before about your niece Rachel, who has cystic fibrosis. How is she?

She’s just turned 40, which is incredible considering she was told that she probably wouldn’t live beyond her teenage years. She’s recently been on a big trip to Australia with her husband, where they visited all the islands. I’ve been watching her on Instagram thinking, ‘Look at this amazing woman.’ It’s not been easy, it’s incredibly tough, but it’s given the whole family a sense of how precious life is. No one takes anything for granted now.

Do you think you’ve achieved the right work-life balance?

I find it very hard to switch off. I have to physically cut myself off from everything, which is why I love getting on the sleeper train to Cornwall. We have a house down there that has glorious sea views. When the whole family is sat around the kitchen table playing charades or Bananagrams, it’s perfection. Sometimes Always Never is in cinemas on 14 June