A New York Picnic With Olivia Tracey
Olivia Tracey in Bryant Park (Seán McCarthy)
By Seán McCarthy
For Manhattan spots to have picnics in, Bryant Park is at the very top of my list.
There's a beautifully mature feel to the park's shadowy walks and lush green lawn.
Le Carrousel's fourteen delightfully painted animals, replicas of classic carousel creatures, revolve to the sounds of French cabaret music in the distant background.
People gather casually to find a still moment alone, to chat with a close friend, to read a book, have a light lunch, or just pass quietly through from 5th to 6th Avenues under the grandeur of the American Radiator Building, the Salmon Tower and the lofty Grace building.
And so, in advance of the arrival of my special guest for a summer picnic in the park, I have prepared a mid-afternoon spread of deliciously plump New York Deli BLTs, ice cold bottled water, and a fruit cup dessert.
Did I mention I also came complete with an Irish table cloth, silver ware, picnic plates, crystal glasses, linen napkins, and even a daffodil arrangement for a center piece?
"She must be very special," grins a curious cop in passing just as stunning Irish actress and model Olivia Tracey enters Bryant Park.
A flurry of murmurs dances across a crowd of lunchtime onlookers, followed by a shimmer of sunlit devices as people capture her arrival through the view of their handhelds. Click click click! A familiar sound for Olivia Tracey.
"I got here early and thought I'd set a table for us Olivia," I say, beaming.
Olivia looks fabulous and refreshing in a full length snakeskin pattern summer dress, very in vogue at the moment for that casual elegant look.
As she sits down to our picnic together sporting a brand new New York-based agency deal, thoughts of writing a book on her mind, and a possible return to the New York stage in the works, the Dublin-born star is as in vogue and as in demand as ever.
Olivia: One of the reasons I'm back in New York this summer is that I've joined with an agency here. The Ford Agency in LA has set me up with IMAGES here in New York. I've also just joined with 'Innovative', for commercials here in New York.
Seán: Congratulations! That's brilliant news. You're a successful actor now in Hollywood these days Olivia, with an entire list of professional film and TV credits to your name. But you weren't always acting, were you?
Olivia: I was a qualified teacher back in the early Eighties when I came out of University College Dublin.
The economy was appalling at the time, not that it's any better at the moment, but there were really no jobs, and if I wanted to teach I would have had to go into some small little country town somewhere and do a few hours here and a bit of substituting there, and I just was like, no ... I can't see myself doing this, this was not adding up.
And, while I was a student I used to work in a store called Frends, a beautiful four storey store, really gorgeous, fabulous clothes, very stylish, and my Dad was the accountant for that store. And he got me a job there while I was a student, Saturdays, weekends and so on.
And I always loved the fashion side of things; it was always something I had a passion for. And one of the girls I worked with happened to go on to become an agent at a modeling agency Geraldine Brand Agency.
I was a little hesitant to pick up the phone and call a modeling agency and go down to them for some reason. I saw this as some other world that maybe was one where I didn't belong.
But because I knew her, I called her, and she said "Oh yes Olivia, come on in, we'd love to see you!" so I got dressed up and I went in and met her, and they took me on, and literally a few days later I ended up getting a job on a runway show for Switzers which no longer exists in Dublin anymore.
It was a swimsuit show, in January that took place in the window of Switzers department store! The whole thing was just hilarious.
It ran for four days, and we had three or four shows a day, and that was my first. I was thrown into modeling and I hadn't had any training or anything at the time, so I was really acting on instinct at that point, but it was fantastic, and I worked with a great bunch of girls, and it was a great start.
As Miss Ireland (1984) Olivia Tracey went on to major stardom in Ireland, attracting infinite media attention, enjoyed overnight celebrity, and doing Ireland proud with a 6th placing in the Miss Universe Pageant, where she was also voted 'Best Body in a Bikini,' with her 'Magnificent Seven' finalist placing in the Miss World Contest.
By the time her reign ended, Olivia was co-hosting a primetime show on RTE Television with the great Mike Murphy called 'Murphy's Micro Quiz-M', as well as live announcing on national networks RTE 1 and 2.
There were also emceeing engagements across Ireland and countless modeling assignments from runway to print and product endorsements. Olivia Tracey had arrived.
Seán: Talk to me a bit about those heady days at home Olivia? What was it like, being the Farah Fawcett of Ireland?
Olivia: Well thank you Seán, I take that as a compliment. Do you know, they were really great days. They were fantastic.
We used to go down to the country and do all these shows in some of the different towns outside of Dublin, and there'd be a bunch of girls on the bus, and we had Ted the bus driver.
We used to slag him about his white socks, he used to wear the white socks and the black shoes all the time.
But he was the nicest guy, and he was our steady bus driver everywhere we went, and we'd arrive down in these towns and arrive into a hotel and we'd have our lunch.
Then the afternoon would be spent trying on all the clothes, and fittings, then back to the hotel.
Olivia Tracey at the Crysler Building (Seán McCarthy)
There'd be a load of us packed into one room, all vying for mirror space trying to get the makeup on and the whole thing!
Then we'd go and do the show that night, and then it was back into the bus.
We'd be taking our makeup off on the bus, and we'd always stop for chips somewhere along the line on the way home. Models eating chips?! But when you've worked out on that runway, you're hungry and you're ready to eat. And it was a long drive home from some of the places we were at.
I remember going to Castlebar (County Mayo) and places that were a long distance from Dublin. But they were fantastic days.
Actually, the lovely thing is, I got to work with some of those girls again, Sandra Curley in particular, when I was back in Dublin last year when I did a show for Marks and Spencer's.
They had herself and myself doing the runway show for them, and it was just so nice, twenty five to thirty years later to get to work with somebody I had worked with then. They were fun days.
Seán: So tell me, for all our female readers, what are your top three secrets to beauty?
Olivia: Well, first of all, sleep. If I don't get my sleep ... I can do without food, but I can't do without sleep. But I'm not great without food either. I would say sleep, water and happiness ... laughter. It's a great medicine.
I suppose my philosophy about life really Seán is: everything in moderation and balance. If you go out and have a great time and you're having a ball, well to hell, stay out and have your late night! Just don't do two or three of them in a row if you can avoid it. Moderation.
I'm not a big drinker, but I do love a glass or two of wine and I drink either white or red depending on the mood or the setting. I'm a good eater, I eat very healthily, but I also love my ice cream, I love those little squares of chocolate, and I love cookies with a cup of tea!
Olivia Tracey laughs whole-heartedly with the resonance of a woman who is comfortable in her own beautiful skin.
The unique Irish beauty, who has only recently turned 51, boasts an enviable Veronica Lake figure that has people on the streets of Manhattan stopping and starring, open-mouthed, as we wrap up our picnic and take a stroll around Bryant Park then over to the main steps of the New York Public Library.
Olivia, being Olivia, doesn't seem to notice the public now gathering in quite a commotion on the street all around us, as I take some photographs of her with the architecture of the world's most famous library as a backdrop.
Classic Tracey, I think to myself. As a model, Olivia Tracey has always appeared comfortable and sophisticated in front of the lens of a camera.
After all, she is well versed in the world of high fashion and world class modeling.
Her modeling assignments with the renowned Ford Model Agency have been many, as have her umpteen television commercials.
Then there's her work in film. Tracey's film credits include, among others, Angelica Huston's 'Agnes Browne', Jim Sheridan's 'In America', Tamar Simon Hoffs' 'Red Roses And Petrol', Michael Bay's 'The Island', and Curtis Hanson's Warner Bros movie 'Lucky You' where she feature as Isabel, the chic, French lady on the arm of L.C., played by screen legend Robert Duvall.
This year, she finished work on 'The Walkaround' (2012) directed by Jonathan Bray, Matt Miller.
But the role for which Olivia Tracey is most proud is that of dressed-down, tormented widow Moya Doyle in 'Red Roses and Petrol' starring Malcolm McDowell and directed by Tamar Simon Hoffs:
Olivia: When I met Tammy Simon Hoffs, from the moment we spoke on the phone, we got along well.
She just has this wonderful open friendly energetic personality, and what I loved about that role (Moya Doyle) was that it was a great, meaty character role, and I loved the fact that Tammy was willing to take a chance on me doing that role because usually I was always put more in the stylish glamorous woman section, as if you can't do anything else.
And that's fine, I don't mind being type-cast. It's all right; we just all want to work. I'm not one of these actors who's like "No I don't want to play a bag lady!" If I had to I could, but I don't think I'd be their first choice.
The role of Moya Doyle was such a wonderful, all-round meaty role, and for someone to give you the opportunity to play that role was just fantastic, and to go to work every day and be on the set all the time, not sitting in the trailer waiting to be called all day long, not that I mind that either.
It's great to work whether you're sitting in the trailer, but it's particularly nice when you go to work to just be busy all day long.
It keeps your energy going, and it's just nice to do what you love to do. And it was great to work with Malcolm McDowell. He's one of the nicest people I've ever met, and he made me feel so welcome. It was a great experience. It was a whirlwind.
Olivia Tracey's television credits include 'Windfall' (NBC), 'The Handler' (CBS), 'Gilmore Girls' (WB), 'Guiding Light' (CBS) and 'The Ambassador' (BBC), to mention just a few.
Seán: This year you were invited to present, at the Irish Film and Television Awards 2012 in Dublin, the 'Best Actor in Film Award' to Michael Fassbender for his role in the movie 'Shame'. How was that Olivia?
Olivia: That whole event was just phenomenal, magic from beginning to end. Michael seems like a really nice guy, a very humble, ordinary guy. Very handsome, might I add.
Just coincidentally it turned out that the two of us ended up on the red carpet together. We came in at the same time, it was never set up that way, it just happened, so that was kind of fun. So I have a few nice pictures of the pair of us on that.
The whole event was fantastic. He's obviously a hugely talented actor, and I think he's really just going to take off. He already has in many ways. I'd never been at an awards ceremony in Ireland like that before, and I felt so proud I have to say when I went into the Convention Centre in Dublin and I saw the set up.
It was like I had just walked into the Egyptian Theater in LA where they do the Golden Globes and The Oscars. It was of the same calibre, it was fantastic.
Olivia Tracey in front of the New York Public Library (Seán McCarthy)
I know the CEO of the IFTA's in Ireland, Áine Moriarty. See, I'm part Kerry part Dublin, and she's full Kerry. The two of us get on like a house on fire. But she does a great job, and I just love the fact that, despite all the downer on the economy and all of that, she still manages to pull together these awards, and they go on every year.
It's just wonderful to have that sense of celebration and festivity, and that things are still thriving, despite what's been going on with the economy. So that was fabulous.
It was a magical night. I actually sat at her table (Áine Moriarty's), and who was sitting beside us but Jim Sheridan and his wife, and none other than our President Michael D. Higgins and his wife Sabina.
It was a very special night. I was quite delighted as well because, I didn't know what I was going to wear. I went all over LA, but it was one of those times between seasons and I couldn't find anything.
So I was going to go for the old reliable out of my own closet, but then I got back to Dublin and ended up in Louise Kennedy's showroom, and I ended up in a magnificent black-beaded number with an Ostrich-feathered boa, and I was a very happy camper, and diamonds by my friend Maria Collins. She's a jeweler, and she came down to the Shelbourne Hotel to don me out with her diamonds.
Olivia Tracey also does stellar work for the Irish Fair Foundation in Orange County, California and The St. Patrick's Day Southern California Rose of Tralee Ball which is an Irish-American cultural event taking place annually on or around St Patrick's Day.
Seán: What does your involvement in this event mean to you Olivia?
Olivia: My Dad was from Kerry, and when I was a child right through my young years we always went to Kerry on holidays.
We started out going to my grandfather's house in Killarney, and then we went over to Glenbeigh which is over by the beach area, and every summer that's where we went, in August.
The Rose of Tralee pageant was always taking place at the same time, and I can literally remember.
I was a little thing of seven or eight, and we would go in, and I'd love it because it was all exciting, and all the girls were all over the place, and they were always dressed up, all the contestants for the pageant.
I was just in awe of this whole thing. Year after year, it was the thrill of the holiday for me, to go into the Rose of Tralee.
So I associate it with my father who unfortunately is no longer with us, he's been gone over ten years, but it has great memories and it has a special place for me.
Also, when you move to a big sprawling place like Los Angeles, it's so lovely to be just taken in with tender loving care into the Irish community, and that's how I was received by the Irish Fair Committee.
When you go to mass, good things happen. There was a Saint Patrick's Day mass on in a church over at Hancock Park (LA). I heard about it and I went to this event.
I ended up meeting a load of people and there were a lot of people from the Irish Fair there, saying "The Ball is taking place next week, why don't you come?" And I went to the event, and it was just fantastic, I really enjoyed it. And then they asked me to judge and to host. It's really nice to be involved with it every year.
Seán: You're also the ambassador of the Los Angeles Irish Film Festival. That's very exciting.
Olivia: Yes! The person who started that is a girl called Lisa McLaughlin. She's from Donegal, and it's now going into its fifth year.
It's going to take place in Los Angeles on the last weekend in September (www.LAIrishFilm.com) September 26-30, 2012).
She started out "Let's put this together and see what happens." And it was a huge success.
The one thing I will say about us Irish, we're very supportive of one another, so if we're putting on something, whether it's a play, a film festival, a book signing, whatever it may be, we all tend to come out, rally 'round, have a few drinks, lend the support and we all have a good time and get the ball rolling.
And that's what happened with the first festival. It went from strength to strength, and I'm going to be more involved in it this year.
I used to always partake in it; I'd go along to the opening night, the movies and everything. This year, the Irish Fair chose Lisa to be the 'Irish Woman of The Year' and I was delighted, because I suggested her, because I see the amount of work she does on this festival.
Literally, when she's finished one festival, she's already planning for the next one a year later. So, I thought ... here's someone who is really doing something for the Irish Film Industry.
Seán: And what's next Olivia?
Olivia: I still write, I do my own creative writing. I'm into a novel that I'm toying with at the moment. I don't quite know where my story is going, so I'm in that very uncomfortable messy stage of creativity which we don't like but we just have to get in it and get through it, and somehow the story finds its way.
The novel is set in Dublin, in the retro-Eighties in the fashion world. They say "write what you know." But I haven't been very disciplined on that of late, so I really need to get back to it, so thank you for reminding me and jogging me on that.
My theory for this year has been very much to think of 2012 when you pull out all the stops, get out of the comfort zone, and just go for things and do things differently, and take chances and take risks.
I do have something theatrical as well, that I have to audition for while I'm here. I can't talk about it yet because it may not happen and I'm superstitious.
But if it does happen, that would be quite wonderful, that would be the icing on the cake. So if it does, I'll be back (to New York) later in the year. You'll be the first to know Sean if it comes through. I hope it will. Your mouth to God's ears. C
For the full length audio-visual picnic in Bryant Park Interview with Olivia Tracey, tune into America's Only Irish Station RADIO IRISH at www.RadioIrish.com and visit Facebook.com/RadioIrish
|
