We chat to the legend that is Kate O'Mara
FROM DOCTOR WHO TO DYNASTY VIA ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS AND HOWARD'S WAY (REMEMBER THAT?) WE CHAT TO THE LEGEND THAT IS KATE O'MARA, AS SHE DIPS A PERFECTLY MANICURED HAND INTO GT'S SWEETIE JAR...
Er... you look amazing!
I'm getting myself into gear for a convention on Sunday. Finding the long, black, suede high heel boots, leather trousers and the leather top to try and look like something out of Doctor Who [laughs]. Doing one's best, one has to live up to their expectations!
Are you doing quite a lot of stuff for the Doctor Who anniversary this year?
Why, yes. I'm going to New York at the end of this month to do a thing there. Not quite sure what it is but a lot of parts of Doctor Who. I'm doing something called An Evening with Kate O'Mara. They're showing a film of mine that I made in 1967, long before anyone was born really. I play a Russian ballerina [laughs] in which I have to dance the dance of the little swans. Seems a bit of a laugh if nothing else!
Do you find that Doctor Who is just something that doesn't leave you?
No, it just goes on and on. I mean, yes, I was a Time Lord and I was what they describe as an 'iconic villain', whatever that may mean. I can assure you, darling, no matter what the play has been, after the matinee there would be a crowd of people at the stage door and they're all Doctor Who fans. It's an amazing phenomenon really.
Who do you think is worthy of playing The Rani if, or when, she were to regenerate?
Oh, well, they're bound to chose someone younger aren't they? But I'd love them to ask me! The reason I say this is because old women are sort of becoming very fashionable, and what they don't realise, or what they do realise, is that because we're all living much longer, there's a whole audience out there of older women who have nobody to identify with. Because all the heroines are young, only in things like Midsomer Murders do you find very much older woman playing a large part. The new Doctor is not a terribly young man, but it would be an interesting confrontation to have a much older woman playing one of the main protagonists. I'm, after all, supposed to be a Time Lord and the part was written for me, so I quite honestly don't see anyone else playing it at all. I see me coming back to play it. I really do! Cat, dog or Tetrap? [Laughs] Well, I own a cat, whom I absolutely adore! I don't think I'd want a Tetrap as a pet, they're not beautiful, they're extremely ugly! But I prefer cats to dogs.
Who was your favourite Spice Girl?
[Long pause] I don't think I ever saw them... funnily enough I actually did meet one! Now, what what her name? Emma? Her name was Emma.
Baby Spice...
She was a Spice Girl, wasn't she? That's not my sort of music. I live in the 17th Century! Well, I live actually in the 16th Century with 17th Century surroundings. In the background you'll find classical music playing because that's what I like. But, anyway, I'd say Emma because at least I've met her and she was charming.
What's the gayest thing you've ever done?
When I play men, and I have played men in my time. Put on a moustache and played a chap. I love playing a chap! It's really good news because I'm not really tall enough to be a chap, I'm a small chap. I loved tying my hair back and putting a moustache on. I did a terrible film where I played a pirate, a lady pirate all be it, but she was described as one of the chaps. It's great fun pretending to be a man.
If you were Prime Minister for a day, what would you do?
Well, I would overhaul the education system because I think that's where it all starts and that's where it's all gone wrong! I once saw this programme about Eton, which indeed our own Prime Minister attended I believe, and it was brilliant. It was a wonderful school. Every child's dream school. And that's what every school in the country should be like. It shouldn't be for the privileged few. Every school should have the same facilities, opportunities, brilliant teachers. I do a lot of educating children with workshops and we've spent money running education in the arts for children, drama courses for young people. I don't get paid for it, I just do it because it's terribly important.
If you had an Aladdin's lamp, what would you wish for?
To go back in time. I would like to go back a few years so I could change a few things. I think I have made mistakes and I would like to alter those mistakes. So it's quite appropriate playing a Time Lord, saying 'Let's go back in time' — because I would.
What's your favourite phrase?
Carpe diem... seize the day!
Do you use your power as a star to get you what you want?
I have done in the past! But it depends on what you're talking about with power. I don't really have much power now. I would do, if things were not going my way I'd threaten to leave unless I got what I wanted. But I don't like to abuse it.
What's the strangest thing you've ever read about yourself?
Oh, all the stuff that's inaccurate I suppose, things you think, urn, who's put a curse on me! There was a short for some sort of whiskey and it says 'Do you know that Kate O'Mara started life as a voice therapist?' and I thought, 'no, I didn't!' Would someone like to phone them and tell them they haven't bothered to pay me for using my name [laughs].
We have to talk about Jackie...
When we were doing Jackie in Ab Fab, Jennifer wrote a rough outline of what Jackie was like. She originally thought of her as Jackie Onassis, I think that's why she called her Jackie. I suggested that I play it with an all-purpose continental accent. She's trying to show that she's lived abroad so much, she's so international that she's forgotten how to speak the Queen's English. She absolutely went along with it and wrote the part around it. Everyday she would give me new dialogue with this ludicrous woman [laughs]. It was a brilliant part to play because she was a brilliant writer.
You've had a lot of these hugely iconic roles, do you find gay guys get a bit funny around you?
I certainly have a tremendous gay following, particularly when I played Marlene Dietrich, which I have to say, I look terribly like her. We had a gay audience that was absolutely packed to the rafters. How to put it simply, one has always sort of been a glamorous woman. I've always played glamorous parts.
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- Wikipedia (this article): <ref>{{cite news| title=We chat to the legend that is Kate O'Mara | url=http://cuttingsarchive.org/index.php/We_chat_to_the_legend_that_is_Kate_O%27Mara | work=Gay Times | pages=30 | date=Dec. 2013 | via=Doctor Who Cuttings Archive | accessdate=26 March 2025 }}</ref>
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