Actress makes a mark with Zorro

"I was 15 when I got my (professional actor's) card," recalls the Welsh actress. "I was born and raised in the small Welsh town of Swansea. It's such a small town that the school is really an old house, but it has the distinction of being the birthplace of (poet) Dylan Thomas."

Zeta-Jones' father ran the town confectionery, prompting her to recall, "It was like growing up in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory country."

Though it was a very small town, Zeta-Jones was singing and dancing by the time she was four.

"Our local Catholic church had a very active amateur drama group. We all learned singing, dancing and performing."

When Zeta-Jones was 14, former Monkees star Mickey Dolenz was touring Britain in a musical that required the participation of local teens in each city it visited. Zeta-Jones auditioned for the Welsh version of the show and won a chorus spot. She so impressed the producers that they whisked her off to London to star in a production of The Pyjama Game. By the time she was 17, Zeta-Jones had the lead in the British revival of 42nd Street.

"I never saw movies in my future so when 42nd Street closed, off I went to France. I returned home a year later because I was offered a role in a TV series called The Darling Buds of May."

The 12 episodes of Darling Buds turned Zeta-Jones into a major sex symbol.

"Almost overnight, my life changed drastically. Every time I had coffee with a man, he became my latest boyfriend. Cameras followed me everywhere. I had absolutely no privacy."

Zeta-Jones was usually linked with older men, such as British TV star John Leslie and American producer Jon Peters.

"The intrusion into my life got so bad, I actually drove my car into a lamp post trying to get away from paparazzi one day. It was at that moment that I decided to flee Britain and live in America."

Zeta-Jones thought she could parlay her TV success into feature films but her roles in The Phantom, Splitting Heirs and Christopher Columbus: The Discovery went unnoticed by viewers, casting agents and producers alike. She had much better luck with her American TV roles, including in Catherine the Great and Titanic. Steven Spielberg was in preproduction for The Mask of Zorro when he caught Zeta-Jones in Titanic. He needed a fiery actress to play the aging Zorro's daughter and the new Zorro's lover.

"Steven flew me down to screen-test with Anthony Hopkins in Mexico. Tony didn't remember right away but he had directed me in a Welsh production of Dylan Thomas's Under Milkwood. That other dark-skinned Welsh performer, Tom Jones, was also in the production."

Zeta-Jones impressed both Hopkins and director Martin Campbell, but had to further screen-test with Antonio Banderas, who was playing the young Zorro.

"There was an important dance sequence with Antonio and they wanted to make certain I could carry it off. They didn't know I was a musical theatre actress."

Zeta-Jones passed her second test with flying colours, so she stayed in Mexico to learn to fence and ride.

"My character in Zorro is essentially Wonder Woman. She rides, dances and fences. The only thing we don't see her doing in Zorro is cook."

Her dance background was invaluable for her fencing training but she had nothing, except her backside to fall back on when it came to learning to ride.

"I was so sore until I finally learned to fall into the rhythm of the horse."

Like the rest of the cast members of Zorro, Zeta-Jones suffered her share of nicks and cuts from the swords.

"Every time we'd shoot a fencing sequence, I'd check myself in the shower that night to see just how many war wounds I had. During the day, the makeup people kept covering them up."

Though she's proud to say her sword never left a welt on Banderas, she has to admit she injured him during a rehearsal for their sensuous dance sequence.

"Antonio is pretty physical so he really got into the dance. During one of the dips one day, I took a chunk out of his back with my watch. He's so Latin. He's so macho. I could see how much pain he was in but he refused even to wince."

Though she's sporting a diamond ring, Zeta-Jones insists she is not currently in a relationship.

"I just love diamonds. I'm still the sad, lonely girl nobody loves."

Zeta-Jones will soon return to Britain for the first time since she fled to avoid the intrusive press coverage. She has been cast opposite Sean Connery in the action romance Entrapment in which she plays a young jewel thief opposite Connery's aging career criminal.

"I'm really interested to see what kind of treatment I'll get from the press this time around. I just want to warn them that I've saved my sword from The Mask of Zorro and that I know how to use it."

LOUIS B. HOBSON - Calgary Sun

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