The San Francisco Examiner from San Francisco, California • 29

The Arts July 5, 1979 S.F. EXAMINER Page 29 What really hurt when Diane gained fame as a film star By Jack Mathews Knight News Service URANGO, Mexico Oh, the Ironies of becoming a big teen-age film star. First, you miss what looks like a sure career-launching role In a movie called "Pretty Baby," with Keith I4 roles in a Disney movie called "Watcher in the Woods" and in a remake of "Blue Lagoon," a 194B film that starred Jean Simmons. "Lagoon," a story about two shipwrecked teen-agers falling in love and growing to maturity, will involve nudity and fairly erotic love scenes, Diane said, while the Disney movie is well, a Disney movie. "That (the sex) is a very touchy subject, because the people in Montana aren't going to like to see that film," she said.

"They aren't going to accept me. "I may not be able to get another job for three years. Those things happea What kind of offers am I going to get after that? I have to be sure of what I do, so 1 have to talk it over with Dad and look at it" Her dad wanted her to take the Disney role, of course. Carradine. Then, out of the blue comes an invitation to star in another film called "A Little became more and more determined to be an actress.

"I didn't raise her for bondage," he said. "She is as entitled to a normal life as anyone else ber age. It's my parental preogative to give her the room to grow in, and I dont want to relegate that to anyone else. "Everybody wants to be her parent now, and that's fine with me up until the point where they want to dominate her. Then I have to step In and stop that from happening." As It turned out, Lane didn't like what was going on with that filming.

Even when Diane was on her own time, studio people were telling her when to eat, what to eat, when to get to bed and so on. Me asked them to back off and let her make those decisions for herself. As tough as the decision between Broadway and her first film may have been, there's been an even tougher one for Diane recently. She was simultaneously offered starring 4t 1 fjj. Ji.

5 i -jk A I 1 1 'A Little Romance' brought fame to Diane Lane and a difficult career decision. Here she's with her film co-star, Thelonious Bernard EMM June 27 thru July 7 CHARO DOM DELCIISE I "4 I PATTI PAGE ROCKY COlli tONIXJCTOR I I I. VENETIAN ROOMig Cocktails and dinner dancing to Ernie Heckscher't Bund. Two shows nightly except Monday. 772-9163.

mm with Laurence Olivier. When your movie comes out, it is not only bigger and in all respects than "Pretty Baby," most of the critics spend more space praising you than the venerable legend, Olivier. But where are you when all this praise is coming down? When Interviewers and talk show hosts and other film people are dying to know more about you? i Off in some dusty foreign city sipping Cokes, playing hearts, doing homework and shooting your next movie. The locals dont know you from any other 1year-old gringo who show up wearing a "Mazatlan" T-shirt "You know, it's funny," actress Diane Lane said, taking a on the set of Tattle Annie and Little Britches" here. "My dad says, 'Well, you're a big star back in New York, Diane." I said, That's nice, but what's it doing for me Diane has been In Durango with her "Cattle Annie" co-stars Burt Lancaster, Rod Steiger and John Savage since April 2, long before "A Little Romance" opened to those happy reviews all over America.

Her career right now sems as solid as those of any of her film contemporaries Brooke Shields (who eventually got the "Pretty Baby" role), Tatum JjO'Neal and Jndie Foster. The problem for Diane is one of exposure. She isnt enough. If she hadn't been in Durango for two she would have been on tour, promoting "A Little Romance" and developing her lmaga As soon as the Durango location breaks up, she'll head for Australia with her father, Burt Lane, to promote the movie there, vj Diane has been acting since she was six, all her roles prior vIP "A Little Romance" being in stage plays. She got her first 3b when a family friend sent a newspaper clipping mentioning an audition for a child actress.

Diane's father a New York City cab driver, took her to the audition and sat outside in his cab while his daughter went through a test that would have seemed weird to the most seasoned actress. "I went in, and this person said, 'Do you want to do a play?" I said, 'Play, sure I love to I didn't even know what a play was. I'd never been to one. "She had a guitar and I had to sing words backwards and Ispeak from back in my throat It was a very, very strange Experience. I thought 'What the hell was that? Get me out of But they called In a couple of days and said they -anted me." The plays were musical Greek tragedies, and the cast had fdp sing in Greek dialects.

They were produced by the esoteric, experimental Great Jones Repertory Company for Cafe Le Mama in New York. Working in things like "Medea," "Qectra" and Trojan Horse Diane spent the next four -summers on world tours. Since then, she has been in a number of stage projects, she tested unsuccessfully for the part in "Pretty Baby," and eventually developed the character of a teen-age prostitute in the musical, "Runaways." When "Runaways" was picked up from the Public Theater for a Broadway run, Diane was also offered the part in "A Little Romance" It was her first major career decision, and, at this point you have to meet her father to understand how the decision was made. "I try to influence her if I feel strongly about which thing would be best for her," Burt Lane said in a separate 1 interview. "But the decisions are hers.

They've always been. RESERVATIONS, 24 HOUR TOLL FREE 800-648-1177 TICKETS ALSO THRU BASS 835-4342 She has to find her own way. "I sent her up the stairs alone for her first job and for every one since. The most deadly thing a parent could do is try to control the creative part of his child." Lane hasn't always been a cab driver, if you're wondering. He worked with John Cassavetes in operating an actors' workshop in the '50s, but his career didn't work out quite as well as Cassavetes'.

He tried a number of other things In New York, then bought his first cab about the time he and his wife were divorced. When Diane's mother, now an interior decorator living in Atlanta, had a nervous breakdown, Lane said, he took custody of his daughter, and the cab business was ideal. "New York is a 24-hour city," he said. "1 could work full time and still take Diane wherever she needed to go to school, to the theater and pick her up." Lane said he suggested that Diane think of other careers, because he knew "how dangerous the business is," but she Looking for antiques? Armoires, wash stands, jewelry, clocks, dolls, stuffed birds, bric-a-brac. Shop the Want Ad Supermarket' 777-7777 For Show Reservations Call (800) 648-3990 For Room Reservations Call (800) 648-4882 Other Fairmont Hotela in Dallas, Denver, New Orleans and Philadelphia.

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