Margo Kidder, turning 60, still enjoys work -Los Angeles Daily News

By Greg Hernandez
LOS ANGELES DAILY NEWS - 07/13/2008

LOS ANGELES -- The first time Margot Kidder saw a movie being made, she was just 16 and happened upon a cast and crew on a location shoot in her native Canada.

She stood and watched for a really long time while she wondered what it would be like to be a part of that process. She found out in a big way when she was cast as Lois Lane opposite Christopher Reeve in the original series of "Superman" films.

"I've always had a wonderful time making movies," Margot said recently. "I love the process, yakking with the crew around the (catering) table. I love working and don't think in terms of the end result -- as you can tell if you look at some of my movies!"

Although Margot appeared in all four of the "Superman" films of the late 1970s and '80s, she wasn't in a whole lot of successes on the big screen other than "The Great Waldo Pepper" starring Robert Redford, the original "The Amityville Horror" and the Richard Pryor drama "Some Kind of Hero."

But she always found work on television. She had the juicy lead role in the 1987 miniseries "Shell Game" and followed that with starring roles in "Body of Evidence," "To Catch a Killer," "White Room" and "Mob Story."

"I love working, but I was a dreadful planner, as you can tell by my career," she said. "I didn't have any sense of (career path) at all, which I sort of regret now at my age. I tend to grab things, depending on the character. I'm almost 60 and in the position where if I get an offer, it's thrilling. They all go to Meryl Streep and Jessica Lange and Sally Field for the most part."


A car accident in 1992 left her in severe neck pain and in debt, and she also has battled bipolar disorder, which she has had under control since a widely publicized breakdown in the mid-1990s.

Margot, who will turn 60 in October, lives in Montana these days and has a take me-as-I-am feeling toward acting.

"There aren't a lot (of parts) when you get to be my age if you refuse to have face-lifts," she said. "They'd run me out of Montana! You don't need a face-lift in Montana."

Even without a face-lift, Margot has kept working in television. She returned to her "Superman" roots with two guest spots on "Smallville" and more recently appeared as Sally Field's best friend on "Brothers and Sisters."

"I had a wonderful time, but I was a nervous wreck. I couldn't remember my lines. I wasn't up to snuff. I was just very nervous when I did it. Maybe I can be a running character though. I love that show. What's nice about it is they portray women our age as being our age, the way we really are."

Her latest movie is the crime mystery "On the Other Hand, Death" opposite Chad Allen. Margot plays a lesbian high school guidance counselor who is being run out of town by unknown forces.

"I just loved the script. It was very witty and a great mystery," Margot said of the movie, which airs on Here! TV beginning July 25.

This is a time when the experience of making the film was positive and resulted in a finished product that she is very proud of.

That is not always the case.

"The experience of making a movie or TV show involves a lot of things, from the script to who the crew is," she said. "Sometimes you can have a great time on a really bad movie or a miserable time on a movie that ends up being good."