Joanna Lumley: “I Haven’t Had a Career, Just Worked to Survive”

Joanna Lumley has insisted that she hasn’t had a career but simply worked to earn enough money to ‘keep herself alive’.

The actress, 79, has had an illustrious film and television career spanning 55 years, with notable projects including On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, The New Avengers and Absolutely Fabulous, while newer roles have seen her star in Amandaland and the upcoming second season of Wednesday. 

However, in a new interview, Joanna brushed aside the notion that her path to success as an actress was carefully planned, instead noting that she had no idea of her ‘destiny’ as she went from role to role.

She was certain though that she just ‘loved’ to act and didn’t enter this ‘precarious profession’ for the fame or ‘stardom’.

Speaking to the Radio Times about her vocation, Joanna explained: ‘I’ve had no career – I was trying to earn money to keep myself alive. I’ve never had any idea of a destiny or where my career would go and I have never ever asked myself, “Will this damage my career?” I loved acting, so that was going to be my chosen thing. 

‘We actors just wanted to get to be better actors, and we wanted to work so we could pay the rent. We weren’t longing for stardom. We’re jobbing actors and we’re no different, really, from painters and decorators. It’s a precarious profession at the best of times and I’ve just done anything to keep my head above water.’

Meanwhile, Joanna, who started off as a model in the 60s, opened up on the longevity of her career, revealing she was initially only cast in ‘pretty girlfriend’ roles before the industry eventually changed so that looks wasn’t the most important thing.

She noted how actresses back in the day were told to keep going ‘until 29’, by which point they were ‘too old’, however, Joanna resolutely told herself to ‘stick around’ and keep pushing ahead.

On how things have improved, she shared: ‘Now, you look at the wonderful parts for people as old as me, and also interesting, different looking parts that don’t need a pretty face. Men have always been allowed to be whatever they want to be, but women have always had to look attractive or alluring or something. That’s fading away.’

These days, Joanna is as known for her plummy voice as she is for her face, as is often cast because show makers want ‘Joanna Lumley’ for the part.

But the blonde bombshell told how people are ‘mad’ not to realise that part and parcel of acting is ‘typecasting’, adding that the point of an actress is that she can ‘change’ and often did turn down similar roles because she ‘wanted to keep changing’.  

After dreaming of becoming an actress as a teenager, Joanna was turned away from drama school before becoming a model in London during the Swinging Sixties. 

She later took up small-time acting roles before landing a place in the 1969 James Bond movie, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service. 

It wasn’t until a few years later, however, that she hit the big time playing Purdey in The New Avengers. 

And Joanna has no plans to retire, telling crowds at the SANDS International Film Festival earlier this year that ‘she’ll be there’ as long as she can speak. 

‘When I was 16 and told the careers officer at my convent school that I wanted to go into acting, he told me that the only jobs open to me in film would be as a continuity or make-up girl,’ she added.

‘In the past women like me would have been sidelined at 38 but now there are lead parts for people in their 50s and big parts for those in their 70s.’

It comes after Joanna made the heartbreaking admission that she ‘doesn’t have much time left’ as she turned 79 in May.

Joanna celebrated her 79th birthday on May 1, and the iconic actress opened up about her mortality, admitting that she may not have much time left. 

‘As you nearly the top of the hill, you suddenly think, “Gosh, there’s not all that much time left,”‘ she told Vernon Kay on BBC Radio 2. 

‘My time must be coming quite soon, and I don’t want to have wasted a minute of being on this beautiful planet. I used to panic when I was young, but as I’ve got older, I’ve started to live day to day. 

‘With age, you work out what matters. I always knew that good stuff would come along when I was older.

‘When I was 18, I longed to be 30. When I was 30, I longed to be 50. We mustn’t be led into thinking getting old is bad. Growing old is good.’ 

Read the full interview in Radio Times, out now.