All Photos: Alan Mercer Lighting: Eric V.
She turned to acting in the 70's and gave numerous critically praised performances on television and the big screen. In 1977, she played opposite Rudolph Nureyev in Ken Russell's film 'Valentino.' Michelle starred for several seasons on 'Knots Landing' as Anne W. Matheson Sumner, a role she is loved and remembered for today. She has ‘lived the life!’ candidly as she discussed in her memoir ‘California Dreaming’ published in 1986.
Also in 1977, Michelle released her debut solo album, 'Victim of Romance' produced by the legendary Jack Nitzsche for A&M Records. The album has been released on CD three different times including the latest with added rare recordings.
On January 12, 1998, Michelle was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in New York City, with her bandmates. For the first time in over two decades Michelle performed 'California Dreamin' live with Denny Doherty and John Phillips.
Today Michelle lives a more liesurely life filled with friends, children and grandchildren in a quiet West Los Angeles neighborhood. My darling friend Eli Davidson introduced me to Michelle because she knew how much I loved her. Photographing Michelle Phillips and having the opportunity to share it with you brings me joy. She invited Eric Venturo and myself over to her home for a photo shoot and conversation. You will see lots of (laughter) in the conversation because we were all laughing so much I felt it would be important to understand the point of view.
AM: First I want to tell you that you are one of the most remarkable women on this planet!
MP: Well I think my father would agree with you if he were still alive. I have always been very lucky. I had a great parent. My mother died when I was very young. My father was always such a great influence on me. He was a liberal, open-minded person and very, VERY well educated and intelligent. He always praised me. (laughing) His relationship with me was probably the most important relationship I had.
AM: Do you have a specific memory when your Dad was so supportive?
MP: I remember when I was seven years old, I took a potato and peeled it, put some oil in a pan with the peels, then salted them. When my Dad came home I said, "Look! I cooked something!" He asked me what I cooked and I told him, "Potato skin chips!" He then said, "You know, YOU are a fabulous cook." From that time on....I cooked.
AM: And you did get good at cooking?
MP: Hey those potato chips were fabulous! (laughing) I've always known that I didn't have to be afraid of cooking. I am absolutely fearless in the kitchen.
AM: You say your father gave you a lot of positive reinforcement.
MP: Absolutely.
AM: Were you that kind of mother that filled her children with positive reinforcement?
MP: Yes I did, but Chynna doesn't like to cook, really, but she loves to sing. You should hear the Christmas Wilson Phillips CD. It's wonderful.
AM: I did hear it and love it. They always have the most perfect harmonies.
MP: It's beautiful. So anyway, when Chynna was a little girl she was always reinforced by her father and me to write and to sing and dance, to play guitar and piano. When she walked out of here at eighteen, she never looked back. She always had something that she knew how to do well.
AM: She knew she could perform on stage.
MP: It was wonderful to see her in 'Bye-bye Birdie' where she danced and sang a few years ago. She acted and she was brilliant. Those were the things that she liked to do. I couldn't get her to cook for anything, but my son Aron is a chef. It's always, "Hey Mom, can I julienne that for you?" (laughter) He helped me with the paella at Thanksgiving because he wanted to learn how to make it.
AM: I know you have a home in Mexico. How often do you make it down there?
MP: A couple of times a year. Last time I went for two whole weeks and I stayed by myself.
AM: Was that therapy for you?
MP: Yes, I don't have any internet. I'm just getting used to using my i-pad. My children took me kicking and screaming into the apple shop because I didn't have a computer.
AM: Do your children want you to own a computer and be on-line?
MP: My sons don't care but my daughter does. She wants to be able to send me photographs and messages. My boys are so easy going, it's "Whatever Mom...just make sure you cook." (laughter)
AM: Have you retired from acting?
MP: I wouldn't say that I've retired but I don't go to casting calls anymore. I don't like to go into a room with thirty other women who are all well known actresses who have all been in successful series or they are movie stars, and when you get into the office they want you to read two lines. It's absurd.
AM: Why do they cast like that?
MP: Frankly, they just really want to look at you. They want to see if you still look OK, but you're always too old, too short, too fat, too skinny, too young, too something. You don't look right with the guy cast as the husband, they can't find your money. It's always something! (laughter) I will not primp and drive to the valley when the chances of me getting the part is so slim. Everybody is already there, they all want to work. I've pulled back.
AM: You don't need to work do you?
MP: No.
AM: You have a full satisfying life just as it is?
MP: I do. I have a lot of friends. I have a great guy who I've been with for over eleven years. He only lives two miles down the street. I have four grand children, three children, lots and lots of friends.
AM: I know you have some great girlfriends.
MP: I have wonderful girlfriends. We have a social thing we do called 'Ladies on the Porch' afternoons that go all afternoon, all night and into the early morning. Anybody who can't drive just sleeps on the couches and futons.
AM: How wonderful for all of you.
MP: I read so much negativity about relationships that women have. That it's all very catty and back-stabbing, but that has not been my experience. My experience is that my girlfriends are the people that I love and trust and absolutely adore. Everyone knows they can just stop by. They don't have to call. I always try to include one new person in the ladies porch parties. It's a great opportunity for women to get to know another chick, another great woman. Sometimes the odd guy will show up.
AM: Now if someone offers you a role you would be open to taking it.
MP: Well I did a movie last year. I went in and read for it though.
AM: So you broke your rule.
MP: It was an independent film and it was a Norwegian film. I knew what they were looking for. They needed someone to play the lead character in her sixties and they showed me some of the footage and I had a good feeling because I looked like the lead actress. When they asked me to come back the second day I knew I had it.
AM: Did you enjoy the filming?
MP: It was fun to be back on the set. They were the only two scenes that were in English. I love to work.
AM: Did you enjoy acting from the very beginning?
MP: Yes I loved it!
AM: What was it like working with Rudolph Nureyev?
MP: A nightmare.
AM: Was he difficult?
MP: Yes, I was an angel and he was difficult. (laughter)
AM: That film is notorious!
MP: Nureyev was completely miscast. Sorry Ken Russell! Now I adored working with Ken. He was so much fun! Rudolph was very uncomfortable acting and speaking English. He was very uncomfortable playing a straight guy. We had so many nude scenes.
AM: Were you comfortable being naked?
MP: I'd never done a nude scene before but we were in Spain and it was 106 degrees inside a tent so I felt comfortable right away. No one is ogling you. Everyone is doing their job. After every take we'd run to look at what we shot and wardrobe would run to me with a robe. The first couple of takes I would take the robe and look at the video and then after the third take I decided I was too hot to wear the robe. I didn't feel uncomfortable because it was the silliest scene in the movie.
AM: Then you were a huge hit on 'Knott's Landing.' Did you enjoy working on that show?
MP: I loved it.
AM: Would you do another series?
MP: Only if it were at Fox or Sony close by where I live. My life is too happy. I have a great life.
AM: You're lucky you are a founding member of an iconic rock n' roll group. That never leaves does it? It must be in your DNA!
MP: The only time it did leave me was when I was doing 'Knott's Landing' and I would meet fans that would ask me if I'd done anything before. I realized then there was a whole younger generation of people who have no idea that I was ever in a rock group.
AM: They know the songs!
MP: They know the songs but they don't know who I am in relation to the group. It was wonderful really.
AM: So you enjoyed that?
MP: Yes I did. The Mama's and the Papa's will always be that one thing that began my career.
AM: You wrote lyrics to 'California Dreaming.' How cool is that?
MP: That's a song with legs. It's being played all the time. The entire Mama's and Papa's catalog is big for Universal Music!
AM: Those songs are never going away. You're the last one. Did you think that would happen?
MP: Yes! I told them in 1966, "I'll bury you all!" (laughter)
AM: I remember that from your book!
MP: Was I right or was I right!?! Of course I said that in a peak of anger. The truth is I did bury them all.
AM: You have the most amazing story in the book about being with the group in Bermuda and only having twenty dollars and you won at the craps table 17 times in a row!
MP: I didn't know what was happening. I didn't know how to play craps. It was the first time I'd ever been to a craps table in my life. I didn't know how to bet or why they kept telling me to throw the dice again over and over.
AM: And you never got addicted to gambling?
MP: No I'm indifferent to it. I won't play more than $200.00. That's it. I do love to play blackjack. I've always been very lucky gambling. In every aspect of my life I've been a very lucky person.
AM: Do you believe in a higher force?
MP: No I am a Druid. I believe in the sun, water, moon, air, nature. I'm a Naturalist. I don't believe in any dogma. To each his own however. My daughter is a born-again Christian.
AM: That just proves that everybody is their own person.
MP: You don't influence everything. She didn't grow up in a religious atmosphere but she took to it like a duck to water! (laughter)
AM: Do you have discussions with her or end up arguing?
MP: No, no, no. You never argue with anyone about politics or religion. She's a good democrat.
AM: I love your solo album 'Victim Of Romance' from 1977. You got a very famous producer for it. Can you tell me a bit about it? Did he want to produce you?
MP: Apparently, we didn't put his feet to the fire.
AM: For only making one album that didn't have a top ten hit, it's still a big album!
MP: It's been re-released on CD three times now. The latest is this copy with the rarities. I wish I'd had more control over this one because there is some crap on there. This is the original version of 'Just One Look' and John Phillips produced that cut. Jack Nische was another nightmare. He pushed me to my limit. He didn't coddle me. He made fun of me and embarrassed me.
AM: In what way?
MP: He told me I couldn't sing. He would come into the studio and ask one of the background singers who was going to sing the song and they would all look at each other. I would then say, "I mean it. Who's going to do it because Michelle isn't going to sing it."
AM: I have one last question today. How does it feel to be a grandmother?
MP: It's really a beautiful experience. It truly is. Who could have thought that I would one day be a grandmother? I love spending time with my grandchildren. We go shopping and make dinner and we paint! It's all fun time!
