in the upcoming issue of harper's bazaar magazine right here my next guest is called one of the
10 most beautiful women in america and she has starred in such films as paradise fast times at
ridgemont high the tv movie lace and most recently gremlins it's a pleasure to welcome phoebe cates
thank you for being here thank you for being here it's uh quite an honor i guess huh yeah it's a
real honor yeah you look very young in person yeah everybody says that yeah you look like uh i don't
know 15 16 maybe well yeah maybe yeah and can we tell folks how old you actually are yeah i'm 21.
21 years old well uh you know i thought the fast times of ridgemont high was really a fine film
thank you did you did you like the way it turned out i loved the way it turned out yeah i thought
it was uh nice very entertaining and it had some really nice parts to it and i thought you were
very good in it oh thank you yeah yeah uh now tell me about um tell me about a paradise this
is a movie i saw lace i saw ridgemont high and i saw gremlins i have not seen paradise
come in tell me about that movie um let's see actually it was the first movie that i made
yeah um and i was 17 when i made it and uh it was uh a love story that took place in the desert
was this uh was this like the other one that they they keep mentioning the paradise and the
other one the the blue lagoon but it was in a desert right yeah were there other similarities
uh and and what were the other similarities
um well basically it was it was a lot like the blue lagoon yeah
um now did you like that film as well um well actually when i when i took it it was my first
you know it was my first offer ever it was the lead in this in this feature so i was it was fun
to do yeah you know and and i wasn't um hesitant about taking it i'm sorry but now it's you know
it's a little uncomfortable to look back oh really it is uncomfortable i didn't realize that
but but again it was your first film yeah yeah and and it it did help me to get started yeah uh
now in in fast times of ridgemont high there's a little bit of uh
uh nudity in it i mean you're nude for a little bit in there aren't you yeah topless yeah
it's a terrific scene by the way but it's uh
now uh for uh for a person so young was that a difficult decision to make that
you would say okay i'll do this now nope really
it was fun um it was that that scene actually was was fun paradise there was a lot of scenes
that that were uncomfortable you you were nude in that film also yes yeah now at 17 that seems
like it would even be more of a difficult decision to make that was more difficult
but with fast times it was justified and and it was very in character and it was it was fun in
the this movie you mentioned it was a fantasy right that this guy was having right now now
what uh at 17 what do you tell your parents well they saw the movie no i know but but
but ahead of time do you talk it over with your mom and your dad and say look uh i'm gonna be
undressed in this movie paradise well actually my my father had read the script yeah and and
he said well you know if you want to do it you can do it yeah yeah and that was it that was it
no other problems no okay uh now gremlins now i saw this movie uh a couple of months ago yeah now
this this is a huge hit isn't it billions and billions of dollars yeah it's doing very well
now i got to ask you two things about the movie that i thought were uh interesting or i thought
strange not strange but you know pick another word um was the movie originally supposed to
be out around christmas time no i think it was always gonna come out during the summer oh okay
now and secondly there's a part in there where you're where you're talking about
your uh father having died in the chimney of your house right now is is that was that a joke
well um i must admit the first time that i that i read the script and i got to that part i said no
this must be just like a little joke that they're playing on me but um then then i actually had
to to do it yeah so well i guess everybody has seen the movie but they you're very unhappy at
christmas time and then later it turns out in the movie that the reason you're unhappy is because
your father disappeared on christmas eve right yeah and then like two weeks later you noticed
this odd smell in the house and it turned out it was dad decomposing in the chimney
it's very sad it's terribly sad but i i when i when i heard that i i started to laugh i
thought oh this is a joke yeah no i mean i i pretty much had to the way i played it was
just to believe that it happened oh yeah you were terribly upset about it yeah yeah all
right uh we gotta do a commercial we'll be back uh folks phoebe cates and i will be here right
stevie capes is here this is some unbelievable company that you found yourself in on this uh
list of ten let me go ahead and quickly name the rest of the folks uh kate capshaw
you mentioned her right mm-hmm i used to babysit for her daughter yeah
kate capshaw jacqueline bisset mm-hmm did you babysit for her no all right linda evans
and margaret yeah i think candace bergen very nice choices sigourney weaver yeah
uh yeah terrific well this is very nice for a leigh remick bernadette peters phoebe cates
the audience making up their own list christy brinkley yeah have i got them all yeah that's
it well again congratulations uh not now you and i just talked during the commercial
when i said fast times at ridgewood high was a fine film the audience started a snicker and i
said to you why did they start to laugh when i said that and tell them what you said i said i
think it was your choice of words because you said it was a fine film yeah yeah and you're you're
well i admit it i when i saw the film i enjoyed it a great deal but but you think it may not
have been a fine film it's a really good film but yeah i think it's it's a really good entertaining
yeah well that's all that's what i meant by it and i still think it was a fine film anyway
uh how did you like working with the the puppets in uh in gremlins that was fun yeah yeah it got
tedious sometimes because you know like in the bar scene where you were attending bar and they
were out of control yeah and that took three days to shoot how many actual puppets were in there
well um they had several they had about 30 different gremlins but uh in that scene i
just worked with the ones at the bar so i guess there were about six or seven
and then there were the 100 um crew members behind that were throwing things uh-huh
that happens here on occasion um is that is that for an actress really difficult to have to act
when it's uh puppets and stuff well that movie in particular was just uh you know i mean i knew
that that's that's what what it was about and and um not really it was it was pretty easy yeah when
you when you go out in the public now the people hound you and follow you and come up to you on
the streets and stuff um sometimes yeah and do you like that so long as they don't touch me
well see i think that's a felony i think that you're probably right they shouldn't be touching
you uh does it happen a lot more people touch me no no people come up to you oh when people
come up to me yeah pretty often yeah and what do you say to them what do they say to you what
do you say to them they just they just ask me you know silly questions they ask for an autograph or
something yeah do you know do you sign autographs do you mind doing that um yeah i sign him yeah and
uh it makes you feel good to know that folks like your work yeah it does that was a stupid question
i could hear that and it was coming out of my head i thought this is really a stupid question and
there's nothing i can do about it at that point it already passed my uh past my teeth well um
phoebe what do you got coming up um i don't know yet yeah uh i my play is is uh they've asked us to
go to washington to play the kennedy center yeah what is the play it's the nest of the wood grouse
i think i think i did that in high school
well good luck with you in the nest of the wood grouse and uh and you've got a wonderful long
career ahead of you and thank you very much for being here thank you nice meeting you phoebe
you