Jillian’s Most Difficult Role: Playing Herself

Ann Jillian’s image of herself as a comedian doesn’t match her considerable work as a dramatic actress--nor her Emmy nomination this year for what was probably one of the most difficult roles she’s ever faced: playing herself.

Her aura of glamour comes perhaps because she is a nightclub singer and former star of a couple of TV sitcoms. Or maybe her straight blond hair, wide-eyed wholesomeness and breezy energy do not easily fit into preconceptions of what a dramatic actress is all about.

Of that dichotomy between her glamorous image, her comic persona and her dramatic roles, Jillian said, “Thank goodness some people think of me as glamorous. I think I have a natural clown’s face.

“My face lends itself to comedy, which I did for ‘It’s a Living,’ ‘Mr. Mom’ and ‘Jennifer Slept Here.’ I had to overcome all that for this film.”

Jillian’s Emmy nomination this year was for her performance in “The Ann Jillian Story,” broadcast on NBC. It was the emotional story of her ordeal at the the height of her career when she discovered that she had breast cancer and underwent a double mastectomy.

She was also nominated in 1982 for “Mae West” and in 1985 for “Ellis Island.”

Her competition in this year’s Emmy race in the category of best actress, miniseries or special, included Mary Tyler Moore for “Gore Vidal’s Lincoln”; Jessica Tandy for “Foxfire”; JoBeth Williams for “Baby M,” and Mary Steenburgen for “The Attic: The Hiding of Anne Frank.”

Dressed in a bright red dress, Jillian looked elegant, healthy and happy in a recent interview in which she discussed her Emmy-nominated performance.

“When I played the role I wasn’t thinking of awards,” she said. “Being nominated for an Emmy for one of the five best performances of the year, especially in this year of remarkable performances, is a wonderful honor.

“It was certainly the most difficult role I’ve ever been asked to play, and I would think that all performers would find playing themselves incredibly hard.

“When actors and actresses play parts, they are able to lose themselves in their characters--maybe even hide behind the facades of the characters they create. This time I was asked to recreate and duplicate myself.

“There’s a danger, a pitfall of self-aggrandizement, and I did everything possible to avoid that. I wanted to make sure the film showed me with warts and all.

“Once I got into the part I wasn’t self-conscious because it took so much concentration. Once in a while, though, I had to stop when I began asking myself, ‘How would she behave or react in this situation?’ Instead, I had to ask, ‘How did I react at the time? How did I feel? Try to remember.’

“The easiest part was the love story with Andy (Murcia, her husband). I wanted the picture to be dignified, filled with love for my husband and family and to be the truth.”

Jillian said she agreed to the role for a larger reason than merely telling a dramatic story. She believes that the film has a message for other people confronted with catastrophic diseases.

“Obviously, some of the scenes were painful to play,” she said, “but it is a movie that offered hope.

“It pleased my heart that both the movie and I were nominated because it means the industry as well as the public embraced the film. It shows Hollywood is willing to make responsible movies to keep hope alive.”