Kelly McGillis Quits Shakespeare to Have Baby

Kelly McGillis, the Hollywood actress who put her film career on the back burner to give a year’s commitment to Shakespeare will leave the company at the end of next week because she’s expecting a baby.

McGillis, who is two months pregnant, has been advised by doctors not to work during her term. Taking a hiatus from her film career, she is now starring in the Shakespeare Theatre at the Folger’s sold-out production of “Twelfth Night,” which has garnered rave reviews. McGillis had signed a “seasonal” contract with the theater through June but has been released from it.

McGillis, 31, who has been in such films as “Witness,” “Top Gun” and “The Accused,” was set to play lead roles in “Mary Stuart” in February and “The Merry Wives of Windsor” in April at the Shakespeare Theatre.

“I will miss everyone a lot, but some things are bigger than theater, like taking care of another life,” said McGillis this week. “I don’t like having things undone, but at the same time I am happy to be pregnant.”

But she said she has regrets about leaving so soon after her much-publicized move to the theater from California, considered risky for a top-grossing screen star. “The reviews have been very nice, and I love the intimacy of playing before a live audience, because you can’t lie as an actress,” McGillis said of her current role.

McGillis, who married yacht broker Fred Tillman last year, declined to comment on possible medical complications. She will finish the run of “Twelfth Night”--it closes Nov. 19--and then will return to Los Angeles in December.