Jill Clayburgh: The Passion of Mothers : Truths Abound for the Actress Who Plays Jill Ireland in TV Movie

Jill Clayburgh seldom stirs from her cozy New York home these days unless the project is irresistible. She found one in “Reason for Living: The Jill Ireland Story,” based on the memoir of the late actress. The story details Ireland’s desperate attempts to rid her adopted son of his heroin addiction, all the while dealing with her own breast cancer and her father’s deteriorating health.

“Characters under duress are the most interesting,” Clayburgh says.

There aren’t a lot of laughs in “Reason for Living,” which airs Monday on NBC, but home truths abound.

“I liked that she was such a passionate mother,” Clayburgh says. “I could easily identify with that.” Clayburgh and her husband, playwright David Rabe, have two children, Lily, 9, and Michael, 6.

Ireland had two sons with her first husband, actor David McCallum, and one daughter with her second husband, actor Charles Bronson. While still married to McCallum, she adopted a third son, Jason.

Clayburgh never met Ireland but read her book and listened to taped interviews with her.

“This isn’t a story of ‘I’ll do this and it will work,’ ” she says. “Jason’s recovery was always going to be pretty shaky. Heroin addiction wasn’t just a phase in his life.”

In fact, Jason died from an overdose of prescription drugs in November, 1989. Ireland died from breast cancer seven months later.

But “Reason for Living” isn’t about death. It’s about life and tackling the job of being a mother.

“How do you let go of your child?” Clayburgh asks. “How do you live on a daily basis with the problems we all live with? I think Jill Ireland went through a period of blaming herself. Maybe it was partly her fault. She knew very well how much she wanted to do the right thing.”

In her attempts to make Jason’s life better, Ireland went so far as to find and introduce him to his birth mother. That’s when she discovered that his real father had been a drug addict.

“Maybe if she had known this when Jason was little, it would have made a difference,” Clayburgh says. “There were all these little things. He was hyperactive. He was dyslexic. He was an intense baby from day one.

“Each individual thing can be overcome, but the situation was programmed against her. I think she handled it in a very human way, as well as most people could--not better, not worse. That’s what’s touching. It’s a passionate attempt, but it’s not like she had any great tricks up her sleeve. She loved the child. There’s a line in the movie where she says, ‘We can’t just throw him away.’ She goes through every emotion a mother goes through. She’s angry. She pleads with him. She’s kind. She’s cruel.”

How could Clayburgh resist such a part? Sitting in an NBC conference room in Los Angeles the day after shooting ended, the actress is gradually letting go of the character and becoming herself. On antibiotics to fight an infection, she begins the interview slowly, groping for the right words, but half-way through she comes to life and wisecracks start popping out.

“You know what my daughter said to me when I accepted this part?” she asks gleefully, her silver earrings jangling. She imitates her daughter wheedling to keep her from going to Los Angeles to make “Reason for Living”: “ ‘I don’t know why they want you. You are an awful actress!’

“I thought it was sweet.” Clayburgh smiles. She likes her daughter’s daring to stand up for herself. “Lily was really hitting below the belt, and she knew it. I loved her for really going for it.”

As an older mother, Clayburgh, 47, puts her children at the top of her priority list. “The pull not to work is very strong,” she admits. “I even hesitate to make a lunch date. I’m very fussy about my time. I’m very aware of how little of it there is. I do nothing I don’t want to do--although sometimes I have to get my roots dyed--and I don’t want to do that.”

Her psychoanalyst tells her to be a little less attentive, but she wonders: “How can you hang on them too much? It’s so much the opposite of my own background. I am the opposite of my mother. When they’re ready, they’ll kick me out. That’s their job.”

Can this doting mom be the same woman who became a feminist icon a decade ago for her memorable performances in “An Unmarried Woman,” “Starting Over” and “It’s My Turn”? “Feminism is now a more complex issue,” she hedges. “ ‘Women can have it all’--we’ve seen how difficult that is. You still have to make incredibly difficult choices about what you want.

“The rebound from the feminist position is that women are feeling that their family and personal life are important. So for some it’s better to take a step down and accept that part-time job or make sure you have your weekends.

“I love acting, but I’m very aware of what I’m missing with the kids. I’m going home to raise chickens. I promised the kids. We tried to incubate some eggs and I failed, so I cooked them. They’re owed another attempt at this venture, so we’ve turned the playhouse into a chicken coop.”