After 50 Years of Acting, ‘Prelude’ Gives Sydney Walker a Major Role

Talk about perseverance.

After 50 years as a professional actor, Sydney Walker has finally landed his first major role in a feature film. He stars opposite Meg Ryan and Alec Baldwin in “Prelude to a Kiss,” Craig Lucas’ romance based on his acclaimed Broadway play. Walker, 71, plays Julius, a mysterious old man who kisses a beautiful bride (Ryan) at her wedding, only to discover their souls have been transposed into each other’s bodies.

“I have been around a long time, but this was really handed to me like a gift on a silver platter,” says Walker, who’s biggest film role before “Prelude” was as Ali MacGraw’s doctor in “Love Story.”

Walker had played Julius in the 1988 production of “Prelude” at the Berkeley Rep. Originally, he says, Alec Guinness was set to play Julius in the film, but had to bow out due to an illness in the family. Lucas and director Norman Rene then suggested Walker to the producers. “They liked me,” he says.

For a third of “Prelude,” Walker must pretend to be a young woman trapped in an old man’s body. During rehearsal, Walker and Ryan observed each other’s behavior.

“I tried to get an essence of what it is like to be a woman. Certainly, I have been around (women) intimately all my life. I watched my sisters and my mother, and I watched my wife for several years, so you know something about the feminine psyche. If you are going to be a good husband you have to.”

The Philadelphia native acted on Broadway for two decades, receiving a Tony nomination in 1967 for a revival of Ibsen’s “The Wild Duck.”

A resident of San Francisco since 1974, Walker still keeps busy in the theater. “I did ‘King Lear’ up in Portland in February. I have been taking time to smell the roses, you know. I hope to make another picture.”

But next time, “no gender changes. I probably would like to be cast in the part of a man who really remains a man.”