BEVERLY HILLS, California 鈥� During their struggling years, actors often hold down all sorts of odd jobs. But Scottish actor Julie Graham鈥檚 was unique. She worked in a strip club in London鈥檚 Soho. Not as a stripper, she鈥檚 quick to add.
鈥淚 worked in the reception. The club was called Pussy Galore. It was in a place on Brewer Street. I really loved the strippers,鈥� she says. 鈥淭hey were so kind to me. A lot of them were young mothers, and they would do things like bring me little food packages because they knew I didn鈥檛 have much money.鈥�
Graham was only 18 when her mother, actor Betty Gillin, died of cancer. Her father wasn鈥檛 in her life, so she was on her own. 鈥淲hat happens to you, you just get on with it,鈥� she says.
鈥淚t鈥檚 the confidence of youth where you think: 鈥業鈥檝e just got to do it. I鈥檝e got to get on with it.鈥� I don鈥檛 think you鈥檙e scared so much when you鈥檙e young because it鈥檚 a new world, and also I had no money, but I worked in a lawyer鈥檚 office in the day.鈥�
She had applied to drama school, but was offered a part in a movie and never looked back. 鈥淢y drama training was actually doing it. It was a baptism of fire.
There鈥檚 nothing like learning your craft on the hoof,鈥� she says in her Scottish lilt.
鈥淲hen I started working in theatre 鈥� which was the majority of my work first 鈥� I watched so many actors who I really respect 鈥� who also hadn鈥檛 gone to drama school. And my mum hadn鈥檛 gone to drama school either. So for me, it wasn鈥檛 so intimidating. I think drama school was more about sex, drugs and rock 鈥檔鈥� roll rather than actually learning,鈥� she laughs.
Her own form of dramatic training came from those around her. 鈥淭he strippers would say: 鈥楥ome out for a drink with us.鈥� And I said I didn鈥檛 have any money. They said, 鈥榊ou don鈥檛 need any money.鈥� And they鈥檇 take me out, and I鈥檇 end up in some drag club until 4 in the morning in some terrible basement filled with these fabulous drag queens who were just SO interesting,鈥� says Graham.
Today she鈥檚 applying all that 鈥渟chooling鈥� to her latest role as a former Second World War code breaker in The Bletchley Circle: San Francisco, streaming on BritBox. As the prim Jean McBrian, she joins her wartime colleagues in adapting their keen analytic logic to solving a series of murders in San Francisco.
Growing up, Graham saw the downside of the acting profession by observing her mother. 鈥淚 think I鈥檇 had a good grounding because I鈥檇 seen it wasn鈥檛 all sunshine and roses and it鈥檚 quite a tough profession, and there鈥檚 a lot of rejection, and a lot of time being unemployed,鈥� she says. 鈥淚 guess I had a good basis in reality, whereas a lot of people think you鈥檙e going to be rich and famous. And that鈥檚 not why I wanted to do it. I just wanted to tell stories, I guess.鈥�
The mother of two girls, 12 and 14, Graham has co-starred in shows such as Survivors, Shetland and William and Mary. And while she feels life experiences enrich us, she鈥檚 endured more than her share of tough ones.
Not only did she lose her mother at such a young age, her ex-husband hanged himself three years ago. 鈥淚t was really hard for my girls,鈥� she says, pausing.
鈥淭hey knew that their dad had problems. They were very aware that he had issues and problems, so I think that they鈥檇 already coped with a lot to do with him. And, of course, they were devastated and, of course, it absolutely rocked their world. But they had me, so I knew they would be OK. It鈥檚 been a long, rocky road, but I think we鈥檝e come through it,鈥� she says.
鈥淲e talk about him a lot and they鈥檙e starting to remember the good times and forget about the bad times. So it鈥檚 a process. It鈥檚 always changing for them.鈥�
But it鈥檚 not changing for her. Six months before her husband ended his life, her best friend died suddenly. 鈥淲e were very, very close ... One minute she was there and the next minute she wasn鈥檛 there. And that really changed me. It changed me for the better because it made me live in the moment. It was so shocking. She left behind two young children, one of them is my goddaughter and that, to me, just changed everything because I realize life can change in the blink of an eye,鈥� she says.
鈥淢y husband鈥檚 death wasn鈥檛 a surprise to me. It always seemed inevitable in a way, but with her, she was such a life force, vibrant, sexy, intelligent, fierce. She was Irish and my hero, and all of a sudden she was gone. It made me appreciate everything so much and career and getting old, and all the things you worry about became less important.鈥�
