The Flashback Interview: Lisa London

I first interviewed my friend, actress Lisa London, via e-mail for the website RetroJunk about a decade or so ago. Although I’d been doing interviews for several years by that point, I was still a little rusty. I remained friends with Lisa, though, and a decade or so later, I reached out to her about doing a second interview, this time on the phone for Pop Geeks. She agreed, and we spoke recently about some of her credits from the past decade, while also approaching some of her older credits from new angles. I hope you all enjoy this follow-up interview.

 

Say hello to Lisa London!

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Johnny: It’s a pleasure to talk to you again, this time on the phone.

Lisa London: Cool!

Johnny: Alright. I have my questions ready to go.

Lisa London: Fabulous. Shoot.

Johnny: Let’s start with this: You’ll soon be seen in Jim Wynorski’s Bigfoot Or Bust, a movie featuring quite a few former interview subjects of mine besides yourself, including Rocky DeMarco, Tane McClure, Becky LeBeau and Deborah Dutch. What are you allowed to tell the Pop Geeks audience about this movie and your role in it?

Lisa London: Well, I’m very happy and proud to say that they got a fabulous distribution deal so Bigfoot Or Bust is literally going to be seen everywhere and going to be streaming internationally as well. It’s pretty amazing, and it was a thrill for me to work with some of my BFFs through decades of Hollywood. Becky LeBeau actually got me involved in the movie. At first, it was just going to be a little cameo, and then I ended up one of the stars of it.

It was my first time working with Jim Wynorski, which was pretty amazing considering both of our backgrounds. I’m also made it on the soundtrack. I co-wrote a song and I sing on it too with Becky. It was just a joy to meet some of the other girls I hadn’t worked with before, like Rocky DeMarco who wrote most of the soundtrack along with Becky. It’s just an insanely talented ensemble, both cast and crew, and I just can’t wait for the world to see it. It is absolutely hilarious, pure, silly eye candy, exactly what the world needs right now.

Johnny: That’s fantastic. I’m definitely looking forward to it. Another upcoming collaboration with Jim Wynorski is Attack Of The 50 Foot Cam Girl.

Lisa London: Yes, and I’m one of the leads in that one as well, which is just an honor and a pleasure. I got to play a sexy scientist in that one, so that was such a fun role. Of course, Attack Of The 50 Foot Cam Girl is kind of a riff, a modern day version of Attack Of The 50 Foot Woman. It stars precious Ivy Smith, who was a delight to act opposite.

I also work with Eli Cirino, whose father is the fabulous DP on the movie, Chuck Cirino, who also does scores. That’s a talented family. It looks like a super, mega-huge A-film. Everyone’s acting in it is insane, including my two fabulous costars, Frankie Cullen and Jaret Sacrey. They’re both incredible. We play nerdy scientists, but my nerdy scientist definitely has a big reveal, pun intended (laughing).

It’s just wonderful. I worked with a lot of the same people from Bigfoot Or Bust, and this is a Full Moon production. Charlie Band is the producer and it’s going to have a huge distribution as well. Again, a fabulous comedy with some poignant scenes, and some timely elements in this one, too.

Johnny: Fantastic. My question related to that is: As an actor always learns new things from their collaborators, what has working with Jim Wynorski taught you?

Lisa London: First of all, it feels like home to me because I love working with iconic, old-school, veteran directors. They know every little iota and inch of how to navigate this business, and how to keep a production going. I just love the fact that he is so passionate about what he does still because I will never lose that passion for acting and filmmaking. I learned so much.

I always know that my fisrt instincts as an actor are usually the most sound, and the ones that come across as the most real, but he really reinforced that, too. He was just so incredible to work with. It was sheer fun. He reminds me a lot of Andy Sidaris, who I also worship and adore. It was just this incredible pure joy .

Johnny: That’s fantastic to hear, and it’s always wonderful to learn new things from your collaborators. I’ve certainly learned a lot from the interviews I’ve done over the years.

Lisa London: As I say, an actor never stops growing and learning. It’s like a muscle you have to keep working out. That’s why I always tell everyone you’ve got to stay in some kind of “class” situation because it’s like your rec room, or your gym where you can work out that muscle.

Johnny: That makes sense. Switching to a different credit, you’ll also be playing the character of Detective Mace in the upcoming drama Love Crime. How did you get involved in that project, and what was your favorite part of working on it?

Lisa London: That’s another blessing in my life. I’m aligned with Cineridge and Cinema Epoch, Gregory Hatanaka’s production and distribution companies. We’ve been making these incredible films under the most insane circumstances before, during, and hopefully after this pandemic. I’ve done a ton of movies for Gregory and one of his wonderful partners, Nicole D’Angelo. She really loves me and gets me, and she’s put me in a lot of her things, too.

This was her project. She was the one who initiated this one, and it’s a thrill for me to play a real straightforward detective. No baloney, just seeking the truth. I think this film is going to be really great. it’s kind of based on the Jodi Arias story. She murdered her husband and it was never really proven, but it was proven enough that she went to prison, yet there’s always questions about it. This script is written like that, and it’s shot beautifully. I’m just so excited about this.

I also acted for the first time with another actor who’s joined this film family, Sam Dobbins. I really loved working with him as well, an absolute pro with lots of talent. His gorgeous wife Patsy Dunn is the still photographer now on most of our movies with Gregory, and she is just…Let’s put it this way. She was a ballerina, and now she’s equally as graceful and great being a still photographer, so that’s really cool to get her photos of me

Johnny: Wonderful to hear. Speaking of Gregory Hatanaka, in 2020 and 2021, you worked with him on two Christmas-themed movies, A Christmas Love and A Wiseguy Christmas.

Lisa London: Yes, yes! They were absolute sheer joy to make- nothing like it. They’re my one and only Christmas movies that I’ve ever done (laughing), so just being in that spirit is just happiness the whole time.

One of them, A Christmas Love, had another Gregory Hatanaka stable producer, Chris Spinelli, who’s also an actor and standup. He gave me this wonderful role in that, and the other, A Wiseguy Christmas, was my first, but hopefully not my last, movie for Nino Cimino, who does all these kind of Wiseguy movies. They’re always wonderfully funny, black comedy, and I play the greatest character, almost kind-of Gracie Allen/Marilyn Monroe/Judy Holliday 50s vibe. The most incredible part was that my beautiful niece flew into town and became a featured extra in back of me in my big scene. So that was a thrill to have a member of my real family play a part of my film family!

Johnny: That’s, again, lovely to hear, and my question related to that is: Why do you think Christmas has become such a popular theme for movies within the past few decades?

Lisa London: Starting with It’s A Wonderful Life, I just think any time there’s faith and hope and celebration combined, it gives artists so many great ideas to play with all of those things, and hopefully bring a little joy to the world, literally and figuratively.

Johnny: Yeah, that makes sense. I brought up that specific question because I’ve noticed there are some networks like Hallmark Channel, for example…

Lisa London: Yes

Johnny: …Where once November rolls around, you get a solid two months of Christmas movies.

Lisa London: Yes, and they’re usually delightful. They’re just something to cheer you up, no matter what (laughing).

Johnny: Well, it certainly does its’ job. Staying with your collaborations with Gregory Hatanaka, and traveling a few years back into the New 10s, you played Master Kitano in Samurai Cop 2: Deadly Vengeance, which I was a Kickstarter backer of.

Lisa London: Yes! That was actually my second movie for Gregory. The first one was Darling Nikki, but because of so many things that happened, that movie just recently came out, which is quite wonderful, too. It’s this fanciful, beautiful, kind-of modern day Alice In Wonderland with a twist, and I play a combination Red Queen/Mad Hatter. That was so much fun, but my big movie with Gregory Hatanaka that most people know of is Samurai Cop 2: Deadly Vengeance.

That was a fantastic experience. Samurai Cop 2 became a hit fast! Originally, I was supposed to be just an arm candy trophy wife smaller role in the movie. I forgot the huge, older character actor who was supposed to be the crime boss, but anyway, he got sick, and I got cast as the crime boss. Gregory wanted character to be ambiguous, so the prop department created this amazing portrait of my face from a glamorous Italian modeling job that I did, took my face, and superimposed it on a photo of Col. Klink from Hogan’s Heroes (laughing). It was half-manly body, half-my glamorous face, and that portrait was seen on the wall in many scenes all throughout the movie.

It was an absolute satire/spoof, like how the Airplane! movies are. I have never been to a premiere of a film that was completely sold out, where every single person was literally laughing out loud throughout the whole time. I was so proud. It was a huge success because everybody worked so hard on it. It was so much fun. It was great, really great.

Johnny: Well, that answers the question I was going to ask about that. I was going to ask, “Was that project as fun to work on as it was to watch?”, and I can tell from your answer that it was.

Lisa London: It was. It was really stressful, too, because the script, and the way Gregory had the vision, kind of didn’t line up a lot. We had to rework things regularly, but it was sheer joy of a challenge for me. That’s for sure.

Johnny: Definitely. Also a few years ago, you appeared in the music video for Ed Sheeran and Justin Bieber’s song I Don’t Care.

Lisa London: That was actually only a year-and-a-half or two years ago max, I think. Yes, I certainly did, and that really kind of changed my whole life as an actress. The visibility just gave me so much clout as far as who would know me and see me, and it was just great to be recognized by all my little cousins, and all my friends’ kids. It was amazing.

With a music video, you never know. Even when they tell you you’re cast as “the lead”, you never know what’s going to happen because you never know how it’s going to be edited. When I first showed up, I was thinking, “Gosh, are they going to have me play someone’s mother or something?”. It was great because I did so many music videos in my 20s and 30s as a young babe, but I’m thinking, “That’s not what they’re going to want me to be here”.

The song is about isolation, and kind of feeling left out, and how we’re all in our own separate worlds nowadays. They wanted it to be an ambiguous “date”, or maybe even a dream of this girl/woman on a couch. You don’t know who she is, or how old she is. That was an honor to work with Emile Nava, this amazing music video director, on it. That was very cool.

Johnny: Definitely, and if you would be okay with elaborating on that, I’ll follow up with this question: What’s the biggest difference between 80s music videos and music videos of the last decade or so?

Lisa London: I think it’s gotten a little bit more sophisticated, like all filmmaking has. There’s just so many new cameras and lighting, and things to do with special effects. It’s gotten a bit more sophisticated, but basically, you shoot them the same way. It feels the same way when you’re doing them.

I mean, I was in on the beginning of MTV, and that was so innocent and so exploratory and so novice. Everything we did back then was sort of for the first time. I mean, my first music video was for Morris Day And The Time for Purple Rain. Prince was on the set, and he basically directed me in half my scenes, so that was just nuts. Amazing (laughing).

Johnny: Wow! As a big fan of 80s pop culture, just hearing that and knowing that is a cool story.

Lisa London: Thank you. That one also taught me a big lesson because I emerged as one of the featured actresses. When I first booked it, I thought, “Oh, yay! I’m going to star in this music video”, and then when I got there, there were 20 “featured actresses” in it. They put me way in the background, so I thought, “Oh, I’ll just play this for myself since no one’s going to see me”. That was my 21-year-old mind, so of course they had a zoom-in on me because the camera can see you, and you can always get a close-up (laughing). I’m lucky I did the right thing because I am featured prominently in it.

Johnny: Cool. Switching gears, a recent turn your career has taken is towards producing, first for the stage play Hellz Kitchen Ablaze, as I asked about in our first interview for RetroJunk, and now for several projects with Cinema Epoch. I hope I phrase this without offense: Experienced actors often go behind the cameras as they get older, utilizing their experience in new ways. How have you been able to utilize your acting experience in the field of producing?

Lisa London: It’s very interesting because I know so many actors that start directing once they’re past their late 30s, and usually even later than that. 40s, 50s, 60s, they switch. I think, for me, I just never had a desire to direct ever, but I’ve always loved running things. I was an editor of two different school papers in high school and college. I actually produced quite a few plays with The Actorhood started by Sal Landi and Jaimyse Haft over a period of five years that were very successful, and I loved doing that. I produced a food show with my sister that we actually sold, but it was never aired, so I’ve always loved doing that, even before what would be termed “getting older” in my career.

The thing I think you’re seeing, especially for women, is a great thing because men have never had to battle age as much. Why I absolutely adore what’s going on in movies and TV now is because it doesn’t matter how old anyone is anymore. If you’ve got the spirit and joy of life, and the intensity within to do anything, as far as you have the excitement about what you’re doing, you can do anything. There are plenty of opportunities to act and then, if you are so inclined, to also produce and direct, which is only natural as artists because we’re so curious. It’s also a different part of the creative process, and also for an actor, producing/directing their own material means they have more control over the finished product as well.

Johnny: Alright. That talk about different avenues for actresses as they get older reminds me of how, back in 2020, I interviewed actress and ADR coordinator Leigh French. She told me of how venturing into the field of ADR work was something she did as she got older, and it was a different career path for her. She had a lot of cool stories to share about her ADR work. I don’t know if you’ve ever crossed paths with her, though.

Lisa London: I haven’t, but it’s funny you’re saying that because I love voiceover and ADR work. For one job, I actually spoke in Russian because I was looping somebody in Russia, and the fabulous casting director who brought me in was an old friend of mine, Craig Campobasso. He and the director were amazed at how well I could do the accent.

It was a thrill to do that, and it was very good money. I’ve done lots of really interesting voiceover things throughout my career, but it is a very separate career if you want to do it to make the absolute big bucks. I’ve acted, I’ve modeled, I sing, I produce, but I’ve just never taken the time to put forth what it takes to have a real voiceover career, but yes, it’s very rewarding as well.

Johnny: Definitely, and of course you do great work. If I may, I would like to return to some movies we talked about in our first interview, but approach them from different perspectives…

Lisa London: Sure.

Johnny: …Starting with your role as O’Hara, the O in 1979’s H.O.T.S. Although you’d been around show business all your life, do you recall what crossed your mind when you first started work on that movie?

Lisa London: Oh, gosh. What first crossed my mind was I was lucky enough to realize how special it was, how incredible it was. It was basically my first role, really. I never acted in school. I sang in all the school choirs, but never, ever acted at all. I never even told people I wanted to be an actress.

My whole path was journalism, sportscasting, broadcasting, following in my father’s footsteps, and I’m so glad I have that in my repertoire of what I know how to do. It’s helped me with a lot of roles, and my whole demeanor in front of a camera, I think. I never told anyone about my aspirations, even though I can remember from being born wanting to do it.

I remember knowing how special it was, and how incredible it was. I just thought, “I’ve arrived. This is it!”, and I thought, “Wow, this is so easy!” because I went to the Cannes Film Festival where it was a huge smash hit. It was in theaters all over the place, but things change and everyone has their slumps when it’s not so great, but for that to be my first beginner’s luck starring role was pretty out-of-this-world unbelievable, and I did get how special it was.

Johnny: Definitely. It was a very fun movie.

Lisa London; Yes, it was.

Johnny: Where do you think O’Hara ended up after she graduated?

Lisa London: (Laughing) I think she was very successful at whatever she chose to do, and I think her path was probably a lot like mine. You know, life is a rollercoaster, but 99 percent of it was a pretty charmed, incredible life with no regrets.

Johnny: I can definitely see that. To go to my next question, you played Lori in The Happy Hooker Goes Hollywood. In the decade or so since our first conversation, I’ve done interviews with Kim Hopkins, who played the young Xaviera, and Mark A. Mangini, who worked on the sound for that movie.

Lisa London: Oh, wow!

Johnny: Yep. Kim had issues with the film’s director, while Mark got along with the director, but instead had issues with getting paid by Golan and Globus (Lisa laughs). For your own part, was the movie a good experience or a bad one?

Lisa London: Well, the movie was an incredible experience for me because I got to create this fabulous character. It wasn’t written the way I portrayed it, and when I was cast, Alan Roberts, may he rest in peace, was an incredible director to me. I mean, he just supported me emphatically, and he showcased me beautifully.

We became very good friends, and his Russian girlfriend, who I think became his wife and I used to go sailing together on his beautiful sailboat…after a while, we weren’t in touch anymore because of life and geography. It was just shocking to me when that Benghazi video came out, and it was his video that the whole uproar was about. I was actually going to reach out to him, but I got busy with work and then he passed, but for me, it was a fabulous experience.

And I did have a short lived money issue with Golan when they weren’t paying anybody, and I had a prestigious agent at the time and even my agent was having difficulties getting my money. I stormed into that Cannon office, and refused to leave until I got a check (laughing), so I got paid.

Johnny: Again, that reminds me of another interview subject of mine. A few years ago, I interviewed Laurene Landon, whom you worked with in Samuari Cop 2…

Lisa London: I love Laurene, and we do lots of autograph shows together as well.

Johnny: Yep. She talked about her own experiences with Cannon on America 3000. She had financial issues as well, both with herself and with the crew. She talked about how they were getting stiffed, and she sent a message to producer Itzik Kol. She said, “Fuck you, pay the crew!”

Lisa London: Exactly! It was very bad behavior, and it’s so funny that you remind me. I starred in another movie for them, The Naked Cage, that became a huge cult classic. Quentin Tarantino just refurbished and re-released it. It was sold out, and it had a Q&A. It was just unbelievable.

Anyway, in that movie, I had a song I sing. It actually plays during the sex scene I have in the movie, which is pretty trippy, but my collaborator on the song had to fight tooth-and-nail to get what we were demanding for having the song in the movie. The wonderful director of that film, Paul Nicholas, said, “I will not continue editing the movie unless you okay the song. The song is perfect”. Cannon was notoriously cheap. That’s for sure.

Johnny: Well, to go to a credit that hopefully went better, you had a small, but memorable, role in 1983’s Sudden Impact, the most popular Dirty Harry movie after the 1971 original. Knowing that you mentioned wanting to work with Clint Eastwood again when we did our first interview, have you crossed paths with Clint since then?

Lisa London: I haven’t. I mean, it has literally been the most amazing, flourishing time for me. I have been working nonstop, and a lot of it has been traveling, too, to Texas and Poland and Boston and Mexico. I could go on and on, but it’s been where I haven’t been around a lot for certain things. There was one thing Clint was doing. I can’t remember the movie now, but I wasn’t here. I wasn’t in the country, but it’s still a dream to do that again.

That was my first dramatic role, and that, of course, changed my life. It put me on the map of actresses who are known to the larger powers in this industry for life because of what Clint did. It was such an incredible, memorable scene, and I was just thrilled and blessed that I was able to rise to the occasion.

Johnny: Well, as my friend Kimmy Robertson says, let’s put it out there into the universe that you’ll work with Clint again.

Lisa London: Yes! Thank you.

Johnny: You’re welcome. To go to a different credit, you made a memorable appearance, both acting and singing, in 1987’s Dragnet. As we both have the same autism spectrum disorder, I’ve always admired Dan Aykroyd for what he’s been able to accomplish. Similar to my second question in this interview, what did working alongside Dan teach you to add to your acting repetoire?

Lisa London: He had this wonderful ability to embrace his imperfections and use it in his work. I learned so much from not just him, but from working with Tom Hanks, Christopher Plummer and Dabney Coleman also on that movie. I learned so much. Everything I could, I absorbed from them, and the compliments they gave me made my self-esteem and my confidence soar. I was so humbled and amazed I was getting those compliments from them that it sunk in in all the right ways.

I have a funny story about this. When I went to audition, I went straight to Dan Aykroyd and Tom Manciewicz to audition for them because one of the heads of Universal, Josh Donan, saw me dancing at Helena’s, a disco. He set up the interview for me, so I didn’t go through the normal routes of casting people. I went straight to the top, final audition, and they said, “Look, we know you were in a singing group. We know you’re a real singer, and we have a belief that we need a real singer to sing kind of funny-badly” (laughing). I thought, “Okay, I’ll do this is as an over-the-top Marilyn Monroe, and I’ll see if that works”. They loved it, and we did it in the movie.

Johnny: I loved Dragnet. I thought that movie was a fantastic piece of comedy.

Lisa London: Me, too.

Johnny: Switching gears, you played the character of Rocky in two of Andy Sidaris’ Girls, Guns and G-Strings movies, Savage Beach and Guns. As you and all the other women in those movies look like you’ve barely aged since the 80s and 90s, has there ever been any consideration given to doing a reunion movie as a tribute to the late Mr. Sidaris?

Lisa London: There has. I’ve kept in touch with Arlene Sidaris, Andy’s widow, whom I adore and who produced all those movies. She and her son, at one point, were going to do it, but I didn’t hear anything again. I see Dona Speir a lot because we do a lot of autograph shows together as well, and she’s another one who, yes, looks fantastic. I saw Roberta Vasquez recently, and Max Wasa, at a documentary that we did with Arlene a couple of years ago. I’d give anything to do another Andy Sidaris-type film with all those people because I just absolutely adored them all.

Johnny: Yeah, it’s definitely fun stuff. I love a good B-movie. Sometimes the B-movies are more enjoyable to watch than the A-movies.

Lisa London: Well, they were definitely shot beautifully, and the locations…I mean, come on. Hawaii, the hair, the makeup, the clothes, the cinematography…It was just so beautiful.

Johnny: Absolutely. To go into the 90s, you appeared in the 1992 erotica anthology Inside Out II, which also featured appearances from several of my other interview subjects including Kitten Natividad, Linda Carol and the aforementioned Tane McClure. What do you recall the most about working on that movie?

Lisa London: It was incredible. It was such a spectrum of emotions. It was comedy and it was drama in these shorts and, again, just beautiful production values. It was so well-directed, and I believe it won a bunch of awards, too. It was really well-done.

Johnny: That’s always fantastic to hear. Pardon for me for stumbling over my words. I just love hearing stories of this work. It’s why I love doing the interviews I do, because I love talking to the talents and hearing their stories, and you definitely have some great ones.

Lisa London: Thank you.

Johnny: Oh, no problem. In recent years, you’ve become a frequent collaborator with director David DeCoteau, a man whose work I admire for, again, pardon the phrasing, his love of veteran talents.

Lisa London: Yes!

Johnny: Of your collaborations with Mr. DeCoteau, which would you say is your favorite?

Lisa London: Well, I starred in An Easter Bunny Puppy and Three Wicked Witches, so of course I adore those because I had great starring roles in them. His love of women is just so beautiful. I also love doing his Lifetime movies, and my last cameo, which was with my BFF Kristine DeBell, was in The Wrong Mr. Right. It was under the circumstances of the heat of COVID, but it was done safely, and that was just a thrill for me. I love how it turned out so much, but I love them all. I love The Wrong Teacher as well, and I love the cameos I did in a couple of his other movies. David is another one who’s just a special human being, and I love working with him so much.

Johnny: That’s fantastic to hear, and again, it’s always great when your collaborators like working with you, and you like working with them. To go to a different tack, as mentioned, you’ve appeared at a decent amount of conventions over the years signing autographs, so what’s been the most rewarding part of attending conventions for you?

Lisa London: Just meeting people from all over the world, all ages, all ethnicities, that I have touched in some way that they’re literally coming just to see me and get a signed something from me. Many times it surprises me, too, that they bring me something I’ve never seen before that just blows me away for me to sign. Just to be with the other actors who are doing it, and to hear their stories, is just truly a beautiful experience.

The last one I did, just outside of Boston, was a dream come true. I had to fly on Thanksgiving Day because I was coming from the West Coast. I was the only one there the night before, and there was a heated outdoor swimming pool. Of course, it’s freezing in the Winter, but I had it all to myself to go swimming. I thought, “Oh, well. If I’m going to be by myself on Thanksgiving, I’m going to have some fun!”.

Johnny: Cool. If you would be okay with elaborating, what’s been the most wonderful piece of memorabilia you’ve signed at a convention?

Lisa London: Well, there’s two things. The very first show I ever did was with David DeCoteau. He does a yearly autograph show event. I had a fan from New Zealand bring DVD covers of every single movie I was ever in (laughing), so I signed those. At the last one that I just did in November, a fan brought, from the Waikiki theater where Guns premiered, an original poster I had never seen, and I never knew I was on the poster. That was pretty great. The only silly, silly thing is that I forgot to take a photograph of it (laughing), so now I still don’t have it, but it was a great moment.

Johnny: Cool. Have you ever been to the Chiller Theatre convention in New Jersey, and if not, would you consider going there?

Lisa London: I have not, but now I have a wonderful agent, Bobby, that also represents my BFF Kris DeBell, and I’m hoping to go to the next Chiller. I’m also in this fabulous magazine Balz Magazine, that’s a rock-and-roll, super-cool combination that’s kind of Playboy-ish, but it’s also like Rolling Stone. I can’t explain it, but you have to get Balz Magazine. You can get it online, and it’s just great. I’m in a bunch of issues, and I know the owner of the magazine, Hank Balz, has a table every year, so I may get to appear at his table.

Johnny: Fantastic. Switching gears again, early in your career, you were part of pop group The Pin-Ups, and since then, you’ve sung in several of your screen projects. Have you ever tackled any musical roles onstage, and if so, which have been your favorite roles to perform?

Lisa London: Never on stage because I came to stage very late. I had done three films before I attended my first acting class, let alone my first play, but no. That is a dream of mine to sing onstage, but not in a traditional way. I’m one of those actresses that doesn’t particularly love the traditional musical. I know, spank me (laughing), but I really don’t. I did enjoy West Side Story, but I don’t think they break into song naturally. I do want to figure out some way to sing onstage. I would love that.

Johnny: Alright. Now I come to my final question. As I alluded to earlier in my question about Andy Sidaris, you don’t look your age at all. You’re still a great beauty with, if I may be so bold, a knockout figure, so what’s the secret to your youthful appearance?

Lisa London: Oh, first of all, thank you so much (laughing). I’ve always worked really hard to look like my life’s easy and everything comes easily, and therefore, I never age (laughing). I’ve always been super-athletic, always. Growing up, I swam, played tennis, water-skiied, kayaked, yoga, hikes…That’s my life and I’ve always worked out. I’ve been a gym rat at times. I’ve ran. I’ve always been active non stop. I believe you need sweat in your life to keep your pores moving and to keep the oxygen flowing I think yoga changed my life because it gives me everything that’s healthy for the body, mind and spirit at the same time. I’ve always eaten very well, super-healthy, but I’ve never banned myself. If I feel like a glass of wine or a martini, I do that as well. I think everything in life is balance, and that’s my way of destressing.

I’ve always worked super-hard to live my dreams, and I think that keeps you young. Of course, I’m not stupid. I know that I’m blessed with really great genes. I mean, I’ve got gorgeous people that don’t age on both sides of my family. I’ve never fluctuated in weight, which I think is a huge thing, but I’m going to go out on a limb here and maybe be politically incorrect. I don’t judge. Do whatever you want to your own body, but I’ve never gotten plastic surgery, or even fillers or botox. That’s not for me. I just try to take the best care of myself that I can. I’ve never skimped on buying the best products to put on my face and my body and hands, so maybe all of the above? (Laughing) I don’t know.

Johnny: Well, whatever you’re doing, you definitely look amazing…

Lisa London: Thank you.

Johnny: …But more than that, you’re a fantastic talent…

Lisa London: Thank you so much.

Johnny: …And that does it for my questions. I again thank you for taking the time out of your schedule to speak to me. I’ve been working on a series of follow-up interviews from my RetroJunk days, in addition to all the new talents I interview for Pop Geeks. If I’m correct, you’re the third follow-up interview that I’ve done, following in the footsteps of Kelli Maroney and Kathleen Wilhoite…

Lisa London: Sweet.

Johnny: …And I loved hearing your stories. You’re a fantastic storyteller.

Lisa London: Thank you!

Johnny: Again, thank you for taking the time out of your schedule to speak to me, and I hope you have a wonderful afternoon.

Lisa London: You’re welcome baby. Thank you. MWAH!

Johnny: Right back at ya. Bye.

Lisa London: Bye . Have a beautiful day.

Johnny: You, too.

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I would again like to thank Lisa London for taking the time out of her schedule to speak to me once more. For more about Lisa’s work, past and present, you can check out her Facebook fan page.

Coming soon to the Flashback Interview, I’ll be interviewing Barney Burman, the makeup artist who went, with his two fellow winners, where no one had gone before by winning the first Oscar for a Star Trek movie. Be well, my friends, and I’ll talk to you soon.