Recipes for Life (6 page)

I was so fortunate to have been working with such a legend. Once, during a scene in which Missy and I had to enter a room together, the director felt I just wasn’t getting it. After several takes, Missy pulled me aside and said, “Audra, come into the room with
presence
.” After a few more takes, the director still wasn’t happy, but he was ready to move on. Missy said, “Virgil, let’s try it one more time.”

The camera rolled, the director called “Action!” and I opened the door and started into the room. Then Missy gave me a swift kick in the butt, propelling me ahead of her with such force that I delivered my lines with a sudden vitality. As if she hadn’t just booted me, Missy entered and said her lines with her usual perfection. The director happily yelled, “Cut! Print!”

Missy turned to me and said, “That’s what I mean by presence.”

During the four years we filmed
The Big Valley
, Missy introduced me to her favorite restaurant, the famous Chasen’s. She loved their Hobo Steak. We continued having dinner there even while I was doing
Dynasty
, which is when I created my own twist on this classic steak recipe: using filet mignon rather than their more traditional New York strip steak.

6 ounces (1½ sticks) unsalted butter

2 teaspoons dried marjoram

1 teaspoon dried rosemary

½ teaspoon dried thyme

Salt, to taste

2 pounds filet mignon, sliced ½-inch thick

8 to 12 slices sourdough bread, about 3 inches across and ¼-inch thick

Clarify the butter by heating it in a heavy-bottomed saucepan over low heat until the butter starts to foam. Remove the pan from the heat and skim the foam and any solids off the top. Pour the butter into a glass measuring cup, which makes it easier to see the pure yellow fat floating on top of the milky liquid. Use a small ladle or spoon to lift the clarified butter off the milky liquid.

Mix together the dried herbs and lightly sprinkle a little of the mixture and a little salt over one side of the fillet. Heat about ¼ cup of the clarified butter in a large skillet on medium-high heat. Put the sliced fillet herb-side-down in the skillet and then sprinkle a little more of the herb mixture and salt over it. For rare, cook each side about 1 to 2 minutes just to brown the outside, or cook to your preference. Place the fillet on a holding plate.

Add more clarified butter and a few herbs into the same skillet. Working in batches, put the bread slices into the skillet and toast. Flip the bread to brown the other side, adding additional butter and herbs. Continue until all the bread is toasted golden brown.

Divide the toasts among four serving plates. Take the fillet slices from the holding plate and place the meat on top of the toast. Pour any of the meat juice that accumulated on the holding plate over the meat and toast and enjoy.

F
ROM THE FIRST
day I met Barbara Stanwyck, she called me “Audra” (my character’s name) and became like a second mother to me. When my own mother passed away during
The Big Valley
years, Missy told me, “I know I can never replace your mother, but I’ll be your mom now.” Then she wrapped her arms around me and held me tight.

Missy was a remarkable lady and an incredibly loyal friend. One year she told the producers that she would not return to work unless they agreed to build me a private bathroom in my dressing room next to hers.

She was always very protective of me, too. When
TV Guide
sent a reporter to interview me for a possible cover story, Missy spent a long time talking to him about me. He spent days on the set interviewing the cast and even the crew. Everyone was very pleased when my picture appeared on the cover. But Missy was not pleased with the lead-in: “Will anyone remember Linda Evans in twenty years?”

Ironically, twenty years later, Missy and I were having dinner together, celebrating my success on
Dynasty
, when a very elegant lady approached our table and said to me: “You cannot continue letting your husband’s staff treat you that way. You must take control of your house. Believe me, I know these things.” Then she flipped her fur over her shoulder and walked away, leaving me staring in disbelief. Missy turned to me and said: “Well, dear, it would seem your show is a success, since she obviously wasn’t drunk, but still thinks you’re Krystle. Isn’t that funny, Audra?”

Missy and me together again on
Dynasty.

Missy was always looking out for me.
The Big Valley
had a limited budget for Audra’s wardrobe. But Missy went to the producers and told
them that her daughter needed more clothes. When they said they couldn’t afford it, Missy asked, “Isn’t Victoria Barkley rich?”

Apparently, Victoria was rich enough only for her to have an extensive wardrobe. So Missy asked Nolan Miller (our wonderful costume designer) to take some of her dresses from previous episodes and alter them to fit me—no easy task since I was a least four inches taller and my shoulders even wider. But somehow, Nolan managed to make it work. (Years later, on
Dynasty
, Nolan was so happy that he could “set my broad shoulders free” and helped create an entire new era of beautifully designed clothes with shoulder pads.)

L
ONG BEFORE
I ever met actor John Derek, I was in love with him. When I was twelve, I saw the movie
The Adventures of Hajji Baba
, which I thought was incredibly romantic, with a turbaned John riding across the sand dunes on an Arabian horse. I immediately got the record of Nat King Cole singing the title song and listened to it over and over (until my sister Charlie wanted to kill me).

Like so many teenagers at that time, I had a picture of John over my bed (next to Tab Hunter) and I spent many hours staring into his beautiful eyes. I remember being heartsick when I read in a movie magazine that he was married with two children.

The first time I met John was years later, when he had become a filmmaker/photographer. He’d seen the pilot for
The Big Valley
and called the producers to ask if he could photograph me. Of course I said yes. He had a reputation of being an exceptional photographer. By this time he had divorced his first wife and was now married to Ursula Andress.

I was delighted to discover that he was as handsome and charming as I’d imagined. He was also incredibly romantic, referring to Ursula as his bride after nine years of marriage. His home looked like it was right out of
Hajji Baba
. He’d handmade much of the furniture, which was covered in silks and furs, and there were candles everywhere. He even created a huge waterfall that cascaded down his Encino hillside, which could be seen through huge walls of glass in all the rooms.

We spent the whole day shooting pictures. I didn’t think about it again until many months later, when he called and asked if I’d like to see the pictures and maybe even take a few more.

This time when I got to his house, I learned that Ursula had left John, staying in France with her costar, Jean-Paul Belmondo. That was the beginning of our wondrously romantic relationship. I was so in love that when John suggested that I try to get out of doing
The Big Valley
, I wholeheartedly agreed. However, the producers thought it was a really bad idea. We compromised and I did a few less episodes a season, which is why Audra was often “off in Stockton shopping.”

Many nights after I’d been filming
The Big Valley
, I’d come home to find a house totally dark except for a roaring fire and candles twinkling from every corner. I was amazed how much thought John put into making me feel loved, as if I was the most important person in the world. Some nights as I was walking in, he’d hand me a huge antique silver goblet filled with sparkling wine and fresh strawberries.

A rare night out.

Other nights he’d hand-dip grapes in egg white and dust them with powdered sugar, then feed them to me one by one in front of the fire.

Years later, when I was “married” to my “other John”—John Forsythe
—
on
Dynasty
, I told him about those romantic nights and he mentioned it to the producers, who decided to incorporate it into the show. Every time Blake and Krystle did one of those scenes, John Forsythe would teasingly ask me if it was as romantic as it was with “my first John.”

John and I never planned to get married. He had told me over and over that he never wanted to get married again, and I was happy just being with him. It was something that really happened on the spur of the moment. We literally woke up one morning, and he turned to me and said we should get married. That day. So off we drove to Mexico, with John’s daughter Sean in tow as a witness. He wore off-white jeans and I wore white ones.

My Favorite Mexican Recipes

John and I got married in Mexico. Everything happened so fast, we barely had time to eat, which was really a shame because we both loved Mexican food. Here are some of my favorite recipes collected through the years. The first three were taught to me when I was married to John by my first cooking teacher, Diana Welanetz Wentworth, who has several wonderful cookbooks that I still use. And the last one, the Fish Tacos, is from my good friend Linda McCallum. To this day, the chicken and cheese enchiladas are my all time favorite. Sometimes I make them with just cheese.

BASIC ENCHILADA SAUCE

4 ounces (1 stick) unsalted butter

½ cup all-purpose flour