That British actress who disliked Kathleen Turner

Eileen Atkins.

Didn’t Eileen Atkins call you a “nightmare”? What was that about?

It’s two-sided. Eileen could be extremely difficult. I spoke to Maggie Smith about my problems with Eileen and Maggie said, “It wasn’t you.” But at the time we were working on Indiscretions, Eileen was soon to be diagnosed with cancer. She probably knew there was something wrong with her and was frightened. Also at that time I was on a new medication that was making me fuzzy, and for the first time in my life I couldn’t retain the script perfectly. I would find myself searching for words. Eileen found this extremely unprofessional. I can understand that. It was not intentional on my part. I was in a great deal of pain — I don’t know how I got through it. One of the areas that was most painful was my right wrist. Just touching it would make me want to scream. It’s hard to understand the level of pain that this disease [rheumatoid arthritis] brings. In any case, I would say to the cast on some nights, “Tonight is really bad. Please avoid this wrist.” And on those nights when Eileen particularly disapproved of me, during a scene where I was supposed to be dead she would …