Kate Jackson In 2,000-Mile Death Race!
The desert road stretched out for miles in front of Kate Jackson. In spite of the air-conditioned car, her forehead was damp with perspiration, a combination of the hot sun beating down and the strain she was under. Catcher, her pet husky, whined from the seat beside her, and Kate reached over to give him a quick pat before stepping harder on the gas pedal. It had been at least an hour since she’d spotted another car on the deserted road. She shuddered. What if she ran out of gas, or the car broke down and she needed help? Or, what if some stranger tried to attack her—after all, she was alone. Sure, Catcher would give her some protection, but how much? Could he scare off someone intent on harming her? Not until she completed her 2,000-mile journey would she be safe. It would be a race against death. . . .
Traveling alone in this manner would be a nightmare for any woman. There have been too many stories of muggings, rapes and kidnappings, of men offering help to ’ladies in distress’ only to turn on them and take advantage of their defenselessness. There are even stories of women who have disappeared on such journeys, never to be seen again! Kate realized the dangers before she started out from Los Angeles en route to her parents’ home in Alabama. But she refused to give in to threats of what could happen to her, even though the journey would be even more perilous for her than for an ordinary woman. Kate is instantly recognizable because of Charlie’s Angels, and strange men often try to approach her. They feel they know her since they see her every week in the privacy of their own homes!
Some men don’t think twice about coming up to Kate and putting their arms around her—or even worse! They associate her with ‘Angel’ Sabrina who has more than her share of romantic tangles! In fact, Kate’s co-star, Farrah Fawcett-Majors and Jaclyn Smith, have the same problem with male fans, one reason why security has been beefed up on the Charlie’s Angels set. Most of the men are only innocent admirers, but you never know when one might go too far, attacking or even trying to kidnap the girls. The actress and the network don’t want to take a chance.
However, in spite of the danger, no one could stop headstrong Kate from embarking on the 2,000-plus-mile trip home. She’s close to her folks, even though she left home at age 19. Kate was intent on becoming an actress and knew that Birmingham, Alabama, was not the right place to be. “I thought my mother would be more upset than my father,” Kate recalls of the day she moved out and went on her own. “But it turned out to be the other way around, .although they were both nice about it. They just didn’t want me to be disappointed.” In her second year of college, she decided not to waste any more time. “I was at the University [of Mississippi] and it was like two weeks into the sophomore year when I took my car home and came back with my mother’s station wagon, packed everything up, and left. I was 19. It was just all of a sudden that I decided to do something about becoming an actress.” She plunged head-on into show business, doing summer stock in Vermont, then headed straight for New York City—where most young people’s dreams about acting fade into disappointment. But not for Kate. She worked as a model and studied at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, where she/ starred in several theater productions. It proved good training, for not long after that, she landed her first major role on the TV soap opera Dark Shadows. Her stint on The Rookies soon followed, and Kate had become a respected actress.
But she still owes quite a bit to her parents, for giving her the emotional support she needed to pursue her dream. Kate sees them whenever she can, which—in light of her schedule these days—isn’t very often. The hiatus period in-between seasons of Charlie’s Angels gave her a perfect opportunity to go back home.
In need of a rest—the show has her going from 5 a.m. into the early evening—Kate also suffered health problems recently. She was rushed from the set directly to the hospital after experiencing pounding, unbearable headaches and suddenly losing the use of her left arm. Kate feared she had a brain tumor, but after tests, doctors reassured her that her problems were not that serious. The ailment was the result of aggravation of an old whiplash injury, and soon Kate was just fine. In addition, the dark-haired actress has been under a strain because of the uncertainty over the series’ future. Farrah Fawcett intends to quit the series to star in movies, while the producers insist she honor her contract.
Being in old, familiar surroundings with people she loves must have improved Kate’s outlook dramatically. She could have easily flown back home, instead of taking the more dangerous car route, but Kate hasn’t been able to shake her longtime fear of flying in an airplane. “I have this recurring dream where I’m in a smallish plane,” she relates. “For some reason. I’m always standing behind the captain. We start to land and it looks like we are going to make it—and then the wings get clipped off. We always do finally make it, but it is very terrifying.”
For Kate, the risks of the road seemed far less ominous than her fear of airplanes. Fortunately, she and Catcher survived their long journey home with little ill effects other than travel fatigue. And the welcome they received made it worth every minute.
THE END
—BY SIMONE TAYLOR
See ABC’s Charlie’s Angels.
It is a quote. SCREEN STARS MAGAZINE JULY 1977
