Sean Smith - Meghan Misunderstood

She had made thirty-six films by the age of twenty. Her favourites, other than Madame Curie , are Enchantment , a war film in which she played the role of Lark as a little girl – portrayed as an adult by Oscar-winner Teresa Wright; and The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit , in which, more grown up as a teenager, she acted alongside screen legends Fredric March and Gregory Peck. She was awarded her star on Sunset Boulevard in 1960.

In between making movies, Gigi – short for Ghislaine and pronounced with a hard g – attended Immaculate Heart, so always had affection for the school, wanting to give something back to her alma mater. She returned as a member of the faculty in 1986, only forty-five and still acting. ‘It’s kind of wonderful to share,’ was her simple philosophy, although it always made her laugh when she told friends about her career change. ‘What are you teaching?’ they would ask. ‘Nuclear physics,’ was the reply.

The drama group at Immaculate Heart is known as the Genesians, named after Genesius of Rome, the patron saint of actors. Gigi had been happy for Meghan to become involved in drama in middle school even though most of the roles in school productions went to older pupils. ‘Meghan was just so eager,’ she recalled. ‘She had such a really dynamic personality, even as a child, that she just kept growing and growing – each play, each class, everything.’

Immaculate Heart was not a renowned theatre school, so Gigi was given carte blanche to shape classes as she saw fit. Her idea wasn’t to make drama lessons just about plays and musicals: they were also about speaking and presenting yourself in the best possible light; and about listening. They would act out one-to-one scenes just as you might in real life at a job interview or an audition.

Singing was the one aspect of drama class that Meghan did not enjoy. For someone so very open in the other aspects of performance, she was shy about singing and not too keen on auditioning for any of the musicals. Right from the start, Gigi told her she had to push herself a bit and try out for one.

Gigi cast her as a porter in the production of George M! , the show based on the life of the legendary Broadway star George M. Cohan. Meghan was on stage for the showstoppers ‘Give My Regards to Broadway’ and ‘The Yankee Doodle Boy’. The title role was played by Joseph Leo Bwarie, later to become an acclaimed Broadway performer as Frankie Valli in the Tony award-winning Jersey Boys .

Joe, as everyone called him, handled most of the choreography for Gigi’s productions even though he was still at high school himself. Typically, she insisted that he audition for the role of Cohan even though it was his original idea to do the show. He had a quality that Gigi would also recognise in Meghan – an inbuilt professionalism. When they went off stage they weren’t grabbing a soda and reading Variety ; they were running lines with other people.

Gigi cast Meghan again as Delilah in Back County Crimes , in November 1995. The drama with music was written by the prolific post-war American playwright Lanie Robertson in 1980. It’s the story of life in a small town called Duty as told by the local doctor and features love affairs, sordid murder, comic misunderstandings and tragic events – quite grown up for a school production.

Meghan shared a place on the cast list with Luis Segura, a pupil at St Francis High School, in La Cañada Flintridge, a city in Los Angeles county, about fifteen miles from Immaculate Heart. These cities, such as Malibu and Pasadena, are dotted all around LA. Meghan and Luis dated on and off for a couple of years.

It was common practice for Immaculate Heart to call on all-boys schools if there were male roles that needed to be filled. The arrangement was reciprocal and girls could audition for female roles at St Francis and other similar schools in LA. Luis was a couple of years’ older, which might have been an attraction for a teenage schoolgirl. Meghan was already a mature, well-travelled young woman. She had enjoyed a trip to Europe in the summer holidays with Ninaki Priddy, her parents Dalton and Maria and sister, Michelle. While Niki was not involved in drama, she was in Meghan’s class at school and they remained close.

This was a dream trip for anyone, taking in Belgium, Switzerland, Paris and London, where the two girls posed for photographs in front of Buckingham Palace. Much corny significance would be made of this picture many years later when Meghan actually met the Queen, but for now she was just another tourist taking in the sights of the capital as millions of others have done. At this point in recent history, by far the most interesting and charismatic person within the Royal Family was Princess Diana, who was much loved in the US.

Meghan was readily accepted by the Priddy family, a common theme throughout her life – until she met Prince Harry. She was also well liked by the Segura family and was a regular visitor to their Pasadena home while she was dating Luis. It helped that his sister Maria was at Immaculate Heart, in the year below. Meghan also got on well with his younger brother, Danny, encouraging him to try his hand at acting, too.

Meghan’s own acting was progressing; she came more into her own in her next role in the perennial favourite, Annie . She played two parts – the quiet orphan, July, and Star-To-Be, an up-and-coming Broadway performer, which was exactly what Meghan hoped to be. In the latter role, she had a small solo in the song ‘NYC’.

For each production, Gigi would audition something like fifty girls for maybe no more than twelve roles. She was what she termed ‘colour blind’ in that she cast on the basis of ability and audition – not on ethnicity or the colour of someone’s skin – a way of thinking that TV and the motion picture industry is only now coming around to. The role of Annie herself, for instance, was secured by Meghan’s friend, Danica Rozelle, a young African–American girl.

Gigi kept it as professional as possible, with proper callbacks before she made a final decision. For Meghan, it was good practice for what would become her life as a working actress. After she had cast each role, Gigi checked to see if any of those who missed out would like to be in the crew. Everybody involved would then be called for a reading – the cast on chairs around a long table with the crew sat right behind, listening so that they too would really get to know the play or musical.

Gigi gave all her girls with acting ambitions one important piece of advice – she told them that there were no small parts. Gigi explained, ‘I wanted everyone to know that they were part of the whole. If they just had three lines, they needed to know that those three lines were very important.’ Meghan would remember that advice during the years when she struggled to get substantial roles.

After casting, it was six weeks of intensive learning of lines, songs and then rehearsing. Meghan’s dad turned up to watch one evening and was swiftly enlisted as Gigi’s technical advisor. She observed, ‘I am very grateful to him. Very honestly, he was my right-hand person for many years.’ Tom’s involvement was an encouragement for Meghan during high school. ‘Theirs was a very warm and very special relationship,’ continued Gigi.

The week before opening night was a frantic one, with rehearsals starting right after school at 3.30 and continuing until 6pm. Tom would slip out to McDonald’s to fetch much-needed fuel for the troops. He was at the helm for tech run-throughs while the musical numbers came under the watchful eye of Joe. On the Thursday before the Saturday opening, the all-important dress rehearsal would go on late into the evening. This was crucial for Tom, because the lighting was different after dark.