World acclaimed actress, Olivia Hussey, talks about the challenges, both technical and spiritual, of being in Mother Teresa’s shoes, and reveals to our readers the difficulty in combining work with motherhood

By Mario Conte, OFM Conv

YOU ONCE SAID that to impersonate Mother Teresa was a dream you had been cherishing for twenty years. Why is that?
For twenty years I dreamed of playing this incredible lady because in the last century I don’t think there is a more beautiful person. I have great admiration for her because she didn’t just talk, she put her words into action and she loved everybody to the point of seeing the face of Our Lord Jesus in every person she helped. I think that if we tried to love one another and emulate what she stood for, the world would be a much better place. Now more than ever does the world need prayer.

How can an actress of great experience and talent like yourself manage to act out, and hence simulate, grief and suffering without falling into the trap of affectation and cold technique? In other words, how did you manage to put soul and heartfelt feeling into your interpretation of Mother Teresa?

Well, I have to tell you that I’m not like the typical actress. I do a lot of prayer, a lot of contemplation. My mother was a devout Catholic. I grew up with a mini-altar at home that she had, a candle was always alight on it. She always had a great love for God and she instilled that in me.

Every morning I wake up and say “God, this day is for you, help me to be the best person I can and to conduct myself appropriately. I give this day to you in my heart,” and then I go about my business. I think that helped me to feel close to the role of Mother Teresa. I did pray every single day on that set. We worked under very difficult conditions and I kept reminding myself “If the situation is so difficult for us, imagine what it was like for Mother Teresa.” She overcame everything; she went into the streets of Calcutta, which I have visited and which are like no other streets I have ever seen.

She went out with something like 5 rupees and began a congregation of nuns which continues to do selfless work in helping the poorest of the poor. She is an inspiration to all of us. It’s a great honour that I’ve had, and then on top of it, I get to meet the Holy Father. Just think, my life is complete! I wish my mother was alive because she would be so proud.

In order to impersonate Mother Teresa, you carefully collected as much information you could and you even went to the point of meeting those who knew her. Who is Mother Teresa for you now?
She’s a light of goodness, an inspiration to me. I try every day to see the God inside of people, but sometimes it’s very difficult. Her work continues, which is very important, and there is no other woman from the last century who has touched me that much.

India is a country with an animistic religion and full of spiritual masters of all kinds. What trace do you think Mother Teresa has left in this chaotic Indian society?
Well, they treated her as the Mother of India, they loved her very much because she was a woman of action. I think that she is already a saint for them.

We all think of her as a saint, because anybody who can do what she did is a saint to us simple people. India will never ever have another woman like that. I have met Sister Nirmala and she is an incredible lady as well. All of the Missionaries of Charity are beautiful human beings, they live out her words every day of their lives. I’m just humbled by this whole experience; it’s been something I will carry with me for the rest of my life.

What were your feelings in seeing your Mother Teresa beatified at Saint Peter’s on Sunday, 19 October?
I’m completely honoured. When the smiling, wrinkled face of Mother Teresa was unveiled on a tapestry hanging from the façade of Saint Peter’s Basilica, I started to cry. I was sitting next to her niece, Agi Bojaxhim, and I just couldn’t believe it. I started to cry and buried my head in my hands. It was the dream of a lifetime for me.

You received a benediction from Pope Wojtyla himself before starting to play your role of Mother Teresa and then, on the 20th of October, the day after the beatification, you were able to meet and greet the Holy Father personally. What does this pope mean to you?
He’s an incredible man. I think he has done so much good and he focuses so much on the young, I truly love the pope. I think he has served 25 incredible years, and I pray every day for his continued health. His picture is in my house.

Pope John Paul II has always claimed that his favourite film is Jesus of Nazareth, directed by Franco Zeffirelli. In that film you played the Virgin Mary. What are your memories of that experience now, after twenty-five years?
I was 27 at the time and it was very difficult for me because I had to leave my son Alexander behind for eight months while we shot. It was very hard on me but Morocco and Tunisia were not places to take a three-year-old boy, especially when I had to work 14 hours a day. I remember the crucifixion scene in particular.

I had always thought it was going to be moving but I didn’t realise it was going to have the effect it had on me. It was a very profound experience; it was almost too much for me to bear. I can’t imagine how Jesus could have died for our sins on the cross that way.

Imagine, I’ve played Juliet, I’ve played the Virgin Mary and I’ve played Mother Teresa. I can’t think of anybody luckier. I pray and thank God every day. It was difficult work but of course, as with everything, I did my very best and I prayed to God for the guidance to play it as simply and as honestly as I could.

In 1988 you were in one of Pope Wojtyla’s plays and impersonated the character of Therese in the film The Jeweller’s Shop. You worked with Burt Lancaster and Ben Cross in that film. What are your memories and impressions of that experience?
There was a wonderful representative from the Vatican there, Mons. Januz Pasierb who has passed away. He was a Polish priest and we had a wonderful time. We used to laugh and giggle a lot, and I was always aware that I was doing a role that the Pope himself had written, and to me that was an incredible honour.

The saddest thing was that, when I was invited to come to the Vatican at the time they were screening it for the Pope, they gave me 24 hours notice and I couldn’t find anyone to look after my second boy, Max, who was only four. I couldn’t come on such short notice and so I didn’t get to meet the Pope and I was always so sorry that I hadn’t met His Holiness; so this time my dream came true!

Who is God for you? How can you define Him?
God is love. God is in the smile of every person, in every good deed that we do. We always have a choice – everybody in this world has a choice – you can choose to do wrong, or you can choose to do right. Everything in this life passes and we all end up in a little box, no matter who we are, and what we take with us when we go, is the way we conduct our lives and what we do in our lives; nothing else matters but our love and our search for God, whatever our God may be. I respect all religions because I think they all lead to the same God.

You are a well affirmed actress, but you also have a family with three children. What sacrifices did you have to sustain in order to raise a family without denying yourself to your children and husband?
It was very difficult because I often had to travel and I had to leave my sons, Alexander and Max, behind with my mother or my brother. It was a lot of work and then when I had my daughter, India Joy, who is now nine, I decided that the work would have to go. I just didn’t want to work until she was four years old. When I go to work now I take my husband and my daughter with me. I don’t want to travel without them. A family has to be together to stay together.

Looking back on your past life, would you repeat the experience of becoming a film actress? Was there ever any moment in which you were tempted to give up?
Not really. I wanted to be an actress since I was four. I think everybody has a destiny. I’m not very good at other things. I cook well but I’m not a great cook; I don’t do business; I’ve had this great love of acting all my life, so I think this is what God wants from me. And I try to do it well.

After Mother Teresa, which was the fulfilment of one of your dreams, is there any other film or character you would like to play?