The Sci Fi Reporter's Stuart Blair recently caught up with a very enchanting-Ms Arlene Martel.
With many TV and Film credits to her name, we hope you enjoy our intimate time with her.

SB: Arlene, As a young twelve year old you attended the school for performing arts, the very school in which the film "Fame" was based.
Can you describe for us the feeling of attending this prestigious school?

AM: I was thrilled to be accepted in the first place. There is no tuition requirement but the applicant has to audition twice at the beginning just to get in. After that, at the beginning of each semester, one had to perform based on what the particular course level required. Out of my original class of forty five, only two of us actually got to graduate and I was presented with the Drama Award.
The school was the only one of it's kind in the United States. Originally, I had submitted my application without telling my Mother. Of course we we're so excited about the acknowledgement of my talent throughout my years there. When I was fifteen years old I was cast as the lead in the senior play "The Madwoman of Chaillot." The seniors didn't like that one bit, as I was a sophmore at the time.
We toured with the play to The University of Indiana.

Performing Arts was one of the great highlights of my life. The great director Sidney Lumet was my main acting teacher and I believed (as others did) that I was one of his favourite students. It was sad for the young students that were asked to leave, but no parents professional clout, or power, or money could ensure their child's continuing education there. You couldn't buy your way in. I looked forward each day to attending. It was totally exciting. (Especially when my first boyfriend - James Dean, picked me up on his motorcycle.)
This was when he was a working actor but hadn't starred in "East of Eden" yet.

SB: After graduating and achieving the School's highest award, Can you tell us how your "first break" into Television and Film came about?

AM: My Mother worked for Martin Stone who produced "The Howdy Doody Show" and "The Gaby Hayes Show." He let me walk across the screen carrying a tray ( I was cast as a waitress.) I was able to get my AFTRA card. Hooray!

SB: Star Trek, The Outer Limits, The Twilight Zone, Battlestar Galactica, I Dream of Jeanie, Bewitched - the list of your credits seems endless, How does it feel to be a part of these and many more Cult TV classics?

AM: My confidence allowed me to go to auditions and one turned out to be with an agency that sent me up for the ingenue lead in a play called "Uncle Willie." I got the part! The actor who was cast opposite me was Harvey Korman who later starred on the Carol Burnett Show.
Harvey was fired by the lead in the play for being "too tall" but I believe it was because he was "too good"

Two seasons of doing summer stock at the Berkshire Playhouse in Stockbridge Massachusetts, expanded my theatrical experience. I married someone who insisted that we travel across the country to be in the TV world. I really didn't want to leave the world of theatre in New York, but wanting the marriage to last (it did for two years) ..I conceded.
I signed with a very sweet though powerless agent who managed nevertheless to get me seen by some casting directors.

Many of the early shows in the sixties were "live," and so my stage experience certainly came in handy. "Playhouse 90" which was one of the first shows I did was with Robert Redford and Charles Laughton. My memories are quite delightful when I look back at the two episodes of "The Twilight Zone," "Outer Limits" and "My Favourite Martian." All the other shows which probably amount to one hundred and fifty, certainly warm "the cockles of my heart."

SB: With a vast array of TV and Film credits "under your belt," Can you give us an insight into how important the role of an agent is as your "eye's and ear's" for potential roles?

AM:An agent can play a major difference in opening doors for auditioning. I never had one who had clout and the one I did have died before he was forty years old from obesity. Since then I haven't had anyone to assist, the parts I did get were from recommendations (word of mouth.)

SB: Thank you Arlene, Do you have a message for your fans Around Australia and did you enjoy your appearance at the Star Trek 40th anniversary event in Las Vegas this year?

AM: If my Australian fans will go to my website (click on link below,) they will become more familiar with what I've done. The screenplay I wrote called "Whisper into My Good Ear" I pray will be funded early next year. Maximilian Schell and Max Von Sydow will be the two leads. This will be a low budget film.

I am in the process of looking for the right Director. Although the story was originally set in New York, I would be very happy to film in Australia with a great Australian Director like (Jane Campion.) The film is a dark comedy and I must also find someone to produce it with me.

The Star Trek 40th anniversary was a mixed bag of impressions. Of course seeing some of the past co- workers and many fans from around the world has to be the best part. My next appearances at conventions will be in New York next March. Contact Jim Knusch at www.ICONsf.org and next October in New Jersey for The Twilight Zone convention. Other than that I am working on my book titled "My Three Giants" about my relationships with James Dean, Marlon Brando and Cary Grant.

Thank you for the opportunity to share with you. I would love to share some more in person.

Contact "Sci Fi Reporter" Logo designer Kristina G.