Lally and Paul Gross (of Due South) at the 1995 Gemini Awards
following her win for Road to Avonlea
"Often there are qualities that the writers of the show would like to add to give Janet a different edge," Lally says about her character. "But certain people don't want to see Janet make mistakes or be too eccentric. They want her to be a good mom. Period."
Like many of her cohorts on Road to Avonlea, Lally isn't a superficial celebrity hogging the spotlight at every opportunity. This is a seasoned artists with a strong dedication and true love for her craft. She is not, however, ready for the ceremonious title of "veteran performar."
"We have an odd phenomena in our entertainment industry. As an actor, when you do your first significant project, you'll be described as an 'up and coming star.' Then, after the fanfare dies, no on epays any attention to you again and you just continue to work. Then one morning you open the newspaper to discover you're a 'veteran.' Whatever happened to that period in-between when you're a big star? That happens all the time here in Canada. We have an interesting out-of-the-corner-of-the-mouth approach. We're dedicated to our work but we don't take ourselves too seriously. We're not really allowed to. If you hang out long enough and keep doing consistently good work, you might have a renaissance. That's something you can look forward to and hope that it happens before you're sixty-five!"
Lally boasts an extensive professional background and over a dozen international awards in film, stage, television and radio. She starred in the CBC series Hangin' In for six years before joining the cast of Road to Avonlea. She spproached the role of Janet King with full artistic maturity. Her appeal rapidly grew and she garned the respect of many fans.
Janet King was originally described by LMM in her books as a ". . . bustling, sonsy woman, with full peony cheeks. . . a laough put the mettle of her festal silk seems to the test. . ." Lally quickly demonstrated her distinct ability to bring life and poignancy to what began as a secondary role. She gives true colour to a character who, in different hands, may have been trivial or weak.
"I think Janet has been really important for many mothers. She is such a role model in that she has four children, is exhausted but tries to keep everything alive, as moms do. I think all the characters on the show strike a real chord with people in terms of their past, their grandparents. I sometimes realize that I am playing my grandmother in many ways, that Celtic soul that was so apparent in her. I think most people in Canada are really second-generation; their parents came from Scotland, Ireland, England or France. I have Celt in me and no Anglo-Saxon and I pour that into Janet, making her more emotional. She's not contained in that Anglo-Saxon kind of way. I think that aspect appeals to people because they saw it growing up; they saw that kind of keening and that kind of emotional response to things, which is more European. That's a particular direction that I go in. A bit sloppier, but I like it."
Article © 1995 by:
Avonlea Traditions Inc.
Photo by Ben Jansen
