| Marie Shriver interviews Pia Zadora for CBS Morning news A few years ago, it seemed that everyone was making jokes about Pia Zadora. They said things like,�Without her millionaire husbands� backy, she would be waiting on tables instead of starring in movies and singing.� Lately however, Pia Zadora is clearly having the last laugh : she has been raking in rave reviews for her singing tour and her new record album. We are very happy to have her here this morning. She�s not singing, but she�s just sitting here. Good morning, Pia Good morning, Marie. I tell you, I wouldn�t have been waiting on tables for long, because I can�t boil an egg and I can�t serve a cup of coffee without spilling it. Well, let�s talk about these rave reviews, your voice being compared to some of the best in the business and people are saying , �Pia Zadora getting terrific reviews? What happened?� It�s very exciting! It�s a new area that I went into, the standards, and I started singing them seven or eight years ago when I was an opening act for Frank Sinatra. Her urged me to start singing them. Then I made the album, while I was pregnant and I was in Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center, and I�m really doing something that I enjoy doing, and it�s credible for a change. For a while, I got stuck in a couple of louzy movies and I had that image of my husband behind me, and that really didn�t help me. And I had a funny name that Johnny Carson used as his answer to Rula Lenska. Let�s talk about that. You say you have the image of the husband behind you, that you�re doing something credible for a change. How difficult has it been to overcome all that bad publicity? Well see, Marie, it�s tough for me to say, because I started when I was seven years old , so I consider the past few years as kind of a holding period. I just wasn�t getting the right product and I knew that if I hung in there long enough, either I I would or I wouldn�t. You know, one or the other. I�m not a quiter, I wasn�t gonna quit before I knew it was the very end. But how did you think�When you made this album, did you think, �Gosh, people really aren�t gonna take this seriously, they�re not gonna look at it as a serious project, because they�ve been making jokes about me?� Well, I always knew there was a chance of that. And that�s the chance I had to take. And when I first went on and started performing this new material, I knew, that either it would be the beginning of something, or the end. Because I couldn�t go on much longer just being a celebrity for celebrity�s sake. Did your voice change or were you always singing, performing like this and no one was payning attention? I was always singing, but before, I was an opening act, then I started doing films for a long time. But I always had a good voice and always did well on Broadway and got good reviews on Broadway. So, it was an instrument that I always had, but there wasn�t a market for this kind of music. Linda Ronstadt literally opened the door for the standards of the 40�s and 50�s. But you had the voice before people just started to pay attention now? They couldn�t have payed attention before because I wasn�t really using it. I had it, but it was my secret weapon let�s say. The timing wasn�t right. OK, so now you�re getting credibility for your singing. What will it take to get credibility for the films? That would take the right director, the right project and believe me, Marie, I may never do another film again. And if I do, I�m gonna do it with a Woody Allen or somebody that I know, that at least if I fall on my face, I fall on my face in style. You may never do another film? I may never. I�m gun shy. Right now I�m getting a lot of acceptance and I�m gonna stick with where the acceptance is coming from. You�re obviously very optimistic. How have you been able to keep optimistic? I�ve always been optimistic by nature. I just didn�t take it personally. I understood where it was coming from and just kept on working and working. Do you feel like you�re having the last laugh on everybody? I�m not having the last laugh, but I feel like nobody�s laughing at me anymore and it�s a terrific feeling. Did you feel like that before? No That people were laughing at you? Yeah. It was a tough feeling. It was degrading at times and my moral wasn�t at his highest point. And now it is? Yeah, I feel better about things. You turned the corner. Yeah. Let�s say I�m ahead of the game. And touring throughout the rest of the country for a couple of weeks? Yes, I�ll be in detroit this week, and then in philadelphia Sunday at the Academy of Music. I�ll be all over the place. And who knows, you know, Woody Allen may be watching right now and thinking about calling you up. I hope so! Woody, I�m here! Thank you very much. Thank you Marie. |
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