At age 30, Kay Lenz finally acts her age

By Jae-Ha Kim
Chicago Sun-Times
November 6, 1987

Infatuation with Rod Stewart helped save Kay Lenz’s acting career two years ago.

No, the two never were an item. But after Lenz appeared with the rock star in his No. 1 video for “Infatuation,” her acting career took off. Currently she co-stars as Karen Sheldon, Charles Bronson’s love interest in “Death Wish 4 – The Crackdown.” The action-thriller opens today in local theaters.

“I honestly think that rock video changed a lot of things for the better for me,” Lenz said in a phone interview from her publicist’s Los Angeles office.

“It had a lot to do in changing people’s opinions about me. Before, I always played victims. If there were two sisters, I was always cast as the ugly one. But after appearing in the video in a bathing suit, I guess people started thinking, `Hmmm, she does have a body.’ Now I get to play women who are considered attractive, rather than just waiflike.”

Although Lenz hasn’t received any more offers to make cameo appearances in rock ‘n’ roll videos, the actress said she’s auditioning for – and getting – more good parts than she has in a long time. Lenz – who made her film debut opposite William Holden in “Breezy,” co-starred in the mini-series “Rich Man, Poor Man,” and won an Emmy for her performance in “Heart in Hiding” – got the role in “Death Wish 4” without auditioning.

“I met with the director and basically said, `Hello,’ and two days later I had the part,” Lenz said with a chuckle. “It’s such a good role for me. Karen is a strong and independent woman. She’s a reporter who also is a single mother whose life gets turned upside down when her daughter overdoses on crack.

“For me, the role was a lot of fun because I finally got to go into wardrobe and get into a suit and heels. I’m finally playing adult women.”

In her next film, “Smoke,” Lenz will portray Burt Reynolds’s adulterous lover.

Through most of her 20s, the 5-foot-3-inch, 98-pound actress played primarily teenage roles. Now in her mid-30s, she still looks a decade younger.

“People don’t tell me I look so young anymore, though, unfortunately,” she said, laughing. “But it’s good for me to look like an adult as an actress. I’ve already done all the troubled-girl parts.”

Born in Hollywood, Lenz got an early start in show business. As a toddler, she appeared in commercials with her father. Her parents sent her off to acting classes when she was 10, and that was just fine with her because she developed a major crush on her instructor.

By 13, she was appearing regularly on television. Two years later she put her career on hold to concentrate on doing normal kid things, like working in a jeans store.

A failed relationship was her impetus to act again. After she had a fight with her boyfriend, who owned the waterbed store she worked in, she lost her job. Two weeks later, she read for a two-line role on a TV movie.

Her part ended up on the editing floor. But a short while later she won a small role in “American Graffiti.” At 19, she was able to support herself as an actress.

“There were some rough years after that, but I hung in there,” she said. “I think I had an advantage over people who moved from other places to Los Angeles to make it as actors because if things didn’t work out for them, they went back home. But I was home.”

Now she’s turning down scripts due to lack of time, but she said she hopes to continue working at this pace for the rest of her career.

Lenz, who is divorced from singer-actor David Cassidy, said she would love to remarry and have children one day.

“Everything is going really well for me now,” Lenz said. “People recognize me and are really sweet when they come up to me. I love what I do and it’s nice to know they appreciate it. I can’t ask for anything more.”

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NOTE: Reporters don’t write captions or headlines. Kay Lenz was 36 at the time of this interview, but the headline writer incorrectly wrote that she was 30.