Interview: Dana Delany, Dara Torres at More Magazine ‘Reinvention’

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CHICAGO – One of the recent stellar events in Chicago was the More Magazine “Reinvention Convention,” a gathering of the magazine’s readers to meet and hear speakers. The featured speaker was actor Dana Delany [“Desperate Housewives”]. Signing her book at the event was Olympic Swimmer Dara Torres.

Delany is best known for her role as Nurse Colleen McMurphy on the memorable late 1980s TV show, “China Beach, but recently she’s on Wisteria Lane as Katherine Mayfair in “Desperate Housewives.” It was just announced that Delany will be promoted to Doctor, as in Dr. Megan Hunt, on the new ABC series this Fall, “Body of Proof.”

Dara Torres is the first Olympic swimmer to have competed in an astounding five Olympic Games: 1984, 1988. 1992, 2000 and 2008, winning a total of 12 medals. She was at the Reinvention Convention signing her new book, “Gold Medal Fitness.”

HollywoodChicago sat down with the two legends of different professions, to talk about their reinventions, with Ace Photographer Joe Arce providing the pictures.

Dana Delany of ‘Desperate Housewives’ and ‘Body of Proof’

Dana Delany at the More Magazine ‘Reinvention Convention'
Photo credit: Joe Arce of Starstruck Foto for HollywoodChicago.com

HollywoodChicago.com: Why do people think the fact that you’re single is so exotic? Are they just jealous?

Dana Delany: [Laughs] I think it’s just not what we’re brought up to do, that’s all.

HC: Are the way men and women nurtured, and then attempting to come together when the time comes, part of the problem?

DD: I’m hoping more boys being raised by Baby Boomers are getting a different perspective.

HC: You have portrayed the birth control advocate Margaret Sanger and have participated in celebrating her legacy. As a woman in a generation that was generally freed from being lashed to pregnancy, what do you think your generation, and subsequent generations of women, owe as a debt of gratitude to Ms. Sanger?

DD: So much. If it wasn’t for birth control there would be more abortions, and that is what it’s about, birth control is to prevent having abortions. Not just that, it’s also a political issue, at the point of history rich woman could have abortions and poor women couldn’t. Sanger evened the playing field.

HC: What do you appreciate about the Superman legend that you didn’t before you voiced Lois Lane on the various incarnations of the animated series?

DD: [Laughs] I’ve always been a Superman fan. I grew up reading those comics.

HC: Is he the perfect guy?

DD: He is. He’s the Nietzschean ideal. [Laughs]

HC: You were the lead in the infamous ‘Exit to Eden.’ What was the greatest challenge in performing the role of Lisa and what was your reaction to the notoriety after the release?

DD: The greatest challenge to me is that world makes me sad. When I did the research on it and met people in that world, it made me sad, because that is the only way they can find pleasure in life. And so that was hard. And the notoriety afterward is more about how our country is so weird about sex. I mean we’re such a Protestant country still. It was almost a vitriolic reaction to it, it took me aback.

Dana Delany on Her Recent More Magazine Cover Photo credit: More Magazine

HC: As a prime mover in arts advocacy through Creative Coalition, what do you think the current business model of motion pictures lack in the contribution of that aforementioned creative side?

DD: That’s a tough one. It is a business, we can’t forget it’s show business. So artists, if they really want to create art it will have to be elsewhere, it will have to be with things that don’t expect to make money. And that’s where we need to have help. That’s all. So people can be experimental, there is no room for experiment anymore.

HC: What character in your career have you most connected to, reflecting you most as a person and an actor?

DD: China Beach. That was closest to who I am.

HC: Do you think you’ll get a challenge later that might change that?

DD: I hope so. I think this new job [on ABC-TV’s Body of Proof] is kind of familiar to me, this role.

HC: Finally, as a working actor, what frustrates you most about the process of audition and being cast at this point in your career?

DD: It’s just a given, no matter how old you are or what point in your career you’re at, you’re still going to have to prove yourself. It just never ends. But maybe that’s life. Somebody will bring up Vanessa Redgrave's name, but then say ‘yeah, but can she be funny?’ It will always be ‘yeah...but...’ [Laughs]

Dara Torres, Olympic Swimmer, Winner of 12 Medals

Dara Torres at the More Magazine ‘Reinvention Convention’
Photo credit: Joe Arce of Starstruck Foto for HollywoodChicago.com

HC: As a veteran of 24 years of the Olympics, what has changed that has been most positive in your experience and what has gone downhill in the increasing commercialism of the games?

Dara Torres: The biggest change in my sport is the equipment. I think all sports evolutionize over the years, but the equipment changed so much – from my first Olympics [1984] where the less suit you wore the better, to my last Olympics [2008] where the more suit you wore the faster you moved. That was probably the biggest change for me. And the commercialism, I don’t know, I don’t get into that stuff. As long as the athletes are getting some benefit from that stuff then that’s fine.

HC: At what point in your life did you so profoundly connect to swimming that you knew it would perhaps satisfy your need to make it a career?

DT: I think looking back on my life in swimming I felt like when I dove into the water, I was one with the water. I think I always felt that but didn’t realize it until I was older. I’ve been a water kid since I remember, and I think when I went to my first international meet when I was 14 years old that I wanted to try out for the Olympic Games.

HC: Equipment breakthroughs in swimming has profoundly effected times. As a veteran athlete, what was your reaction when you realized that you would have to adopt these equipment changes to keep up?

DT: You have to go with the flow.

Another view of Dara, May 17, 2010 Photo credit: Joe Arce of Starstruck Foto for HollywoodChicago.com

HC: No pun intended.

DT: [Laughs] Right, no pun intended. You can’t let things get to your head. Some people don’t do well with change, but I realize you just have to adapt to change, it’s just what life is about. As much as I didn’t like the new suits, all of the controversy and all the records that were being broken, you have to go with the flow.

HC: Aren’t they hard to put on?

DT: At my age, with my skin and pulling these up, I would get bruises. The kids don’t, but at my age I had bruises all over my legs.

HC: In this age of drug testing and accusations of performance enhancement, how do you trust that your competition is staying true to form and honestly using only their training and those results only?

DT: You never know what’s going on around the world. You just have to not worry what other people are doing. It happens, and you hope that the drug tests will catch the cheaters, but that doesn’t always happen. But you have to hope that they will come up with more innovation testing and be able to catch them before they come up with new enhancement product to use.

HC: Finally, which of your 12 Olympic medals was the most satisfying to you as an athlete and a representative of both Americans and women?

DT: With 12 medals, it’s hard to narrow it down. The only reason I’ll say this one is because my daughter was part of my life, any medal I won in Beijing [2008] would probably be the most meaningful, because she was there with me.

By PATRICK McDONALD Senior Staff Writer HollywoodChicago.com pat@hollywoodchicago.com