Bookpleasures.com welcomes as our guest, actress, writer, and director, Susan Wakeford Angard who has recently authored On Wings Of A Lion.


Susan graduated high school on the lot of Twentieth Century Fox Studio. During this time, she had leading roles in major television shows at Fox Studios, Warner Bros, Paramount, Universal and MGM.

Her fascination for Ancient art then led her to study for an art history MFA at UCLA. After leaving UCLA, Susan joined a family-owned TV Commercial Production Company, shooting consumer product commercials from McDonald’s to Budweiser, Purina and Boeing. She traveled much of the world filming on location, including in the Middle East during the last months of the Shah of Iran’s regime. Susan became an eye-witness to the Islamic Revolution.

Her attraction to visual arts persisted leading to a career as an architectural interior designer and owner of an award-winning Los Angeles design firm and has won competitions on several episodes of Designer’s Challenge, an HGTV design show.

Susan wrote briefly for CBS episodic television but with a need to tell her own stories, she changed genres to write fiction. During this time, she raced vintage autos, was director of a prominent Arts Décoratif Collectors Gallery as well as raising four children.


Norm: Good day Susan and thanks for participating in our interview

What do you consider to be your greatest success (or successes) so far in your various careers?


Susan: My biggest thrill as a young actor was winning at UCLA’s Shakespeare festival two years in a row. Then, in high school I did a movie called Studs Lonigan with Jack Nicholson, which gave me terrific new friends and great notices in film review magazines. My acting name was then Suzi Carnell. Being under contract to Fox and studying with Sandy Meisner was also a challenging learning experience that enhanced my career and my knowledge of people.

Sandy went out on a limb putting me under contract in his acting school because I was still in high school and I had to finish school in concurrence with long acting classes.

In the 1970’s, Kent Wakeford, my ex-husband, was the director of photography for Mean Streets and I was on set working with Harvey Keitel and Robert De Niro.

My greatest success in my architectural design career is when I designed the plans for Avi Rojany’s gigantic Bel Air house. Also, winning multiple awards on HGTV’s Designer Challenge, which brought in no money but many job opportunities from San Francisco to New York. The best thing of all, however, is having your clients be thrilled with your work. 

 
Norm: What has been your greatest challenge (professionally) that you’ve overcome in getting to where you’re at today? 

Susan: When I got divorced from my first husband, I had to stop making commercials because my ex-husband’s name was too well known. I couldn’t get any more jobs in commercials because I couldn’t use my last name, Wakeford, anymore without it being considered ‘espionage.’

It’s a very competitive business because you bid for jobs. In my desperation to recreate myself, I got an interview at CBS with Harvey Shepard who set me up to meet the producers of Hawaii Five-O. I came in with a tape of Studs Lonigan to sell myself as an actor and producer and off the cuff, feeling I needed an odd three, I added to my credits that I was a writer.

They weren’t interested in an actor or a producer, but they gave me a chance as a writer. Always having a vivid imagination I did come up with four story pitches, one of which they really loved about a master counterfeiter. I’m extremely grateful to the people who put themselves out there to help me and help support my three young kids. 

Norm: How did you get involved in acting and why did you change careers to join your family-owned TV Commercial Production Company?

Susan: When I was in the 9th grade a TV producer was in the audience of my middle school play that I was performing in, The Doctor in Spite of Himself by Moliére.

My drama coach had invited some friends, one of which being an NBC TV producer, Herbert Ross, who loved my performance and invited me to interview for his hour-long prestigious TV Show, Matinee Theater.

My first role was as an extra and I learned the new techniques of live TV – jumping over cables, hitting your mark, and being ready to perform. My second role on that show was a leading role opposite Tuesday Weld.

Mr. Ross called an agent to watch that show and the agent, Hal Geffsky, signed me to his roster. From then on, I started doing a daytime serial TV show with Dyan Cannon.

This kickstarted my acting career because it led to many other TV shows and movies.

When I married Kent Wakeford, who had a thriving TV commercial company called Wakeford/Orloff, we sold Wakeford/Orloff and decided to open our own company on the Sunset Strip called K.W. & Jones. Soon after that, we landed the Boeing Aircraft commercial shoot and flew to Iran. 

Norm: What was it like to film on location during the last months of the Shah of Iran's regime?

Susan: We entered Tehran as guests of the Minister of Culture, the Shah’s brother-in-law, and were treated as V.I.P.s. We saw the exquisite nightlife of the Iranian people, the art festivals, the beautiful western clothes, the magnificent Carpet Museum, the boys and girls together in western clothing, and many elegant restaurants.

We then flew to Shiraz and shot at the ruins of Persepolis – the magnificent palace of Darius which Alexander the Great sacked over 2,000 years ago. By the time we returned to Tehran, the city was in a state of chaos.

Buses were overturned, people were bleeding in the streets, building windows were shattered, and huge cranes that were once used for building skyscrapers had bodies hanging off of them. Getting out of Tehran was risky business; we had to connive to get through customs and barely made it through the gates in time to run for the Air India plane.

All around us people were desperately offering money to buy our plane tickets. We had to bribe officials with camera equipment as we ran. When the plane was finally on the runway, and we got out of Iranian airspace the whole plane erupted in applause while flight attendants passed around champagne to those of us eager for a drink. 

Norm: How did you become involved with the subject or theme of On Wings Of A Lion and how much research went into its writing?

Susan: Luckily, while in Iran I met many talented people who were in the Iranian film industry through the Minister of Art, including the Shah’s court photographer. On a film crew, people become friendly and open and I learned many things about Iran and the culture. Many of these peoples’ stories stuck with me. When I returned, I did extensive research and referenced books such as Fereydham Hoveyda’s The Fall of the Shah, William Shawcross’s The Shah’s Last Ride, and Sattareh Farmanfermaian’s Daughters of Persia. I’m also lucky to have a memory that records events like film in my mind. 

Norm: What were your goals and intentions in this book, and how well do you feel you achieved them? 

Susan: I had more than one goal. One was to show the unbelievable culture of the Persian people – their art, mannerisms, and graciousness juxtaposed to the horrors of a bloody revolution. The second was to show how my characters arc, some to the good and some to the bad. I feel I achieved what I wanted to portray. All of the goals will be taken to further conclusion in the sequel. 

Norm: How did you go about creating the characters of Kathryn Whitney and Anthony Evans? As a follow up, is there much of you in Kathryn's character?

Susan: I’ve never liked wimpy female characters. I wanted my protagonist to be a 21st century woman who could take care of herself who had a heart full of love and understanding. Although she’s strong she had to cover up the many hurts in her life. She evolved, the moment she came out on the page it was like she was living inside of me. I imagine there has to be some of me in Kathryn as she grew from my mind and heart.

As for Anthony, I created a man I would want to know and respect. I wanted him to be a more empathetic James Bond type with strong loyalties to family and friends. 

Norm: Did you write the novel more by logic or intuition, or some combination of the two? Please summarize your writing process. 

Susan: I used a blend of both logic and intuition. The characters start performing by themselves and you go back and refine it. You have to have a first, second and third act. The goal of the first act is the set up, the second is peak of conflict, and the third is addressing the dangers the character’s situations have placed them in from the first two acts. When you begin writing you set up facts, callbacks to other parts of your story, that help explain and drive the characters. I knew what I wanted the characters to do, but I worked on showing it and not telling it. 

Norm: Do you agree that to have good drama there must be an emotional charge that usually comes from the individual squaring off against antagonists either out in the world or within himself or herself? If so, please elaborate and how does it fit into you novel? 

Susan: I feel that every scene needs a scene goal and a conflict where there is something or someone who does not want that to be achievable. Drama is all about conflict. In my novel the conflict arises from characters who have opposite goals, who misunderstand each other, or who outright want the other to fail. 

Norm: What skills have your other careers taught you that you have been able to apply to On Wings Of A Lion?

Susan: My acting career has taught me about people and the honest emotions on how they react to each other and the environment around them. My university studies gave me the depth and breadth for ancient art and all art, which I used for my characters.

My knowledge of film and photography are displayed through Kathryn and Anthony’s skills. Also, working with film crews taught me about the close teamwork it takes to produce the work. Film is not something you do by yourself. There’s nothing more satisfying than having a crew that you work well with and whose goals align with yours and you come out together with a product that blows you all away. 

Norm: What is your secret in keeping the intensity of the plot throughout the narrative of the novel?

Susan: You have to have a driving force through the novel and every place you go to introduces a new challenge and new characters adding and interfering with the goal. This keeps the pulse of the storyline moving forward. 

Norm: What was the most difficult part of writing this book and what did you enjoy most about writing this book? 

Susan: The most difficult part is ignoring the impulses to get up and walk away from your chair. You can get up and stretch but you have to get right back to that computer. Also don’t answer phone calls and make dates you know you can’t keep. Nothing can deter you. It’s like running a race – you can’t stop in the middle and think you’ll still win the race.

I enjoyed the excitement of taking the pages of the book to my critique group. Sometimes you bring pages you think they’ll love and they gently shred them apart. Other times you bring pages you think are mediocre and they love them. You can’t be your only critic. With every scene you write you have to go for it. I also loved the encouragement from friends and family. 

Norm: Do you have a local writing community or fellow writers that you look to for support and advice? 

Susan: Yes, I’m involved in a writing group that I found right after I finished the advanced writer’s program at University of Irvine, California. 

Norm: Where can our readers find out more about you and On Wings Of A Lion?

Susan:  FACEBOOK

INSTAGRAM

Norm: Are you working on any books/projects that you would like to share with us? (We would love to hear all about them!) 

Susan: As you can see on my website, I just finished two book signings in New York, one in June and one in July. I look forward to two more in the fall also in New York – one at the Shakespeare and Co. Bookstore, date TBD. The other is at the Book Fair at The Chapin School.

I’ve had a small speed bump with a foot surgery that is not allowing me to include any more activities before the fall. This is a perfect message from the universe to stay home and write.

The sequel to On Wings of A Lion is finished but is about to receive a last edit. It’s called The Persian Glories. I’m about 100 pages into the last one in the saga, Beneath the Crescent Moon

Norm: If On Wings Of A Lion could be turned into a movie, who would you want to play Kathryn and Anthony?

Susan: Alicia Vikander, Margot Robbie, or Brie Larson for Kathryn. To play Anthony, Michael Fassbender, Chris Hemsworth, Henry Cavill, or Alexander Skarsgård. Amr Waked and Ashraf Barhom popped into my mind to play Houdin. Who would you pick?

Norm: Brie Larson for Kathryn (Perhaps I am bias because her father is French Canadian and I live in Quebec) and Henry Cavill as Anthony.

Norm: As this interview comes to an end, what question do you wish that someone would ask about your book, but nobody has? 

Susan: What is the symbolism of the winged lion? No one has asked me that yet.

Norm: Thank you so much for taking the time to answer my questions. It's been an absolute pleasure to meet with you and read your work. Good luck with On Wings Of A Lion.

Susan: Thank you, Norm, the pleasure is all mine.

FOLLOW HERE TO READ NORM'S REVIEW OF ON WINGS OF A LION