Kim Cattrall Is ‘Really OK’ If She’s Only Remembered for ‘Sex and the City’
Kim Cattrall broke out playing the inimitable Samantha Jones on Sex and the City — and she’s just fine if that remains her biggest credit to date.
“I created a fantastic character that I loved, and I put a lot of love in it,” Cattrall, 68, told The Times of London in a Thursday, June 12, profile. “If I’m remembered only for that, then that’s really OK.”
SATC, based on author Candace Bushnell’s newspaper column and novel of the same name, chronicles four 30-something best friends living in New York City while searching for love. In addition to Cattrall’s Samantha, the main cast was rounded out by Sarah Jessica Parker (Carrie Bradshaw), Kristin Davis (Charlotte York) and Cynthia Nixon (Miranda Hobbes).
Despite SATC becoming a runaway, six-season hit, Cattrall initially turned down the role four times before having a change of heart.
Kim Cattrall Reveals the ‘Biggest Challenge’ of Being a Woman in Her 60s
“Self-inflicted ageism,” she quipped to The Times about her reasoning, noting she was 41 during the audition process. “Well, that changed. 40 became sexy. It became, ‘Man, let’s have more of that.’”
Cattrall also felt a pull toward the sex-positive publicist, even though it couldn’t be further from her reality.
“She wasn’t a nymphomaniac — well, some people might have thought she was — but she was just enjoying the main course,” Cattrall said. “Everyone else was nibbling on the appetizers when she was going for the steak. And it was always on her terms — that I always insisted on.”
She added, “But, I’m the antithesis of [Samantha] in many ways. I’m a serial monogamist, and then some.”
Kim Cattrall Reveals the ‘Biggest Challenge’ of Being a Woman in Her 60s
Cattrall has been married three times: to writer Larry Davis from 1977 to 1979, to architect Andreas Lyson from 1982 to 1989, and to musician Mark Levinson from 1998 to 2004. The actress is currently in a long-term relationship with Russell Thomas, who is 14 years her junior.
“He was an actor originally. He’s had an incredibly interesting life and really done it on his terms. He’s a bit of a rebel, which I love,” she added of her boyfriend. “We’ve been together almost 10 years now, and we’ve had a blast. We’ve just had so much fun.”
In addition to her “fun” romance, Cattrall has continued acting. She had a blink-and-you-missed-it cameo on season 2 of SATC’s And Just Like That spinoff, reuniting with Parker, 60, for a phone call. Onscreen, the former besties squashed a feud that erupted when Carrie fired Samantha as her publicist after COVID-19 pandemic setbacks. (It was previously speculated that Cattrall didn’t sign on to the first season of AJLT due to a feud with Parker, who denied the claims.)
Cattrall will next be heard in BBC’s Central Intelligence radio series, narrating the program and portraying Eloise Page, a real CIA agent during World War II.
“In this age that we’re living in right now, ‘central intelligence’ seems like a contradiction in terms,” she told The Times. “[Eloise] didn’t have children, she was never married, her job was her life … And I think she was completely fulfilled and happy. That made her even more of a hero for me — in those times, especially.”
Central Intelligence season 2 premieres Friday, June 20, on BBC Radio 4.
