Photo: LUCY NICHOLSON/AFP /Getty
Jacqueline Bisset’s connection toAngelina Joliebegan before Jolie was born.
The English actress, now starring in Amazon’sBirds of Paradise, was close friends withThe Eternalsstar’s late mother Marcheline Bertrand, whom she met when she was costarring with Jolie’s fatherJon Voightin the thrillerTheEnd of the Game.
“I met her around 1971 when I was making a movie with director Maximilian Schell and Jon Voight, who [Bertrand] was married to at the time,” Bisset, 77, tells PEOPLE in the latest issue. “We became friends, and she asked me to be her godmother when Angie was in the tummy.”
Recalling the happy moment with Bertrand and Jolie captured in the photo above, from the Los Angeles premiere of Jolie’s movieOriginal Sinin 2001, Bisset says their coordinated ensembles were a complete coincidence.
“We all turned up wearing white dresses, and it was absolutely unplanned,” she says with a smile. “Completely unplanned. That was actually goofy that we’re all wearing white.”
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For much more on Jacqueline Bisset and her 50-year career, pick up the latest issue of PEOPLE on newsstands Friday
Although she is protective of her goddaughter, there is genuine pride in her voice when she speaks of Jolie.
“I find her rather extraordinary,” says Bisset. “Her whole aura is breathtaking, and it’s amazing how much she’s changed in different stages [of life]. She’s evolved so much.”
The two actresses are very close and once almost starred together in the same film: Jolie’s 2005 action/spy thrillerMr. & Mrs. Smith.
“The first film I got cut out of was [Mr. & Mrs. Smith] with Angelina,” says Bisset. “Terence Stamp and I played Angelina andBrad Pitt’s bosses. They were very small parts, but it didn’t work [in the film], and then they recast it, with apparently two other actors. They said we were too British.”
“You have to try and find a role, even if it’s a small role, that is absolutely integral to the plot,” she says. “Otherwise you’ll be on the [cutting room] floor.”
Currently co-starring in the elite dance school dramaBirds of Paradise, the actress says she still has plenty on her acting to-do list.
“I get a real buzz from working and I enjoy being around people that I wouldn’t meet otherwise,” she says. “There are lots of things I’d like to do and I’d like to work with lots of people. I like Robert De Niro, very much. I don’t know what show I would be put in with him. I’d probably be put in as his mother.”
Birds of Paradiseis now streaming on Amazon Prime Video.
source: people.com
