"I'm an actress, but you could call me a health freak, a vegetarian and a nonchemical human being." Maybe so, but it does seem to us that the celestial Angel Tompkins radiates more chemistry than most members of the species, which may explain her rapid rise in the world of TV and films. Currently working on her second major movie, Kansas City Prime, with Lee Marvin and Gene Hackman, about modern Chicago gangland. Angel is cast as Marvin's sexy, sultry woman, "the only one in the film who ends up with everything." Angel, who was born in Albany, California, spent much of her youth drifting around the country with her construction-worker father. Eventually, she landed in Chicago, where she worked as a model and a TV-talk-show hostess. Finding the Windy City "a great place for starting out and then leaving your mistakes behind," Angel took her own advice and left for Los Angeles; there she quickly snared roles in such TV shows as The Name of the Game, Bonanza, Mannix, Ironside, Love, American Style and The FBI.
Not content to wait for more good things to come her way, Angel is further cultivating her talents by studying ballet, Method acting and singing ("I've developed a sexy Julie London voice"). What's more, she's also mastering self-hypnosis, "so I can really get into me, to reach what's known as the alpha state. It's more efficient than simple meditation; I can't stand wasted time." But Angel doesn't consider the time she's taking before signing for another film wasted at all. "I have several in negotiation," she says, "but I'm choosy. I want to do challenging parts, like those in my first film, I Love My Wife, with Elliott Gould, and in Kansas City Prime. In fact, I feel I gained a lot of experience working with Lee, who taught me to act for myself and not to worry about upstaging him. However, I find most actors, unlike Lee, very insecure in love scenes. They're always worried that the woman will get more attention. But how can she help it when she's got half her clothes off?" And, we might add, especially if, half-clothed, she looks half as good as Angel.
