by Jenny Agutter said she couldn’t think of “nothing better than getting out” of her role in Call The Midwife to defeat Robert Redford on screen in Captain America: The Winter Soldier.
The 70-year-old actress reprized her role from The Avengers to star in the Marvel superhero movie.
She and Redford, 86, are members of the fictional World Security Council that oversees S.H.I.E.L.D. in the 2014 sequel Captain America: The First Avenger.
Agutter attacks a Hollywood actor during a scene in the film, until he is revealed to be Black Widow, played by Scarlett Johansson, in virtual disguise.
She told Good Housekeeping UK: “When I was asked to do Marvel’s Captain America: The Winter Soldier, I couldn’t think of anything better than coming out of Call The Midwife to work with the stunt team and beat up Robert Redford.
“Although, to be fair, they wouldn’t let me stunt him. They were worried that I would hit him instead of missing.”
The actress, who has played Julienne’s sister since 2012 on Call The Midwife, said she thought the show would end after six episodes.
She added: “I was sitting on a bus once when the woman next to me said, ‘I didn’t mean to disturb you, but I have to say that I’m watching Call The Midwife and I’m especially interested because she was a nun for seven years.’
“I thought, ‘Oh my God, I’ve been a nun longer than she has.’
Agutter, who rose to fame in the 1970 film The Railway Children as a teenager and recently reprized her role in The Railway Children Return in 2022, also said she previously felt a little “guilty” for “spending too much time” with away from her family and children during her career.
She also said: “When my father died, it was very different from when I lost my mother many years before.
“I was much less interested in making plans and more focused on being with him – and that was very good.
“Now it’s all about turning the switch off every now and then. I’ll go, “OK, you can’t plan this completely. Just do what you must.”
Read the full interview with Jenny Agutter in the February 2023 issue of Good Housekeeping, on sale December 29.
Call the Midwife returns to BBC One on New Year’s Day at 8pm.
