Jennifer Grey may have made a million hearts beat a little faster when she jumped into Patrick Swayze's arms for THAT scene in 'Dirty Dancing', but the actress admits she's never practised the iconic move, either before or since.
"I only did it on the day I shot it," she reveals to the Guardian in an interview for her new comedy 'Red Oaks'. "Never rehearsed it, never done it since. I don’t know how all these people who re-enact it have the guts to throw themselves into the arms of anyone other than Patrick Swayze. It’s insane!"
Jennifer Grey is looking very different these days from when she filmed THAT scene with Patrick Swayze
Her opinion of the 1987 scene that helped make her a household name, it seems, is, "It happened, enjoy it, watch it over and over again but never ask me to do it again because I’m too fucking old. I have a family and I want to live longer."
Jennifer, on the press rounds talking about her new TV show 'Red Oaks', is looking quite different these days from the time when her 'Dirty Dancing' co-stars were threatening to put baby in the corner. Her distinctive 1980s profile was given a makeover in the 1990s when she opted for surgery on her nose, two operations that made her a virtual stranger to her big fanbase. She explained in a later interview, ""I went in the operating theatre a celebrity - and come out anonymous. It was like being in a witness protection program or being invisible."
Despite her aversion to re-enacting this particular chapter of her past, Jennifer is happy to return to screen in a new comedy set in 1985.
In 'Red Oaks', now showing on Amazon Prime, she plays one half of a warring married couple, whose son played by Welsh favourite Craig Roberts must stay out of the way at summer camp.
"Never before, never again" is Jennifer's verdict on the lift that made her name
Jennifer, who made her name in 1980s comedy 'Ferris Bueller's Day Off' as well as 'Dirty Dancing', 'Red Dawn' and 'The Cotton Club', looks back on the attitudes and styles of that era with a bemused eye now.
"There’s something nostalgic and reassuring and sweet and silly about the earnestness with which we looked at things. It looks like a comic book to us now," she says.
"It was a very different time, not just because of the insane costumes. I mean, wardrobe! Although it is costumey when you look at it – the shiny spandex we wore in public, the shoulder pads and the hair – we thought we looked fantastic."
'Red Oaks' is available now on Amazon Prime.