What can you do in Chicago that you can't do anywhere else? First of all, you can get a windburn on Chicago Avenue in the winter that I think would rival anything you can get in the Arctic. It is one cold city. It has a unique personality, because you've got to be hardy to live there, and the faint of heart don't stay there for many years.

Did you meet your husband in Chicago? No, I met Bill in New York, but very quickly we went to Chicago. So during the first part of our going out we went to Chicago. Where he took me then wasn't great, because we didn't have any money. Mainly we hung out at the Gaslight. Everybody was working in restaurants because we couldn't get any other work. But we would have to have company meetings, so our meetings would start at midnight and go until three in the morning. There are legendary stories about the Steppenwolf and the Gaslight, where they would start a company meeting that would end at five in the morning, with everyone out on the street and throwing things and the cops being called. What I remember with Bill when we first went there is his love for the city and his love for the people of Chicago. They are direct, and there is a close-knit acting community. Everyone loves each other, and everyone supports each other - unlike in Los Angeles, where you are always looking for your next job and ­everything is a stepping-stone. Every play you do is a ­stepping-stone. Every television or movie you do might lead to bigger things. In Chicago, they care about the work, that the work is good, and you can stay with a theater company for 30 years there, and you are not moving to New York, and you are not moving to L.A. You are a Chicago actor and incredibly respected.