QUESTION: There was a lot of noise in the hall outside your dressing room just now. Shrieks, squeals and all that. Was that you?

INGER (Puffing): Yes! I don't like to be late. But I was practicing bumps and grinds.

Q: In the hall?

INGER: Silly! On the set of "The Farmer's Daughter." A girl never knows when she'll need some extra skills.

Q: Is that so?

INGER (Grinning): It's really the script. Katy agrees to apply for a job without knowing what it is. Turns out to be a stripper.

Q: Offbeat story?

INGER: It has possibilities.

Q: It took me three months to see you. I feel as if I botched the job somewhere along the line.

INGER: I'm sorry about the delays. But there are just so many things coming up.

Q: Shall we start the interview?

INGER: Would you excuse me just a minute while I take a shower?

(There was a pause while Inger took a shower in the next room, with her own voice accompaniment.)

INGER (Washed): Thank you for being so patient.

Q: That's all right.

INGER (Sitting): I'm starved. How about a steak?

Q: They were delivered about 10 minutes ago. The blue cover is medium and the pink cover rare. What's your choice?

INGER: Rare.

Q: They're both medium, aren't they?

INGER: Don't make an issue of it. There are hungry children all over the world.

Q: I don't like to use the term "kookie," in writing about you. But would you say you are a nonconformist?

INGER: I suppose you would say I have a certain free manner. I feel it's better than being all tied up and tense. One needs a sense of humor.

Q: Would you say you are in the tradition of most creative and artistic Swedes? Like Garbo, for instance?

INGER: Hmm…well, I believe that may be right. Anyway, I've got these big feet like Garbo. And the same size, too. 9AA.

Q: Do the rules of so-called Hollywood etiquette annoy or irritate you, since you are rather nonconformist?

INGER: One always tries to do the right things. But you find you are one person on the outside and another person at home. It wasn't for me.

Q: How about premieres and night clubs?

INGER: I detest premieres and I don't go to clubs.

Q: And men?

INGER: I love men. But I think it would be unfair to get married when I'm tied up with this series. I've no time for a husband.

Q: Does all that work agree with you?

INGER: I've always worked from early in the morning to late at night but now it's every week with no time off. I find I get very irritable. I like freedom to come and go. And there are people around all the time, fixing my hair, brushing me, or adjusting my makeup or my clothes. Sometimes I just want to go "Awwrrrk," but I don't.

Q: You once said you don't know whether acting is the way you ought to spend your life. Have you made up your mind?

INGER: I started acting when I was 16. When you're 16 you're not capable of deciding what you want to do with the rest of your life. I'm grateful to the acting business. I like acting and I'm not knocking the theater. It's just that I don't know whether acting is the way I ought to spend my life. But I am interested in working with retarded children. I realize I'm not qualified now, but…

Q: Why children, for instance?

INGER: Children are no different from other people. They're just shorter.

Q: But do you like acting?

INGER: You have to have a sense of humor about this business. Otherwise you can go crazy. Imagine a bunch of grown people running around all day making believe they are somebody else? I think one of these days I'll stop being an actor. There is another step for me to take. When I lie down at the end of the road, I'll want to have left something behind - even if it is just having helped one other person.

Q: Would you consider yourself different, in the things you do, from other young actresses in town?

INGER: I don' t have close actress friends so I couldn't say what they do.

Q: All right. But list some of the things you do. Maybe we can get an idea.

INGER: I eat three eggs for breakfast at 5:30 in the morning.

Q.: Three eggs? Why three?

INGER: Two eggs are just, well, you know, they're just there and that's all when you put them on a plate. But three eggs? Ah! That rounds out the meal.

Q.: Anything else?

INGER: I put sweet bell pepper and cream cheese on the eggs.

Q.: Uh, huh.

INGER: And drink fresh-squeezed orange juice. Four oranges. I squeeze them myself. Oh, it's a thrill to drink that orange juice!

Q.: Do you live alone? I mean, is there a housekeeper?

INGER: No. Just me and Lancelot.

Q.: Lancelot?

INGER: He stays in the garage.

Q.: Who is Lancelot?

INGER: An elephant.

Q.: An elephant? How big?

INGER: About the size of a Chevy. That is, the one with a trunk.

Q.: What color is Lancelot?

INGER: Pink.

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