British actress Lesley-Anne Down traded in LAs fires and political leanings for a life in Georgia

After years of living along the Pacific coast in Malibu, British actress Lesley-Anne Down named Californias continuous wildfires and liberal-leaning politics as the reasons she and her family left the Golden State for a life in Georgia.

Down lived in southern for decades after crossing the pond to pursue her Hollywood dream, but became so let down by the environment there — both natural and political — that she would eventually become a Southern belle.

But Down, now 72, perhaps best known for her film roles in 1976s "The Pink Panther Strikes Again" and 1978s "The Great Train Robbery," traded it all in for a serene life feeding the deer that frequent her residence outside Atlanta in what she described as the ultimate "suburban countryside."

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The actress and singer — known as one of Hollywoods most beautiful women in the late 70s and 80s for her piercing blue eyes and striking features — was voted Britains Most Beautiful Teenager and had her breakthrough role in the British television series "Upstairs, Downstairs."

"I have to be very honest. I cannot think of a more lovely place to have brought up our first lot of kids, you know, who are now all in their middle and late 40s," Down told , reflecting on her time living in the Point Dume and Trancas areas of Malibu. "It was just lovely."

Down, along with her husband, cinematographer and director Don E. FauntLeRoy, spent a lot of time in Malibu in the early 80s before they purchased their first house together on Point Dume. They lived there until 2020.

"I remember looking out the kitchen window and, like, three riderless horses just going out for a little trot," she said, recalling the beauty of Broad Beach at that time, which she would later refer to as "Rock Beach" because of all the erosion. "But then it began to change — the people and, quite frankly, the fires. The fires got worse and worse."

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During the first 10 years of living there, Down recalled only one fire in which she was actually evacuated. But then, not more than two years later, another fire required all of her friends in Corral Canyon to vacate their homes.

"We had a house full of fire victims, quite frankly, because who wants to sleep on a cot in Malibu High School? And we had a big house, so that was that," Down recalled, noting that her husband was often away working when the fires occurred.

The Woolsey fire in 2018 was the last straw. Down remembered getting a police escort over Kanan Dume Road, which she said "looked like the moon" at that point.

"And I said, I cant take this anymore," she recalled, crediting her young son George, a typical Malibu-raised surfer dude at the time, with saving their home.

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Down and her husband had been talking for years about leaving the state but werent sure where to go. The growing frequency of Californias wildfires wasnt the only factor; Down was also increasingly troubled by the states shift toward more liberal politics and policies. 

Earlier in her career, Down had also experienced her share of brushes with the industrys

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