Video: From Broadway to THE GILDED AGE, Christine Baranski Looks Back on Her Iconic Career

Well, it is great to be sitting with you

How lovely to see you again. Well, season three of The Gilded Age has just arrived

Let's hear it again. The Gilded Age is my favorite TV series. It's been a year and a half since the season two finale

How exciting was it returning to film it? On so many levels, it was exciting

It's exciting to be in anything that Julian Fellows is writing and involved in because he's such a high caliber artist

And then it's exciting to just revisit the world of the Gilded Age, which is a wonderful escape from this kind of crazy life we're living in now

But also it's a wonderful return to the cast and crew. We love each other

the show is just a repertory company of a revolving door on Broadway, off-Broadway talent

We all have known each other for years or worked together, done readings together

seen each other's work, and it really just feels like a family, a company of theater actors

and our crew is wonderful. So there's this feeling of communality, and it's a reason that I think

most of us, probably all of us, want to return for a fourth season just to return to that world

that is safe and creative and full of, you know, just people working at the top of their game

It's such a beautiful world. You know, you look at the Gilded Age, you look at the sets

the costumes, everything about this show. And then, of course, you mentioned Julian Fellows

So what's it like, like, just being on the set of, like, the world that you live in

Well, you know, all of the actors felt the same way, which is in season one, we were really just trying to get used to living in that world

And certainly the women wearing these very tight corsets and having to sit a certain way

And we were given really lessons on etiquette and how to speak

We had a dialect coach. Even though we speak American, it's a different kind

It's an old world or just from another century. People definitely spoke in a different way from our casual way of communicating

So there's a formality. We had to get used to that. We even had to be instructed how to hold our knives and forks and our teacups

and you never put a teaspoon on the tablecloth. Of course not

And the teaspoon has to be in front of the cup, not on the side of the cup

And you never take the cup on its own. You always take the saucer and the cup

So it was all of these marvelous details entering this world that required a language

But you see, I had trained at Juilliard. And we would wear long skirts every day

We were assigned a long skirt. Mine was green. And we wore long skirts to get used to the fact that in period plays, you wear a costume

Instead of going to class in jeans or casual sweats, we had skirts on

And a skirt already gives you a different body sense. But there was a lot of training speech, voice

And because we did all of those classical plays, we did Shakespeare, Moliere, we did

Jacobean plays, Shaw, I was used to doing period work, but I'd never done a period piece

on film. My theater career has tons of plays that were written in other centuries and required that

skill set that I learned at Juilliard, but I didn't ever use that skill set on film

I've done great stuff on film, funny stuff mostly, but never something that required the Downton Abbey kind of thing

And so for me, it was just a wonderful opportunity. In fact, when I begged for them to let me cross over

and do two shows for two different networks because they didn't want to let me go

CBS didn't want to let me go to work for another, because I would be a lead in two shows

and that was sort of not allowed but I actually wrote to him and said look, I have worked my whole career

I'm at a point in my career where to do this role and to use these skills

means so much to me and well anyway the rest is history

because I am still doing the role but I love it for that reason

I love that it calls upon that's why so many theater actors are cast

because we're not afraid of period. We're not afraid of language. If we are afraid of it, we get past it by using our skill set

You mentioned you used some of your skill set from Juilliard, obviously with this character

But like you said, she had to learn all these other things. It's not only learning dialogue and creating a character

but it's all the other things you have to do, the etiquette things, like you said. Now Agnes picks up the tea

Absolutely, and most of the life of the characters of Agnes and Ada happens in our townhouse

So little things matter. Those little details matter. They tried to give Cynthia

and they still try and give Cynthia this King Charles Spaniel because Julian really wants her

He really wanted her to always have this dog, but the dog proved to be a challenge

A challenge added maybe, an hour onto our day as the dog wouldn't, you know

But she has the dog and she does needlepoint, but I'm always asking props for a book or a newspaper

Mind you, the print on these books and newspapers is so tiny that I don't know how anybody read

but they're actual period books and period newspapers. but it matters, this sort of behavior

and it helps you as an actor. You can't just sit there in a big dress

and say your lines. It helps to have things to do as an actor

and it also puts you in the scene much more. Yeah, well I want to talk about the incredible character

They're all so beautifully written on this show and Agnes specifically. How wonderful is she to play

Oh, she's wonderful. She's Julian Fellows. She's his sense of humor, his point of view, I think

I mean, I'm not saying he's an insufferable snub. No, I don't mean that

But he has a sense of how things should be. And he speaks rather succinctly

And Agnes, one of the things I've learned is to just trust that you can make your point

and then never apologize for it You can speak in a declarative sentence saying I really don like that suit And not apologize

She says what she means and she means what she says. By the way, I do like that suit

But, you know, she's, and her wit is so, she's so bright and so sharp that when anybody compliments me

on my ability to deliver these one-liners, I just say, it's Julian

I'm just the delivery system. And the simpler and more direct I am when I say things

put a period at the end of that sentence, it's fine. It works

It's funny. Because what I love, like you said, season one, they were just presenting all the characters

Yeah, it was a huge introduction. I say that season one was so much exposition

mainly delivered by me. You've got to know. I had paragraphs that when Marion came in

and I was directing her and where we were going to go to church and she has to get her clothes done and this is right

and you can't do this and you can't do that and this is the proper thing

And it was just an anthem of how the old society behaves

And I thought, okay, I know that this is exposition, but I'm just going to do it

But Agnes was instructing her niece, so it wasn't just pure exposition

It was, you know, informative. But it did make me laugh because most Americans are not familiar with the Gilded Age

and that the Gilded Age happened right after the Civil War. And it happened because the North made so much money, was so enriched because of the war

that there was all this money. And they even started spending that money during the Civil War

It was great economically for the North. as horrifying as that war was

But after the war, the Gilded Age began in earnest, and it was the beginning of American capitalism

which we're still living through. What do you love the most about her

Because we've seen so many different sides of her between season one and two and three

You know, I fell madly in love with her character when what you did for Ada for the wedding just broke my heart

I was like, my God, she has a heart. You know what I mean. And it's like, so what have you loved the most

about how well she's written and how she's changed and evolved? The wonderful thing about playing a character

who has that level of certitude and authority and her assumption that she's got a certain place

in the world, in her family. And she's a tough cookie. That's a character that Julian particularly loves

is those tough old broads who actually, you know, they got us through

Those women actually are the movers and shakers of that era. But I did a lot of work on her backstory, and I won't go into it

but she went through a lot, and she married to rescue not only herself

but her sister. Women married to be rescued, because otherwise you just fall, fall away

She married a man who was, I think, rather cold. And at one point, Ada does say you wouldn't want to be alone in a room with him

implying maybe he was a dangerous man or intimidating or maybe even who knows

But the fact that what I'm trying to say is Agnes made a lot of sacrifices

and had to live a life of just being tough. She had to rely on her strength

and then she invited her sister to live with her. And she's a survivor

She's a survivor, and so she's tough. She is strong. And I honestly base this character personally on my mom

My mom grew up in the Depression in Buffalo. She walked to school in the middle of winter

in Buffalo, New York with newspapers stuffed in her shoes. She married right after she married

and then my father had to go off. No, she didn't marry. He went off to war, and then they got married

And eight years later, he dropped out of an aneurysm, and so she had to raise two children on her own

and she didn't even know how to drive. And she worked for, I don't know

maybe 20 years at an air conditioning factory because she was a draftswoman during the war

and she ordered air conditioning parts, and that's how she supported my brother and I

Money was always an issue, but my mother would come home from work

always in a bad mood, open the cupboard, reach for the Seagram Seven Crown

pour herself a stiff drink, and then we'd have dinner. And she was tough

She was a tough cookie. She lived through a lot, and then she retired at the age of 70

and a couple years later got hit with the first of three different cancers

She got lymphoma, lung cancer, breast cancer and when it kept going into remission, lived till she was 85

But the doctors even thought she was something of a medical miracle

because she was so strong. So back to Agnes. I know this woman. I lived with this woman

I know that, you know, but when you say the nice thing about playing someone that strong and that tough and that certain, like she was convinced that Ada should not marry

She had no skill to be a wife. She didn't know what that was

And, you know, Agnes did not want to lose her sister either

It was selfish. but until the very end I mean Ada leaves for the church

and Agnes is still she's not going to go and her own butler says you're going to regret this

and then she shows up and then you see I mean I

I talk about it and I can't help but get emotional I told Cynthia

that the costume I was going to wear has remained one of my favorite costumes

It was very original for Agnes, but it was really chic. And I said to Cynthia, just between us as actresses

I want you to know that Agnes is saving this dress for a very special event

So when we played the scene and I walked down the aisle

she and I looked at each other and there was that moment of

you know, I'm here for you. and then just that look of love

There's so much love there. But it pays off so when you play a character

who doesn't show that emotion, who almost never shows that emotion. Suddenly you see the depth

That's more fun than if you're, you know, your heart is on your sleeve all the time

I just think playing a character that's that restrained. And of course in season three

you're going to see a reversal of the roles. So it wonderful to see this woman who was always in charge always the boss you know be toppled off the throne And you know it a story as old as literature the toppling of the king and the humiliation of the arrogant person

It makes for great comedy. So season three is really a lot of fun between Cynthia and I

Well, let's talk about Cynthia. I mean, you two have known each other and worked together before

I love Cynthia. I love, love, love her. She's a great human being and a marvelous professional and a marvelous actress. And for those of you who don't know, I played her mother in 1984, 83, 84. It was an enormous Broadway hit written by Tom Stoppard, directed by the great Mike Nichols with Jeremy Irons and Glenn Close. And we all won Tony Awards

Cynthia was still in Barnard College. She was out. And I had just married

And during the run, I got pregnant. So Cynthia and I would sit backstage

And I remember this teenager, Cynthia Nixon. She always loved to listen to the, you know, is the baby going to kick

And we shared that as people and as actresses. So years later, I get a call

I think I was in the garage doing the recycling when I get a call from Cynthia

and I happened to have my phone. She says, Christine, is this true

that you're being offered this role? Because if you're... And I said, yeah, they're trying to work it out

And she said, oh, my God. And so we got very excited. We were, I think, the two people maybe cast first in it

But now we're playing sisters. So we just had a head start on our relationship

and it wasn't, you know, actors are so wonderful. When you know somebody as a human being

it makes it so much easier to look into his or her eyes

and say, you know, and you can be grouchy, you can be. I knew I could punch her

I could give it to her, and she knew I was only acting, whereas poor Louisa Jacobson, she was terrified of me

But I stay in character between takes. It's not like I'm nasty to everybody

buddy between takes. But I don't suddenly get all ooey gooey in between

takes because I'm Agnes. Poor Louisa just so scared. We're now. We're fine

No, because there's something about watching you and Cynthia together. I knew your history, but it's so

great when you see two performers together who can do anything together in a scene

How long does it take to film like this? I talk to a lot of actresses and

actresses who this season, like Audra McDonald is doing Gypsy. So I think everything was scattered

around and Carrie Coon, Carrie Coon was doing the White Lotus. So dear Carrie came straight from

Thailand. And I think she had maybe 48 hours to unpack and brush her teeth and say hi to her kids

And then she was, she was Bertha Russell. And of course we've got the greater Audra doing

mama rose and also having to show up to play a ballroom scene you know actors are I think we're

made of either Teflon or I don't know what we're made out of but we it's amazing the stamina and

you know I did well when I was doing Good Wife I did Into the Woods and I flew back and forth

and sometimes I would arrive at the airport and go straight to set and I remember saying to my

first AD, God, you know, that jet lag, and I'm, wow, this is really challenging, because that

you know, five-hour difference, and he looked at me, and he said, that's what you call a champagne problem. So I have never forgotten that. These are champagne

problems. Oh, I'm doing gypsy, and I also have to be on the same, you know, actors who are smart

enough we don't complain about oh gosh we have to work no we're happy but it it requires a lot

of energy and sometimes you know because the gilded age calls from from theater actors i mean

it's a it's a it can be and good wife and good fight were like that too we we had so many actors

who were busy we had to get them out by five for their curtain or whatever so um it was always a

logistic nightmare, but then somehow it gets done, and then you have Kelly O'Hara, and you have

Audra Donaldson. You know, you have, so. No, because everybody I spoke to said there were all

these weird schedules, but it all comes together. I know, I know, and yeah. So when you get a script

for a certain episode, then the costume arrives. I think the costume designer

I think she gets the script. She's one of the first people to get it, even if it's a

very rough draft because she has to, you know, forget the rewrites. She just has to know

is it outdoors? Is it indoors? And she has to coordinate colors and all. So she's one of the

first. But I mean, these clothes take a lot of time and skill to make. So it's not like

you go to Bloomingdale's and take this off the rack. But is it exciting when your costume arrives for a specific scene you're going to do

Oh, God. I mean, look at me. I'm just, you know, the burgundy velvet and the green velvet and the royal blue velvet and the beads and the whole thing

I, you know, you get swatches of fabric for all your clothes. And I say, can I keep the swatches

And at the end of the first season, I took a large vase and I took all my swatches and I made a bouquet

so I have a kind of flower piece of all of my velvet swatches

of different colors. But, yeah, it's kind of thrilling. And I particularly, I love clothes

I love couture. I so appreciate what the costume department does because you're talking about just endless detail

And Kasia, our designer, is so brilliant and so exacting that when I get my costume

I'm just so grateful, so grateful for whoever was involved in creating it

Because it certainly contributes about 75% of my character, and then I add a little y attitude

and there you go. There you have it. Do you shoot everything out of sequence

with everyone's schedules? We do a lot. We do a lot. I mean, obviously, the first episode was..

But still, you skip scenes and it's entirely dependent on, it can be weather, as in if it's outdoors

But logistically, who's available or, yeah, in a word, yes. And if you're doing two shows at once, like Cynthia and I, both, she did her show and just like that and Gilded

And I was doing Good Fight and Gilded. both shows shot out of sequence

because of COVID and people getting COVID and then schedules would change

I remember at one point looking in my living room and I like to learn my lines well in advance just because there so much coming at you I had scripts from different episodes for two shows

And I was like, no wonders I don't get to read novels. And you know, the people I love, what are you reading

I said, I don't read, I just learn scripts. Are you good at memorizing

It's getting, it's more challenging now. I have to work harder at lines

I cannot believe that when I was in my 20s, I could, you know, some actors can actually learn lines in the chair

and then shoot. I can't do that. But it's not just not being able to memorize

I like to live with lines for as long as possible. So I beg, I beg for scripts

If nothing else, just give me a rough draft so that I know what the scene is

What is it about? What am I in for in terms of a character

What is going to be my conflict? What should I obsess about? And then if I get a rough draft, it's fine

I won't memorize a rough draft, but just let me have it

Let me have it as soon as I can. And then if you have it and they don't change it

and you get to live with it, it's rather like being in a theater where you do work on a script for four weeks

a week of previews, two weeks of previews. The theater is such a luxury because of the time you have with material

whereas the real ultimate challenge with TV is it's just a fast-moving train

You shoot a scene and chances are you're not going to do a reshoot

unless there's a real problem. Yeah. Did the scripts for The Gilded Age, do they change a lot

No. Yeah, I think. No. There can be rewriting and sometimes the concern is historical accuracy

or we can often make some comments and massage it a little

but no actor asks for major rewrites or my character would never do that

It's Julian Fellowes. I know. I remember doing a Neil Simon's Rumors

and I went to Gene Sacks and I said, you know, this line, I think it could be rewritten

or something and he looked at me like, You don't suggest to Neil Simon a rewriter

I think he knows how to do it. Well, I want to know, you grew up in Buffalo

Where did your love for performing begin? And was your grandmother one of your greatest influences early on

Well, yes, to my grandmother. She was an actress in the Polish theater. I've said this in so many interviews

But my appreciation for my nana grows as I get older. I think, oh, my God

I shared a bedroom, twin beds, with a woman who was an actress in the Polish theater who wrote a radio comedy hour with her friend

She was a comedy writer because we had Polish radio as well

So I lived with a sort of anti-mame. She was flamboyant. She was gracious and she loved singing and dancing

and my parents, both parents were part of a Polish singing group

so I went and saw them perform. But my fondest memory, and I've said it in so many interviews

so forgive me if you've heard the story, but right before my dad died and I lost him when I was eight

he took me, I had a date with my tatusz, tatusz means father in Polish

and I was sitting on the aisle and we went to see

this Polish singing and dancing group called Schlonsk. And it was Polish folk dancing and singing

And my father, well, I grew up in a bilingual household, so he spoke beautiful Polish and he loved Polish culture

But, you know, it was a joyous, colorful singing and dancing. And at the end, the performers, instead of taking a bow

they waved their shawls at the audience. And suddenly I looked up because my father had tears rolling down his cheeks

and was shouting bravo, bravo. And I was so embarrassed that my father, he was a big guy and he was shouting

and I'd never heard anyone shouting. And I kept saying tatush, tatush

I was embarrassed by his emotion and his display. And to this day, I just think the power of performers

I think I realized the power that performers have over people. Watching my father react like that and his love of performance

So yeah, there you go. You ask for seminal moments for people

What happened? Why? That was a really big moment in my life

And then I lost him shortly after that. He dropped dead of an aneurysm

So, but he, obviously, my father and my grandmother had a great influence on me

Yeah. Beautiful. Well, you have one of the most illustrious careers on stage, screen, and TV

So I'd like, you do. So this is your life, Christine Baranski

I know. So it just means I've been around a long time

So I'd like to mention just some of the highlights and just tell me what comes to mind, a fun memory or a wonderful story

You started in the theater. You won your first Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play

for your stunning work you mentioned in Tom Starpart's The Real Thing opposite Jeremy Irons and Glenn Close

directed by the great Mike Nichols. How magical was that show for you in working with that team

I mean, Jeremy, Glenn, Mike Nichols. Well, I've always said that that was a trip to Paris on the Concorde

It never got any better. We tried out in Boston. This is before cell phones and texts and internet

and getting the word out immediately. We were in Boston and we were doing the work on the play

But it was a magical year because I had... I'm going to roll back the tape a little

because it's really the beginning of my success. I was cast in Midsummer Night's Dream, directed by James Lapine

And it probably remains my favorite time on the stage, doing Shakespeare under the stars

It was an enchanting experience. And I won an Obie Award, which was to me like winning the Oscar

I was a theater actress, and I'd won an off-Broadway, you know, distinguished award

So there was that. And then James wanted me to audition for Sunday in the Park with George

for the workshop that was done with Mandy and Bernadette. And I had to sing for Stephen Sondheim

and I got the role of the artist's wife, who's the center figure in the painting

And on the last performance, we only gave a handful of performances

but it was the last performance, and it was the only performance where Steve had written a second act

and we were putting the second act in that night, and that was it

And who was in the audience but a man named... Mike Nichols. And I remember leaving the theater and passing, Mike Nichols, Mike Nichols and

Leonard Bernstein were there in one night. And I remember passing him and he said something nice

to me and I was, Mike Nichols. And next thing you know, I was auditioning for that. He clearly was

captivated by my performance and I got a shot at auditioning and I got the role as Jeremy's wife

and the rest, as they say, is history because it was a huge, solid gold Broadway hit

I've never had an experience like that in the theater. It was just you couldn't get a ticket

and Glenn and Jeremy were just utterly sexy and magnificent and I had this witty, you know, the wisecracking

the wronged wife. I mean, there's nothing funnier than the wife who's been cheated on

and then she's going to get out her one-liners and have that as her weapon

I mean, Charlotte's a wonderful, wonderful role. But it was a supporting actress

That was fine. Won my Tony and had a baby a few months later

I carried my firstborn on stage for six months. But that's because I was really skinny when I started

And also, but by the end, I was walking like a crab

I didn't face it this way. I definitely had to get off the stage at that point

Well, we're going to back up even further because she made her off-Broadway debut

and her Broadway debut in the same season. She did play at Playwrights Horizon

and she did a mystery that I saw that didn't run long at all

It was called Hide and Seek with the wonderful Elizabeth Ashley. And you told me upstairs

what was it like, favorite memory of doing that show with Elizabeth Ashley? Well, I was so fond of Elizabeth Ashley because when I graduated from Juilliard in 1974

my acting teacher and mentor who really, really gave me my first serious break

his name is Michael Kahn. He was one of my finest acting teachers

And I didn't even collect my diploma because he'd asked me to be an apprentice at the Shakespeare Theater

American Shakespeare Theater in Stratford, Connecticut. And one of the things I did was I was a lady-in-waiting

and waiting and waiting and waiting in Romeo and Juliet, Twelfth Night

and I understudied Carol Shelley in Twelfth Night, and I understudied... And Carol Shelley in..

No, I didn't understudy her in Twelfth Night. I understudied Carol Shelley as Lady Capulet

in Romeo and Juliet. I didn't understudy anyone in Twelfth Night, but I understudied the great Elizabeth Ashley

in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. Now, I think I got to do that because Michael knew

that Elizabeth Ashley would have to be half dead because she was not going to miss a performance

But it was great because I hung out that summer and she was terrific

She's such a terrific lady and it was such a great performance. And she kind of took me under her wing

And I remember her wanting to help get me an agent and all

But years later, not that many years, but years later when I did Hide and Seek

I got cast in this small role. But Lizzie, Miss Lizzie, I called her, she was so generous

that I had a scene like this where I visit. I don't even remember the scene, but it was a thriller

And I remember it was my Broadway debut, so I was over the moon excited

But she literally gave the scene to me by doing this. She played the scene like this

That means everybody was looking at me. That's very generous. But, you know, I'll always remember her for that

That's a great story. I told Kat's one of my favorite shows with Liz Ashley

but that story was so generous to you, but that's Elizabeth Ashley

Yeah. That's great. So you won your second Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play

for Neil Simon's Farce Rumors, which you mentioned, asking him for a rewrite

I didn't ask Neil. No, no, I asked Gene. But Gene, he's like, no

He said, no, don't ask Neil. But how much fun was that production

I loved that show. That was challenging. That was a challenging show

It's not the world's best written farce. And I would say a lot of that performance that I gave was me making up behavior with the cigarette and that first act curtain

I mean, that really is one of my favorite things that I've ever invented on the stage

Back when they had telephones with wires, remember? A telephone that had a wire

I'm dating myself. 20th century. I was wearing this short Chanel, it was a Chanel dress, and it was like a pink skirt under black two, and it was short, but it kind of bounced

And I had black high heels, and I always thought I looked like a flamingo

But for the first act, Curtin, everything's going crazy. And I said to Jane, what if I trip over the wire

because by then my character was already quite tipsy because of stress she's been smoking a lot and drinking

Anyway, I chose to trip over the wire and then turn around like this

because I'm trying to get up, but I'm getting up and my skirt is going up

and all the audience sees, I'm not going to do this for a camera here

is two legs. and the curtain went down with my legs and the skirt up

So it was a great visual. Except one night I forgot to put on my dance brief

I just had my pantyhose. So Jessica Walter, actually, I told her, I said

I don't have my dance brief. And so she said, I'll take care of you. And as the curtain was coming down, she flipped my skirt

She had my ass. And she won a Tony Award. That's how you win a Tony Award

That's how you win a Tony Award. OK, so your first big break on TV, when I think a lot of people really knew you

was playing Marianne Thorpe on the hit TV series Civil, which won you your Emmy Award

How career-changing was that role? You had mentioned that a little bit. Because we hadn't seen anything like that character on TV yet

No, and I'd resisted, resisted doing television. And I was raising kids with my late husband, Matthew

We were raising kids in Connecticut. I did not want to live in L.A

And so when television came knocking at my door after the first and second Tony Award

I said, if you do something in New York, I'll consider it. But I was in love with a theater I was a theater actress But you know as your kids begin to get a little older and you looking at school tuitions and all I thought you know

And then I had done a very big musical called Nick and Nora

which I thought was going to pay a lot of bills for a long time. And it was one of the biggest flops in Broadway history

It lasted, it previewed for eight weeks and ran for one week

but anyway that was an extraordinary disappointment and then I went back to doing Lips Together

and did a few other things but by the time the Carsey

Warner Company knocked on my door and said we have a couple

of things we really want you to consider one was the American version of

Absolutely Fabulous and I thought oh okay well that could be fun and then the other

project was Sybil Shepard's best friend. Now the absolutely fabulous thing sort of was on hold or something, but they really, this guy named

Chuck Lorre, who at the time wasn't the Chuck Lorre he is now, but I was smart

and clever enough to read that script and go, well, those are funny lines, and I know how to deliver them

I said to my manager, well, if I'm going to make the jump, and I'm still

I mean I think the night before I left to have my final meeting with the network

I think I was half thinking no no I don't want to do it

I don't want to do it but they practically had to push me onto the plane and then I did read for the network

and the network had at that time didn't want me Chuck Lorre wanted me and Carsey Warner but the head of the network

whose name shall remain nameless He will remain nameless. He said nobody's interested in Christine Baranski

So he didn't really want me. But then I got cast and won an Emmy after 13 episodes

But that's because that role was so unique. As you say, nobody had seen a sophisticated martini-swilling divorcee

who was plotting revenge against her ex-husband. She was fun. She was naughty

She was witty. And he and his writing staff wrote just great

And with all the theater experience that I had, I knew how to do that

It came easily to me. So that was a really good choice

And it really launched me in so many ways into not only TV, but film

because after that, it was within the first year of, after the first full year of Sybil

Mike asked me to be in the Birdcage and then I did Bowfinger and Bullworth

and my career started moving into film, which it would never have done

had I remained a theater actress because I, you know, suddenly a national audience

knew who I was. That's the power of television. Well, let's talk about the Birdcage

Birdcage fans? for Kate Farris. I watched it again on the plane yesterday

It's a phenomenal film. Elaine May script, everything. But please tell me about working with the incredible cast

I mean, Robin Williams, Nathan Lane, Hank Azaria, Gene Hackman, Diane Wiest

What was Calista Flockhart? What was that like, just working and being upset with that? Well, you know, whenever you work on a Mike Nichols project

you already feel like you're... How can I describe it? I mean, every actor who's ever worked with Mike just says how special it is

And nobody can really articulate why he was so special. But he made you feel so smart and so potentially great

And it was just like a love affair. We were down in South Beach, Miami, and it was fun

And Anne Roth did the costumes. And I didn't, you know, I wasn't part of the, you know

My character was sporadic because I wasn't on the set every day

but when I was on the set, particularly with Nathan and Robin

it's a well-known fact that Robin would just sort of go off

and be doing monologues. It was just Vesuvial. He was just brilliant

And we'd all just be doubled over laughing. And this was just between takes

It was like watching the Robin Williams show. And he was a beautiful human

I am, to this day, that's one of my favorite scenes that I've ever done on film, was when he walks in

and we see each other after all that time, knowing we'd made a child together

And all those years had passed. And I remember saying to Mike

no, let's not start talking right away. Let's have a moment of recognition and, like, just sitting there realizing we both probably were in summer stock back in the days and, you know, the 60s when everybody was sleeping around and we had too much to drink and we wound up in bed together and I got pregnant but didn't raise this child

And he comes to me and says, he needs you to be his mother now. Yeah. And then we relive the moment of being performers in whatever show we did

singing that marvelous Sondheim song. And I'll just never forget when he lifts me up in his arms

there was this moment of feeling his physicality and my physicality. Yeah, these two people could have wound up in bed together

and Robin had a very, very masculine presence. He had all that chest hair and he had a

and I say this with great affection, he had a very strong, sexy male odor

So it was like, it was like there was testosterone in that scene

And so when Nathan walks in and we're, you know, we're kind of having some champagne again

it felt very real. I love that scene because it felt very, real things were happening

Some magic was happening, and to this day, and how we got the lyrics wrong and then we both corrected the lyrics

It was, yeah, it's one of my favorite scenes I've ever done. And look who I did, you know

He got me, when it was my last day on the set

he got me a book of plays. No, he got me the biography of Catherine Cornell

because he said Catherine Cornell was from Buffalo. I was so gracious of him

He had a huge heart. He was such a deep, complex man

but he had just an enormous, like a heart in shoes, you know

Because it's such a funny, funny movie, and then this scene appears, and it's so poignant

It is, isn't it? Yeah, it's so beautiful of the rekindling, and like you said, you can tell why you got together

It's a short scene. Oh, it's beautiful. I like it better than the original film

And the original film I love the original film the French film But I never understood that scene because she suddenly was crawling all over him and I thought well how does that there was no lead up to it

Whereas I think the way we did it, there was a slow unfolding and a, you know, reminiscence and then it got a little sexy and then it was over

But it was sweet. Well, then you got to play opposite Warren Beatty in Bullworth

I mean, working with Warren Beatty. like director and actor. Fun memory from that film or just being around him

Oh, well, Warren Beatty. I mean, if you get to be around Warren Beatty and you're a woman, it's pretty good

And he had seen me in the real thing. Yeah. And I was already pregnant

but I wasn't so pregnant that I looked pregnant, but I had a peach silk robe on

that I came in the second act with a peach silk robe. And by then, when you're pregnant, you start blossoming

Anyway, I think I look pretty nice in that pink silk robe

And I remember coming to work one night, and they said, do you know Warren Beatty

And I said, no. And he said, he was looking for you. He insisted he wanted to meet you

And he was there with Julie Christie. Oh, okay. So I like that

I wasn't there. I wasn't there when he showed up. I had left the building already

So he knew my work. And he had seen me in the real thing

So he cast me as his wife in Bulwerth, which was another great opportunity to work with a great director

And I was on camera with him too. Was it great to watch him be an actor and a director

Well, he was playing that politician who had to do the rapping

and it was so intimidating because he had a ballroom of people

and once he started the rapping, so it was very complicated for him to direct himself

and do all this rapping. I remember that took a long time

but he's just a great director and a marvelous flirt, and I was married to the great Annette Bening

So, yeah, lovely. You are known to millions of TV fans for playing Diane Lockhart on The Good Wife

and The Good Fight. You must have so many wonderful memories of that show

and how it's reflected what we're living through now. Well, yeah, I said

I don't want to be in the sequel to The Good Fight. I mean, we decided or the Kings decided

they wanted to continue the character of Diane Lockhart and I was all in because the reason I wanted to continue

The Good Wife, so many of us did, was because of the caliber of the writing

You're lucky. I've been so lucky with Julian Fellows, Chuck Lorre, and Robert and Michelle King

I've just worked with the best writers. but there was a pause button and then I think oh I was offered something else by another network

and when the kings heard that they stepped up and said no no no we want to continue working

with Christine and we will come up with an idea and so along you know then they titled it the good

fight and it really became about living through the first Donald Trump term Trump derangement

syndrome, this liberal feminist who's the head of a law firm, and having her live her life going

crazy, thinking, you know, the guardrails are off. Well, now they're really off. But back then

it felt like the show was, if not exactly on schedule in terms of what was happening

it was almost ahead of its time. Because we were playing scenes about how, what if the guardrails

really come off? What if people decide not to show up if they're subpoenaed? What if the rule

of law no longer applies? And look what we're living through. So I think when it ended, it

needed to end. But when you look back on that show, not that you would want to watch that show

now, because all you have to do is watch MSNBC, and you will have had enough. But it will be a

chronicle of what life under the first Trump term was. It was as pertinent a show as was written

at that time. What incredible cast members. Oh my God, it was another revolving door on great

actors, New York actors. And of course, then we lived through COVID as well. But yeah, just playing

judges and lawyers and victims and so many great guest stars. Yeah

I mean, New York's just a great place to film. Yeah. You know, we have a lot of actors here today and watching all around the world

I want to talk to you about auditioning. Were you always good at auditioning

Was there a secret to auditioning for you early on when you had to audition

you know i just tried to be as prepared as i could be and have an idea come in with an idea

give give them some something and if they wanted to direct me to do it another way it would do but

make a make a choice make a choice i would suggest because i i know a lot of actors now

feel pressure to be totally off book, as though that's a sign of wanting the role or being well

prepared. I say, even if you know the lines, take the book, because it reminds everyone that this is

a process. You're not actually there to give a full performance. You're there to give an indication

of what you would do. And also, you put an enormous pressure on yourself as an actor

if you go in thinking, what if I forget my lines? If you have the book, you have the book

So that's a comfort level. I've often said that on the set when we gather on the set

for a first reading before we start shooting, a lot of actors will be off book

And I always say, let's just read the scene. Because don't put your focus on whether or not you know the lines

and then you get thrown if you don't know the lines. Just be easy on yourself and read it

The time for getting off book comes much later. But yeah, I've tried to be as prepared as I can

and I think if you possibly can go in there with as open a spirit as you can have

it communicates. Your humanity communicates when you walk in, which is why I think it's so unfortunate that actors now are auditioning via Zoom

because that's so different from what we have right now, just our interaction

You're feeling my presence. I'm feeling yours. And you can win people over

You might not be exactly right for a role but you walk and they go wow she interesting or he interesting or look at that look at that there that sense of humor or a little bit of talking and

interaction before the scene starts, people can fall in love with you, and next thing you know

they're giving you a lot more rope, a lot more leeway to maybe prove yourself, so I think actors

just, we're just so hard on ourselves and we get in our own way. And if you can just remember

well, I did watch Holland Taylor's marvelous Q&A and she gave such wonderful advice. If you want to

go back, she has done one of these and she gave such pragmatic advice. But one of the best things

she said, and I have to write to her because I know her and I adore her, as she said, nothing in

our profession is personal. Nothing. Norman Lear said that to her. It's not personal

If you don't get a role, it's not because they didn't like you. You know, it's something they

were looking for something else or they already have an offer out. Don't be hard on yourself

And I also think concentration is key in every aspect of the work that we do, cultivating a real sense of concentration so that when the moment arrives and you have to execute on camera, on stage, in an audition, you are in your zone

Just cultivate concentration and relaxation. I think that's true in life, actually

You know, presence. We're talking about presence. The ability to just... Be

Be. I'm waiting for you to say something, and then I'm going to... But, you know, we're alive in the moment

You know, it's just so hard now with everybody because you listen to some casting directors. Oh, you should have more light on

Don't look straight ahead. Look to the left. I mean, every casting director has a whole different idea

Really? I mean, all the actors know, but it's out here, it's like you worry so much about getting a self-tape ready

that you get lost in what you should be doing, which is just being. Yes

You know. Yeah. Oh, I think young actors have it way harder

And COVID did this thing where, OK, now it's easier to audition and do chemistry readings on Zoom. OK

I never had to do that. But you do what you have to do, of course

And then I said this to a friend yesterday who's having to do a Zoom thing, a chemistry read

because she's a director. And I said, well, maybe let's look at it on the bright side

Maybe the fact that you get to control your own performance and you don't have to walk in a room

and you don't have to wait outside with 10 other actors soaking up their anxieties as you sit there and look

oh, she looks like she's more ripe for the role than I am

or she's pretty. You don't have that vibe. And you don't have the vibe of walking in the room

and like that adrenaline. You don't have that. So maybe like you do your audition on your own terms

when you've calmed down and you self-tape, maybe there's a benefit there

Maybe you have more control of your craft. I don't know. I'm just saying, if this is what we have to live with

you may as well use it and use it to the best of your advantage

Perfect advice, right? No, because seriously, I know a lot of actors would be like

they do like 100 takes, but they're like, and someone's husband will be like, stop doing that

But just make, do like four or five of them, and then just pick the best one that you have

Like I said, you have the opportunity of saying, oh, I can fix this a little bit, But don't live in your head when you're doing a Zoom, too

Just do four or five takes. Pick the best one. Just send it in. But we hate looking at ourselves

So the problem is, I would never find my best take. I'd still be looking for it

Oh, I hate that. Well, you know, over the years, you worked with the late, great Stephen Sondheim, playing Mrs. Lovett in Sweeney Todd, for which you won the Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding Actress in a Musical

You played Carlotta in Follies, of course, singing I'm Still Here, the stepmother in the film of Into the Woods

What was it like working with Sondheim and just living in his songs

I keep coming back to that year of Midsummer Night's Dream that led to Sunday in the Park with George

That's the first time I worked with Stephen Sondheim. No, but it was not the first Sondheim musical I did

I did a production of Company when Playwrights Horizons was in Queens

Wow. And he came backstage, and he said, that was a wonderfully different, that was a wonderfully original take on that role

And, well, I went home, and I just thought I had died and gone to heaven

and that Stephen Sondheim had said something complimentary to me. So then I did Sunday in the Park

and then I did the workshop of Assassins. And then concert versions

I did Little Night Music. And then I did Follies. And then I did the Royal Albert Hall

I played Phyllis in Royal Albert Hall. So I had a lot of, and then, of course, two Sweeney's

one in L.A. as a concert version, and then a full production at the Kennedy Center

which was thrilling, my maybe second favorite thing I've ever done on the stage

the most exciting thing. And the wonderful thing about Steve, everybody's so intimidated by Steve

and he's in the room, and oh, my God, everybody's... And Steve was a great collaborator

He cared nothing more than to help you and to be specific

And he'd give notes that were very specific. He wasn't like sitting there going, oh, God

He just had this ferocious presence. He had that deep, fabulous voice

but he had an intellect like a laser, and his ability to articulate was, you know

he just was a great communicator. We'll look at his lyrics. But he could be very specific

So over the years, I relaxed as I worked with Steve, and I remember when I had to sing

I'm Still Here at City Center, I asked if he would, he came to see Regrets Only

which was a play I did by Paul Rudnick, and I asked if he would have a drink with me afterwards

because I was in preparation to do Follies. And it just said, talk to me about the song

and we went line by line by line. What did it mean? because it's a song about the historical period

And I remember him coming backstage, one of the first performances. And it's so intimidating to sing that song

because it's so associated with being a drop-dead showstopper. And then he did the nicest thing

He came backstage and said, you know, I didn't write that song to be a showstopper

So get that out of your head. You're obliged to just do Elaine's stretch

Just be very specific with all those lyrics, because each lyric is about a different visual

And that's how I approach the song, living through each of those. I've stuffed the dailies in my shoes

strummed ukuleles, sung the blues, seen all my dreams, it's about living through the depression, living through Hollywood

If you have a visceral attachment to each of those lyrics, you can get through that song

and not worry about, I'm still here. That is such a of a vowel

Here, any singer will tell you. So I actually once said to Steve, couldn't you have written an O so it's, I'm still

That's an open sound. Here is a tight sound. No, I'm still

doesn't work. I've spoken to all these ladies over the years and I've sung that because you hear

da-da-da, da-da-da, and just all the verses, but like I said, if you break

it down of how it travels from, which is fascinating, what you did with

him, where the song starts and where it goes to. And it ends with

I'm still here because precisely because you've gone through all those different periods

I thought of my mother, stuff the dailies in my shoes. Living through all those different eras, I've lived through it

It's the great showbiz anthem. Bernadette Peters told me when they were doing Follies

someone had asked her, oh, I don't know what I'm doing in this song

She said, don't ask me, ask Steve. but Steve would give you like four words

that would just set you on your path. Like she said, he's so succinct

Yes. It wasn't like 12 sentences. It was like five words. You're like, oh, now I get it

Yes. Detail meant everything to him. They say genius is in the details

He was all about specificity. He wrote a word. It meant that word was meant to be

and you could ask him about it and he would know exactly

So you learn from somebody like that. You learn that. And I learned that doing Sweeney to break it down and break it down and break it down

Because Mrs. Lovett is very challenging because you have to sing and talk in a cockney

And cockney accents are very difficult anyway, ask Dick Van . Although he never tried

I don't think he ever. I don't think Dick Van ever tried. No. which is why now he's famous for doing a terrible cockney but and then to sing in a cockney um you

know there were there were so many there's so much layering it's a very rangy uh role vocally

sometimes you're almost singing and I was singing with Stokes Mitchell so sometimes it was like

operatic singing keeping up with him sometimes it was just belting sometimes it was you know

a lot of it is middle voice where you're, what's the matter, dearie

How have you? You've got to keep it in that middle range where you're semi-singing and talking

So there's so many details in that role. That's why if you can succeed playing that role, it's just like, yes, it's yummy

You were glorious in that role. I had the best time. I had the best time

And Steve, he was a part of the process. We were all doing different, everybody was in a different rehearsal hall

doing a different Sondheim musical and rehearsing. And then we'd go out and drink

My favorite story of turning 50. I turned 50 the day Steve Sondheim came to see the first run through of Sweeney Todd

And that's, you know, everybody's scared stiff when Steve shows up to

and we did the run through. It happened to be my 50th birthday

and Stokes and a bunch of other actors said, we're taking you out to legal seafood in Washington, D.C

And who shows up after dinner, because he was giving notes to Chris Ashley

said, I never miss a 50. And Steve sat down with all of us

and we must have had round after round of white wine as Steve talked about West Side Story and Gypsy

He talked about Robbins and Burns. I was like, who turns 50 and gets this

A master class. And then we just walked home arm in arm on a beautiful spring night

I mean, I have really loving memories of Steve Sondheim. I feel I'm so blessed to have worked with Sondheim

Nichols, and Tom Stoppard, three of the seriously great people. But then your MAME was incredible

She got to do MAME, the Jerry Herman musical. How wonderful was she to play

She's wonderful. Well, I did MAME as my senior class project in Buffalo

After I did Sweeney, the Kennedy Center asked me if I wanted to do anything

And I said, God, I'd love to play MAME. And so when they did a full production

and we're talking, the reason the Kennedy Center, at least at that time, was so special

was because they had the money to have a full orchestra for Sweeney and for Mame

And to hear those scores with a full brass section for Mame or for Sweeney Habit

I mean, was just thrilling. I'd stand backstage for both musicals. Well, no, with Mame, you don't stand backstage

You're throwing your clothes off and just getting it back on with Sweeney

But Mame, I had a full wardrobe. I had the staircase. I had everything

The one thing they didn't give me was enough time to preview the show

So I didn't even get a week of previews. And with Mame, when you're not on stage

you're literally throwing your clothes off. They're putting your next glamorous outfit on

and you're back on stage. It's considered right up there with Gypsy

as one of the hard, like a real workhorse role. And we had sets and moving parts

and our first public performance, They came backstage and said, Christine, the hydraulics for the staircase doesn't work

So you have to pretend you're going up and down the staircase

That was my first paid performance at MAME. Imagine making your entrance in MAME just walking out

With the bugle. Anyway, they really didn't. They invited the Times and the Washington Post and everything

and I didn't even have a full week of previews, and that really rankled me because I thought

you need to give performers time In the past you do a musical Angela Lansbury went to two different cities before she opened

And musicals used to... And now everything, the process is fast forward

fast forward, don't lose money. The reason they gave me was we wanted to just get the reviews out

and have people come as soon as possible because it's a limited run

And I said, well, you've cheated me of the process. I needed the process because I was still working just to integrate costume changes and then being back out there

But that was the sad thing about MAME. But then I continued working

And by the end, I mean, hey, I got to play MAME

And I worked my way into it to a place where I was very happy with the performance

Well, you should be because everybody who went down to the Kennedy Center said it was the most phenomenal maim

And I think the only reason why it didn't come into New York is a budget reason. That's it

Yeah, you can't. It's like the Gilded Age. You don't do maim on the cheap

If you're going to do maim, you need fabulous sets. You need all those adoring boys

And you need a staircase. And you need that orchestra. So don't even do it

Don't do it on the cheap. So there you go. Well, I'm glad you got to do maim

I'm glad I got it out of my system. Yeah. Fabulous. Well, Nine Perfect Strangers, fabulous

I mean, so the season three got picked up at Gilded Age and you got Nine Perfect Strangers sort of at the same time

Let's see. I got nine. Oh, gosh. It was the actor's strike

I was offered Nine Perfect Strangers a day before the actor's strike

I said, oh, Nicole Kidman and all these other actors were being offered the role

and it shoots in Europe, in the Austrian Alps. And I said, okay, I'm in

I didn't read a script. And then the next day was the actor's strike

So nobody was talking. You couldn't talk. You couldn't ask for a script

You couldn't make a deal, nothing. We had to wait till after. And then after the actor's strike

it was full speed ahead. And I was in Munich for six months

And also we did film up in the Alps. That was beautiful

and then let's see yeah i finished did i finish nine perfect strangers and then a couple weeks

later went into gilded age so that was last year the gilded age and then the gilded age ended

in january of this year right okay it's hard to keep track you love nine perfect strangers too

right look at the cast you got to perform with and king princess king princess she's now a

butt of mine. I love it. She's the coolest, smartest, most gifted

young woman. I adore her. It's a great show. Is it? I've only seen one

You're fabulous in the show. Again, you were known to millions of

worldwide fans of playing Tanya in Mama Mia and Mama Mia 2. I mean, look where

you filmed those movies. It just looked like you were having the time of your life

All of you. We did. We had too much fun, as I say. We had, I mean, it was, the first one was great

but the second one was fabulous. We shot in Croatia on an island called Viz

which hadn't been spoiled by tourism because it was used during the war

Marshal Tito had a bunker there or something. It was used during the Cold War

but the fact is it was an enchanting island So what you see on camera is pretty much the beauty of this island

which I hope it hasn't been spoiled by tourism because of the popularity of Mamma Mia

But that was Croatia, and Mamma Mia 1 was two different Greek islands

But you have Pierce Brosnan and Colin Firth, and you're singing and dancing

And when you're not filming, you're eating in some Greek taverna and we're all hanging out

That's why when they say Mamma Mia 3, I say, yeah, I could do that

I can do that. There's a little talk about Mamma Mia 3, isn't there

I know that Judy Kramer, who's the producer, I think she really wants to do it

And there's a lot of moving parts, so I never want to be quoted as saying there will be a..

Because it goes viral. It will spread from this room all over the world

in like 20 minutes. She said it's starting. Yeah, so I can't say that

But I know there's hope for it. We just have to, we can't shoot it too far in the future

We'll be, you know, using walkers. It's hard to sing Dancing Queen without walkers

It just looked like you were just, all of you having the time of your life. I remember saying to Meryl, I said

you know, this is kind of so, you know, it's so odd to do this

It's such a funny thing. But if we look like we're having a blast

the audience is going to have a blast. And that's what people say, that it looks like we're all having so much fun

And we are. It's great. I love those movies. Mamma Mia fans, they're just so beautiful

And we need it now more than anything. So we'll just put it out there. Hopefully it's a Mamma Mia 3

I know. We do need some really good entertainment. Well, you co-starred opposite Jim Carrey

and director Ron Howard's How the Grimm Stole Christmas. That had to have been fun living in that world

Yeah, oh, ask Jim Carrey. I mean, he actually, Jim Carrey trained with a Navy SEAL

so he could learn endurance techniques because he was covered from head to toe

Even his fingernails were, you know, whatever that green stuff was. His eyes were covered with green contact lenses

his teeth, every part of him. And I have such respect for him as a performer

because he was often acting with a child, actor, or a dog

or by himself. And when he was with all of us, I mean, he has a huge, just extraordinary presence and energy

and it had to, every single scene he was in had to be that

The reason I paused is because we did have to spend hours

in the makeup chair doing prosthetic. I didn't have to do as much because I have a who knows

But I had to do a little bit and then the hair and all

and then the costumes. but Ron Howard wanted to hire people who would be comfortable

in that larger than life. So he knew I'd had Juilliard training

and that I was a physical actor. And that's what he said he needed

someone who could just embody this So I so grateful I was in that movie because that was what you call a big Hollywood movie and it great if at least once in your career you in to see what goes into

the making we we used every soundstage on Universal we created that whole world of the

who everything was created by you know and so you entered this state of you know Christmas

this enchantment. And then working with Carrie, of course. I've worked with some great male comedians

if you think about it. I mean, Robin and Jim Carrey and Warren Beatty

and Gene Hackman. And I even worked with Walter Matthau and Jack Lemmon in Odd Couple 2

It was not a great movie, but Gene Smart, the great Gene Smart, and I played these biker chicks

And we got to, I think I danced with Walter. Walter was my guy and Jack was Gene's guy

And we got to hang out on the set with Walter and Jack

And guess who visited the set one day? Sophia Loren. I still have a picture and I've yet to find it

in my memorabilia of Gene and I, Walter, Jack, and Sophia Loren

who she had a crush on Walter Matthau. Yeah. Because didn't she do Grumpy Men, too

Yes, and she used to cook pasta for him, and I'll go figure. Yeah, yeah

No, so I've worked with some great, great guys. But I mean, to be on the set with Walter Matthau and Jack Lemmon

you know, some like it hot, all the, you know, the odd... I know, no, no. Just those were two truly great guys

And I'll tell you something about Jack Lemmon. He was always the first one on the set

That was his professional ethic. I would try to beat him on the set

And he was the star. Now, like, when you're number one on the call sheet

usually you can, you know, the first AD will call you on set last

Nobody waits. Number one doesn't wait. But he would be, first one there

was the most professional actor. And I learned something from him, which is if you're number one, which I was finally on the good fight

I would say to my first AD, look, don't wait until everyone's on the set

Let me know when camera's ready, I want to be first on the set

Because if number one is on the set, everybody else should be on the set

Right? So you set the tone. And Jack actually, like, you're going to make Jack Lemmon wait

I don't think so. He was there. He was ready to go. He was always like, he'd call it magic time

When cameras are about to roll, he'd say magic time. I had Jeff Daniels here, and he said the same thing

There's a difference between movie stars and movie stars for a reason

Because I think it was someone told Jeff Daniels that he said

you know, you set up these multimillion-dollar shots like when the sun's going to go down

like that golden hour where you have like 11 minutes or whatever it is

Jack Nicholson told him, he said, you know, this is why I'm a film star

Not to be obnoxious, but he said, when you said we have to shoot this now

they've set up this million-dollar shot, you've got to be able to stand there and deliver that shot

Absolutely. In fact, Mamma Mia won, does your mother know? We had rehearsed the dancing in London months before we shot that

and I said to Phyllida Lloyd, the director, I said, make sure I have enough time once we get to Greece to review the dance

Yeah. Well, what do you think happened? and they flew the dancers in the night before

And halfway into the day, Phyllida said, you know what? We're going to go on the beach

because the light is right, because we did it as the sun, but we had to get the dance in before sunset

But the light was right, and so often you're at the mercy of the light

or your cinematographer says we got to go. And so that, we did not have a lot of review work

And I remember being quite grumpy that, once again, I didn't have my process time

but it was like, here we go, boys. We're all just going to be dancing

And the sun was directly in our eyes, and the poor boys were just dancing on

What that was, it was a beach, but it was really concrete with sand covering the concrete

So they had a dance floor, but it was concrete. And they were dancing and kneeling on concrete and sands

It was really, really challenging. But to your point, when they're ready, you should be ready

There's that line in Hamlet, the readiness is all. And as a performer, got to be ready

But see, that's the brilliant moments. Like you said, you're training at Juilliard and everything else

and being at the top of your game saying, I got to go, we got to go. Well, that's why I think it helps to be as prepared as you possibly can be

Michael Caine says that in his book about acting. He sets up everything he might do, like I might be having coffee with you

and I'm going to choose when I'm at home, I'm going to choose the moments

So that he would be as prepared as possible because you never know what will be required of you

So if you can be in command of your lines, in command of your character

You're in command of your props. You're already ahead of the game

And then if they do have to change things around, you're ready. Or if they, you know, you're in command of your own stuff

You've done the best you can. And there'll always be variables when you're filming

And sometimes the variables are like, oh, I've got to shoot this big dance number now

Yeah. Because Debbie Reynolds told me when she was working on Mother with Albert Brooks

she arrived a week earlier on the set of The Kitchen, that she knew where the cheese was in

the freezer. She knew everything she was going to do. She knew this kitchen inside out. So when she

would do the scene, if you go back and watch this scene, she would cut the cheese and take it out of

the freezer. She knew that kitchen inside out. And then she wasn't thinking about it. No, no

You have to do things where you're not, you're not, because then you can get in your own way

But you're thinking about props. No. No, I understand that a role that you're recognized around the world for

is Beverly from the Big Bang Theory. But you can go to Europe and people go, Beverly, right

I could go to Beijing, China. No, really, let me just do this because you'll know

if I do this with my hair and I have hair clips, I'm Beverly Hofstadter

And I swear I get stopped. and in the United States, but it amazes me that in Europe

I've, well, in Germany, I'm in an exclusive perfume shop next to the most expensive hotel in Munich

and I just sampling fragrances and this very sophisticated man is helping me out and he goes Oh Beverly I stutter

It's his favorite show, and he said, that's the number one comedy show in Germany

So Germany, France, England. It is, as I said, television is so ubiquitous

and that is a mega hit all over the world. Like Mamma Mia

Yeah. Yeah. So now when you travel to Europe, someone recognizes you from something

Yep. Champagne problems. That's a really good champagne problem. Do you have a favorite memory of filming Adam's Family Values

What a fabulous movie. Yeah. I have a memory of just doing that Thanksgiving pageant

which honestly is, God bless, Paul Rudnick, and so politically incorrect. I mean, but you've got to re-watch it

Just YouTube the Thanksgiving pageant because it's so funny. You always return to the theater when you can

Does it rejuvenate your craft? Tell me why you always return to the theater. Well, I haven't returned to the theater

The last Broadway show I did was with the great Mark Rylance

I did nine months of Boeing, Boeing, which was a great experience

although I haven't done a full production I've done concert versions and things

but here's the thing about the theater it allows you time although these concert versions do not allow you time

that's a fast moving train too but I so love process I love just layering

the role just today I'm going to work on this aspect of the role

or this, that, and things come to you. You just have the time, the luxury of time

And I think you need time to do anything great. The wonderful thing about having played Diane Lockhart

for all those years is actually it was 13 years of the same character

So even though TV is a fast-moving train, I got used to how to do it

and because the character became more and more, you know, integrated into who I was and, you know, I

it became more like theater. Yeah. But I would go back to the theater

just for the pleasure of having the process and seeing what I could come up with if I did have time

how much richer the work would be if I had time. Yeah

Because I always ask actors who do film and TV, they're like, I like to return because the train starts

and the art goes like this, there's no, and it's all in sequence. Yes, and you're not shooting

you're living it in sequence. Plus, you're living your craft in front of a live audience

which I think is going to be more and more important in this crazy world of technology and AI and screens and all

The art of the living human being, whether it's dance, singing, opera, theater

even sports, watching human beings in the present moment, human beings witnessing other human beings

is invaluable. We have to value our human life, our human interaction

Yeah. I'd love for you to touch on the longevity of your career and the variety of all the different genres

you continue to work in. Like, you have this kind of career

I don't know if people can have a career like this today because you started, you know, I always say in hearsay, can you look back, you know, could you have the kind of career you started

out in? But when I look at your career, how you started and where you went to and, you know

I know. It's a wonderful, it's just such a privileged, marvelous trajectory that I had

My first play was an avant-garde play called The Master. I was still in high school

I was with an avant-garde theater company called The Company of Man. It was a two-character play

called The Master. It was an anti-war play, anti-war meaning Vietnam. I wore an American flag as a mini dress

with white go-go boots. I remember that. So that's 68. That was 1968 was my first play

And then high school plays, but then my Juilliard years, and then all those years of theater

I didn't go to television until I was 42. And given how much television I've done

it's amazing that I didn't start I didn't go to Hollywood until my 40s which is why I always

want to tell actors young actors this story because you know I think

there's such pressure now to use your youth as a commodity and agents

will tell you you can't go out of it I mean I went out of town for years I was doing regional theater playing great

roles and having a ball I lived paycheck to paycheck but now I don't know if young actors

would use up that decade in their 20s to largely go unseen

but to learn how to do it. But I learned how to do it

by just doing it over, over, over, over again. But yeah, not to be discovered at age 42

in a sitcom called Sybil. That's pretty unusual, but it can be done

It can be done. And then by the time I arrived, I was ready because I was a trained theater actor

So I could just do those one-liners and go home. Everybody has their own path

Everybody's path is different, right? And just remember that, right? I know

I was watching Helen Mirren speak at one of these. I was astonished to hear her say early in the interview

that she had no formal training. And then she learned about film acting just by doing it

and by working with Harrison Ford and watching what he did and learning

I mean, you know, there's all kinds of ways into the business. There's all kinds of ways into..

I wouldn't want to tell people there's one way of acting or you've got to do this or that

I mean, I was well-trained, but I was watching Holland's interview. She reminded me to go back to read the Stella Adler books on acting

because she was a great teacher. So I like to reread acting books about craft

and just remind myself of this. You know, they said Nureyev, he was an old, old guy

crippled practically, but he went to the ballet bar every day and did pliés

Well, actors have to do that. We have to remind ourselves. Simple, talking, listening

The basic skills still are the, you know, have to remind ourselves

Well, I want to thank you for spending the afternoon with me. Thank you

Ladies and gentlemen, Christine Baranski