Speaker 1: Hi everyone, I'm Katie Curic, and this is next question.
Speaker 1: You know, if you've been watching TV lately, you've probably
Speaker 1: noticed that Jean Smart is having a moment. Or, as
Speaker 1: a New Yorker put it, we seem to be in
Speaker 1: the midst of a full blown gena sonce. Here's the
Speaker 1: thing about me, sister Knight, I hate good guys for breakfast.
Speaker 1: This all might be news to Geene herself, since she's
Speaker 1: been working subtly for more than four decades. After starting
Speaker 1: out as a stage actress in New York, she got
Speaker 1: her first big TV role as Charlene Fraser still Field
Speaker 1: on the nineteen eighties sitcom Designing Women. Stand Out performances followed,
Speaker 1: and shows like twenty four look like a wedding cake. Fraser,
Speaker 1: get off. You're asking a pen, Samantha, who will play
Speaker 1: that game? Where do you get guess what? People would
Speaker 1: guess what you're thinking about? Saying any words? You mean charades?
Speaker 1: I said, no words and Fargo. The point is, don't
Speaker 1: assume just because I'm an old woman to my back
Speaker 1: is weak and my stomach is not strong. But it
Speaker 1: was her recent one to punch as washed up Las
Speaker 1: Vegas comedian Debra Vance on the HBO Max series Hacks
Speaker 1: Coming and as Kate Winslet's mother Helen Fahey and mayor
Speaker 1: of East Town that has finally awakened the world to
Speaker 1: the genius that is Gene. I don't know how to say.
Speaker 1: Oh wait, it just came to me. That was stupid.
Speaker 1: I recently got the chance to talk to her about
Speaker 1: her long career, what it feels like to experience a
Speaker 1: resurgence of attention at seventy, the sudden loss of her
Speaker 1: husband of more than thirty years, fellow actor Richard Gilliland,
Speaker 1: and the coming second season of Hacks, which, by the way,
Speaker 1: I loved. Hi, Gene, how are you. I'm good, I'm good.
Speaker 1: You are doing the proverbial junket when you talk to
Speaker 1: what scores of annoying interviewers like me. I feel so
Speaker 1: bad because I've been subjected to the round robin of
Speaker 1: a junket myself, and you start wanting to make up stories,
Speaker 1: and you just you're so bored with yourself by the right. No,
Speaker 1: it's it's everybody's been so nice and the thing has
Speaker 1: been really gratifying. Is that so far everybody who has
Speaker 1: seen some episodes of season two, they got its sneak peek.
Speaker 1: Have have just loved it because you know, season two,
Speaker 1: you you want to have something to prove. Well, that's
Speaker 1: I was going to ask you about that. It's sort
Speaker 1: of like you don't want to be a one hit wonder,
Speaker 1: you know, or that novelist who's got the number one
Speaker 1: on the New York Times bestseller list and is paralyzed
Speaker 1: when it comes to writing a second How much pressure
Speaker 1: was it for you all going into the season two
Speaker 1: after season one was so well received. Oh it um, Chris.
Speaker 1: Most of the pressure was on the writers. But no,
Speaker 1: you definitely feel like people are going to be gunning
Speaker 1: for you, you know, to say, oh yeah, try and
Speaker 1: make me laugh. But uh, when I started reading the
Speaker 1: scripts for season two, I just thought, Wow, they've they've
Speaker 1: They've done it again. It's just was wonderful. Why do
Speaker 1: you think the characters in this show are so fun
Speaker 1: to write for? Yeah? No, I mean I you know,
Speaker 1: Jen and Paul and Achia. I have been living with
Speaker 1: this idea of this character, this woman Deborah for seven years,
Speaker 1: thank god, and made seven years ago, because I would
Speaker 1: not have been at the top of the list probably,
Speaker 1: So I'm grateful that they've just percolated on it for
Speaker 1: a long time. But they when they said when they
Speaker 1: pitched the show to to HBO, they basically told them
Speaker 1: like five years of the story. I haven't even asked
Speaker 1: them where they see this this going, but they I
Speaker 1: love the little, tiny, weird details about characters that put in,
Speaker 1: the little idiosyncratic things, And especially in season two, they've
Speaker 1: really fleshed out all the ensemble, all the supporting characters
Speaker 1: who have more to do, And it's so much fun
Speaker 1: to watch them because they're all a little demented, even
Speaker 1: my housekeeper they are, but they're all so funny, and
Speaker 1: there's something so real about them, right, because they're so multidimensional.
Speaker 1: I think, each and every one of them. You see
Speaker 1: them being funny, you see them being sad, you see there,
Speaker 1: you know their regrets and longing. You see them try
Speaker 1: to find themselves still after all these years, right, And
Speaker 1: I think as a result of that richness, so many
Speaker 1: people relate to it. When you first got the script,
Speaker 1: did you just eat it up, Jean, did you just
Speaker 1: say I have got to have this role? Absolutely? Absolutely?
Speaker 1: Eye and Tech I was so I was. I've never
Speaker 1: said this before, but I walked into the room with
Speaker 1: the producers and I said, um, because my agent called
Speaker 1: me and sent me the script. Is said they they
Speaker 1: want you to do the script. And I just couldn't
Speaker 1: believe how great it was. And I working around and said,
Speaker 1: you're right, I'm absolutely perfect for this. Um, you should
Speaker 1: hire me. Um. But no, it's it ticked off every box.
Speaker 1: I mean, if I could have described what I hoped
Speaker 1: my next project would be, it just had everything. It
Speaker 1: just had everything. What when you say everything, I mean
Speaker 1: it had it had It had the humor, it had
Speaker 1: the intelligence, that had the pathos, that had offbeat fun stuff.
Speaker 1: I mean, it had Vegas, had sequence, a leopard print
Speaker 1: and mean it was like and Martinis. I mean, how
Speaker 1: could I say Now? It has that weird mother daughter dynamic,
Speaker 1: which to me is also so fun and actually at
Speaker 1: times painful to watch because you know, they're just so
Speaker 1: different and they really have it. They really have a
Speaker 1: difficult time connecting, and and that's why I think there's
Speaker 1: also kind of another mother daughter relationship that's part of
Speaker 1: the show. Right. Yeah, No, I absolutely think you were
Speaker 1: absolutely right. And you know, Caitlin Olsen is so amazing
Speaker 1: as DJ and when you find out that DJ actually
Speaker 1: stands for Deborah Jr. It's like, oh no, she actually
Speaker 1: mannered kind of like George Foreman, right exactly. Yeah, I mean,
Speaker 1: Caitlin is so amazing, she says. I know, she says,
Speaker 1: it's like I'm a sixteen year old trap in a
Speaker 1: fourty year old body. But but it's sad too, because
Speaker 1: you know, as a parent, I'm sure you know, you
Speaker 1: feel like you never get it right, you do too much,
Speaker 1: or you do too little, or you you know, and
Speaker 1: and Deborah feels like I just wanted you to be
Speaker 1: with me, and her daughter sees it as you dragged
Speaker 1: me all these horrible places with horrible people and when
Speaker 1: I was a kid, and you know, And I think
Speaker 1: it's particularly complicated when you have a mom which I
Speaker 1: can relate to in the public eye in terms of
Speaker 1: a daughter, you know, when I have two daughters establishing
Speaker 1: their own identity. I'm wondering if, if if this resonated
Speaker 1: with Eugene Um in terms of your own kids. No, absolutely,
Speaker 1: I think I think I think it must be. I mean,
Speaker 1: I have no idea, but it must be very hard
Speaker 1: to have a kind of a famous parent. Um. I
Speaker 1: remember when my oldest was young. If I would be
Speaker 1: out in public and people would ask for an autograph
Speaker 1: or something, I would if I was with him, I
Speaker 1: would try to just really nicely say I'm so sorry.
Speaker 1: I hope you don't mind if I say no, I'm
Speaker 1: just I'm just mom today. You know, I'm just mom
Speaker 1: right now. And people are always very nice about it.
Speaker 1: And this happened several times, and finally my my son
Speaker 1: looked at me and he said, no, Mom, it's okay,
Speaker 1: it's okay, you can sign it. It just means they
Speaker 1: really like you, you know. So that was really sweet.
Speaker 1: And then my my my youngest, he didn't like it
Speaker 1: when he never wanted to watch me in anything. I
Speaker 1: think it made it seemed creepy do him to see
Speaker 1: his mother pretending to be somebody else. I'm looking kind
Speaker 1: of different, and he didn't like it if I'd come
Speaker 1: home with all the hair and the makeup and everything.
Speaker 1: He he just wanted me to just just be mom.
Speaker 1: So they don't seem any worse for the wear. In
Speaker 1: terms of you being in a hype, you know, in
Speaker 1: high profile jobs, or having a mom who was on
Speaker 1: TV or in movies, well, I don't know, I'm sure.
Speaker 1: I just try to tell myself that if they have
Speaker 1: any issues, it's not because of me, and it's between
Speaker 1: them and their therapists exactly. More with the very smart
Speaker 1: Gene smart. After this break, well, let's talk about sort
Speaker 1: of the whole ensemble cast. I think obviously Hannah e'inbinder
Speaker 1: is is a revelation. She really is wonderful in the
Speaker 1: role and provides such a great contrast to to Deborah's character.
Speaker 1: Tell me a little bit about working with Hannah and
Speaker 1: where she came from, because she just seems to have
Speaker 1: exploded onto the scene. Gene. Yes, I know. Apparently our
Speaker 1: producers were fans of her comedy because Paul Downs is
Speaker 1: also a stand up comic who plays my manager Jimmy
Speaker 1: so brilliantly. Um, but so they had her on the
Speaker 1: list of girls to audition. I guess a lot of
Speaker 1: actresses read and then they brought me in to do
Speaker 1: what they call, you know, a chemistry read for the
Speaker 1: last handful of young women. And uh so I watched
Speaker 1: some of Anna's stand up on online and I just
Speaker 1: was taken with how she seemed so confident on stage
Speaker 1: and she but she was very kind of quirky, and
Speaker 1: I've never seen anybody do a routine quite like what
Speaker 1: she was doing. And I just thought she was amazing
Speaker 1: because she took her time and everything was very small,
Speaker 1: and it was just I just thought she was hilarious.
Speaker 1: And uh, I actually called her the night before our audition,
Speaker 1: just to introduce myself, and I think I called two
Speaker 1: of the girls. I didn't call all of them. Feel bad,
Speaker 1: but I just wanted to put them at ease a
Speaker 1: little bit, you know, because that's always weird to be
Speaker 1: in that position. And plus we had to meet. It
Speaker 1: was like something out of a spy movie. We met
Speaker 1: in this huge, dark, dark, empty sound stage with one
Speaker 1: light bulb on a stand like you're gonna be interrogated
Speaker 1: and tortured, right, you know, and two straight backed chairs
Speaker 1: about sounds very off off Broadway. Yes, through plexiglass, you know,
Speaker 1: because of COVID. Yes, it was insane. So I'm glad
Speaker 1: that we had chit chat on the phone a little bit.
Speaker 1: But but she was great. She was great, and she
Speaker 1: was definitely my my first choice, and I was glad
Speaker 1: they at least let me have some input, and luckily
Speaker 1: they agreed with me. And after we've been working together
Speaker 1: about two weeks. She was she was still she was
Speaker 1: stealing awe of me back then, but that's completely gone.
Speaker 1: She came up to me and she said, I just
Speaker 1: really wanted to thank you because you know, I heard
Speaker 1: that you really went to bat for me with the producers,
Speaker 1: and I said I did. I said you were absolutely
Speaker 1: my first choice. I said, in fact, I told them
Speaker 1: that if they didn't hire you, I was gonna do
Speaker 1: the show. And she said really, I said, no, I'm nice,
Speaker 1: but not that nice. I hesitated for just a second
Speaker 1: before I say, said, should I say this is just
Speaker 1: too mean? No, she's a comedian, she can take it.
Speaker 1: And I remember we ran into each other at the
Speaker 1: Vanity Fair Oscar dinner, which was kind of interesting. But um,
Speaker 1: I remember you telling me about her background and her mom.
Speaker 1: Can you share with everybody? Sort of because when I
Speaker 1: heard that, I was like, are you kidding me? Yes,
Speaker 1: speaking of kids growing up with famous parents, her mom
Speaker 1: is Lorraine Newman from SNL fame, fabulous comedian, and uh
Speaker 1: so it was kind of in her blood. And she
Speaker 1: started doing stand up in college and she's been doing
Speaker 1: it ever since. And she her boyfriend is also a
Speaker 1: successful stand up comic. He's got a show in New
Speaker 1: York right now. It's been they keep renewing it and
Speaker 1: renewing it and renewing it. And he's very funny, very nice,
Speaker 1: very nice guy. And it must be nice for Eugene
Speaker 1: as somebody who's who's been around for a while to
Speaker 1: see to see this, this kind of a breakthrough role
Speaker 1: for this young woman. It must be really exciting to watch.
Speaker 1: And wait, oh, it is absolutely. I mean, I'm so
Speaker 1: happy for her, and I won't insist on my five percent,
Speaker 1: but you know, but no, and it's she said, it's
Speaker 1: really you know, changed things for her, you know, and
Speaker 1: and uh, she said she thinks it's made her a
Speaker 1: better comic. And but you know what, it's true. It's
Speaker 1: true about singers too. To be a really good stand
Speaker 1: up comic, And I also think to be a really
Speaker 1: good singer, you have to really be an actor, you know,
Speaker 1: you to act your material. So I don't I don't
Speaker 1: think it's you know, surprising that you know, she's as
Speaker 1: good as she is. She's just so she's just so natural. Um,
Speaker 1: I can't believe it's really her first role. Meanwhile, I mean,
Speaker 1: you're amazing in it gene and it's so you know,
Speaker 1: for me, somebody who's watched you my whole life and
Speaker 1: cheered you on in all the iterations that you've been in, um,
Speaker 1: it's just been. It was. It was so exciting for
Speaker 1: me as a fan, and I'm sure for you as
Speaker 1: the the lucky recipient of these roles to have this
Speaker 1: incredible year. You know, I I don't want to bore
Speaker 1: you with the genisance and all that jazz, and you know,
Speaker 1: the New Yorker writing Jeane Smart never went anywhere, which
Speaker 1: is true. But having said that, it was a pretty
Speaker 1: great year for you because you had Hacks, which was
Speaker 1: awesome and continues obviously in season two to be awesome.
Speaker 1: But you had Mayor of Easttown. And I know that
Speaker 1: you have said the fact that these two shows came
Speaker 1: on simultaneously almost is one of the reasons that people
Speaker 1: really stood up and took notice of your performances because
Speaker 1: it was such a study in contrast, I mean to
Speaker 1: say the least, Yeah, no, And I meant that because
Speaker 1: you know, there are so many brilliant actors out there
Speaker 1: who never get the credit for for what they do.
Speaker 1: And I was very fortunate that I too, amazing roles
Speaker 1: that were so incredibly different into beautifully written projects, high
Speaker 1: profile like back to back, and so people had a
Speaker 1: chance to sort of compare, you know, and look. But
Speaker 1: you know, it's true, most actors, even even the three
Speaker 1: of the Actors Union that actually makes a living at acting,
Speaker 1: even among those lucky people, there's very few of them
Speaker 1: to whoever really get the chance to do to show
Speaker 1: what they can really do, because unlike any other art form,
Speaker 1: you kind of have to wait for someone to invite
Speaker 1: you to do what you do and to give you
Speaker 1: the opportunity. And unlike being a writer or a painter
Speaker 1: or a dancer, I mean you can. You can do
Speaker 1: all those things on your own. Whether or not you're
Speaker 1: gonna pay it, that's another matter, but you can at
Speaker 1: least do them. You can practice them, you can express yourself. Yes,
Speaker 1: you can't really do that as an actor. I suppose. Yes,
Speaker 1: you can put together a one woman show or something,
Speaker 1: but it's um you have to be invited to do
Speaker 1: what you want to do. And I think it's interesting
Speaker 1: when you were when you're called versatile, I never thought
Speaker 1: of this because basically you said, well, that's what I'm
Speaker 1: that's what I do right, I mean is right? Um,
Speaker 1: But having said that, it must have been fun for
Speaker 1: you to play two such different characters. Um, mayor's mom
Speaker 1: who was a total pisser. I guess that's what they
Speaker 1: might say in Delco right. And then you obviously are
Speaker 1: playing depravants who's completely I mean talk about a completely
Speaker 1: different kind of woman. How I mean, did you ever
Speaker 1: get them confused? Or how was that sho? Now? They
Speaker 1: were just again so so well defined and and in
Speaker 1: both cases, I was working with such amazing group of actors, um,
Speaker 1: amazing actors, and I think in both shows, I mean,
Speaker 1: what a gift that must be. And you know, I
Speaker 1: interviewed Kate Winslett for mayor of East Town and I
Speaker 1: did her first television interview when she was to annec
Speaker 1: yes or maybe wait no sorry? I think it was
Speaker 1: sense and sensibility and she was so lovely because they
Speaker 1: had that predated Titanic and um, you all must have
Speaker 1: gotten on famously. I hope that's a yes we did.
Speaker 1: She has invited us to London. I hope we get
Speaker 1: to go. Um. She's such a doll. She she she
Speaker 1: called me the other day because she found out about
Speaker 1: the Star on the Walk of Fame and and she
Speaker 1: was doing her alter ego. His name is Hortensio. No
Speaker 1: one told me about just start the Boston's. I just
Speaker 1: said she something marvelous And when did that happen your
Speaker 1: star last week? And and what was that? Like? I
Speaker 1: was nervous for some reason. I was really really nervous.
Speaker 1: I don't know what what that was. I don't usually
Speaker 1: get nervous. But um, but it was very nice. My
Speaker 1: friend Joe Montana spoke, and Hannah spoke. She was hilarious. Um.
Speaker 1: She started she started saying things like, you know, Jean,
Speaker 1: you know, I just I love you so much and
Speaker 1: I'm so happy for you, and you know, and every
Speaker 1: day being with you has been, you know, such a joy.
Speaker 1: I wake up in the morning and I I look
Speaker 1: in your eyes and then she says, wait a second,
Speaker 1: because I'm sorry. I lost I lost my place. I
Speaker 1: lost my and I thought she really had lost her
Speaker 1: place and she said, what what, oh God, I'm sorry. Um,
Speaker 1: and she holds up this folder with her She was
Speaker 1: I switched to folders and she holds up this folder,
Speaker 1: says wedding vows it's ridiculous. But Linda Bloodworth Thomas and
Speaker 1: who wrote Designing Women, was actually going to speak, but
Speaker 1: unfortunately she got COVID. She was just heartsick about it,
Speaker 1: and so show very nicely wrote this beautiful speech that
Speaker 1: I could not have paid someone to write. Um that
Speaker 1: Linda had written. Uh, really nice. More with Gene Gene
Speaker 1: the Comedy Machine right after this, Well, of course I
Speaker 1: have to ask you a couple of questions about Designing Women, Geen.
Speaker 1: And you know, again, that was a very formative show
Speaker 1: for me, just at the same time Murphy Brown was,
Speaker 1: and it was one of the first shows that really
Speaker 1: showed the lives of working women. And I mean, what
Speaker 1: are your most vivid memories and why do you think
Speaker 1: that show was such a hit. I think it was
Speaker 1: a combination of Linda's really unusual writing, because unlike any
Speaker 1: other sitcom i'd ever same. She would give us page
Speaker 1: long speeches, um, which just doesn't heard of in a sitcom,
Speaker 1: and sometimes she'd rewrite the right before the audience came
Speaker 1: in and be like, oh God. And uh, we said,
Speaker 1: you know, she's lucky. She's got four actresses who were
Speaker 1: like word processors. We just choped to turn it out.
Speaker 1: But um, it was the first time you've seen just
Speaker 1: basically just women, with the exception of our Garling Misha Taylor,
Speaker 1: just women and working women, um, single women, uh, and
Speaker 1: also Southern women. Southern characters were usually depicted in a
Speaker 1: very one or two dimensional way. Um, so that was fun.
Speaker 1: Although at the first table read for the studio and
Speaker 1: all the suits, uh, everybody was happy. Everybody loved it.
Speaker 1: And then we were talking to Linda and Harry and
Speaker 1: they said, but they don't want you guys to do
Speaker 1: Southern accents, but they love the show, right, that was
Speaker 1: what I said. I was like, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,
Speaker 1: don't say that, you know. And I was the only
Speaker 1: Yankee in the bunch, you know, I was the only one.
Speaker 1: And I thought, you can't just take away the accent.
Speaker 1: It's not the same person. An accent is part of
Speaker 1: a person, every part of them. And did you say
Speaker 1: and it's it's it's in Atlanta, folks, thank you. They
Speaker 1: were afraid that people would not understand what we were saying. Damn.
Speaker 1: So anyway, we kind of soft and they were trying
Speaker 1: to be more careful the first towards the bed, but
Speaker 1: then they finally just kind of never said anything else,
Speaker 1: and we just didn't pull out. I was like, oh
Speaker 1: my god, I can't imagine what the show would have
Speaker 1: been like if we all sounded like we came from
Speaker 1: you know, Chicago or something. Well. One of the reasons
Speaker 1: I love Designing Women is not only were you all
Speaker 1: quote unquote steel Magnolia's, but it was quite political. And
Speaker 1: of course Linda, long time friend of the Clinton's um,
Speaker 1: had a lot of very strong feminist messaging in that show.
Speaker 1: So beneath sort of the pretty exterior, Uh, they were
Speaker 1: very strong, very tough, and quite political, especially I think
Speaker 1: Dixie Carter's character. It was it was. It was really
Speaker 1: Dixie and Annie's characters. Because Delta and Delta's characters Susanna
Speaker 1: and me Charlene, we were rather woefully unenlightened, but you
Speaker 1: provided I think feminism or anything like that. Yeah, it
Speaker 1: wouldn't have been it wouldn't have been real if we'd
Speaker 1: all been on the same page. But it was funny because, uh,
Speaker 1: we were all Democrats except for Dixie, and Dixie was
Speaker 1: the one who had the long, limberal rants. And she'd say, okay, Linda,
Speaker 1: she says, but for every one of these I get
Speaker 1: to sing a song, so she bartered with them, you know.
Speaker 1: And and Dixie was the loveliest person. I still miss
Speaker 1: her dearly. I know, I was so so sad she
Speaker 1: um she she died when she was just seventy of
Speaker 1: endomitrial cancer. And um, of course married to the legend.
Speaker 1: Oh my god, how I mean we got married Richard?
Speaker 1: I got married in their rose garden. That must have
Speaker 1: been beautiful looking white colonial Where was their rose garden
Speaker 1: in bell Air? And um? Also, uh, my sister. I
Speaker 1: think Dixie died I think in March or April of
Speaker 1: two thousand ten. And my sister had died at the
Speaker 1: age of sixty one in January, so it was. And
Speaker 1: then my best friend died in August. Awful, terrible year, terrible.
Speaker 1: How did your sister die? Should brain cancer, glib bust, dolma.
Speaker 1: That is a very tough my sister. Also, I have
Speaker 1: two sisters. My oldest sister died of pancreatic cancer. And uh,
Speaker 1: it's just it's just, you know, excruciating to say the least. Well,
Speaker 1: since we're on that subject, you know, you and I
Speaker 1: are both widows. I lost my husband when I was
Speaker 1: forty one to colorectal cancer. And you lost Richard very recently, um,
Speaker 1: and and and very suddenly you had met on the
Speaker 1: set of Designing Women. He was in the show. Memory
Speaker 1: of the show, I'm sure, I'm sure it must have
Speaker 1: been something to fall in love with your you know,
Speaker 1: your fellow cast member. But um, tell me a little
Speaker 1: bit about him, because I looked him up, you know,
Speaker 1: and preparing for this interview, of course I recognized him
Speaker 1: and he had such a nice space. He looked like
Speaker 1: such a kind, decent, low key person. Tell me, tell
Speaker 1: me a little bit about him. Well, I don't know
Speaker 1: if he was low key, but he was very kind
Speaker 1: and he was he was hilarious. I don't know, Maybe
Speaker 1: I think of low key just sort of um maybe
Speaker 1: that's the wrong word. But he looked he looked easy
Speaker 1: to be with, Is that right. Characters were like that, Yes,
Speaker 1: but he he was I was. He was fast paced
Speaker 1: kind of person. You know. It's like I said, your dad,
Speaker 1: my kids, I said, your dad does everything fast with me.
Speaker 1: Thinks faster, talks faster, he sleeps faster, breaks faster. But yeah, no,
Speaker 1: I mean, what a sweet man. And you know, we
Speaker 1: we were never apart after the day we met on
Speaker 1: the set. He you know, I I don't know. I
Speaker 1: remember I saw him and I just thought, wow, who's that?
Speaker 1: I love last lines around his eyes and his hands
Speaker 1: and I don't know, he just had the greatest he
Speaker 1: was talking to me, the greatest smile on his face.
Speaker 1: And we were in this building on this on the
Speaker 1: Warner Brothers lot, and we're a few shows would do
Speaker 1: their table reads and things, and I thought, oh, I
Speaker 1: wonder if he's gonna be on our show. And lo
Speaker 1: and behold, there he was sitting across the table from me.
Speaker 1: And it was episode five. We hadn't even gone on
Speaker 1: the air yet, we hadn't even aired the show ever yet,
Speaker 1: and it was episode five and he was playing He
Speaker 1: came on to play Annie's boyfriend, and UM, I just
Speaker 1: I don't know, I've never been so aggressive. I mean,
Speaker 1: you know, I invited him into my trailer to help
Speaker 1: me with the crossroom puzzle, and um, and we started
Speaker 1: talking on the phone every night. You know, we lived
Speaker 1: like fifteen minutes apart. We talked on the phone for
Speaker 1: two hours every night, and he invited me to see
Speaker 1: this play he was doing, and and we were never
Speaker 1: apart from that day and how many years were you
Speaker 1: all married? Thirty four years. Well, you had an incredible
Speaker 1: life together, but it's it's never long enough. And he
Speaker 1: was he was very young, and our young he was
Speaker 1: only seventy one, and our youngest was only twelve, which
Speaker 1: is really hard, you know, especially for boys to lose
Speaker 1: their dad's um. And how are the boys doing. They're
Speaker 1: they're doing in a way, they did better, They were
Speaker 1: doing better than me. But I think that it's um,
Speaker 1: my youngest especially keeps things inside kind of you know. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it comes, you know how it is, you know exactly
Speaker 1: what it is. It comes in waves, you know, um,
Speaker 1: and there will be one you think you're doing fine,
Speaker 1: and then they'll you'll you'll see something or hear something
Speaker 1: or read something and it just kind of washes over
Speaker 1: you again. You know. Um, it still seems unreal. Sometimes
Speaker 1: it's been just over a year. I can't believe. It
Speaker 1: feels like it's been maybe a few months. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: haven't been able to go out to his office and
Speaker 1: do anything with this stuff. Well, it took me a
Speaker 1: long time to do that, and uh, it does give
Speaker 1: me some comfort obviously. You know, you had quite a
Speaker 1: love affair. The two of you, and and I wrote
Speaker 1: about this in my book Gene, and it sounds sort
Speaker 1: of probably cheesy, but but when I was so upset
Speaker 1: when my mom died, you know, so upset when you know,
Speaker 1: my husband died, and my sister and my dad, I
Speaker 1: was obviously incredibly close to all of them. But my
Speaker 1: minister said, you know, those who who love deeply grieve deeply,
Speaker 1: and it turned it from sadness to to gratitude in
Speaker 1: a weird way. You know, it's true that you actually
Speaker 1: had the opportunity to grieve a relationship like that, right
Speaker 1: and to have that kind of love. I read that
Speaker 1: you had to do that funeral scene shortly after Richard died,
Speaker 1: which must have been very surreal. Um, it was that
Speaker 1: that one. I was scared. I remember, I'll be perfectly honest.
Speaker 1: I Um, I took a little pill because I was
Speaker 1: starting to hyperventilate, and I thought I wasn't gonna make
Speaker 1: it through the day. But it turned out to be
Speaker 1: a great scene and a fun scene. And you know,
Speaker 1: but yeah, they gave me a choice. I could either
Speaker 1: come back to work and just knock all the last
Speaker 1: five days out, or I could take a couple of
Speaker 1: weeks off and then do it, or I could spread
Speaker 1: it out over a couple of weeks that we were
Speaker 1: so kind, and I said, no, I just I want to.
Speaker 1: I want to. I was still in shocks, so in
Speaker 1: a way it was easier, so I just no, no, no no,
Speaker 1: I just want to. I don't get it down and
Speaker 1: get back to my kids in my my house and
Speaker 1: excuse me. So that's that's what I did. It probably
Speaker 1: was helpful ultimately. Well, I'm just I'm just I'm so
Speaker 1: sorry for your loss, Gene, and uh, and I thought
Speaker 1: about you a lot when I heard the news, and um,
Speaker 1: but I'm also so so happy about your success and um,
Speaker 1: it's just such a thrill to see you kicking ass.
Speaker 1: And I also think it's great for women of a
Speaker 1: certain age, you know, I'm about your age to see
Speaker 1: you know, to see us represented and to see us
Speaker 1: have these big meatia roles that convey a person in full. No. Absolutely,
Speaker 1: I I'm eternally grateful. It's still amazed some days that
Speaker 1: the roles I've been getting, especially the last you know,
Speaker 1: five or six years. Um. Actually I had no idea
Speaker 1: it would work out that way. You can see Jean
Speaker 1: right now and Hack season two on HBO Max. Next
Speaker 1: Question with Katie Kurik is a production of I Heart
Speaker 1: Media and Katie Currik Media. The executive producers Army, Katie Curic,
Speaker 1: and Courtney Litz. The supervising producer is Lauren Hansen. Associate
Speaker 1: producers Derek Clements and Adriana Fasio. The show is edited
Speaker 1: and mixed by Derrick Clements. For more information about today's episode,
Speaker 1: or to sign up for my morning newsletter, wake Up Call,
Speaker 1: go to Katie Currek dot com. You can also find
Speaker 1: me at Katie Curic on Instagram and all my social
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