By Michael Buckley
07 May 2006

Does the finale tie up loose ends of plot and relationships? "I think so. But it's 'Alias,' so everything is open to speculation - and to an 'Alias' movie, if they ever make one."

With several plot twists involving Bristow and his wife, played by Lena Olin, did he find it difficult to keep his portrayal consistent? "Not really. No matter what Lena does, when she walks in the room, she's yours. She's so beautiful and sexy that it's easy to forget all the bad things that she's done."

Did he consider Jack's relationship with his daughter Sydney (Garner) the heart of the series? "Well, it was part of it. It was about a family struggling to find its way, and I think Jack and Sydney became allies by the end. In the finale, we go back to her early days, and you see the damage that was done, and that was never really repaired."

Despite the series' cult following, why does Garber think "Alias" never caught on with the general public? "I think it was too complicated for people. That was the criticism I mostly heard. It had avid fans, but some people complained, 'Oh, I can't follow this.' My response was, 'Just stick with it. You don't have to follow it. It's entertainment.'"

Aside from Of Thee I Sing, this is also the week that Garber learns if "American Crime," a TV pilot he did for FOX, will become a series. "It was fun to do. Hopefully, it will be picked up. It's about high-profile defense lawyers who handle a lot of celebrity clients. In the pilot, the client is an upper-middle class man accused of killing his wife. My character is not concerned about whether someone is guilty or innocent. His job is to get them off. I think the series has potential, and could catch on."

If it does, Garber will have an even longer hiatus from the New York stage, where he enhanced more than a dozen shows between 1973 (his Off-Broadway debut in Ghosts) and 1999 (the workshop of Stephen Sondheim's Wise Guys, opposite Nathan Lane). He has four Tony nominations to his credit: Death Trap, Little Me, Lend Me a Tenor and Damn Yankees.

In the last (a 1994 revival), Jerry Lewis succeeded him. I say that I was surprised that Lewis didn't succeed him in his next show, Arcadia, and Garber laughs. "I think he wanted to. Things just didn't work out." Adds Garber, "I'm very fortunate. I've never been typed as a 'musical' person. To me, being an actor is about doing as many different kinds of roles as possible. I've been blessed."

His parts have ranged from the Devil to Jesus, playing the latter in Godspell -- first onstage in Toronto, in a company that included Martin Short and Andrea Martin, then in his 1973 film debut. He's also played the title role in TV's "Liberace: Behind the Music" (1988); Thomas Andrews, the ship's designer, in "Titanic" (1997); Daddy Warbucks (the 1999 TV version of "Annie"); and Sid Luft in "Life with Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows" (2001). He also received Emmy nominations as Luft, and for guest appearances on two sitcoms: a 2001 "Frasier" (as a British butler) and a 2005 "Will & Grace" (playing a has-been commercial star).

London, Ontario, Canada, was the birthplace for Garber, who started acting at nine when he joined a children's theatrical troupe. In 1969, he made his U.S. TV debut on "The Ed Sullivan Show," as a member of a musical group called The Sugar Shoppe.

Is there a role that has given Garber the most satisfaction, thus far? "There have been so many. Art was one of the greatest experiences I ever had, mostly because I was working with two actors [Alan Alda, Alfred Molina] that I had such a rapport with. For me, that's what's it's about now; it's who I'm working with, as much as the role.

"One of the best experiences I ever had was when I did A Little Night Music [with the Los Angeles Opera, in July 2004]. It was with Judith Ivey, Zoe Caldwell, Laura Benanti, Michelle Pawk. . . . Fredrik fit me better than any other Sondheim role I've done." That includes John Wilkes Booth in Assassins, Anthony Hope in Sweeney Todd and Wilson Mizner in the Wise Guys workshop. Assassins and Sweeney have been revived, he observes, "which makes me feel like an elder statesman."

Declares Garber, "Theatre, for me, is still very important," though he does less of it these days. "Every now and then, if I can come back and do an Encores!, I'll be happy."

***

A perfect gift for Mother's Day (next Sunday) - or for theatre lovers on any occasion -- is the new biography "Just Outside the Spotlight," Luke Yankee's valentine to his mom, the gifted Eileen Heckart (1919-2001).

Chock full of delectable actors' anecdotes, it's told in an engaging style, and laced with love. Along the way, Luke also pays tribute to his dad, Jack Yankee, an insurance salesman who occasionally acted in community theatre, and comes across as an ideal father. The Yankees, who were married from 1943 until his 1996 death, were parents of three sons: Mark, Philip and Luke.

Following the foreword by Mary Tyler Moore, on whose sitcom Heckart memorably played her aunt on three occasions (twice earning Emmy nominations), Yankee immediately draws you into the action, beginning with one of the many parties his parents hosted for friends. "In the living room of our Colonial Manor House," he writes, "Daddy would be tending bar while my mother held court."

Upon hearing "that booming, whisky tenor voice come wafting out of the living room," the youngster "ran downstairs for the evening's performance. . . When Mama was 'on' it was the greatest drug in the world. . . Reaching into the engraved, silver cigarette box on the table, Mama took the floor." A reader instantaneously joins the party, along with the other guests who, that particular evening, are Morton Da Costa, Jan Miner, Teresa Wright and Robert Anderson. Though the guest list changes (to include Paul Newman, Ethel Merman and many others), this behind-the-scenes look at the actress remains a party to be enjoyed.

Heckart gained attention with back-to-back stage successes: as the spinster schoolteacher in William's Inge's Picnic, and as the murdered boy's heartbreaking mother in Maxwell Anderson's The Bad Seed (a part that she also played in the 1956 film version, earning her first Oscar nomination). She won a 1972 Oscar for reprising her Broadway role as the caustic mother in "Butterflies Are Free."

Among stories to savor is Heckart's reaction to Nancy Kelly's attempt to upstage her in The Bad Seed (after she received better notices than the star). What future icon gave Heckart wardrobe advice on the set of "The Bad Seed"? Learn her feelings about Marilyn Monroe during the making of "Bus Stop." How did she meet Elvis Presley? Read about her friendship with Marlene Dietrich. A wealth of material is contained within this sparkling treasure trove.

Eileen Heckart, whom I interviewed more than once, was one of my favorites. As a child, she told me, she accompanied her mother "to two double features on Saturdays and Sundays. That was eight movies in a weekend! I cut my teeth on Joan Crawford movies - she dragged a mink better than anyone else."

At age eight, the future actress first stepped on a stage (at a Girl Scout camp). "I smelled blood," she recalled. "That start was enough to keep me going for the rest of my life." Heckart preferred stage to screen. "I don't know camera that well," she explained.

Mother Courage was her favorite stage role. She played it at UCLA (1960) and at the McCarter in Princeton, NJ (1975). "Those last four performances," she assured me, "were the most gratifying of my life."

Her best work on Broadway, believed Heckart, was as Lottie Lacey in William Inge's The Dark at the Top of the Stairs. "The part was beautifully written, and Elia Kazan [who directed] had four ideas for every one I had." Eve Arden played Lottie in the 1960 movie, because Heckart was pregnant with this book's author.

Due to rain, our first interview occurred at Kay's Luncheonette, near the Norwalk, CT, railroad station. As we were leaving, she commented on the luncheonette's patrons: "They didn't know who the hell we were," said Eileen Heckart, pausing to light another cigarette, "but they were fascinated."

That ability to fascinate is superbly captured by Luke Yankee in this portrait of his mom. Despite a few misspelled names and inaccurate references (correctable in future editions), the biography is very much like an Eileen Heckart performance: honest, on-target, immensely entertaining and leaves you wanting more.

***

Michael Buckley also writes for TheaterMania.com.