By Michael Buckley
27 Jul 2008
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| Estelle Parsons |
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| photo by Joan Marcus |
This month we speak to Estelle Parsons (August: Osage County), Mary McCormack (Boeing-Boeing; "In Plain Sight") and Bryan Batt ("Mad Men").
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Violet Weston, the August: Osage County matriarch who goes for the jugular when dealing with relatives, insists her "best f--king friends" are the pills she persistently pops. "They never let me down. Try to take them away — and I'll eat you alive!"
Estelle Parsons is Broadway's new Violet, having succeeded (on June 17) Tony winner Deanna Dunagan. "All the hallmarks of Violet's character...are present and accounted for in Ms. Parsons's superb performance," New York Times critic Charles Isherwood noted (July 16). "But it is not a facsimile of Ms. Dunagan's unforgettably astringent approach to the role; Ms. Parsons forges her own path into...Violet's drug-addled psyche."
Continued Isherwood, "The challenge of embodying this complicated, terrifying woman seems to burn away the years; if I didn't know Ms. Parsons was 80, I would never believe it...[hers is] a performance to remember, one that may prove to be a crowning moment in an illustrious career."
Parsons was "totally shocked" when it was suggested that she would be perfect for the role of Violet. "One night, I was out with Rondi Reed [who won the Best Featured Actress Tony, as Dunagan's sister] and Laurie Metcalf [who played Parsons' daughter on "Roseanne"]. Laurie's just waiting until she's old enough to play the part.
"Rondi spoke to Anna [Shapiro, the director] about me. I've worked at Steppenwolf [where the Tracy Letts Pulitzer Prize/Tony-winning play began], but I'd never met Anna. My agent arranged a meeting. There was an offer out to a big Hollywood name, but Guess Who's here?," she says with a laugh.
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| Estelle Parsons with Amy Morton in August: Osage County |
| photo by Joan Marcus |
She also directs, has taught acting (at Yale, Columbia and elsewhere), and served five years as artistic director at the Actors Studio.
In August set outside Pawhuska, OK, Violet emerges as an instantly memorable character, one with whom Parsons fuses. Long-considered an actor's actor, she not only finds the inner truth of a person, but also can make it clear to an audience.
Though "a little early to have a favorite scene," Parsons claims, "I think the moment that's the most astonishing comes at the culmination of the Act Two dining-room scene, when I say, 'I am a drug addict!' Sometimes it's met with a horrifically loud silence; sometimes with cheers, laughter, and applause.
"Many scenes are agitating, which is what makes them so good. The audience is an integral part of the performance. I love the scenes where she's drugged out. For some reason, that's hard for me, so I relish the opportunity. Once she gets in that groove of not remembering, she's home free. Those are the scenes I look forward to playing."
Early in her career, she spent a short time as a band singer, and Parsons has extensive musical-theatre credits, including Happy Hunting, Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny, Threepenny Opera, The Pirates of Penzance, and Harold and Maude: The Musical (book and lyrics by Tom Jones, music by Joseph Thalken), at the Paper Mill Playhouse in 2005.
Two Massachusetts cities, Lynn and Marblehead, are usually listed as her birthplace. "We lived in Marblehead, but I was born in the Lynn hospital, which was the only one around in 1927." Her parents were Elinor and Eben Parsons. "Eben [Britton] is the name of one of my grandsons. He's a six-foot-seven offensive linebacker, and weighs 300 pounds. He's supposed to go in the NFL next year." (Since Parsons seemingly can do anything, she may coach.)
Jack Lemmon was her childhood friend. "When he was at Harvard, before he went in the Navy, and I was at Connecticut College [from which she graduated in 1949], we were boyfriend and girlfriend. We remained friends. It's such a shame that people have to die."
After graduation, Parsons studied law for a year, but decided against it as a career. Her start in television was on the "Today" show in 1952. "I knew someone at NBC, and 'Today' was just beginning." Over several years, she worked at a variety of jobs, among them reporter, commentator, production assistant, feature producer, and writer. Although she interviewed, among others, Marilyn Monroe and Eleanor Roosevelt, Parsons "was from New England," and disliked asking personal questions.
From 1953 to '58, she was married to writer Richard Gehman, with whom she had twin daughters, Abbie and Martha; since 1983, she's been wed to lawyer Peter Zimroth. They have a son, Abraham.
Asked by "Today" to cover Grace Kelly's 1956 wedding in Monaco, Parsons declined the assignment. "I didn't want to go. I wasn't interested, and I didn't want to leave my twins. I knew it was time to move on." She ended up making her Broadway debut in Happy Hunting, starring Ethel Merman, and (ironically) playing a reporter assigned to cover the Kelly wedding.
Years later, Parsons' most notable TV experience was playing Bev Harris, mother of Roseanne Barr and Laurie Metcalf, for 58 episodes (1989-97) of "Roseanne."
Over the years, Parsons has crossed paths with any number of talented folk. I asked her opinions of some of them.
Ethel Merman (Happy Hunting): "As a kid, I saw her in musicals in Boston — and loved her. Working in a show with her was a great gift for someone starting out. She had confidence and shyness all at once. I found her to be a wonderful human being."
Warren Beatty ("Bonnie and Clyde," "Dick Tracy"): "Warren, I love. He's extremely charming. When we did 'Bonnie and Clyde,' it was his first time as a producer. He has a fantastic mind, and such passion and conviction. I was lucky to work with him."
Gene Hackman ("Bonnie and Clyde," "I Never Sang for My Father"): "Gene, I love. Before we did 'Bonnie and Clyde,' we had worked in the theatre together. We had the same rhythms as actors; people thought we were madly in love. Gene wanted to be a movie star. I said, 'Don't be silly. Stay in the theatre.' Before I got the movie ["Bonnie and Clyde"], Dusty [Dustin Hoffman], Gene, and I were doing a Murray Schisgal play, Fragments, at the Berkshire Playhouse."
Among actors in the company that summer were Anne Bancroft, Frank Langella and Viveca Lindfors. Arthur Penn, who directed "Bonnie and Clyde" (and for whom Parsons has great praise), directed Parsons in The Skin of Our Teeth that summer.
In a 2007 article that Parsons' daughter Abbie wrote, under the byline of A.G. Britton (who plans to expand the piece into a book on her mother), it's explained that the actress (who did not believe in researching roles) extensively researched Blanche Barrow, after Penn offered her the part of Clyde's sister-in-law — even down to discovering that the real Blanche wore English jodhpurs. (The ones Parsons wore for her Oscar-winning role came from wardrobe, and originally had been worn by Barbara Stanwyck in some Warner Bros. movie.)
Of "Bonnie and Clyde," Parsons continues, "Arthur didn't know Gene. He wanted Dick Bradford for the part [of her husband, Buck Barrow], but he wasn't available. I said, 'You should look at Gene Hackman.' Arthur hired Gene. There are a lot of stories about that, but that's how I remember it."
Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward ("Rachel, Rachel," "Empire Falls"): "We were at the Studio for a long time together. They're both consummate professionals — wonderful, kind, caring, generous human beings. I just love them, and I'm so sorry that he's ill."
Jackie Gleason ("Don't Drink the Water"): "I knew him through my [first] husband. We met at a great party at Toots Shor's [restaurant]. I loved Jackie and he loved me. He was the most generous man who ever lived. I had a wonderful time working with him."
Barbra Streisand ("For Pete's Sake"): "Sometimes, we would ride to the set together, and she would ask me about acting. I thought: Holy cow, here is this woman who's overwhelmingly gifted in every possible way, and she's asking me about acting. I liked her very, very much."
Tennessee Williams (The Seven Descents of Myrtle): "He really was wonderful. During tryouts in Philadelphia, we went clubbing together. [Producer] David Merrick insisted I attend the Oscars [the night she won]. He thought it would help the box office, but we only ran seven weeks. Tennessee was brilliant! I loved him, loved him, loved him."
Roseanne Barr ("Roseanne"): "She loved having talented people around her — John Goodman, Laurie Metcalf, Shelley Winters. And she loved and appreciated me. Some headliners want to work with people who aren't as good; they want sycophants. Roseanne was nothing like that. It's always meant the world to me that someone like that is appreciative of whatever gift I have. Johnny Carson kept asking me, 'Why are you so funny?' I kept saying, 'I haven't a clue.'"
Shelley Winters ("Roseanne"): "When she was signed to play my mother, she said, 'Estelle, you're only seven years younger than I am. You've got to dye your hair. You can't have gray hair and play my daughter.' We were old friends. We wanted to do 'Waiting for Godot' together, but Beckett wouldn't let us."
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Al Pacino ("Looking for Richard," Salome): "I admire his gifts. His way of looking at the world is so individualistic. I love working with him. He focuses on the audience. I feel that one of the reasons that theatre has become a shrunken art form is because the audience has been forgotten. Al's focus is always about what's working for them — and, of course, that's what theatre should be. He discusses a play before and after a performance. The reason that August: Osage County is so good is because Tracy didn't forget the audience."
Her daughter's insightful, beautifully written piece about the actress relates, "I have the experience that time is turning itself inside out — that she actually is not getting older, but blossoming fully...when you enter the world of Estelle Parsons, it is always an incredible journey. And for this I will be forever grateful."
I hope that A.G. Britton's book is published soon.
What roles have given Parsons the most satisfaction? "My three favorites are Miss Margarida, Winnie in Beckett's Happy Days, and the Russian-woman artist in David Hare's The Bay of Nice.
"Miss Margarida was an astounding achievement for me. It's been done all over the place, and [playwright] Roberto Athayde has never received a single award. Happy Days is like King Lear for a woman. If you've got an inquiring mind, what can be better than doing Beckett? I did it at Hartford Stage [in 1998], but it's a hard sell for audiences. I did the David Hare play at Hartford Stage [2004]. It's a gem of a play. I loved playing that more than anything. It hasn't been done in New York. Now that [August] is a success, who knows?
"Right now, I'm supposed to be doing Mother Courage in Santa Fe, but it's postponed until next summer. In January, I'm supposed to do an adaptation of Measure for Measure, with [choreographer] David Gordon.
"I never sign [a contract] for more than four months; I don't want to get burned out. But this role [Violet] is so good, I may play it until I just die on the stage. The play's so exciting — it's different every night, because of audience reaction — that maybe I'll be doing it forever.
Jokes Parsons, "And there's opportunity for sequels: September: Osage County, October: Osage County...." Continued...
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