Interview: Mariette Hartley Reflects on Her Acting Career, Part 2

Mariette Hartley has done and been through it all. She details how she survived abuse, mental illness and familial suicide in her memoir, “Breaking the Silence.” But it isn’t all calamity and heartbreak. Mariette has wonderful memories of just starting out in the business, of wonderful times with family and friends, and especially of those infamous series of Polaroid commercials she made with “The Rockford Files” star James Garner.

“I started acting when I was 10,” Mariette tells me. “It was so exciting, so fulfilling. I came to Hollywood and met Sam Peckinpah (legendary Western writer, director and producer who directed her in “Ride the High Country”) — it was terrifying, yet exciting. Back then, television was new and powerful. Robert Redford was doing episodics; Leo Penn, Sean Penn’s father, was a terrific director.”

Mariette credits her agent with keeping her on the Hollywood map: “I had a very good agent, and I just kept working. I was very much a character actress. But I’ve never stopped doing theater. I did four plays with John Houseman’s theater group. Theater has always been my less-fickle friend.”

On those famous Polaroid commercials — where Mariette and James Garner were a playful, bickering husband-and-wife team — Mariette has fond memories. “Jack Dillon, who was one of the great advertising men, came up with the commercials. He wrote about 250 of them. I loved working with Jimmy; he was wonderful.”



In fact, Mariette and Garner were so convincing as husband and wife that people thought they were married in real life. They were also early victims of the now ubiquitous paparazzi: While filming a kissing scene for “The Rockford Files,” which she was co-starring in with James, a photog snapped a pic of the kiss and passed it off as a “real” kiss, insinuating that the actors were cheating on their spouses with one another.

Mariette remembers hearing that the picture was going to be in the next day’s newspaper. “Nothing like that had ever happened to me. I’d never been a great sex symbol, but I was flattered.”

Lately, Mariette has been doing a lot of series work, including “Grey’s Anatomy” and “Law and Order: SVU.” She tells me, “I loved my part on ‘Grey’s.’ I had just come out of the hospital with a scare, so I could really relate to that fear. I love those kinds of parts that don’t seem to be huge, but they really strike a chord with the audience. I wanted to bring my experience to it, the terror of not knowing where your life is going to go. I hope I brought that to the role for the audience to see.

“I also love the character I did on ‘SVU.’ I would like to do it more; I’m greedy, I know. I just really love them at the show. Mariska (Hargitay) is terrific, and Chris (Meloni) is just nuts — I adore them both.”

Acting seems to run in the family: Her daughter, Justine, played a rape victim on an episode of “SVU.” Mariette recalls: “I’m watching her film her scene, and I see Chris coming on to her. I said, ‘Chris, I am that beautiful young woman’s mother!’ The look on his face — I laughed so hard.”

As for her future in acting, Mariette doesn’t plan to slow down. “My dream is to do my own series again. I just love to work, and I am always interested to see how an ensemble works together. I also love hosting shows. I love to be the host and make people feel comfortable. So, we’ll see!”

Interview: Mariette Hartley on Surviving, Understanding and Forgiving, Part 1

Mariette Hartley has been the comedic darling of television and movies for decades. She has starred in “Ride the High Country,” “Marnie,” “Peyton Place,” “One Life to Live” and the uber-popular series of Polaroid commercials with “Maverick” actor James Garner. Behind the smiles, she was hiding devastating secrets: familial suicide, bipolar disorder, physical abuse. It all came out when she wrote her autobiography, “Breaking the Silence,” which was initially released in 1990 and has been re-released to reach a whole new audience.

Mariette was kind enough to open up with me about her life.

Daytime Dial: What made you decide to put your life story out there in a book for all to read?

Mariette Hartley: Putnam Publishing called me in. This is when I was very, very actively involved in a career, although I still am, but people are not that sure of it anymore. And Putnam called me in, and nobody knew my life because I had been sworn to secrecy by my mother about my dad’s suicide. I was sitting there with all these big, big agents, and I didn’t have a clue about who these people were. And there was my publisher, Neil Nyren, and a couple of other people and my manager all in a small room in New York. I told them my story, and they all about fell off their chairs. And they decided they wanted to do it.

DD: Tell me about the different organizations you are involved with that help other people who are dealing with familial suicide.

MH: I co-founded the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention in 1987 and am the national spokesperson, although they don’t really use me enough. So, I don’t really do it through them; I kind of do it on my own. I have survivor groups. That has had a profound affect on my life. I’ve met the most extraordinary people. Some people I have no idea, honest to God, how they’re walking on this earth still — people who have had multiple suicides in their lives. I’ve learned a great deal about it. I don’t know if the right word is “healing,” but certainly listening and sharing my experiences and strength and hope with others about it. That has kind of become my life now, and I love it. It’s wonderful when you have a book out that kind of really supports that. And I love speaking to young people too about it. Secrets don’t work; you have to talk about it. For all that, and that’s kind of what it’s become. Who knew, you know? All I wanted to do was be Ingrid Bergman.

DD: You are still doing a lot of incredible acting work too. Tell me about your one-woman show, “If You Get to Bethlehem, You’ve Gone Too Far,” which you put on a few years ago to rave reviews and sold-out audiences.

MH: What I tried to do with my one-woman show is to have people pulled into a life so profoundly that they could not shake it loose. That they could not say, “Oh well, that’s an interesting play,” and go home and go to sleep. People were so pulled in by the short hairs because I really took people into my world as a 4-year-old. I became that 4-year-old girl, and I was looking up to these two parents who were played by me. I think it is extremely healing, not just for me but for others. There was one person in the audience who came to see it twice, and he was ready to die. That was the main reason why I did everything ... to show people the effect it has on one’s life, one who’s still alive and well, and had been deeply enlightened by the experience.

But even so, when you go through that experience, it’s excruciating. It’s something in which you can hardly explain to anybody unless they’ve gone through it. The problem is that there is such a sense of isolation with it that you don’t know who to talk to. You really begin to feel that there is nobody there. And of course, when my mother swore me to secrecy, there was nobody there but me. And I had no answers for it. So that is one of the reasons why I am so deeply committed to the groups, because of the people who I call my daily survivors, who have experienced it three months ago, five months ago, six months ago. I really wanted the show to be a lifesaver if it could be. And I do know it was for at least one person.

DD: Because you are opening up about your struggles with suicide and mental illness, it really lets others know that it’s OK for them to be open as well.

MH: It’s more than OK; it’s lifesaving. And I think that’s what people have to know. You can’t keep quiet about this stuff — especially mental illness. I go up and down the countryside trying to erase the stigma of mental illness, because that’s basically what my family had. My parents were not just alcoholics, they were both profoundly mentally ill. And they were covering it up because they didn’t know it, bless their hearts. They had no concept of mental illness in those days, although my father was painting a picture of manic depression. He was trying to tell us, but even then we weren’t educated. My mission now is to educate. And what the ASFP (American Foundation for Suicide Prevention) does, which is quite wonderful, is to support research. We support grants for college graduates or students who are studying the brain. There is a young woman at Johns Hopkins who received one of our research grants, and she is studying the suicide gene.

DD: And if they can find a physical cause, maybe they won’t have to prescribe all these drugs left and right, especially if you are misdiagnosed, like you were.

MH: Yes, and it’s very dangerous because it happens with many people. As you know, I was one of them, and that will probably be my next book. During my divorce — which was just awful, and it brought back so many memories — I ended up being diagnosed as depressed. I was given Prozac and I was given Zoloft, and this is what happens also to young people. Now they have the warning on the box, because those straight depression medicines can be extremely dangerous for bipolar. It can also show you if you are bipolar, but you don’t want to go through that. So what I tell people is that if you need to, find a psychiatrist who’s really good and give an entire family history — no holds barred. My diagnosis was absolutely by accident. But I kept after it, and it took me a good year to find out what was going on.

DD: Your grandfather, Dr. John B. Watson, the founder of Behaviorism, was of the school of thought that children should receive minimal affection. How has that affected you and how you look at parenting?

MH: I think it has affected whole eras, whole decades of childrearing, and we’ve swung back and forth and back and forth, and I really went the opposite way. I nursed my kids until they were 2 or 3, and I loved that. It was the most wonderful and nourishing experience for me and for them. And it has held all of us in good stead, I’ll tell you.

When Dad died, I was in such a state of shock about all of it. The book actually gave me a sense of perspective. I realized I did blame my mother; I did blame Big John for that. I felt that on some level Dad was really misrepresented in that household. He was also so deeply ill. And my mother just didn’t have a chance. It makes me so sad today. I was so grateful that when she did pass, our relationship had completely healed. And I was so grateful for that. She died in my arms, and my brother came down, and people were around her. It was a totally inclusive passing.

When I let myself, I can get pretty angry at the son of a gun (Dr. Watson). But I also realize that he was sick. I’ve seen his lab experiments since then with “Little Albert,” which was the famous one, all of these kids were orphans basically. When he made them afraid of these things in the experiments, he never unconditioned them. They went back to the orphanage scared to death of dogs or whatever the hell he was conditioning them to be afraid of. That was the cruelty to me. It was along with the books about not touching and not holding and all that. That must have come from his own background; I always tried to understand it with him. This strange background that he had with his Baptist fanatic mother and this father who had all these Native-American mistresses. Very strange. I have a very colorful background.

Tune in next week for Part 2 of my interview where Mariette discusses the wonderful change in her life now, the projects she is working on and those infamous series of Polaroid commercials with James Garner.

Interview: Catching Up With Leven Rambin

“All My Children” fans will remember Leven Rambin, who juggled the roles of half sisters Lily Montgomery and Ava Benton on the show. Now Leven plays the scatterbrained aspiring actress/model daughter of David James Elliott and Virginia Madsen on the new ABC show “Scoundrels” (airing Sunday nights at 9/8c). I caught up with her recently to discuss “AMC,” “Scoundrels” and “Grey’s Anatomy.”

Daytime Dial: Your big break was as Lily/Ava on “All My Children.” What was that experience like for you?

Leven Rambin: They taught me everything I know. I’ll always be so grateful for that opportunity and that experience. It’s a lot different than prime time or any other show that I’ve done, but I’ve definitely learned everything I know from there — from working those hours and working with those people and learning all of those lines and being those two different characters. Everything else seems kind of different and easier — the hours are also pretty grueling and demanding here on “Scoundrels” and on “Grey,” but it’s just different. I think that soaps are a really good place to start, and I’m really grateful to have been there.

DD: “AMC” is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year. That is quite an accomplishment — you must be proud to have come from that.

LR: I was so honored that they wanted me to be a part of the 40th anniversary of the soap. Some people have been watching it from the very beginning, so for people to have liked me enough to want me to be a part of a big episode like that was really cool, and I’ll always remember that.

DD: You played Eric Dane’s daughter, Sloan, on “Grey’s Anatomy.” Tell me about that experience.

LR: It was crazy being on “Grey’s Anatomy” and working with those people who are movie stars. That show is just so successful. It was definitely the most high-profile thing I’ve ever done, and it really taught me a lot. I’m just so grateful to have been there and to have learned from all of those people, and to have worked with Shonda (Rhimes) and Eric (Dane) and Ellen Pompeo. That was just the experience of a lifetime.

DD: Tell me about your new show, “Scoundrels.” Is that a fun show to work on? How is your new cast to work with?

LR: Yeah, totally. The cast is amazing, and Virginia, obviously, is a legend. She is so inspiring and so creative and so nurturing, and she really took care of all of us while we were there in Albuquerque shooting. I had a great time just talking and getting to know everyone and being a part of something like that. The material was awesome and the producers were great. It was the best time that I’ve had on a show. I’m really grateful to have been a part of it.


The show has a really awesome blend of comedy and drama and intrigue and kind of a different family dynamic than what you’re used to seeing on TV. I just thought it was kind of edgy for ABC, and I thought that the characters were so distinct and so different. I was really drawn to the writing, too. When I saw everyone together, it was perfect.

DD: Jason Priestley joined the cast, and he becomes smitten with your character, Heather. Were you excited to learn that Jason was joining the show, and what is he like to work with?

LR: He was so fun. He just came in and really embraced it, and really got the joke of the character. The character is an ’80s washed-up TV star who is now doing a reality-hosting-type show. He came in and was such a pro, and I got along with him really well.

Days: Such a Tease!

NEXT WEEK

Stephanie and Nathan plan to move in together.

Chloe (Nadia Bjorlin, pictured) thinks telling the truth may be her only answer.

Arianna tells EJ she trusts him with her life.

Kate urges Chad to speak to his father.

Vivian interferes in Victor and Maggie’s relationship.

Thursday – Daniel discovers Bo lying unconscious.

Friday – Rafe breaks into Nicole’s apartment.

Summer Vacay!!

I am on summer vacay until after the Fourth of July weekend. Then I'll be coming back atcha with all the soap news and interviews!

David James Elliott Portrays Two Distinctly Different Dads

David James Elliott (photo credit: Hallmark Channel) played baseball star who was spurned by Paige on “Knots Landing.” Then he played a sex-addict football star on “Melrose Place” who cheated on Allison. Now he is an advertising star who is fired by the company that he helped build on the Hallmark Channel original movie “Dad’s Home.” David plays a widowed father who is suddenly out of a job and thrown into his children’s lives, just in time to heal his almost-broken family.

Daytime Dial: “Dad’s Home” premieres on the Hallmark Channel just in time for Fathers’ Day. When you read the script for the movie, what was is about the movie that made you want to be a part of it?

David James Elliott: My very good friend Bradford Lake worked on the movie, so right away, I knew that was something I wanted to do. And then we found something that we thought we could jam on, and that is kind of what we did with the movie. It was more of a jam session almost. We would come in and kind of rework the scenes. It was like jamming on a riff. It really felt like we could do something with it.

DD: One aspect of the movie I liked was that it was told from the male perspective. We get a lot of these kinds of movies of the single mom trying to juggle all these things, but I really liked that the single father is the protagonist, having to make family versus career choices. Was that appealing for you?

DJE: Absolutely. It was a scenario that I believed that I could talk to. I have two children of my own — a boy and a girl — so it was very accessible to me. It was easy to get there for me. It’s pretty interesting because, like I said, I have a boy and a girl, and we’re completely different. We’re different animals. I have a friend who’s an indigenous person, North American Indian. He told me that his grandfather said: “A long time ago, there used to be just men on the Earth. We lived on corn and cocaine. One day, women came down in a spaceship. They’re better than we are, but they’re not the same.” There’s a lot of wisdom in that.

DD: How was the cast, especially the actors who played your children, to work with? They are such great young actors!

DJE: Both of the kids were really good, which was great. They were just really available and talented. Madison (Davenport, who plays his daughter) was exactly the right level of precociousness. She was a spunky, smart girl. Confident. Very much like my real one. It’s like talking to an alien sometimes. How do I get in there? What do I have to say that opens the door? Are you listening to what I’m saying to you?

DD: I’ve interviewed Sharon Case (Sharon Newman on “The Young and the Restless”) — who plays your romantic interest — a few times and she is always such a sweetheart. How was she to work with?

DJE: Very nice lady, very professional. She was easy to work with. It was great. We had a good chemistry, I thought. She gets it. She’s been working steady her whole life and has a great career. She’s just a really nice girl.

DD: Tell me about “Scoundrels” and about your character, Wolf West (photo credit: ABC).

DJE: This is a dynamite project. It came about in such a funny way. I had just come back from the Amazon, and I got a call, “Hey you want to do this show?” And I said yeah, because I already knew about it — I’d had a meeting about it before. It’s a based on a series that’s been very successful in New Zealand called “Outrageous Fortune.” Great characters. It’s about a family of small-time criminals. That’s how they put food on the table. The first episode opens with what we believe is going to be a short stint in jail for my character. I figure I’ll walk away with four months. That’s OK; I’m setting everything up to exist while I’m gone, and then I end up getting five years. So, the husband is in jail, and the wife is struggling to hold the family together. Virginia Madsen plays my wife.

DD: How is the cast to work with?

DJE: It’s been a lovefest since I got there. Everybody has just been great. Everybody is getting along like a house on fire. It’s just a gas to go to work every day. The scripts are dynamite. I can’t find a thing wrong with it. It’s just bummer when I’m not there.

DD: Because your character is in prison, how/will we still get to see you on the show often?

DJE: Yeah, I’m involved in a lot of ways. He will eventually get out of prison when the show gets picked up.

DD: The show got an eight-episode order for the summer season — if it does well, it is possible it could be picked up for the fall?

DJE: You hear a lot of scenarios and only those guys who wear the suits and work in the big building know. Steve McPherson is the guy who is going to make that decision one day. So anything is possible.

DD: This character seems to be different from the type of character we are used to seeing you portray. Was that part of its appeal to you?

DJE: It would be great for people to see me in another role. I look for things I can embody. This guy, he has a lot of me and he’s got a lot of people that I know in him. It’s just a great opportunity that came along and I’m just happy to be a part of it. He’s completely different from Harmon Rabb (from “JAG”), and that’s dynamite.

Speaking of “JAG,” that was a difficult show to get off the ground, especially when we started. We started under the Clinton administration, when things were going extremely well and there was no thought of war. And to have pulled off what we did and to have lasted as long as we lasted is pretty amazing. The 10th season just came out on DVD, I understand. The timing is all good for me. My stars are aligning — finally. Mercury is leaving retrograde.

Don't miss David in Hallmark Channel's "Dad's Home," airing Sunday night at 9/8c (and repeating throughout this weekend and next), as well as "Scoundrels," which begins this Sunday on ABC at 9/8c.

AMC Archive Photos Available for Purchase

In honor of All My Children’s 40th anniversary, special archive photos from the series entire history will be available for purchase beginning today, June 14, at www.abcdaytimefans.com. The official All My Children photo gallery is the sole home of 40 special cast images from every year of AMC going back to the series premiere in 1970.

Captured in time, the photos depict some of AMC's most classic and endearing moments, featuring a young Erica Kane (Susan Lucci) flaunting her very first engagement right to her mother Mona (Frances Heflin). Remember when teenager Hayley Vaughan (Kelly Ripa) arrived in Pine Valley dressed in punk with black hair, and who could forget the time when Leo du Pres (Josh Duhamel) and Greenlee Smythe (Rebecca Budig) were stranded on the deserted island? All those classic moments and more are included.

AMC has created many romantic moments which are also featured including daytimes’ first location shoot in St. Croix with Erica Kane and her first husband Tom Cudahy (Richard Shoberg) on their honeymoon (above). There are also fan favorite couples including; Chuck Tyler (Richard Van Vleet) and Donna Tyler (Candice Early), Tad Martins’(Michael E. Knight) proposal to Dixie Cooney (Cady McClain), young lovers Jesse Hubbard (Darnell Williams) and Angie Baxter (Debbi Morgan) (top left), and the fairytale wedding of Maria Santos (Eva La Rue) and Edmond (John Callahan). Available sizes and pricing can be found on www.abcdaytimefans.com.

For those die-hard Erica Kane fans, Susan Lucci has also signed a limited number of photos of Erica Kane from her first month playing the legendary character from 1970. These photos (above), also available for purchase, will come with a certificate of authenticity.

B&B: Such a Tease!

· A couple makes love for the first time.

· A mother feels guilty about unintentionally hurting her child.

· A young man fears that his secret will be revealed.

· Family members attempt to end a relationship that they don’t approve of.

· An evil plan of revenge goes into effect.

Y&R: Such a Tease!

* An attraction sparks between Abby and Daniel but Abby’s intention may not be entirely pure.

* Tucker entices Ashley to take a business trip with him that could send them on a head-on collision with Billy and Victoria.

* When Snapper (see clip above) brings an ill Liz to town, she ends up revealing a secret to him about Jill.

* Michael realizes Phyllis could be the key to Nick’s case but she could also be his undoing.

* Jack and Victor team up to settle an old score.

Interview (Desperate Housewives): Helena Mattsson Gets Some Summertime Action

Dubbed "The Swedish Bombshell," Helena Mattsson surely is making her mark in Hollywood. With a part in prime time's hottest show, as well as 2010's biggest summer blockbuster (so far!), Helena is no longer flying under the radar. I caught up with her recently to talk about Iron Man 2, working with Robert Downey Jr., and playing a gold-digging manipulator on Desperate Housewives.

Daytime Dial: Iron Man 2 debuted at No. 1 its opening weekend and still dominates the box office. It's well on its way to becoming Summer 2010 biggest blockbuster. This all must be very exciting.

Helena Mattsson: Very exciting. It’s just a really fun movie that I am so glad I got to be involved in. I saw the first movie and I really liked it. I was really excited to be part of this one. I have a really small role, but that doesn’t matter because it’s an appealing thing.

DD: Tell me about your character, Rebecca.

HM: I can’t say too much (to not give anything away for those who haven't seen the movie yet), but I’m playing Rebecca, and I have this one big party scene where I sort of challenge Iron Man with his weapons, and there’s a lot of crazy stuff going on. I throw stuff up in the air. It’s a really big, crazy party scene.

DD: Was yours a physical role?

HM: Not so much. I get to run around quite a bit. I ended up taking my shoes off when we were shooting because I was running around. It was pretty exhausting. I wish I had more of the action stuff to do, that would have been fun.

DD: Is this the biggest project you’ve worked on so far? And what was the vibe on the set?

HM: It was just such a big set with so many people involved. They build all of these beautiful setups for the scenes and they had a lot of extras — just such a big production. It was really, really exciting to step into that and be part of it, and also to get to work with Robert Downey Jr. was really a dream come true. He is such an amazing actor and I admire him so much. I was a little nervous, but it was so exciting to get to work with him and everybody else on set.

DD: Is Robert a lot like his Tony Stark character?

HM: Yeah, I think he brings a lot of himself to his character. He is a character — very much a character himself. He’s a really, really nice guy and a lot of fun.

DD: It must have just been a very surreal experience, to be a fan of the first Iron Man and of the actors in it, and then you get to be in the sequel.

HM: Definitely. It was very surreal just to be a part of something you’ve seen. You’ve seen the first movie and it was such a big hit. Like I said, even though I have a small role in it, it was really, really exciting anyway just to be part of a project,

DD: It would seem to me that there are no small roles in a movie of this caliber!

HM: Definitely. I also definitely realized going to the premiere that this movie was very anticipated. People really loved the first movie and this one is going to be really big too. There were so many people at the premiere. It is definitely the biggest project that I’ve been a part of, which was really exciting. I wish I had a bigger role in it. Shooting was so much fun. I just wanted the shoot to go on. It was that much fun.

DD: Last fall, you also were in another action/sci-fi movie, Surrogates, with Bruce Willis, which is now on DVD. What was that movie like to work on?

HM: That was another really huge set with so many people. We shot in Boston and I was there for a few weeks. It was a great, great experience. That one was about robots, surrogate robots. It was really cool to be a part of an action film like that. It’s sort of a dream come true as well.

DD: You also have a role on Desperate Housewives as Irina, who happens to be Russian. You do a really good Russian accent. Did you work with a professional coach on that?

HM: My accent was really heavy when I first came here. I had a heavy Swedish accent. Although it’s not quite the same as the Russian. I have some Russian friends, and I really wanted the part so I made sure to really look to my Russian friends, and I really started to get the accent down. For some reason, it came easy to me. It’s really fun to do an accent like that because it brings a lot to the character.

DD: I think you are doing a great job with it, because it sounds very authentic.

HM: I was really nervous about that at times because they gave us the lines and the scripts and everything so last minute each time. At one point they gave me a long speech in Russian, and I had like no time to prepare. By the time I got it down completely, they changed it again. So I was really stressed out about that. Just to speak the language properly, you don’t think about that when you watch it. Sometimes there’s no time to prepare.

DD: I love the tug-of-war relationship Irina has with Lynette. It is fun to watch. Is it fun to play those scenes?

HM: Oh my God, it is so much fun to be the villain and to be manipulative. There are so many off-tones and so many layers that only the women understand among themselves. You can always read between the lines. It was a lot of fun. It is also a lot of fun to play a character that’s really far from yourself and really have fun with that and be the villain. So, I’m very excited about that.

DD: What do you like, if anything, about Irina, and how do you relate to her?

HM: Every time you play a character you have to justify everything that they do. As Irena, I had to justify what I was doing and everything, and sometimes that’s tricky to justify some of the things she does, but I made it work for myself. I justified my actions to myself. Purely for the fun too.