Okay all… If you grew up on the amazing shows “Friends” and “Seinfeld” from the 90’s you missed out on some of the TV comedies of the 80’s that laid the groundwork for the genre. One of those shows centered around he driest, funniest, comedians of our time. The late Bob Newhart. And on his signature show bearing his name, was an actress, a “Designing Women”, who leapt off of the screen where she stole every scene she was in. This is Still Here Hollywood. I’m Steve Kmetko. Join me with today’s guest, and groundbreaking actress, Julia Duffy.
This is Still Here Hollywood. I’m Steve Kmetko. Join me with today’s guest, and groundbreaking actress, Julia Duffy.
Okay all… If you grew up on the amazing shows “Friends” and “Seinfeld” from the 90’s you missed out on some of the TV comedies of the 80’s that laid the groundwork for the genre.
One of those shows centered around he driest, funniest, comedians of our time. The late Bob Newhart.
And on his signature show bearing his name, was an actress, a “Designing Women”, who leapt off of the screen where she stole every scene she was in.
Steve Kmetko:
Yes, I'm still here. Hollywood. And coming up on today's episode, you were nominated for seven Emmy Awards for New Heart. Does that play with your head at all?
Julia Duffy:
You know, I'll be honest, we're all very aware of the business that we're in. I wouldn't say there were a lot of actresses in comedy shows then.
Steve Kmetko:
You're saying it was Slim Pickens for the Emmy Award Committee?
Julia Duffy:
Well, I'm just saying there weren't so many women in comedy then. No comedy show had that many women on it. Very few had an actual leading woman on a comedy show. So, I'm not saying it was Slim Pickens. I would say my competition was quite fierce, but not numerous.
Steve Kmetko:
Has aging in Hollywood affected you?
Julia Duffy:
Oh, not at all, Steve. It's been fine.
Steve Kmetko:
Yeah. I visited that set once when Marla Maples was a guest star.
Julia Duffy:
Oh, I remember Marla. We said to each other, oh, we really have to get some dirt. We've got to get her to talk. And that wasn't hard at all.
Steve Kmetko:
Okay all. if you grew up on the amazing show, friends and Seinfeld from the nineties, you missed out on some of the TV comedies of the eighties that laid the groundwork for the genre. One of those shows centered around the driest, funniest comedian of our time, the late Bob Newhart. And on his signature show, bearing, his name was an actress, a designing woman who leapt off of the screen where she stole every scene she was in. This is Still Here, Hollywood. I'm Steve Ko. Join me with today's guest and groundbreaking actress Julia Duffy.
If you'd like to be more involved with us at Still Here Hollywood, you definitely can just visit www.patreon.com/stillherehollywood. You can support us for as little as $3 a month. Then you can see who our upcoming guests will be and submit questions for them. You can even tell us what stars you want us to have on as guests. You'll also get exclusive behind the scenes info picks, video and more. Again, that's www.patreon.com/stillherehollywood.
Julia, it's nice seeing you again.
Julia Duffy:
Well, thank you. It's nice seeing you again too.
Steve Kmetko:
Thanks. Agreeing to do, for agreeing to do this.
Julia Duffy:
Of course.
Steve Kmetko:
You may, you jumped right off the screen in the first episode you did of New Heart, which is actually the second episode you did, but it was a different season.
Julia Duffy:
Oh, my first episode as a regular after being a guest star. Yes,
Steve Kmetko:
Yes. When Joanna offered you a job and you said a maid, oh boy, that was the job she was offering you. I think everyone at that time knew that a star was born.
Julia Duffy:
Oh, well that's nice to hear.
Steve Kmetko:
Do you miss the show?
Julia Duffy:
Every day of my life. There's never been a job like it. There've been wonderful jobs, but if they were here, they would all say the same thing.
Steve Kmetko:
Really?
Julia Duffy:
That no five people ever had more fun together ever on this planet than we did.
Steve Kmetko:
Well, it was such a brilliant cast.
Julia Duffy:
Everybody was so funny. I mean, they should have filmed the rehearsals. It was absolutely wild. And there were times when we would be laughing so hard. Well, first of all, Mary and I would say, we have to go fix our eye makeup. Because we'd be laughing so hard. We were crying. And in the midst of all of this wildness, Tom would go and we're getting paid. And that was the whole thing, is that not only would we do it for free, we had so much fun. But on top of that, it had everything else going for it, that job. And it's just hard to top it. And we all knew it too. We knew it would never be this good again.
Steve Kmetko:
At the time, you knew?
Julia Duffy:
I think we all felt exactly that way. We knew how special it was. It was a sob fest when we had to say goodbye. Of course, I've had other wonderful jobs that were very different, but that was a once in a lifetime thing. That's what you get into this business for. I was so lucky to actually have that.
Steve Kmetko:
What's it like now? I'm they're all gone. Every one of your Co-Stars Bob not that long ago, what was he like to work with?
Julia Duffy:
Oh my God, he was so much fun. He was probably a little wilder in his humor and person than his very laid-back public persona.
Steve Kmetko:
Buttoned down mind.
Julia Duffy:
Yes. All we did was chase the joke every day. If somebody said something funny, then we had to take it to the extreme. One time I remember a director actually laid down on the floor and start kind of pounding his fists because, you know, we were off and running. But that's what you did. If there was a joke, you made the joke. The joke was king. Nothing mattered, but the joke, you went all the way with the joke.
Steve Kmetko:
How did they corral writers for a show like that? How do they find them to begin with?
Julia Duffy:
Well, I think a lot of writers really wanted to write on the show. Bob was pretty hands off. I mean, you could get a person whose name was the title of the show, who's difficult. And I've been on shows like that, where that person was in the writer's room a lot. But that wasn't Bob at all. I mean, I'm sure he spoke to them when he had a problem, but it didn't happen on the set very much like that I was aware.
Steve Kmetko:
He brought so many credentials, so many comedy credentials with him.
Julia Duffy:
Well, you got a figure. He was writing his own material. I don't know what that would be like too. In fact, I asked Barry Kemp this just the other day when I had lunch with him, who was the creator of New Heart. And I said, isn't it weird to be a writer and write for a comedian who's been writing for himself for years? And he said, well, I'm used to it. He said, I'm just used to that now. And I would think that there has to be some kind of a, not necessarily, not necessarily a power dynamic, but creative differences and creative passions that clash. But I felt like Bob did not insert himself very much. I mean, I think he could have more than he did easily. But I remember every now and then I could. I have a memory of saying to him, well, why don't you talk to them? You know, if something was bothering him. And he'd say, you know, I just, I really, I hate to do that. So, you got to hand it to him because he was a writer and had been writing his own material for decades at that point. He sympathized with the writers. That's not something you see very often.
Steve Kmetko:
I saw an interview with you where you had said one of your goals in life was to work with Bob Newhart. Is that true?
Julia Duffy:
It really was because I would watch the old show and I just got him. I completely got him. And I would literally think to myself, I know exactly how to work with him. Because what you do is you set him up, you make him uncomfortable for the reactions. And I thought there could be nothing better than that. Because no matter what you did, you'd be contributing to a joke, to a laugh. And I got that pretty early on watching that. And I remember when the old show went off the air, and I think when it went off the air, I had just gotten to LA or something, I can't remember. Because I started in New York and I thought, now I'll never work with him. I had that thought.
Steve Kmetko:
He wasn't gone for long.
Julia Duffy:
No, it was only four years between the two shows.
Steve Kmetko:
And the previous one had been such a big hit. It was also.
Julia Duffy:
Right. But this was even more so and went on longer. And in fact, they wanted to renew it for a l season, but by then he felt that it was played out. He couldn't stand the feeling of, you know, you get off stage, you go, if the laughter isn't as good or you got to know when to get off stage.
Steve Kmetko:
And he knew. But he managed to bring Suzanne Pleshette in for that final episode.
Julia Duffy:
Oh, yes.
Steve Kmetko:
I had seen her just the day before it aired at a charity thing in Beverly Hills. And she recognized me when we started talking and I told her how much I enjoyed, you know, I'd seen the last episode. And she said, you're not going to say anything about it, are you? I said, no, of course not. That would ruin it. It was just wonderful. Wonderful. Well, Done!
Julia Duffy:
We all kept the secret.
Steve Kmetko:
Yeah. which isn't easy to do. When did you last see Bob?
Julia Duffy:
I'm trying to think. I mean, I talked to him on the phone was the more recent times. And then after he got sick, I believe it was a stroke, then he wasn't texting me anymore. There wasn't, so I was sort of going through his guy, his PR person who was like his right-hand man. And then he would respond or I'd be asked to do something and I'd send it to Bob. And, you know, it all went through him. And I thought, oh, okay. So, I was not surprised.
Steve Kmetko:
Were there times when you couldn't keep a straight face when working opposite Bob?
Julia Duffy:
Oh my God, there were so many times. I mean, we all did it. Every single one of us did it. Mary was very good at keeping a straight face, but no one else was any good at keeping a straight face. Bob was pretty good at keeping a straight face actually.
Steve Kmetko:
Well, he'd been doing it for a while.
Julia Duffy:
Yes. He had.
Steve Kmetko:
You were in two of the best comedies in TV history, the Bob Newhart Show and Designing Women. Was there a big difference between the two of them and how they operated?
Julia Duffy:
Huge difference. Yes. Designing Women was, it just didn't quite have the same feeling of togetherness, I think because of cast changes and difficulties that I wasn't there for. That preceded me. But working with those actresses was such a benefit. They were amazing under any circumstances they delivered. And honestly, I learned from them. I mean, by then I, you know, been in the business a long time and done lots of sitcom work, but I don't know, I just kind of saw a kind of professionalism and a soldiering through that was so impressive. And with women, so that it was new to me. I mean, I sort of learned about being a professional woman from them.
Steve Kmetko:
I remember when they announced you were joining the cast, I thought to myself and I remember this it's perfect. She's perfect. She'll fit in just right. And I thought, I thought you did. And you were able to deliver a, a woman's perspective. I mean, all the four of them, or five of them everybody except Anthony were able to deliver a feminine.
Julia Duffy:
I learned from Meshach. I learned from him. Not so much about being a woman, but I learned from him as well because oh my God, he was the funniest person in the world. Everything he did made me laugh. I mean, if he opened his mouth, he made me laugh. He was one of those.
Steve Kmetko:
Well, I would imagine. I also did a story with them when it was very nearly jerked off the air and write in campaign as I understand it from viewers save that show very early on. So I would imagine that would create more of a binding feeling.
Julia Duffy:
Well, I'm telling you, they were like soldiers. They were so trained and disciplined and impressive on a level I'd never seen. Not that they didn't have fun, but I came from a set where we just screwed around all day long. But that was the madness to our method. And they were just unbelievable steely prose. Very impressive.
Steve Kmetko:
Yeah. I visited that set once when Marla Maples was a guest star.
Julia Duffy:
Oh, I remember Marla.
Steve Kmetko:
Was she wasn't on the show while you were there, but?
Julia Duffy:
Yeah, she was.
Steve Kmetko:
Oh, she was.
Julia Duffy:
She was a guest star when I was there. Okay. We said to each other, oh, we really have to get some dirt. We've got to get her to talk. And that wasn't hard at all.
Steve Kmetko:
Really?
Julia Duffy:
Yeah. She was delightful, adorable. And just quite open about everything.
Steve Kmetko:
I think when I was there, she had just gotten engaged. to the Donald.
Julia Duffy:
She had. And she had a huge ring.
Julia Duffy:
Yes.
Steve Kmetko:
Good for her.
Julia Duffy:
That's right. I liked her a lot.
Steve Kmetko:
Did you?
Julia Duffy:
I did.
Steve Kmetko:
I could see where that might be a difficult situation. You were brought on to replace a character.
Julia Duffy:
Yes.
Steve Kmetko:
Who was ostensibly your cousin in the script?
Julia Duffy:
That's right.
Steve Kmetko:
Was it hard going into that at all?
Julia Duffy:
Well,
Steve Kmetko:
Replacing someone?
Julia Duffy:
Yeah, because that departure kind of left. It was a chaotic apparently, and there had been lots of gossip and that kind of thing. So, it was weird to come into that. I wasn't used to that kind of thing at all where there was gossip or anybody was looking for dirt. I had no experience with that at all. But I don't know. They all handled it so well, and I know that it was weirder for them than it was for me because they'd been through a lot leading up to it.
Steve Kmetko:
Julia, how'd you get into the business?
Julia Duffy:
Oh, well, I mean, I grew up sitting about this far from the TV and thinking…
Steve Kmetko:
You didn't have parents saying, you're going to ruin your eyes.
Julia Duffy:
No, nope. I was right there saying I could do that. I'm sure I could do that. And I would see little girls my age. You didn't see a lot of kids on TV in those days. There just wasn't that much young people like at, no, it's all young people. But I would see little girls on commercials and I'd think I could do that. And like a little girl in a shampoo commercial, I'd say, I'll bet I could do that if I could just get my hair to do that and not do this strange flip or something, I later on. I did like six shampoo commercials when I was grown up. But that was the kind of thing I would think was, I just feel like I can do that. And then I took drama lessons downtown Minneapolis where we put on plays us mostly children's plays, but I don't know, sometimes we were playing grownups in plays and it was wonderful. And I did community theater.
Steve Kmetko:
Did you ever work at the Guthrie?
Julia Duffy:
People always ask me that. There were barely any Americans working at the Guthrie at that time. I mean, Tyrone Guthrie started, he was Canadian. There were a lot of Canadian actors, locals did not work at the Guthrie in those days. It's completely different now. It was just a different time.
Steve Kmetko:
I went to a play there not terribly long ago. The building there in is just spectacular.
Julia Duffy:
Isn't it something?
Steve Kmetko:
Yeah. It is beautiful how it sits just over the river and there's even that glass
Julia Duffy:
I know.
Steve Kmetko:
Makes you a little nervous to go out on over the river.
Julia Duffy:
It's very cool.
Steve Kmetko:
But it's a beautiful building and a beautiful program they have there.
Julia Duffy:
What did you see?
Steve Kmetko:
I saw. Oh, please. It was a play made from an old movie with Carrie Grant. What's the one where the corpse is in the thing and he lives with his two old aunts.
Julia Duffy:
Oh, Arsenic and Old Lace.
Steve Kmetko:
That's it. That's what they did.
Julia Duffy:
Oh, yes. I did know they did that. I haven't been to a play there in a while, but I go, my family is still in Minneapolis. I go back.
Steve Kmetko:
I love that city except in winter, but…
Julia Duffy:
I know that's why it's a great city. Why else would anyone live there?
Steve Kmetko:
Right, right.
Julia Duffy:
But it is a great city.
Steve Kmetko:
Like Chicago. Same thing. in winter. I was And so you saw these people on these young people on television, and you made up your mind that that's what you wanted to pursue.
Julia Duffy:
Yeah, absolutely. There was no question. There was no alternate plan.
Steve Kmetko:
None.
Julia Duffy:
Absolutely not. That was, that had to be it. And so, I went to the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. And how I found out about that is I had no idea how ridiculous I was being at the time. What did I know? I read a book, you know those series of books that star teenage girls? They're usually twins. You wouldn't know you're a guy. But we all read those at that age. So, I was like 11. And it was the something twins and there was.
Steve Kmetko:
The Bobsy Twins?
Julia Duffy:
No. Oh, I read those too. This is more teenage.
Steve Kmetko:
See, I read the Hardy Boys.
Julia Duffy:
I read those two.
Steve Kmetko:
Oh, did you?
Julia Duffy:
Yes. But the, in this book, they were in high school and I was like 11 reading about what it's like in high school from these books. And one of them wanted to be an actress, and she went to the American Academy of Traumatic Arts. And there was a scene in the book where she went to the school and met the head of the school. And I believe now since I got to know him, that it was based on the real head of the school. And I decided that that was where I had to go. So, I somehow found their address in the back of a magazine where there were ads for schools. And I wrote to them and I got their booklet, and that's where I had to go. So, when I was 17, 18. I auditioned and I got in and the head of the school was just like the guy in the book. So, if I hadn't read that book when I was 11. I don't know where I would've gone. But that's where I went.
Steve Kmetko:
And your family was supportive?
Julia Duffy:
Well, they kind of had to be supportive because I was broke. It'd be so exciting when they'd write me a letter and there was a $5 bill in it. But I worked as a waitress. And, I mean, you could live broke in New York in those days because the prices made it possible. I was a waitress. That's how I got through school and paid my rent.
Steve Kmetko:
I worked as a waiter in Chicago at one point.
Julia Duffy:
It's fun, isn't it?
Steve Kmetko:
Oh, yes. Our biggest, the most fun we had once was it was attached to a theater. And whenever there was a star performing there. They'd always come up to our restaurant for a meal. And the biggest thrill was meeting Phyllis Diller.
Julia Duffy:
Ah. I worked Atras in New York. Which for listeners of a certain age would know that I am a walking cliche. Went to New York to be an actress and was a waitress Atras. We got believe it or not, celebrities in there. I don't know what they were doing in there, but I guess they were just walking by. We waited on Mel Brooks and, and Bancroft one night. We took turns. There was a different person bringing them every course because that was the only fair way to do it, is that we all got a chance so we…
Steve Kmetko:
What'd you do about the tip at the end?
Julia Duffy:
I don't recall.
Steve Kmetko:
Maybe it's best that way.
Julia Duffy:
Yeah.
Steve Kmetko:
We'll be back in a moment. Was there an audition process?
Julia Duffy:
Oh, well, yeah. It was a guest role and it was a scene with Bob. And it was so clear how to play it because you had to make him really, really uncomfortable.
Steve Kmetko:
How was the audition process that got you the role on Newhart? Was there an audition process?
Julia Duffy:
Oh, well, yeah, it was a guest role. And it was a scene with Bob and it was so clear how to play it because you had to make him really, really uncomfortable with the way that the, you know, I behaved, which is that I tell him I have a crush on somebody. And he thinks I was referring to him. So, it was a perfect scene to know how to play with Bob. It was perfect.
Steve Kmetko:
Yeah. I was watching an interview with the creator of the show and he said the first time you were on you knocked it out of the park.
Julia Duffy:
Well, that's very nice. He didn't say that to me the other day when we had lunch.
Steve Kmetko:
Oh, well.
Julia Duffy:
I'm happy to hear that. No, he said very nice things to me. We were reminiscing. It was fun.
Steve Kmetko:
We lost I think we mentioned earlier, we lost Peter Scolari recently. How did you come about to play off each other so well?
Julia Duffy:
Well, I'd love to take credit, but I will tell you that, and people always talked about how much chemistry we had, but I got to tell you, I think Peter had chemistry with everybody he worked with. Peter brought the chemistry to the scene. He just did. And it made it so easy. We were two very different people in life, but we heard the comedy exactly the same way. Like exactly, we didn't even have to discuss it. We knew what made it funniest. It couldn't have been easier.
Steve Kmetko:
Peter made a big impression on my parents when they came out to visit me once I got them tickets to Price right at TB City because I worked for CBS and they were going somewhere in an elevator. And Peter got on the elevator and started up a conversation with them. And they told him who they were and how they were related to me. And he sang my praises up one side and down the other. And every parent likes to hear good things. And from somebody notable, you know, it means that much more. I just think the world, I thought the world of him
Julia Duffy:
Right. Such a charmer.
Steve Kmetko:
And after I interviewed him, the time I interviewed you as well, I just thought, God, this guy's got a lot. Got a lot on the ball.
Julia Duffy:
I tell you, I think he should have been a bigger star because he had the alum and the charisma of a leading man. But he had a great career playing such different roles and incredible things on stage. He was really the whole package. He could do everything. And if he couldn't, then he learned it. He was just very facile and smart.
Steve Kmetko:
Well, you're no slouch. I mean, you were nominated for seven Emmy awards for New Heart. Does that play with your head at all?
Julia Duffy:
You know, I'll be honest, we're all very aware of the business that we're in. I wouldn't say there were a lot of actresses in comedy shows then. I wouldn't say there were a lot of females on the comedy shows then. And I'm not trying to sound modest, but the realities of the business you can't ignore. They're very obvious to those of us in the business.
Steve Kmetko:
Are you saying it was Slim Pickens for the Emmy Award Committee?
Julia Duffy:
Well, I'm just saying there weren't so many women in comedy then. No comedy show had that many women on it. Very few had an actual leading woman on a comedy show. So, I'm not saying it was Slim Pickens. I would say my competition was quite fierce, but not numerous.
Steve Kmetko:
When you reminisce about your career. Do you think you made the right choice?
Julia Duffy:
I never reminisce about my career.
Steve Kmetko:
How come?
Julia Duffy:
I don't know. I reminisce about certain things.
Steve Kmetko:
Do you reminisce about your life?
Julia Duffy:
Yes, much more than I do about my career, actually. I mean, what's more vivid to any of us than childhood high school?
Steve Kmetko:
Adulthood sometimes.
Julia Duffy:
Yeah. I don't reminisce so much about adulthood.
Steve Kmetko:
Oh no.
Julia Duffy:
But the career is just one thing at a time. You don't know how many things didn't happen how many.
Steve Kmetko:
Unless someone tells you.
Julia Duffy:
Yeah. I mean, and how many auditions that there were that you didn't get? That's the whole picture.
Steve Kmetko:
Didn't you write a book called Bad Auditions?
Julia Duffy:
Oh, I did. Thank you for reminding me.
Julia Duffy:
I did. Although, I'll tell you, by the time it came out, it was it made no sense anymore because the business had changed so much that, I mean, I hoped that the general idea of it was you cannot be too prepared to young actors. There's no such thing as over preparation. I hope that got across to anybody who read it. But the business changed drastically with self-tapes especially so that, I mean, you're not in the room anymore for an audition, but I had started writing it in little bits and pieces just thinking about it a long time before it was published. So, I didn't quite realize that it was soon going to not be that relevant.
Steve Kmetko:
Can you tell me what was the worst audition you ever had?
Julia Duffy:
Oh, well, let me think. I've got so many to come on choose from.
Steve Kmetko:
Oh, come on.
Julia Duffy:
Okay. I'll tell you about a recent one. No names however…
Steve Kmetko:
You still audition. That doesn't seem right.
Julia Duffy:
Everybody auditions Steve.
Steve Kmetko:
I suppose life is an audition.
Julia Duffy:
Everybody auditions.
Steve Kmetko:
Okay.
Julia Duffy:
Not the movie stars, but then there's a big gap that isn't filled by anyone. And it goes and it start and you go down and it's everybody's auditioning. I know. I do think the industry would be better if people didn't type cast so much and were more creative and bolder about casting. And I don't mean so that we didn't have to audition so much. It would be better if there was more boldness and creativity in the world of casting.
Steve Kmetko:
How do you feel about improvisation?
Julia Duffy:
I love improvisation. Oh, I adore it when I'm asked to improvise. Love it.
Steve Kmetko:
So, tell me, what was this recent audition?
Julia Duffy:
The recent terrible audition was, well first of all, I really don't feel I was right for it at all, which is true of the majority, I think. But it just happens. And you got to be a good little soldier and you go do an audition. Because if you say to your rep, I'm not right for it, they'll say, you never know what could happen. So, you kind of have to do it. But it was in person and it was the first time for me in four years to do an in-person audition. And it took me, you have an idea from Calabasas to Universal. So, 90 minutes to get there, which is double what it should have been, even with traffic, it was a terrible, terrible drive. There was nothing I could do about it. I actually walked in at the time of my and I walked in and I was just frazzled from this horrible drive.
And I needed to like comb my hair or look at myself or something before I went in the room. And at that moment, the assistant came out and said, are you ready? I was barely out the car. I just walked in and I said, I just need to a minute I to powder my nose. Okay. And so, 30 seconds later I was ready. And then it took her kind of a while to come out and get me. And I walked in and the producers were there, which is very unusual. And I said, oh great. Everybody's here. They were so gluon. They were so cranky. And they finally went, oh yeah, okay, hi. I am told me their name. And I thought, whoa, alright. This is not a great room for comedy. And it absolutely threw me and I was trying to do it with all my script because I did have it very well memorized.
But I was thrown by these very cranky people in the room. I don't know what was wrong with them, but they were very doer and not a good atmosphere for comedy. Casting lady is, I know her, she's fabulous. But I was kind of stumbling through it and I did not understand why these people were acting like this. And so, I was so glad when it was over and it was painful and I also felt so wrong for it. And I was driving home and I went, oh, it was my audition time. And I was called in and they were told she'll be here in a minute. She has to powder her nose. They had no idea. I had just walked in the door from this ghastly traffic jam. And so, it must have looked so to them. And so that was why they behaved that way. Or they're just jerks all the time. I don't know. And somebody who's wildly different than me in a very different age than me got the role as she should.
Steve Kmetko:
Well, oswell that ends well.
Julia Duffy:
There you go.
Steve Kmetko:
To coin a phrase.
Julia Duffy:
Yeah. I mean, I wouldn't have gotten it if I'd given a great audition. I really wasn't right for it. But anyway.
Steve Kmetko:
What advice would you give to people who want to perform in comedies?
Julia Duffy:
Who want to perform in comedies? Well, you better watch a lot of comedy and know your comedy history because it all feeds into where we are today. The way dialogue is written now is very much in today's vernacular. The jokes that work right now wouldn't have worked 10 years ago maybe because we're influenced by social media and comedians today. But that's not all there is to comedy. And if you want to have a fresh take, you should go back, back, back. You should know who all those people are. Going back to Burns and Allen and you know, everybody. Ernie Kovacs, the whole thing,
Steve Kmetko:
The Honeymooners.
Julia Duffy:
Absolutely. You've got to know the history. You can't just know what happened in the last 20 years. And I do say that and I did say it in my book, you need to know where we came from. It's important.
Steve Kmetko:
Hamina, hamina, hamina. What was going through your head the morning after New Heart went off the air?
Julia Duffy:
Oh, I felt like I'd lost my family and my whole, my hometown. That's how it felt. And I started crying and I said, I want to move back to Minneapolis to my husband. And he said, oh, we will, of course, whatever you want, honey. I was devastated. It was incredible to me. Such a loss obviously later on. I had good experiences also and I knew how lucky I'd been and, but none of us were ready for this to end. It was too perfect.
Steve Kmetko:
Would you tell younger people that today, would you tell that to a young person coming up? What would you tell yourself about Hollywood, your younger self?
Julia Duffy:
That you got to show them? Because they don't really know anything. That's what you have to do. You have to show them how you would play the role. It's very important because you're not going to play the role in a way you wouldn't play the role. And if it doesn't work, that's fine. But you have to be sure what you would bring to the role and go with that and do it fully. And then at least they will see the scope of your talent in that area, whether it's comedy or drama or that kind of a person that kind of a role. They'll see that. And that can help in the future, even if you don't get it.
Steve Kmetko:
Has aging in Hollywood affected you?
Julia Duffy:
Oh, not at all, Steve. It's been fine. Yes. It's very awkward because, oh my God. Well, I'll tell you something that drives me up a wall because it's symbolic of all of it. I have read for an act actually played the role of a woman who's older that they have named Myrna that takes place present day. Now I know what people were named who are my age now. We were Patty and Kathy and Susie. That's these women that they write in older roles could have been at Woodstock. If you are having them, be 70 today in 2024, you have to write the person and not the type. And it is very disappointing to me how much even younger writers seem to be writing Aunt Bee or something when they write an older person and not an individual. And I hope they're listening and I know you have the talent to do it, make that a real person.
Steve Kmetko:
Do you ever do any writing?
Julia Duffy:
No. Except for the book.
Steve Kmetko:
What's the best item you kept from a set?
Julia Duffy:
Well, I kept the duck from New Heart. There was a carved duck, I suppose it was a wooden box always on the coffee table. And it may have been meant for like cigarettes or something in those days. But I kept chocolates in there for when I needed a chocolate that I got from the prop room. And then when I was pregnant, Bob left me notes in the they're bad for the baby things like that. So that I wouldn't be eating chocolate when I was pregnant. Bob took the bell on the desk and he said early on, I'm getting the bell. I said, okay. So, I got the duck. I don't know, everybody grabbed something. I don't know if I ever took anything from another show. I don't recall doing it.
Steve Kmetko:
How much of a boost, if that's the right word, did Newhart give your career or designing women?
Julia Duffy:
You know, it's kind of hard to know what goes on in those offices and things as far as, you never really know where you are unless you are at the top. If you're not at the top, if you're not Meryl Streep, you don't really quite understand where you.
Steve Kmetko:
Where you are in the pecking order.
Julia Duffy:
Yeah. Where do you reside actually. And it might be different in different places and comes and goes. So, I don't have very much awareness of it, nor do I believe that it's possible for me to quantify it.
Steve Kmetko:
Is there someone who you looked at and wanted to model some of what you did off of, I don't mean make a duplicate, but someone who inspired you?
Julia Duffy:
Well, when I was a kid, it was Julie Harris. I thought I was a dramatic actress. And I told this story to Carol Burnett. I saw Julie Harris on a lot of things. You know, back in the day they would do the Hallmark Hall of Fame, live plays on tv. My mom always watched them. I did. I mean, I saw her do a Doll's House and it was very impactful for me. So, I was going to be a dramatic actress like Julie Harris. And at the same time, I was watching the Gary Moore show. And when Carol Burnett left to do Once Upon a Mattress, I was extremely upset that she wasn't going to be on the show anymore because I was crazy about her. Which tells you something. I didn't see that many funny women, you know? And Imogene Coca, I was mad for Imogene Coca, although I was really little when she was on the air. But I caught up later on. I mean, I own all of the tapes of your show of shows. And my mom would say to me, you know, I think you should do comedy. And I thought, oh, I'm a dramatic actress. Doesn't she know that? And I think she knew what she was looking at. I think she got it.
Steve Kmetko:
They're always the last to know.
Julia Duffy:
And I did one time, I was like this far from Imogene Coca after some kind of an awards event. I can't remember waiting for our cars. And I just could not screw up the courage to talk to her. And I regret it. I did meet Sid Caesar, who I was quite enamored with, and I told him what I thought of Imogene Coca. First of all, he said, I can't believe you know who I am. And I said, how, what, I'm in comedy. How could I not know who you are? He said, people your age never know who I am. And I said, well, they should. And he told me that this is rather old school. But he said the wonderful thing about imaging is that no matter how wild the bit was she was always a lady. And I never quite knew how to compute that. But of course, that was the fifties. And I would've been hard for a woman to, how do I say this? To do what the comedy needed, what you knew you could do with it, how far you could go. There would be that thing that would be there that men don't feel. Is it attractive? Is it okay? It's there whether you want it to be or not. So, God bless Imogene Coca and Lucille Ball and Carol Burnett. And of course, now I have been able to work with Carol Burnett so I can die happy.
Steve Kmetko:
She's an amazing person. I saw Julie Harris once in driving Miss Daisy at the Henry Fonda Theater in Hollywood. And I got to interview her beforehand and she was so delightful and so business. She was about business and she was appearing with Brock Peters, who was also…
Julia Duffy:
Oh God, they must have been great.
Steve Kmetko:
They were great. They were great. One of the benefits of my job was getting to meet people and see people. Would you count Carol as one of your heroes in the business?
Julia Duffy:
Oh, absolutely. And having worked with her well. It was just heaven in this show that I did. That's coming, we're about to do season two, Palm Royale.
Steve Kmetko:
That show has gotten a lot of publicity.
Julia Duffy:
Well, wait till you see season two.
Steve Kmetko:
Oh, okay.
Julia Duffy:
It's wild. It's really something.
Steve Kmetko:
Yeah. Do you have a guilty pleasure TV show?
Julia Duffy:
Do I, let me see.
Steve Kmetko:
If we were to, oh, okay.
Julia Duffy:
Well, no, I don't like to say that because then it sounds like it's a bad TV show. So, I can't say that about a TV show.
Steve Kmetko:
Okay. If we were to drop in at your house one night during the week. What would we catch you watching?
Julia Duffy:
Well, I hate to say this, but probably British tv. It's my husband and I watch so much British tv. It's in our wheelhouse comedy. Would I lie to you Qi? I am crazy about British comedians. I love them so much and it's just our taste. We love it. And of course, the murder mysteries, murder, comedy. We love them both.
Steve Kmetko:
What's the scariest thing that ever happened to you on a set?
Julia Duffy:
Well now let me think about that. Oh, I got hit in the head with a broad sword. I did, I did a show called Wizards and Warriors, and I played a princess and there was a sword fight scene and the guys had rehearsed it and then I was there. And so, they brought me over with the fight stunt coordinator, whatever you call them, fight a choreographer. And so, they go like this with the sword and they come around and then you duck. And they show me this. And we practice it a couple of times. Well, you're working with a couple of young actors and they're doing it step by step with the fight choreographer. And then they say, action. And these young bucks, the testosterone is going. And that thing came around so fast and it knocked me completely down.
And the director ran over it, started asking me questions and asked me what year it was. And I thought he was joking, so I didn't answer. And I panicked him for a moment. It was scary for him, I think. And on the same show, another scary thing was that I had to come face to face with a cobra. And so, they were showing me how I would run up these stairs trip. And then just above me a little bit on these stairs, on the stair is a cobra, which they would tease into striking position.
Steve Kmetko:
Putting its hood up.
Julia Duffy:
And that was putting its hood up. And that was the shot. And they had plexiglass there and everything. And so, we rehearsed it. I went back, I sat in my chair and I sitting there and I see this pair of boots walking toward me. And I thought, I think I know what they're going to say. And so, it was the producer and the guys, and they said, you know, we could save about 45 minutes in lighting if we didn't use the plexiglass. And the snake handler was there also. And I said, and I'm going to be face to face with a cobra. I said, do you have anti-venom on the set. And they said, no.
Steve Kmetko:
Just a curiosity.
Julia Duffy:
And I said do you know the nearest place that has anti-venom? And they said, yes, Chatsworth. And all I could think was my husband's reaction if he found out that they had me come face to face with a cobra that was in a strike pose. And this was not long after the Twilight Zone. So, it gave courage to all of us to say, no, I won't do that. And I said, I just can't. And they said, okay. They also knew they couldn't push it because the atmosphere in Hollywood at that time was, don't mess with this, you'll get sued. So, I waited and it was painful sitting there for 45 minutes. It really took a long time to light it through plexiglass. And then I did it. They also lit something on fire at my feet in that show. A lot of special effects in that show. And I remember the guy's nickname, the special effects guy was boom, boom. And he had a total of, I don't know, six or seven fingers altogether. And as he was lighting this thing that went along my feet, he kept saying, trust me darling, trust me. And I thought, your, your nickname is boom, boom. Why is that but it went, okay.
Steve Kmetko:
Julia, thank you very much for coming in to do our little show.
Julia Duffy:
Thank you for having me.
Steve Kmetko:
It was nice talking to you and seeing you again after all these years. And you look great.
Julia Duffy:
Oh, thank you.
Steve Kmetko:
Oh, I hope our paths cross again someday.
Julia Duffy:
I hope they do. And thank you for giving me a chance to talk about Hollywood in general. I don't like it when people have assumptions because actors are the best people I've ever known. And when people not in the business talk about our business, and I don't like it when they say bad things about our business. Hmm. Because it's really full, as you know, of wonderful people.
Steve Kmetko:
It's kept me employed for a long time.
Julia Duffy:
It has. You're right.
Steve Kmetko:
Thank you.
Julia Duffy:
Thank you. Still Here Hollywood is a production of the Still Here Network. All things technical run by Justin Zangerle. Theme music by Brian Sanyshin. And executive producer is Jim Lichtenstein.