Interview: Mariette Hartley (Pt. 3)
BY CINDY ELAVSKY
Sunday, July 25, 2010
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,” in
which she was co-starring with
James, a photog snapped a pic of
the kiss and passed it off as a “real”
kiss, insinuating tthe actors were
cheating on their spouses.
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.
“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!”
Associated Images:
‘I started acting when I was 10.’
– Mariette Hartley
Courtesy
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