Jessica Walter, who is perhaps best known to TV audiences for starring as Lucille Bluth in 'Arrested Development,' next appears in TV Land's 'Retired at 35.'
In 'Retired at 35,' Jessica Walter plays a retiree whose son moves home to Florida.
Jessica Walter is nothing like her famous "Arrested Development" character, Lucille Bluth. She doesn't torture her relatives, berate the help or swill martinis. The Brooklyn-born, Queens-raised comic powerhouse is warm, even cuddly. She's married to a guy she actually likes. She has an adorable Labrador named Reggie.
"I'm about to do a guest spot on 'The Big Bang Theory,' and I play a matron from Pasadena with big money," she laughs. "I don't know why I get those parts but I know I'm lucky, because the other parts, the Ms. Vanilla Ice Cream sweet parts, are so boring."
Wednesday her new sitcom, "Retired at 35," hits TV Land. She plays a retiree whose son moves home to Florida, fed up with his job. The son arrives just in time to see his mother (Walter) and father (George Segal) break up and make up. The show is a companion to TV Land's surprise hit "Hot in Cleveland" and takes the bed-hopping up a notch.
It's Walter's chance to show her softer side -- but she's never without bite. Her retired housewife, Elaine, takes up painting partly for the muscled models in her life-drawing class. The original script called for Elaine to skip town at the end of the pilot, but with Walter on board, the rewrites gave her a core role and added to her jam-packed slate of projects.
On the eve of her 70th birthday, she talks Broadway, blizzards and her FX cartoon, "Archer."
You've starred with George Segal before, haven't you?
I played his ex-wife on "Just Shoot Me," the mother of Laura San Giacomo. And I had done a movie with George in the '60s, "Bye Bye Braverman." It wasn't a hit but it was a lovely little movie -- Sidney Lumet directed. So we've actually known each other for over 40 years.
Do you still live in the city?
Between Central Park West and Columbus in the 80s, upper West Side. And we have a house in Pound Ridge.
You're about to do "Anything Goes" on Broadway with Sutton Foster and Joel Grey. Who do you play?
I am playing Mrs. Evangeline Harcourt. She's the mother of Hope Harcourt, who's the ingénue in the show. ... Kathleen Marshall is directing and choreographing. I mean, I'm so excited to work with these people, I can't even tell you."
When was the last time you were on Broadway?
From 1988 to 1990, in Neil Simon's "Rumors" -- my husband, Ron Leibman, and I were both in it.
Was that how you met?
We met through my friend Brenda Vaccaro. She's a wonderful actress. She was in a movie with Ron called "Zorro, the Gay Blade." They were filming in Mexico and they had a break at Christmastime, and Ron came to her house. I've said to her, "You've done a lot of things to me, Brenda, but this was the best!" We had our 25th anniversary two years ago.
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