Women in TV, Film, and (why not) everywhere!

As I work on my book (and yes, I have only 7 more chapters on which to do a substantial re-write and edit!), I think how lucky I have been to be able to pursue a career that I wanted. It wasn’t always so easy for women to choose anything that excited them and go for it.

I have been lucky in my life that I was born into a family where I had many strong women as role models. My paternal step-grandmother was a judge, a mayor, and was, in general, a no-nonsense kind of woman! My great aunt was an obstetrician, one of the first females to graduate in the early 1900’s with a medical degree. There was also a distant cousin who was an Arctic explorer in the early 1900s! So it never occurred to me that I couldn’t do whatever I wanted because I was a woman. It just never entered my mind.

 In high school, most of my classmates were going on to be either nurses or teachers. It seemed a pretty limited selection to me, but I already knew I was going to be a dancer, so what did I care?

 By the early 1970’s I was living in Los Angeles, and it’s not to say that there weren’t obstacles to overcome as a woman. It was difficult at that time, if not downright impossible, for a woman to buy a house without a father or husband to co-sign. Can you imagine! Do you remember Edith Bunker trying to get a loan at the bank? The 1970s were a tumultuous time with all sorts of reexamination of women’s rights going on, and women such as Gertrude Stein, and Erica Jong and Germaine Greer drawing attention. And of course, the demand for equal rights and the sexual revolution changed so much in how we could lead our lives. It was an intoxicating period, with the promise of greater freedom and power!

 And as I started my transition to my career in costume design, many of the top television producers, stars, designers were women. Think Murphy Brown, Designing Women, and Gilmore Girls. The very first producer who took a chance on me, hiring me for The Facts of Life, was a woman, and many of the producers (and a few directors) I worked for in television subsequently were women, including Penny Marshall, Yvette Lee Bowser, Irma Kalish, and Lisa De Cazotte.

 I still believe that it’s important not to feel that you are coming from behind, but that you are starting from the same start line, and that excellence in what you do is the thing that will propel you forward. Not nepotism, not cronyism, not anything but commitment and talent and passion. Call me naive or an optimist, but I’d like to think even men wouldn’t be dumb enough to ignore someone who is really really really good at what they do!

Then and now: Jason Bateman, Debra Messing, so many more

I know this is going to make me sound (but not feel) frightfully old......but I can’t help but take pleasure in seeing so many actors I have worked with in the past working in today’s TV and films. Not a day goes by when I don’t spot a former “costumee” of mine on the tube or silver screen.  

Case in point: yesterday my husband and I saw the film “Identity Thief”, starring two of “my actors”. Jason Bateman guest starred on the TV series “Ned and Stacey” in the ’90’s, and he seems exactly the same as I remember him. Nice. Unassuming, Gently funny. Gorgeous green eyes. I have a photo of him somewhere on set.

Another actor I actually didn’t recognize in the film at first was Robert Patrick.  I went on IMDB and saw this quote "I think 90% of acting is makeup and wardrobe. The other 10% is what I do here in my office, bouncing off the walls."  Haha, I know actors won't agree (and neither do I completely) but I love the shout-out to make-up and costumes! It actually reminded me of Robert, who showed up late to his fitting for a TV one hour pilot  I was designing called “Snitch”. The next day he showed up to his second fitting on time and said “my wife told me I have to apologize for yesterday and that I was being an ass-hole”! He made me laugh, and we got along great.

I love the TV show “Smash” and watch it religiously every time it is on. It takes me right back to my own Broadway days as a dancer. I’m sure lots of things have changed since then, but it still feels very familiar. And there is fabulous Debra Messing, whom I costumed for two years on the aforementioned Ned and Stacey! Debra was a handful, but I adored her. She refused to allow the producers to coerce me into putting her into padded bras (typical sitcom-think!) and had her own ideas for the bohemian Stacey. We had great fun defining her look. Of course, Thomas Haden Church was even more of a handful, but in a completely different way - droll, stubborn, with that incredible voice. But his wardrobe is one of the looks I created (with his input of course) that I am most proud of. The Atlanta Journal Constitution said “ Thomas Haden Church is one of the best dressed men on TV”.

Then there’s “The Big Bang Theory”, a hit TV comedy. I have two of my former “kids” on it. Mayim Bialek was 12 or 13 when I first costumed her for a pilot spin-off of “The Facts of Life”. She was very funny. She had a scene where she wanted to be more grown up and stuffed socks in her chest. And the self assured young woman who is today Kaley Cuoco was 15 wen I first worked with her on a TV movie with Tony Danza, shot in Vancouver. 

Another successful young woman is Alyson Hannigan, I’m sure known to everyone under 35 for many successful series, now in “How I Met Your Mother”. She was also around 15 when I costumed her in one of her first TV shows, which was cancelled after 12 episodes. She wailed ”I’ll never work again”, which is what we all think when a show is cancelled.

Then there’s Dennis Haysbert, the tall actor with the deep voice who is seen in all the Allstate commercials and played the President in the series “24”. He had a bit part in “The Facts of Life” as a cop. I don’t even remember him. And the high school Principal  Figgins, in “Glee”, Iqbal Theba - he played a bit part on one of my sitcoms.

And of course, my biggest star, George Clooney! We all know what happened to him!

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