Interview: Brenda Strong (Pt. 1)
When I reached out to the paid-subscriber population a few weeks ago and asked those folks to pitch me on people they wanted me to try and interview for the site, I have to admit that I was as surprised as anyone that I was able to successfully secure some of their selections. The first, as you probably remember, was Nelson Franklin, and right before I wrote this intro, I conducted another reader-request interview: Gary Anthony Williams. So let that be a reminder to you that if you’ve been considering making the jump to paid subscriber, the folks who’ve already done that are definitely reaping the benefits, because I’m making at least some of their dreams come true…
Which brings us to Brenda Strong, who—to echo the sentiments of the reader who requested this interview—has been in everything. This, of course, is not to say that I had time to ask her about everything, but I certainly gave it the old college try, and the end results of that conversation are a lot of fun.
Read on…
Brenda Strong: Thanks for inviting me! That was very kind of you.
Oh, it's my pleasure. In fact, it was actually a reader request: I put out a call for suggestions, a reader named Kirsty said, "How about Brenda Strong? She's been in everything!"
Yeah, I'm old. [Laughs.] I've been around awhile.
It happens to the best of us. Well, I'll ask you the obligatory secret-origin question first: how did you find your way into acting in the first place?
Secret origin... You know, it's so funny, because I grew up in the Pacific Northwest, and I didn't know any actors. I mean, I watched them on TV, but I didn't know them personally, so it never occurred to me that it would be a career choice. But I was always involved in dance and musicals and choir, and I was a very big performing arts kid in high school. And my dad, who was a college counselor, came to see me in The Music Man. I was playing Marian the librarian, and my sister - who is now a doctor and is very kind of logical - was sitting next to him, crying. And he looked over at her, and he looked up at me onstage, and he said, "I think she might need to do this as a living. [Laughs.] So he gave me something called the Strong Vocational Interest Blank, which is now called the Strong Inventory.
It has nothing to do with my last name. It was invented by a man named Strong back in the '30s or '40s. But it actually tests your personality against people who do certain careers, and it says whether or not you'd be happy in that career. And he thought, "Well, I don't want to encourage her to go into performing arts if she's not going to be happy doing it." So he gave me this test, and I scored off the hundredth percentile as a performer. So it was performing arts, social work, teaching, public speaking, and creative writing...and I've included all of those things in my career! But it really wasn't until the Oregon Shakespeare Company came through my high school performing that I realized, "Wait a minute, they're not students, they're actually adults, and they're still doing this." So I ended up going to a performing arts university and got a degree in musical theater - singing, acting, dancing - and then took it from there.
I was going back through IMDb, which has a tendency to be inaccurate at times, but I'm guessing that certainly one of your first TV appearances was on St. Elsewhere.
It's one of my first, for sure. In fact, I remember - and I don't know if you noticed - that Leo Penn, Sean Penn's dad, was the director of that episode, and I turned to Ed Begley, Jr., because... I came from theater, so I'm used to really collaborating with the director and building a character and being spoken to. And Leo never said anything to me during the filming. So I turned to Ed and I said, "He's not telling me anything!" And Ed said, "Oh, no, that's a good thing." [Laughs.] "It's okay. You're doing fine. If he's not telling you anything, just keep doing what you're doing."
It's amazing how many people on that show have gone on to bigger things.
Denzel Washington...
Mark Harmon...
Yeah, Mr. Television himself. [Laughs.]
And looking at another one of your early roles, believe it or not, I actually did an oral history of Misfits of Science.
[Incredulous.] NO.
Yes. I'm sorry I didn't get your input for that.
Wow. Yeah, Miss Speedway. That was shortly thereafter. From Spaceballs, which was one of my first feature film roles, think I just did a series of women who had long legs and...it was all about the physical. I was actually recently talking to Delroy Lindo, who I'm currently working with, and I said, "You know, early on in my career, I was so frustrated because I kept getting cast in these kind of bimbo roles, and I had really gotten into acting to illuminate the human condition." [Laughs.] I remember going home to my mother after I had scored a few roles and complaining that I didn't feel like I was fulfilling my purpose. And she actually said to me, "Brenda, never underestimate your impact with the people you're working with. Even if you're not getting the roles you're really, truly enjoying, never underestimate the impact you have on the people you're working with." And that actually gave me an encouragement to continue without feeling like I was just doing, y'know, fluff roles.
Was there a particular point where you felt like you'd really settled into a proper career in acting, as opposed to just doing one-off roles here and there?
You know, I think... [Pauses, then laughs.] You know, it's interesting, because I was thinking about that, and I was thinking, "When did I feel like I really started clicking in?" And it was right after Seinfeld. It was right after Sue Ellen Mishke, which you wouldn't think is a serious role, because...it's not! But I was working with serious people, like Julia [Louis Dreyfus), and everybody attacked the comedy with such professionalism and such commitment. And it was right after that that I got Party of Five. And I think it was during Party of Five that I really started feeling, like, "I'm getting to play an arc." It was a six-episode arc, and it really had a shape to it, and I really enjoyed working with the directors that I was working with. So I think that was the beginning of me feeling like, "Okay, now I have some runway."
Actually, one of my readers asked about the unlikelihood of you being in an episode of The John Larroquette Show with Warren Frost years before you both appeared on Seinfeld. But I hadn't even thought about the fact that you were also both on Twin Peaks.
Yes! I mean, there's all these amazing little overlaps with people who were known for other things. Bryan Cranston and I worked together on an episode of Malcolm in the Middle. When you come up through the ranks, it's a little different than just all of a sudden arriving and you're Brad Pitt or whoever. There's kind of a workman's ethic, I guess, to careers that take a little longer. Even George Clooney, who took a long time to finally land and become George Clooney. I feel like we all kind of have our trajectories, and every path is different. My son is an actor, and I've been telling him, "It's okay, your journey is going to be different than your friends' journeys. Everybody finds their own definitive role that pushes them into the public eye."
I've got a stock question that I've been asking everyone that's been getting good results, so I'll ask it of you as well: who was the first person you remember working with where you had to fight the instinct to fangirl?
To fangirl? Oh, I love that question! That's such a great question! Um...I'll tell you one where I didn't that's really embarrassing, and then I'll tell you one where I did.
I was doing the "You Look Marvelous" video... You know the whole character of Fernando with Billy Crystal that's based on the Saturday Night Live character that he developed? He did the music video, and he had all of these celebrities kind of popping in with cameos on his video. And this was right after St. Elsewhere. Howie Mandel said, "Oh, you should cast Brenda, because she's tall, and you want someone who can dance, and she can do that." So I actually ended up posting a picture of us on my Instagram recently, so if people want to go look for that picture, it's there! It's kind of a 1920s film-noir black and white tango we're doing. We ended up on the cover of Life Magazine, which was phenomenal.
I actually remember that video, I must admit.
Well, long story short, while we're in the middle of filming, Billy and I became very friendly, and he decided it would be fun to introduce me to Sting. So he walked me over to the next soundstage, where Sting was filming a music video, and I think that's actually how he ended up in our video. It was just happenstance that he was there! But Billy said, "Brenda, this is Sting; Sting, this is Brenda." And I said, "Hello." And I just casually walked away. [Laughs.] No fangirling, no "oh, my God, I love your music!" I didn't do any of that. And I think Sting was a little bit, like, "What just happened?" My husband loves telling that story, because it's the perfect example of how oblivious I can be to certain icons.
But I think the first person I ever fangirled over...was probably Michelle Pfeiffer. When I met her, because I was such a fan of her work, and I just have so much respect for her. She didn't know I was fangirling because, y'know, I'm a pro, and I just showed up. But secretly inside I was just, like, "Omigod, this is Michelle Pfeiffer and I'm playing her best friend, I can't believe this!" [Laughs.]
And then we ended up becoming very friendly afterwards, actually, and we had so much in common. It just made me realize that everybody is a person first. They're an actor second, and we all have our lanes of how famous or not famous we are, but the truth is, we all get up in the morning and put one shoe on at a time, brush our teeth, take care of our dogs and our families...
I admit that I'm a Trekkie, so I enjoyed your episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation.
Oh, thank you! Okay, so I am a huge Trekkie. People don't realize what a huge geek I am, but...I actually have a very good Star Trek story for you! That was one of my favorite shows to do because I am such a Trekkie, and I started becoming a Trekkie at six years old. I started watching the O.G., the original Star Trek, with William Shatner, and... [Starts to laugh.] I was standing on a boulder, waiting for my sister to come over the bridge - we lived near a river - and she was bringing elephant peanuts, and I was going to go to the zoo the next day with the first grade. And I got so excited that I started jumping up and down...and this boulder was my bridge. It was the Star Trek Enterprise bridge, and it was where I would pretend to be Captain Kirk. And I would stand there and I would tell Scotty to fix the engines and ask Uhura to open a channel and all that. So I was jumping up and down on this boulder...and it went out from under me. And I ended up falling down about 14 or 15 feet to the road below, and the boulder landed on my leg. And I ended up getting a 26-stitch scar!
Cut to years later. I end up getting a Boston Legal episode, and I'm going to be working with William Shatner, who is someone that I idolized. I mean, he is Captain Kirk! So we get through the entire first day of filming on Boston Legal, and I'm playing a judge—a sexy judge, apparently! So they're turning the cameras around, and I go up and I say, "Bill?" And he said, "Yes?" I said, "I have something to show you." And I start to lift up my judge's robe—just to my knee—to show him my scar. And he's, like, "Whoa, whoa, whoa! Do we need to go to my trailer?" [Laughs.] I'm, like, "No, we don't need to... Would you just... Look, I have this scar because of you! I was pretending to be you when I was six years old!" And I explained the whole story to him, and he laughed.
But literally, on the jungle gym at my grade school, I used to use the jungle gym as the Enterprise, and I would cast all of the roles of the kids and make them play, and we'd go to different galaxies. So, yes, I'm with you. I'm a Trekkie, too!
Well, just to give you an idea of the level of minutiae we're dealing with here, I have one reader who said, "All I want to hear about is Shadow Chasers," but then he demurred and said, "Okay, maybe Grapevine, too."
Oh, Grapevine was great! I loved working on Grapevine. That was really fun. And, in fact, I worked with Terry Farrell, who was also on Deep Space Nine! So we share that in common as well. But Shadow Chasers... Man, that was a strange show! [Laughs.]
I was playing an exercist, someone who teaches aerobics and exorcises ghosts... I mean, who writes these things? [Laughs.] But I was, like, "Okay!" The irony was that I had taught aerobics after college for Richard Simmons as one way of paying for my rent when I was first in L.A., before I got my Screen Actors Guild card, so I had been teaching aerobics! So it was kind of a natural fit. But the whole exorcism thing, I was just, like, "Okay, I...guess I can handle this!"
Well, I will say that something I hadn't realized until doing my research for our conversation is that you actually made a brief appearance on the original incarnation of Dallas before securing your more substantial role in the series revival.
Yeah, that was an interesting time. Ken Kercheval and I were supposed in a 24-hour one-night stand tryst, and...Ken comes up to my bellybutton. [Laughs.] So it was funny because, when we did the reboot, Ken came on the show, and I'm, like, "Ken, do you remember me?" And he was, like, "Oh, yes, I remember you." So it was pretty funny. But, yeah, that was kind of during that era I was talking about, where I was being cast in bimbo roles, so....we can categorize that as one of the pre-interesting parts.
How did you enjoy doing the revival? I for one was tuning in regularly from the get-go.
Good for you! There were a lot of people who were, actually. We had a huge fanbase, so I think everyone was shocked when TNT opted to not continue after season three. And I really have to take my hat off to the writers, because they pivoted very quickly after Larry [Hagman] passed away to regroup and bring together a season three and change the arc of season two. Cynthia Cidre and Robert Rovner did a great job at holding the cast together, and it was one of those meta moments when life and art kind of collide. And because Larry was such dear friends with Linda [Gray] and Patrick [Duffy], it was a really challenging time as a cast to not feel devastated by it. And at the same time, they knew that Larry wouldn't want us to not continue, because Larry was just a consummate showman.
Yeah, I'll just throw in that I was at the TCA press tour when they did the initial panel for the revival, and I still have a file on my digital recorder labeled "Larry Hagman Scrum," because after the panel ended, he just held court onstage.
Oh, yeah, he did that. He's the king of the one-liners. He's so fast. He and I actually hit it off, and in a lot of ways I think that was the beginning of everyone accepting me as Ann [Ewing], because those are pretty big shoes to fill as Bobby's wife, especially for the fans. The fans have their favorites, and coming in as a totally new character with all of that rich history behind me... I was very concerned as to whether they were going to accept Ann or not. But I think once I got the shotgun and went after the intruder during the pilot, I think everyone went, "Oh, yeah, she'll be fine." [Laughs.]
And Larry and I... Well, to bring it back to fangirling again, I also had a huge crush on Larry Hagman growing up, and it was really from I Dream of Jeannie days, not the Dallas days. It was because I watched him constantly in I Dream of Jeannie...and I even dressed as Jeannie two years - my 10th and 11th Halloween years. And Larry and I were going to a cattleman fundraiser - like, a ball in Dallas - and we were going in his Airstream together and being driven there, and we were talking, and I mention this. Finally, after working with him for two years, I said, "Larry, I have something to confess: I used to wish I was Jeannie. And I dressed as her two years in a row for Halloween." And without missing a beat, he just went, "Do you have pictures?" "Larry, I was 10 and 11!" "I know. Do you have pictures?" He was always completely taking you off your center.
I mentioned Twin Peaks in passing a minute ago, but the one specific question I wanted to ask was about the experience of being directed by Diane Keaton.
Oh, can I just tell you? That was such a delight. I don't know if you noticed on IMDb or not, because it's harder to find, but I've been directed recently, and I was actually calling back to the experience with Diane, because it was the first time I had been directed by an actor, and I was watching her at video village go through every single nuanced beat that was happening in front of her on the screen. I mean, she was just riveted. Just completely engaged in what the actors were doing in front of her. And so vivacious and so fun! And that episode in particular was crazy, because David Warner and I...
You know, we had only been cast to come on for two episodes, I think, and he and I didn't really know anything about our characters. So I was, like, "Let's make it up! Let's make up an interesting backstory, just so that we have some fun!" So he and I concocted this great back story for ourselves, so we were bringing all that to the table. But in that particular episode, we were supposed to speak Afrikaans, in an Afrikaans dialect. So I went down to the consulate, I did all my research, I took my lines and I phonetically recorded them with the person at the consulate... David did none of that! [Laughs.] So during our lines where we were exchanging this Afrikaans conversation, he just couldn't remember any of his lines and kept dropping them! And that threw me off, and it was so nonsensical, but it was so perfect for the show, because everything was a little nonsensical. If people talked in tongues, who cares? It was, like, "Oh, it's just Twin Peaks!"
And what's so funny is that I went to Dortmund, Germany in... I think it was 2019 - it was right before COVID - for one of the Comic-Cons, and David was there. It was the first time I had seen him since we'd worked together on Twin Peaks, and I saw him sitting at a table with a gallery of about three or four friends, and I decided, "I'm just gonna walk over to him and just tell him who I am, because I can't imagine that he would remember." So I just walked up and said, "David, hi, I'm Brenda Strong, and I don't know if you remember, but we worked together on Twin Peaks..." He said, "Remember? How could I forget? You're the only onstage screen kiss I've ever had!" I said, "Oh, really?" He said, "Yes!" So that was delightful.
By the way, you asked me about fangirling... You know, when I did Spaceballs with Mel Brooks, he took me out to lunch with his wife [Anne Bancroft], and I was a huge fan of The Graduate. And it's ironic, because this pilot I'm doing now - which has turned into a series! - with Kerry Washington and Delroy Lindo - I'm tailor-making my character a little bit after Mrs. Robinson. So it's funny how life and art just... You never know when you're going to call back to things. But that was an amazing lunch.
Years later, I was having lunch with my agent in Beverly Hills, and she looked outside, and she went, "Oh, Brenda! That's Mel Brooks!" And I said, "Oh, would you like to meet him?" And she goes, "You know him?" I'm, like, "Do you not know my resume?" [Laughs.] "It was one of the first things I ever did! Come on..."
So I grabbed her hand, and I walked out, and I said, "Mr. Brooks, I'm sorry to interrupt you, but I just wanted to say thank you, because you started me on an incredible career, and I'm so happy all these years later, and it's really because you gave me my first role." And he looked at me and said, "Oh, that's so nice!" [A beat.] "Who are you?" [Laughs.] And I said, "I'm Brenda Strong, I played Nurse Gretchen in Spaceballs." And he goes, "Oh! Oh, yeah! You were good!" I said, "Thanks, and this is my agent..."
He's the best. I've talked to him before, and he was so nice.
He's such an incredible man. And so bright, and just so facile. And he just loves life. He's so respected in our industry. I feel blessed to have known him even a little bit.
Thanks for working in my question! Even if she didn’t elaborate on it, it set her off on an interesting digression, and that’s totally cool!
Just became a paid subscriber, and yes, I DID enjoy everything I just read and Brenda Strong is the BEST and I wish I had suggested her. Great interview Will. Can't wait to read more.