Almost non-stop for the better part of the last decade, Courtney Thorne-Smith has been incandescently beamed into our media-driven consciousness via some of prime-time television's biggest pop-culture phenom shows. After a memorable stint as Harry Hamlin's Laker Girl infatuation on "L.A. Law," Thorne-Smith re-surfaced for a five-year bout as the traumatically-challenged but almost always lovable Alison Parker on Aaron Spelling's 'guilty-pleasure' sturm und drang psychosoap, Melrose Place. Immediately after departing that turbulent address, this freshfaced, blonde beauty managed one of the most deft and cunning instant re-inventions in small-screen history, emerging as part of the ensemble of last season's breakout FOX smash "Ally McBeal." With a dash of fantasy and a heavy dose of comedy, the show explores the inner lives and outer selves of a group of young Boston lawyers. Its creator David Kelley has said that part of his motivation in casting Thorne-Smith was that he needed someone who wouldn't be overshadowed in scenes with Calista Flockhart, who plays the title role. Kelley also felt that an actor with such a high TV profile might help the show get sampled initially.
Amidst a sea of quirky brilliance, Courtney's character Georgia is a port in the storm, a graceful beacon of sanity in a world of Fish-isms, Biscuits, foot fetishes, and wattles. Georgia might not exactly be this anything-but-Greek drama's chorus, but she most certainly shares the audiences' wide-eyed wonder at the goings on of the comic ballet surrounding her. Lest we make her sound like the queen of no fun, however, be assured that the righteous Georgia is fully informed by Courtney Thorne-Smith's sexy charm, innate intelligence, wry humor, and enviable strength. And, she gets the guy-in this case, Gil Bellows, who plays Georgia's husband Billy, also Ally's lamented ex; all three are now lawyers at the same firm. Their triangle makes for one of the show's most compelling threads. When Venice caught up with Courtney just after "Ally" wrapped its grueling season, the slightly pooped but radiant, newly-shorn actress shared some thoughts on the past year and other things she's drawn to.
So. The haircut. How can we not start there. What Inspired it? And that moment In the show when Calista gasped, "That ... that ... that haircut!" Her exclamation sounded so real-was it ad libbed?
No. The actors-and David-are that good. Nothing's ad-libbed. This was an idea that David [Kelley] had. I'd been wanting to cut my hair ever since I left "Melrose," but David had wanted it long for "Ally." Calista wanted a cut, too, and we were walking around the set with hairstyle photos in our sweaty little mitts. Then, it just appeared in the script one day Georgia had her hair long, the next it had to be short. In a scene where Billy and Georgia are fighting, she makes a good point and he looks at her in exasperation and says, "Get a haircut!" I jumped at the opportunity, although when I was sitting in the hairdresser's chair, I suddenly thought, "You know what, maybe not." Then I realized, "But I have to!" So I cut it, and I love it.
I guess haircuts are something women get at decisive moments. Your long hair was sort of a trademark, but now, it seems like it's always been this way. Amazing.
I agree. And you know, I look at old shows now, and all I see is hair. So much blonde hair. Now I try to convince everyone to cut it short.
So, how did it happen that you came to be on "Ally?"
Totally lucky blessing. I left "Melrose Place," and I was looking around for a half hour, because one thing I knew was that I was never going to do another one hour show! Well, nothing was working out. I was feeling beaten down, and I called a friend and told her I was going to commit to taking a year off. Well, the very next morning my agent called and said, "David Kelley would like you to play a small part on 'Ally McBeal."' A small part, I thought, I could do that, work maybe one day a week. I told my agent that "It's gotta be small, we've got to commit to it being small." Then, two weeks into it, I marched into David's office and said, "You know, I was kidding about not wanting to work very much." I'd been so adamant, such a brat, and then I realized that, as tired as I was, I wanted to be a part of it.
And Georgia's become such an anchor. How does It feel to have everyone else bouncing off you in all directions?
Actually, I've talked to David about this and he's going to let Georgia have a little bit more fun, but you're right, she needs to be solidly grounded in the middle of it. You know, though, it's fun just to be there. I�d imagine that Georgia and Billy lead pretty staid lives, but they get to go into that world. I mean, / get to go there and watch these actors do what they do. It's so exciting, to see the chemistry of David with his actors. It�s exciting to go to work.
What a great experience to work with someone as talented as David Kelley. What's he like?
He's quiet, but always available. Sometimes he'll appear like a phantom on the set-everybody gets nervous, like 'the teacher's here!' But he really trusts his actors. I've talked to him a few times about things, and they've appeared immediately in the scripts. He's very open to ideas, and he writes everything himself! I feel very well taken care of there, like it's a group effort. We're all working towards the same cause. I think that's quite rare.
You'd worked with him before, on "L.A. Law." Did that previous connection draw you into "Ally?"
I don't know how much of it, if any, was that. I think it was just incredibly lucky timing for me. Melrose was done, I was available, he was looking for something specific and I fit the bill. I was so young when I did "L.A. Law"-20 or 21 1 think. I haven't asked him about it-I'd be terrified to. I was a kid.
Speaking of being a kid, have you always wanted to act?
Yes. As early as kindergarten, but I got shy and along the way didn't think I'd make it professionally, although I kept studying. I thought I'd be a television journalist or a lawyer instead, and I was all set to go to Allegheny College in Pennsylvania. Then, the last month of my senior year-in Mill Valley-20th Century Fox had open call for the film Lucas. They contacted the theatre company I worked with. I tried out and I got it. After that movie, my agent called and said, "Why don't you come down to L.A. for an audition?" I went down for a day and got another part, and I thought, "This is easy," which, of course, it's not, but at the very least, it felt like something I should check out.
Did you ever look back?
You know, I'm wary of should-haves, or could-have-beens. I'm sorry I didn't go to college, because I would have liked to have the experience. I love literature; I read all the time. I really liked school. When I was 21, 1 signed up at Pepperdine, and I went in for the summer session to check it out. I said to my friend who'd gone with me, "How cute, there are all these kids here," and my friend said, "They're your classmates!" I realized in that moment that I'd missed it. That's too bad, yet I wouldn't trade the experience I've had for the world. I'm a veteran of this business at thirty, and that's something.
A veteran, mind you, on the most talked about show on the air. Did you have a sense in the beginning of the hit the show would become?
I knew right away it was something special, and I could see that Calista was incredible. I didn't know for sure that people would get it, because you never know. We've been brainwashed into thinking that the audience doesn't want quality television, but when something quality airs, people embrace it. So we've got to stop that kind of thinking immediately. I'm just thrilled that people love "Ally McBeal," that they love a challenge, something that makes them think.
So when did you get it that they got it?
I think the night of the Golden Globes. But we felt all sides of it. Calista had to go by herself to do press, but the rest of us went together. There we are, all dressed up, thinking we're really cool, getting out of the car feeling like big stars. We wound up walking in between Madonna and Jim Carrey. Then-and this literally happened as we were about to be on camera-the interviewer said, "So, here's the cast of 'Ally McBe...' Wait, there's GEORGE CLOONE),"' They went right past us. It was amazing, as if the universe was saying you're doing really well, but please, keep your heads. How funny. We had a great time. That was the moment.
You've covered a lot of ground to get to that moment. What was it like going directly from Alison to Georgia? Such a 180!
Yes. It's interesting, though. It moves me more deeply to play Georgia. So much hap- pened to Alison that you'd think it would be the opposite, but when you're blinded, and widowed, and divorced, it's almost as if you can't really process any of it. With a show like "Ally McBeal," the story lines have a more natural arc, and I find myself much more affected. With poor Alison, when she was blind, or when she was faking being blind so everyone would keep being nice to her, I wasn't upset, because I knew it wouldn't last long. Everything happened so quickly on "Melrose"-you were a pinball, bouncing from person to person, thing to thing. It was actually odd the last year to work directly with Grant Show for the entire season.
And in true "Melrose" fashion, even though you were both leaving the show, they couldn't let you leave together.. Why can't they let anyone ever be happy?
I know, I was disappointed about that. Someone told me recently that in an upcoming episode Amanda [Heather Locklear's character] calls Alison in Atlanta and she's fallen off the wagon and can't hold down a job. Poor thing, she moves 3,000 miles away and still can't get it together.
But you bounced right back ... except for that name, Billy. You just can't get away from it.
It's so funny. That's literally how I define the change. Here's the real difference between Alison and Georgia: Alison says 'BiiIIIIEEE.' [Andrew Shue's "Melrose" character], and Georgia says 'Billy.' Alison never didn't whine. Georgia never would.
What a relief! It could have been so much tougher.
That's so true. Part of what's difficult about this industry as an actor is that people think they know you. They like to think they understand what you can do, which is why, on another level, it's such an incredible gift that David Kelley gave to me. Because he valued something in me that most people didn't want to see right then.
And "Ally" really allows for a wide range of emotion. You laugh and cry within the same episode. What was it like playing Georgia during the time her marriage was threatened?
Without realizing it, I got so connected to the writing. For a long time, Georgia was in denial about it all, but Courtney, that was another story! I remember one day specifically, we were doing the sperm show [a plot line involving a jar of semen being rushed from an incarcerated man to his spouse], and Calista and I were laughing, having a grand time. Then I took a break and started reading the next week's script. There was a scene where Billy and Ally are talking secretively, and I felt so wronged. I, Courtney, felt wronged by Calista. I came back in such a foul mood, and Calista's wondering, "What's going on with you?" I was about to lose it, and then the script had Georgia snapping and I thought, "Oh, thank God. And thank you David, because I really need this release!" It's amazing how his writing can make you feel so intensely. When Gil [Bellows] and I did the show where we argue about Ally, it was so hard. We looked at each other and said, "Well, of course it's hard, what more difficult thing can married people go through?' Suddenly, when the scene was done, we felt fine again, and thought , "Ohhh- the writing's that good."
It must be great, this time around, to play a character who can be bowed but not broken. Georgia's such a strong woman-a role model.
I think there are actually a lot of powerful female characters on the show. Look at Dyan Cannon-she's a judge, she's an older woman, and she's our sexiest character. What's really outstanding is that the cast features strong women playing strong women. We talk about it a lot. All of us on the show, women and men, are completely different personalities, very distinct, but the chemistry is perfect. You couldn't put seven less alike people together, and I think in a way it takes away the competition and highlights our strengths, because the characters are so different. It's never, "Oh, I should be doing that part, or she should be doing this." It's so clear why each of us is doing exactly what we're doing. It's so great working as part of a true ensemble.
As you mentioned, David Kelley seems to understand women so well, and is able to create so many fully blown female characters. Is that surprising to you?
People ask me that all the time. I'm spoiled-I'm so used to it, I don't even think about it. It's that David doesn't necessarily think of characters as men and women, he just thinks of them as people. He also has a productive sense of not worrying about what people think. David writes like all of us wish we could write-he doesn't hear a judgmental voice. He may argue that point, but I don't think there's a little person on his shoulder saying, "People won't like that." He just writes what he thinks is funny, and real. Someone told me once that if I wanted to write, to proceed as if it was to my best friend, to a person who loves everything I say anyway. I see that in David Kelley. He writes to his best audience, to someone who totally gets it.
David Kelley is clearly an admirable talent. Who else do you admire?
I truly respect Jodie Foster's work, and her directing. I also really like Jennifer Jason Leigh. I think she's very courageous. My biggest inspiration though, is Katherine Hepburn. I love her. What I'd most like to emulate about her, though I'm not there yet, is that I think she really didn't care what any-body else thought. It's incredible in a woman today, and even more so in her era, when you think of the rules women were supposed to live by. The choices she made, and the roles she played, were so strong. She had faith in herself, and that can be so difficult. I think society, too, often tells us that, "OK, you can be tough, but you're gonna be alone." You know, the reality is, whatever choices you make you could be alone. I think that complete freedom doesn't come until you don't care what people think.
That's a hard place to get to, particularly in Hollywood, where so much is about image.
I know. I was on "Melrose Place" for five years, and that was all about physical image. That's part of why I left-I couldn't do that to myself anymore. I mean, all the "Melrose" women were very attractive, yet there was lots of insecurity about physicali-ty. And I would always think no, no, you don't get to be insecure when you're in the top .02 percent. It's not OK. It's insanity. But that's the environment. We'd come back after hiatus and say to each other, "God, I felt so good about my body all sum-mer, until I had to come back here. Suddenly I don't feel good anymore." It's amazing what we're asked as women to maintain. We're supposed to eat well and keep our lives together and still be size twos. Some people can do that. Heather Locklear can eat corned beef hash all day, and she's tiny, she just has that metabo-lism. She actually said to me once-and thank god I love her-"Courtney, you're lucky you have to watch what you eat, because then you eat more healthfully.' And she's eating a donut all the while she's saying it, and I just think, yeah, that's adorable. But you know what? I wanted the donut.
Speaking of hiatus, any plans for your summer breather?
Friends. Catching up. I want to have a life. I'll spend some quality time with my dogs George and Ed. They've been doing too much waiting at home for me-they need a better schedule. They're starting to sleep under the covers, with their heads on the pillows.
So, you'll see her this September. Now, Courtney Thorne-Smith is taking a donut break. Bygones.
[In the meantime, you can catch "Ally reruns at least through the end of this month on Mondays at 9PM on FOX.]
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