In a wide-ranging new interview with Vulture, Oscar-nominated actress and American treasure Kathleen Turner touched upon one moment in her career that’s memorable to anyone with a television set in the ’90s.
Turner played Chandler’s (Matthew Perry) father, Charles Bing/Helena Handbasket in three episodes, but apparently, things weren’t so familial backstage.
“I’ll be quite honest, which is my wont: I didn’t feel very welcomed by the cast,” Turner said, referring to Perry, Jennifer Anniston, Courtney Cox, David Schwimmer, Lisa Kudrow and Matt LeBlanc. “The Friends actors were such a clique — but I don’t think my experience with them was unique. I think it was simply that they were such a tight little group that nobody from the outside mattered.”
“I remember I was wearing this difficult sequined gown — and my high heels were absolutely killing me,” she recalled of filming one episode. “I found it odd that none of the actors thought to offer me a seat. Finally it was one of the older crew members that said, ‘Get Miss Turner a chair.’“
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For shame!
She went on:
“Maybe if I’d had months to work with them, I’d be in a better position to evaluate their skill. But I could only judge based on the period I worked on the show, which wasn’t long.”
She did have a few kind words to add:
“I do respect the camaraderie they had,” she said. “You can see camaraderie on the screen. When I did Body Heat with Larry Kasdan and Bill Hurt, we rehearsed significantly before shooting and there was a familiarity before the camera rolled. You see it in the film.
Turner also spoke about working with Burt Reynolds in 1988’s Switching Channels — and it sounds much worse the Friends clique.
“Working with Burt Reynolds was terrible. The first day Burt came in he made me cry. He said something about not taking second place to a woman. His behavior was shocking.
“It never occurred to me that I wasn’t someone’s equal. I left the room sobbing. I called my husband and said, ‘I don’t know what to do.’ He said, ‘You just do the job.’ It got to be very hostile because the crew began taking sides. But as for the performance, I was able to put the negativity aside. I’m not convinced Burt was.”
Xzamilloh
I’m not surprised to hear about Burt Reynolds. That’s man’s assholishness is a known thing.
Xzamilloh
*THAT
Good lord, I’m done commenting on my phone with this aggressive autocorrect
brianlange
In retrospect, he declared bankruptcy so you should be grateful he did not try to borrow some money for you.
DCguy
No surprise that the friends cast, many of whom has been acting for years as kids were a bunch of spoiled thoughtless people.
Greg
She might have thought it at the time, but why would any of the cast members have to think to offer her a seat? Were they all seated and Kathleen left standing? Kathleen should have said something about getting a chair.
justgeo
So What? I always found her to be a pretentious sow very full of herself a one note actress.
Not that the cast was anything great ‘cept for Lisa K. They kinda learned to act by doing the show.
Not a hater just too yuppie breeder for my taste.
Brian
The #1 best example she has is that she stood up instead of sitting in a chair?
Sounds like a real nightmare of a workplace… if you’re a demanding millionaire who understands little of the world.
Heywood Jablowme
This made me think of Tsaritsa Alexandra on the last night of her life, she asked for a chair and the Bolsheviks gave her a chair!… hey, you just gotta ask… (& then, oh never mind…)
People here seem to be really taking sides on this one! She was good on the show I thought, but it’s not unusual for young people to be oblivious about older folks’ problems.
broadshoulder
I remember at the time C4 doing a special while filming in London with Johnny Vaughan. They kept him waiting and then done interviews with the cast.The friends wern’t interested. Matthew Perry and Matt LeBlanc wern’t even paying attention. And in the corner were Jennifer Saunders and June Whitfield patiently awaitig their turn
Went off the show after this
jpcolter
So Kathleen wasn’t able to ask for a stupid chair herself? What an idiot.
ShowMeGuy
I worked at a theme park with a glass blower craftsman who went to college with Kathleen Turner and John Goodman at what is now called Missouri State University….one morning this coworker was opening mail as we drove to work. He had birthday cards…..and here was a birthday card from John Goodman. He proceeds to tell me about the “good old days” of college with him, John, and Kathleen all doing theater department stuff together. My coworker gets real quiet and then out of nowhere he says…… “Yeah, Kathleen Turner is a real bitch.”. I got to laughing so hard that I was afraid I was going to run off the road.