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Christine Baranski: a class act

This profile of her in the Guardian is basically a love letter, but she sounds like she deserves this.

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by Anonymousreply 59January 26, 2022 7:39 AM
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by Anonymousreply 1January 17, 2022 5:34 AM

I was never more shocked than when I learned she was married to BILLY CLYDE, the bogeyman from my childhood! I know, Mary!

by Anonymousreply 2January 17, 2022 5:37 AM
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by Anonymousreply 3January 17, 2022 5:42 AM

She gets to make out LOTS with a sexy mustachioed Gary Cole, as he plays her husband on Good Fight. They both seem to genuinely enjoy working with each other.

by Anonymousreply 4January 17, 2022 5:42 AM

Had dinner with her once. She's just great!

by Anonymousreply 5January 17, 2022 6:12 AM

Fuck Christine. After I read the Juliana Margulies interview where she said CB taught her how to deal with fans (basically, belittle and demean them), i lost all respect for her.

“One of my favorite moments with Christine was this past May,” Margulies said in her onstage tribute to Baranski at the Manhattan Theatre Club’s fall benefit Monday night. “She and I decided that we would go to the China exhibit at the Met, and of course neither of us thought what the consequences of that could be, the two of us together looking at spectacular clothes in a public place. And lo and behold, there was The Good Wife’s demographic, meandering around the museum and ogling us like chimps in a zoo.” As Margulies recalled, the crowds began to close in, which produced two very different reactions. “I get very flustered in these situations,” she said. “I get red and I stutter, and I never know what to say when someone comes and asks for a picture because I want to hide, and then I don’t want them to feel bad, so I say, ‘Yes, let’s just, could you just be quick?’ hoping that no one else will see and I can go about my day. But not Christine. Let me show you how Dame Christine handles oglers at a zoo.” Margulies took a step back and put on her best yokel accent. “‘Oh my God, it’s Alicia, it’s Diane! Oh my God, can we have a picture? Can we do a selfie?’” Cue the spot-on Baranski impression: “‘Oh no, darling, don’t be silly.’ Then she walks away. Just like that, she just walked away, and they looked stupid for asking! And they felt bad! And I was in awe.”

by Anonymousreply 6January 17, 2022 6:20 AM

Class act? More like a cunt.

by Anonymousreply 7January 17, 2022 6:23 AM

[quote] “I have never publicly gone into that,” says Baranski when I ask about Shepherd. “Yes, there were issues, but I prefer to take the higher ground and say, look, that show gave me so much. I was fine working with her. Politically, it did get difficult, but I wish her well.”

by Anonymousreply 8January 17, 2022 6:30 AM

"Oh no, Darling, don't be silly" is the perfect way to deal with demanding fans who want you to stop what you're doing to take a selfie with them.

by Anonymousreply 9January 17, 2022 7:36 AM

[quote]This profile of her in the Guardian is basically a love letter

Hadley Freeman is a fantastic writer. The Guardian are lucky to have her.

She's incredibly honest about her interviews, even when they don't go well.

by Anonymousreply 10January 17, 2022 7:41 AM

She shit on the floor of Betty’s dressing room when she was an extra on Golden Girls…..yet I got the blame!!!!!

by Anonymousreply 11January 17, 2022 9:02 AM

Those stars owe me! I watch them every week! I am just as important as them! They are acting like they are better than me!

by Anonymousreply 12January 17, 2022 12:12 PM

Always enjoy her work in film. My personal favourite is The Ref (1993) in which she stars with Kevin Spacey (who is actually good in it) and Judy Davis (playing herself - a miserable cunt). Lot and lots of fun.

by Anonymousreply 13January 17, 2022 12:20 PM

I met an actress who was a background extra on Cybil who told the story of how CB was a total kind pro on set and CS was a total cunt.

by Anonymousreply 14January 17, 2022 12:26 PM

Juliana Margulies doesn't need any tutoring from Christine Baranski on how to dismiss those she deems beneath her. Juliana has a long standing reputation of being nasty to service people and fans and her "I get red and stutter and don't know what to say...." act is laughable.

by Anonymousreply 15January 17, 2022 12:30 PM

Check her out in an early episode of "Law & Order" with her real teeth.

by Anonymousreply 16January 17, 2022 12:50 PM

NOTES FROM A FORMER CBS-er's DIARY.....About a year into the run of CYBILL, after it had made its dent but as Cybill had started to wield more creative control, benefitting her as it reduced her co-star, Baranski asked for an audience with the CBS prez. She showed up at the appointed hour with two videocassettes, one from season one and one from then-current season. I wasn't in the meeting but afterward we heard that her message was: "You can't tell me these shows are from the same series." She toughed it out for another two years, but she'd made her point: That CYBILL had become bad, which it had, wasn't on her and if it wasn't going to change she at least wanted that known. (Of course, CB got her own starring vehicle on CBS after CYBILL ended, called WELCOME TO NEW YORK. Produced in NYC, the sitcom apparently involved a deal point that CBS provide CB with a place to live in NYC for the run of the show, despite the fact that she already had one. But that's another thread.)

by Anonymousreply 17January 17, 2022 1:06 PM

Margulies comes off as an entitled cunt in that story. Oh poor her not being able to enjoy the museum. She sounds ungrateful. Shut the fuck up and stay home.

by Anonymousreply 18January 18, 2022 2:04 AM

Sounds like Baranski created a character for herself early in life. You could call her way of speaking an affectation.

I admire that she's stayed in good physical shape and she's 69. Also, she looks good, truly. She hasn't had obvious plastic surgery and fillers.

by Anonymousreply 19January 18, 2022 2:19 AM

Also, cool that she never changed her last name.

by Anonymousreply 20January 18, 2022 2:20 AM

R8 From that quote it sounds like while they were clearly not best friends, Christine was fine working with Cybill. I am sure if the show had got renewed for another season Christine would have been there to pick up a paycheck and get on with it. If it had been really bad she could have quit while she was the breakout star but it was obviously a work situation she could deal with.

by Anonymousreply 21January 18, 2022 6:27 PM

[quote] Also, she looks good, truly

But Baranski is cross-eyed and has a nose like something from 'Chitty Chitty Bang Bang' or 'Th Grinch'.

It's going to be hard for me to stop tittering when I eventually get to see 'Gilded Age'.

by Anonymousreply 22January 18, 2022 6:45 PM

I'm an old lesbian (63), and I'd sleep with her. There's something about her I just think is ferociously attractive.

So sue me.

by Anonymousreply 23January 18, 2022 6:57 PM

r22 is just being snarky, r23, because he thinks it's cute. She's an attractive, even striking, woman.

by Anonymousreply 24January 18, 2022 6:59 PM

Op please do not post articles that are not snarky and cunty. Tia.

by Anonymousreply 25January 18, 2022 7:01 PM

[quote] She's an attractive, even striking, woman.

I'd strike her.

And then put her over my knees.

by Anonymousreply 26January 18, 2022 7:01 PM

With Christine I find her voice and diction to be her best asset.

I found The Good Fight by accident while visiting a friend. She is excellent in it.

The whole show, cast and writing, is really worth taking a look.

As for the Mama Mia stuff, well I guess it's cute. A lot of wasted talent in that franchise.

As for Cybil, she is on her way to Faye Dunaway status.

I'm glad Christine has won.

by Anonymousreply 27January 18, 2022 7:22 PM

I love Christine. I don't always like what she's IN, but I do consistently like interviews she's given and a lot of her projects.

I still cannot believe she was married to Matthew Cowles, the actor who played Billy Clyde Tuggle on All My Children. For those who may not be aware - the role was essentially king shit of the rednecks, and even for daytime, it was so over the top that Rip Taylor, Charo and Liberace would have been all, "Honey, you've GOT to tone it down." And it's even more shocking that Cowles' family was not rednecks, but rather the megawealthy Drexel family.

by Anonymousreply 28January 18, 2022 7:27 PM

Baranski has such a strange look, she looks jarring in the trailers for The Gilded Age. #

She doesn't have a face that's too tight or waxy from surgery but she doesn't look like she could have existing during the Victorian era.

by Anonymousreply 29January 18, 2022 7:29 PM

I'm sure after witnessing how Julianna treated Archie on the set of The Good Wife, Baranski was able to put the Cybill experience into better perspective.

Cybill may be difficult, but Julianna just comes off as completely awful.

by Anonymousreply 30January 18, 2022 9:43 PM

She was profiled today on CBS Sunday Morning.

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by Anonymousreply 31January 23, 2022 6:07 PM

Her best work is The House of Blue Leaves. If you’ve not watched it, it’s a must see.

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by Anonymousreply 32January 23, 2022 6:16 PM

Billy Clyde was played by Matthew Cowles. I thought the actor was actually born in the south...his look and portrayal was spot on, on All My Children. He was born and raised in NYC.

by Anonymousreply 33January 23, 2022 6:27 PM

She'll be 70. She does look very good, albeit an unusual face.

by Anonymousreply 34January 23, 2022 6:35 PM

Yes she is a class act!

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by Anonymousreply 35January 23, 2022 6:37 PM

I know people really like Christine Baranski, but I find her a one-trick pony onstage or screen. She has something, but it's of a limited range. I can say every line exactly as I know she will deliver it every time.

She should never be allowed in a musical, ever.

by Anonymousreply 36January 23, 2022 6:52 PM

She was also on All My Children for a brief stint, playing trashy Jewel, Billy Clyde’s girlfriend. They kidnapped Adam Chandler, and Baranski was hilarious and definitely not playing her “cultured, elite” shtick. I wish I could find a clip!

by Anonymousreply 37January 23, 2022 7:15 PM

She's quite overrated.

by Anonymousreply 38January 23, 2022 7:16 PM

Found one! Billy Clyde was a hoot.

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by Anonymousreply 39January 23, 2022 7:19 PM

[quote]I'm an old lesbian (63), and I'd sleep with her.

Oh no, darling, don’t be silly.

by Anonymousreply 40January 23, 2022 7:20 PM

She is the epitome of "Meh."

by Anonymousreply 41January 23, 2022 7:25 PM

She voices one of the queens in season one of the gay fairy tale podcast, The Two Princes. It's totally cheesy but I admit it's a guilty pleasure of mine.

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by Anonymousreply 42January 23, 2022 7:32 PM

Oh she's great. Love her on the good wife and spin off and Cybill.

by Anonymousreply 43January 23, 2022 9:24 PM

It's unusual how she can stay so freakishly, enviable thin at 69. Some things you just have to chalk up to genetics.

by Anonymousreply 44January 23, 2022 9:31 PM

And diet and exercise.

by Anonymousreply 45January 23, 2022 9:49 PM

Christine Baranski playing a waitress on the soap "Texas"

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by Anonymousreply 46January 23, 2022 9:58 PM

R36. Her Bunny Flingis in House of Blue Leaves was a 180 from her Mary Ann on Cybill. Just because you rarely leave your mother’s basement doesn’t mean Baranski lacks versatility.

by Anonymousreply 47January 23, 2022 10:18 PM

I loved her episode on Frazier.

by Anonymousreply 48January 23, 2022 10:44 PM

[quote]Always enjoy her work in film. My personal favourite is The Ref (1993)

I like that one too, R13, "Welcome to Mooseport" is another one I like... and it also happens to be Gene Hackman's last movie.

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by Anonymousreply 49January 24, 2022 12:27 AM

R31, I've never really cared for her. She always seemed to come off as so full of herself. But I got a different impression in that interview you linked too. She laughed at Rocca's jokes, she seemed like she was relatively self-effacing -- and indeed, she looks GREAT for almost 70 years old.

by Anonymousreply 50January 25, 2022 9:41 PM

What would have been the political problems between her and Shepherd?

by Anonymousreply 51January 25, 2022 9:56 PM

I remember the Liz Smith interview of Cybill and Christine where Liz brought up the enmity and Cybill laughed it off: "Why would she dislike me? No one had heard of Christine before 'Cybill.'"

Liz said Christine took that in like a Sphinx.

Cybill taped on Fridays and Christine would go to the airport directly after the taping to fly home to see her kids for the weekend, returning Sunday night. Apparently later in the show she would leave not when the taping was done, but when all of Maryanne's scenes were done, further earning Cybill's wrath.

by Anonymousreply 52January 25, 2022 10:22 PM

Her narration of Joyce Carol Oates' story "Where are you going? Where have you been?" is amazing!

by Anonymousreply 53January 25, 2022 10:26 PM

Cybill always seems so wooden. When I saw Taxi Driver, Cybill took me right out of the movie. It was the first time I watched a character and felt like they were acting.

by Anonymousreply 54January 25, 2022 11:07 PM

She's the blandest of the bland

by Anonymousreply 55January 25, 2022 11:08 PM

Yes r47, I saw her in "House of Blue Leaves" at Lincoln Center. She was fine, but like I said I could predict her line readings even then.

I don't need to share your taste, do I? You sound like a tyrant, and a boor. I can only imagine what other things catch your fancy.

Hon, friend to friend, it's time to lose that "living in your mother's basement" schtick. That line has been retired longer than you have!

by Anonymousreply 56January 26, 2022 4:28 AM

R52, not a Cybil fan, but she was right about Baranski. Who -- outside of the theater world -- had heard of her?

by Anonymousreply 57January 26, 2022 6:29 AM

Bastard!

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by Anonymousreply 58January 26, 2022 6:33 AM

R57 I agree. No one outside Broadway would give her a second look if she walked down the street before Cybill and I think even Christine agrees given what she says about what being on Cybill gave to her. Honestly think any "feud" between them was a bit overhyped especially with Baranski now saying years later they were fine working together.

by Anonymousreply 59January 26, 2022 7:39 AM
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