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By PJ Maytag
Being Sissy
Beth Grant spills on Sordid Lives and her favorite character
What would Sissy do...
It was the last question I put to actress Beth Grant, who was on the
other end of the line, graciously allowing me to pick her brain about
her career, her return as Sissy in Sordid Lives: The Series, her appearance
in Palm Springs for the Cinema Diverse Film Festival and from her perspective,
what makes Sissy tick.
For many Palm Springs residents, Beth Grant will always be Sissy Hickey—the
rubber band-snapping, Valium-popping, chain-smoking, constantly worrying,
hapless sympathizer and erstwhile gossipmonger in Sordid Lives. And we
love her for that.
I certainly do. When Beth does Sissy she’s the incarnation of my
ex-husband’s aunt—the spitting image—an archetypal
redneck woman who lived in Hooper, Colorado—population: 92 (talk
about a one-horse town!). For many of us, we recognize in the characters
of Sordid Lives our own imperfect relatives we may try to keep hidden
behind that closet door, even if it means we have to nail the damn door
shut. They may not all live in the country, but chances are there’s
someone you’re related to that embarrasses the hell out of you—it’s
just human nature. And that’s the charm of Sordid Lives. The cast
of quirky characters: Lavonda, Latrelle, Brother Boy, Noleta, G.W. and
Bitsy Mae are more than mere caricatures of white trash in a small Texas
town. Through the pathos of that modern day Peyton Place we can laugh
at a family that is more screwed up than ours—and yet, their fabulously
flawed humanity endears them to us, perhaps echoing some of our own backwoods
ancestry.
Growing up in the South, Beth draws much of her inspiration to play rural
characters like Sissy from her own relatives. “I was surrounded
by characters. And every one was a character. There were no quote unquote
normal people in my life. I always wanted to be normal, I knew people
that were normal, I had some friends that were sort of normal. But we
just didn’t fit in that way, it wasn’t who we were.”
When Beth plays Sissy, she admits she’s channeling her grandmother. “She
smoked those Camel unfiltered cigarettes and Lucky Strikes. She worked
at a cotton mill. She worked hard. She was a little bitchy and hypocritical
and very funny. And I just loved her.” And, like her grandmother,
Sissy’s heart is in the right place. “You know Sissy’s
not perfect, she’s not a saint. She’s a good person, she
tries hard, she’s got a sense of humor. Sure she curses a little.
Takes that Valium,” she says with a gentle laugh. You can hear
a genuine loving inflection in Beth’s voice when she discusses
Sissy. She’s a part of Beth Grant, like an old friend and a part
she’s happy to revisit in Sordid Lives: The Series.
For Del Shores, (see his interview on page 66) Beth Grant was always
who he envisioned playing Sissy; in first the play, then the movie and
now the series. When Del first offered her the part in his play, Beth
was dubious. “I didn’t think I looked like a smoker should
look.” It wasn’t until Del had Beth over to his house and
showed her a picture of his real Aunt Sissy that she knew she could play
her. “She looked like my grandmother. And I said, ‘Wait a
minute, hold on, I got it.’ Those big glasses were my real key
into getting into her. And I got it and said, ‘OK, I’ll do
her. I know what to do.’” She quickly added, “You need
to have a handle on the role, you know.”
If Beth’s filmography is any indication, she’s got the handle
on a lot of roles. It was her performance in Picnic that opened the proverbial
door in Hollywood for Beth Grant back in ’86. The producers of
Rain Man were in the audience during one of her performances and were
so impressed they had her audition for the role of Mother at Farmhouse,
and since then she’s never looked back. She’s part of the
rare breed of working actors—character actors—that affords
her a constant paycheck.
And boy, can she play characters. Unlike many actors that eschew the
title ‘character actor,’ she embraces it, long ago accepting
she wasn’t going to be your typical leading lady. She recounted
a story about hearing a speech by Francis Ford Coppola that brought her
place in acting into focus for her.
“He said, ‘For all you artists out there, know that sometimes the
reasons you get when you’re fired or don’t get hired are about
the things that make you unique and different. And those are the things that
will eventually bring you great success.’ And I said to my husband, ‘You
know, that is absolutely my story.’ I didn’t fit in as an ingénue.
I wasn’t cookie-cutter. I didn’t look like they wanted girls to
look in those days. And lo and behold, those very things that kept me from
having a career in my 20s and into my early 50s are now the things that get
me job after job. It’s ironic isn’t it?”
She’s not exaggerating when she says she’s getting job after
job in both screen and film. Beth has appeared on a number of hit TV
shows: Malcolm in the Middle, The X-Files, Friends, CSI, Six Feet Under
and My Name Is Earl, to name a few. Most recently, she played Gracie
Leigh on CBS’ post-apocalyptic show, Jericho that, though a fan
favorite, was recently axed by the network.
Beth’s impressive film resume includes: Flatliners, Speed, A Time
to Kill, Donnie Darko, Pearl Harbor, Matchstick Men, Little Miss Sunshine,
Flags of Our Fathers, Factory Girl, and last year’s Oscar darling, No
Country for Old Men. She’s got roles in five upcoming films, including
leads in Natural Disasters and Del Shores’ latest play to get the cinematic
treatment, Southern Baptist Sissies—a fact she was quick to comment on. “Now
as I’m getting older the parts are getting bigger [her voice cracked
a bit like Sissy’s when she emphasized “bigger”]. Now I’m
doing leading roles, for some reason when you’re older they will let
you do a lead. And the other girls that I started with—they’re
not acting anymore, a lot of them. I mean, the big stars are hanging in there.
A lot of the women I was in class with became therapists or real estate brokers,
and many have moved away. I find it very ironic.”
Beth has a career sprinkled with irony, perhaps none greater than the
fact Sordid Lives has achieved cult status—thanks to Palm Springs. “I
got to do the movie and then we thought that it was over—then Palm
Springs changed all our lives. We can’t say thank you enough, we
can’t say it enough because it’s a phenomenon that one place
on earth, this theater manager made those flyers and they spread them
around and the people came and came and came. And they kept telling me
about it and I thought, ‘What are they talking about, that it’s
still running?’ [Sordid Lives was shown at Camelot Theatres for
close to two years] I had never heard of anything like that.”
She agreed to come to Palm Springs for a Sordid Lives celebration after
the film was on the marquee for over a year. What she saw amazed her. “We
pulled up to that theatre and there were people everywhere. And then
they introduced us and people were throwing rubber bands at me. A guy
came running down the aisle dressed as Sissy Hickey. I looked—and
I had a spiritual experience.” Beth fell silent for a moment, perhaps
reliving the memory. “To see one of your characters come to life
before your eyes,” she continued, “and I tell you, he did
her better than I do her. He was beautiful, he had every detail. Man,
I just woke up to this experience. And the next thing we know is we have
the series and so it doesn’t stop—it’s just the craziest
thing that’s ever happened to me. I’ve been in other cult
movies, I had a film called Donnie Darko that has a huge following, but
the Donnie Darko fans don’t compare to Sordid Lives fans. There’s
a party atmosphere, people were having white trash parties and people
dressed like me and people screaming—it’s just crazy and
I love it.”
There’s a reverence in her tone that can’t be faked when
she talks about the fans. It’s easy to tell that Beth has been
moved by the devotion and support that she, the cast and the film have
received from the adoring public. I asked her why Sordid Lives has such
a following, why does the film move people? “I think we are all
celebrating our families with this. Most of us weren’t born with
a silver spoon in our mouths. We made our own, have built our lives,
but we still share some element of our lives with these down to earth
people. And every family, even if you are born with a silver spoon in
your mouth, you still have relatives like that. I think that’s
what it is. It’s a big celebration of family and love.”
There’s more to Sordid Lives: The Series than just the laughter.
Beth thinks the new series can be a vehicle of cultural change—much
like the TV show All in the Family changed her own father’s attitudes
for example. “What’s exciting for me, in terms of the gay
community, is that I believe this series can change the world. I think
we have the potential, in terms of gay rights and civil rights, the timing
couldn’t be better for this show. The marriage issue and this whole
stupid thing about changing the constitution, which I don’t think
will pass, I’m just sorry it’s yet to be one more hurdle
to cross. I think it will help because people laughing at the show will
go, ‘Oh my God, what am I thinking? This is a family member. This
is my son. This is my daughter. This is my cousin. We’re all in
this together.’”
Being part of a greater whole can certainly be said of being involved
with the series itself. Coming back to do the series was a true labor
of love for Beth, the cast and crew, who are working for less than scale
because they believe in the project and, in Del. “I think Del outdid
himself with this. I think the prequel is a great idea... . He’s
a guy who is a true auteur and it needs to be done his way. That’s
the key. He’s got to be the one writing the show. Very few people
could’ve assembled this kind of cast for such a small budgeted
show. I know I wouldn’t have done it, if it had been anyone else
calling I wouldn’t have even considered it. Not because I’m
a snob, but because of the time involved ... but it’s Del Shores
calling. Del Shores should have an empire, he should be a Norman Lear
or a Steven Bochco or a David Kelley. He’s got enough projects.
I hope people really dig it and support it. It’d be cool to see
a good guy win.”
Beth will be joining Del and some of her castmates for the Sordid Lives:
The Series premiere to be held, naturally, right here in Palm Springs.
The fete is at 7 pm, Tuesday, July 22 at the Camelot Theatres—where
it all began. Several Sordid Lives: The Series episodes will be the opening
night “film” for the inaugural Cinema Diverse—Palm
Springs LGBT Film Festival. The official opening night party follows
the screening and will be held at Hotel Zoso with Shores and members
of the cast. It’s a fit homecoming for the series and Beth is looking
forward to attending, barring any unforeseen filming conflict with her
new movie. And if you can’t make the premiere you can catch the
first episode of Sordid Lives: The Series the following night, July 23,
on Logo at 10 pm PDT.
And the answer to Beth’s last question at the beginning of this
interview—What would Sissy do…if she ever met George W.?
Beth, a lifelong Democrat, considered for a moment softly giggling, “Well,
she was for Hillary without question. I think she would say to him, ‘You
just never really wanted to be President, did you honey?’”
God bless her, you can always count on Sissy to supply the chiding sarcasm.
And you can always count on Beth Grant to breathe life into whatever
role she undertakes—giving her characters a tangible existence
of their own that resonates long after the last reel plays.
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