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Too tall for Hollywood?
It was the kind of cruel and dismissive
comment that could destroy an aspiring young actress. It was made to Allison
Janney three decades ago -- long before she entered into the collective
consciousness of television audiences with her memorable work in The West Wing.
And she still feels pain when she remembers it.
She was just starting out, sensitive about her six-foot height, but determined
to make it in her chosen profession.
And then it was flippantly suggested to her that the only roles she would be
good for would be lesbians and aliens.
"She was a manager in New York City," Janney remembers. "I was trying to get
someone to represent me at the time, and I kept getting met by people who would
say stupid things like that, because I was so tall.
"So she said: 'What are you going to get cast as? Lesbians and aliens -- that's
the only thing I can think of.'"
Not that there's anything wrong with playing a lesbian; Janney is quick to make
that point, having portrayed Meryl Streep's lover in The Hours. But this kind of
put-down was dismissive and insulting.
"People say stupid things to actors when they're just starting out," she says
reflectively. "I think people like to be discouraging towards them."
Janney's lanky charm is on full display this morning, as she deposits her
slender blue-jeaned frame on a hotel sofa and talks about a career that has
moved from strength to strength over the years. She's here to talk about her
latest film, The Help, in which she plays a southern matron trapped in the
prejudices of Mississippi in the 1960s. But it's inevitable that she should also
get to the subject of The West Wing and the role of unflappable White House
press secretary, C.J. Cregg.
C.J. became one of the most popular characters on Aaron Sorkin's revered
political series, and the role garnered four Emmys for Janney and four Screen
Actors Guild Awards. Among the defining moments of her career, The West Wing
ranks highest. But those early rejections also helped define her and made her
understand the need for tenacity and resilience in this acting business.
Janney's own personal warmth is such that she can't bear to see others treated
with cruelty and insensitivity. She has a scene in The Help that makes her
cringe when she sees it. It involves the abrupt dismissal of an aging black
servant (Cicely Tyson), who has embarrassed her while hosting the local chapter
of the Daughters of the American Revolution at a luncheon in her home.
"My character, Charlotte, in The Help, is not a role model for anyone, except
for how she actually owns up to what she did, and will perhaps be a better
person for knowing that what she did was wrong," Janney says flatly.
By contrast, C.J. Clegg in The West Wing became a genuine role model.
"People in the public service get such a bad name, so it was great to have
someone like her, and the other characters that Aaron brought to life, become
people that you rooted for and believed in."
And of course, believing in herself was an early challenge for Janney. She was
already sensitive about her height as a teenager growing up in Ohio, but she
didn't expect it to be an early career impediment, or the target of thoughtless
cruelty.
"I remember someone saying to me, 'You're tall.' And I said that Christine Lahti
and Sigourney Weaver and Kelly McGillis were all tall. And she said, 'They have
something in common.' And I said, 'What?' And she said, 'They're drop-dead
gorgeous.'
"I remember the tears coming up behind my eyes. I felt very discouraged that my
height seemed to be something that people couldn't see as being cashable, or
something. It was very challenging."
But she persevered and, over the years, has collected an eclectic array of
credits in film (Juno, Hairspray, Finding Nemo), television (The West Wing and
the short-lived Mr. Sunshine, in which she co-starred with Matthew Perry) and
theatre (The Taming of the Shrew, A View from the Bridge and the Dolly Parton
musical, Nine to Five).
"I kept going. I've been very lucky. I have been working steadily and it's been
really nice. I just wish I could remember the name of that manager so I could
call her up and remind her of what she said!"
However, Janney also remembers the kindnesses she received starting out. She
regards the late Paul Newman and his wife, Joanne Woodward, as mentors.
"In my freshman year at Kenyon College in Ohio, Paul cast me in a play he was
directing there. He had gone to Kenyon himself, and it was there that I met both
him and Joanne. She took me under her wing."
The Newmans suggested she further her studies at the Neighborhood Playhouse in
New York, and Woodward also found Janney work with a small theatre company she
was establishing. Janney will be forever grateful to them.
"As a young actor in New York, it's a sort of Catch-22. You have to get an
agent, but if you're not Equity, you can't get anything. She gave us the
opportunity to do work and be seen, and got us attention because of her name.
She was very generous and very important to me in my early years |
