Sharon Gless interview - Radio Times, October 2006

Features

Sharon Gless interview - Radio Times, October 2006

The actress talks to E Jane Dickson about the challenges she's faced in her life, and her role as US Secretary of Defense Lynne Warner in conspiracy thriller The State Within.

On her screen persona

"I guess that if someone paid me a great deal, I could figure out how to do 'fluffy', but no-one ever gave me that kind of part. And, I'm kinda comfortable with 'ballsy'."

On her role in Cagney & Lacey

"People in the 80s just didn't want to hear about two strong women in men's jobs. They called us dykes. I wasn't offended - lesbians loved Christine - but they meant it in an unflattering way."

On her personal life

"I attended AA meetings to research Christine's drink problem, but though I was drinking heavily myself, I had no idea I was an alcoholic. The thing I did learn, researching that part, was that when men get drunk, they're considered amusing; when women get drunk they're an embarrassment."

"I worked steadily until I was 49; 50 when I went into the menopause and gave up smoking. During that time I came over here to do Misery on stage in the West End. They said they'd build me a fat suit and I said, 'That won't be necessary.' I put on 45lb and thought, 'Well, it worked for De Niro.' But I wasn't successful in getting the weight off, and my career took a dive.

"I used to say to my husband, 'Why are the press beating me up?' Tyne [Daly, who played Mary Beth Lacey] gained weight, too, but it was me they went for. And Barney said, 'Honey, they can't forgive the blonde. You broke their hearts.' Actually, I was never that small, size 12 or 14, but people fall in love with an image."

On her role in The State Within

"This woman is more powerful that the president."

"My character won't be winning any popularity contests, but I 'get it' about her. Whether she's right or wrong, she believes in what she's doing with all her heart. It's too easy to say she has an agenda because of what happened to her son. She could have saved him. She could have stopped him going to war. But she didn't. She's something of a warmonger, but whether or not she's the villain of the piece remains to be seen."

"I wear a stars-and-stripes brooch - that's my homage to [Madeleine] Albright. But I actually used Hillary Clinton as my role model. Because she [Clinton] is very charming and I imagine she's really something behind closed doors."

On The State Within

"[It's] raw stuff. We don't have a show like this in the USA. Our best political drama is The West Wing, but that's more about relationships in the White House. The State Within takes in a large part of what's happening right now."

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Now take a look at our full guide to The State Within.

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