Actresses who not long ago were considered hot properties are now complaining about the lack of age-appropriate roles--besides those of dotty elderly relatives and nosy neighbors. Not among them: Mary Steenburgen.
Younger stars are likely envious of the sexy, savvy characters Steenburgen plays on trendsetting TV series like Justified, Orange is the New Black, The Last Man on Earth, and Togetherness. Before these came roles on Wilfred (2011-2013), 30 Rock (2012), Bored to Death (2011), and Curb Your Enthusiasm (2000-2009).
Desirable roles for mature women--think Diane Keaton and Catherine Deneuve--are becoming the norm for the North Little Rock native (known as Mary Nell at Park Hill Elementary). So what about that supposed scarcity of opportunity? "I think I worried more about that and aging in general when I was in my 40s," says Steenburgen, who doesn't hesitate to share that she's 62. "I think a couple of things have changed. One is that we're in a golden age of television; there's so much good material. I don't recall a time in my career when the standard of writing was as good as it is now."
The other thing, although not the most artistic answer, she says, is that she's got the best representation she's ever had. "It's easier to represent a young woman than a woman who's 62. And I hope I'm making good choices and doing good work. I'm as passionate about the work as I've ever been. It's very meaningful to me."
Consider her award-buzzy portrayal of evil, witty, scheming criminal Katherine Hale in FX's Justified. "I asked [showrunner] Graham Yost, 'Why did you think of me for this part?' Most people don't think of me when they need a character who can be mean. He said, 'I knew you could handle the comedy of it.' The comedy of that show is tricky. It opened the door for me."
She played a New Age character on HBO's intriguing short-lived comedy/drama Togetherness. She'll be the mother of creepy Pornstache (Pablo Schreiber) on the third season of Netflix' Orange is the New Black, premiering in June. She plays a self-described dumb little country girl on Fox' Last Man on Earth. And she's in three coming movies: Katie Says Goodbye with Olivia Cooke and Mireille Enos, The Devil and the Deep Blue Sea with Jessica Biel and Jason Sudeikis, and Dean with Gillian Jacobs and Kevin Kline.
This run of success seems like a long-delayed reaction to winning an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress in 1980 for playing Lynda Dummar in Melvin and Howard. Steenburgen admits she didn't take full advantage of the opportunities available to her at that time. "The Oscar probably would have helped me, but it was a complicated time in my life," she recalls. "I had my first child and was in a struggling marriage [to actor Malcolm McDowell]. There was the work, but it was a small fraction of the pie of what I was dealing with.
"If I had been focused on my career and chosen the so-called right things, it probably would have happened differently," she says. "But there's no film I turned down during that time--some that became enormous--that I would go back and do. I have the luxury now of looking back and realizing I was doing the best I could. Sometimes you don't ask for the help you need. I suppose I did fritter away my Oscar, but ended up with two incredible children, a friend in Malcolm, the love of my life [husband Ted Danson], and two incredible stepdaughters."
Along with all that, Steenburgen has added the title of songwriter to her resume.
"Through a strange turn of events, I'm involved in Universal Music Publishing Group and have had a home in Nashville for about seven years now," she says. Writing music, she says, is "very meaningful to me; it's brought me a lot of joy."
On Friday she invited six fellow songwriters--Matraca Berg, Kim Carnes, Greg Barnhill, Shawn Camp, Shelly Colvin and Jeremy Spillman--to perform and talk about their songwriting process at Mary & Friends, a fundraiser for the Oxford American Literary Project. The evening was held at Little Rock restaurant/music venue South on Main which she and her husband, along with niece Amy Kelley Bell and Amy's husband Matt Bell, opened about two years ago.
One of the first songwriters she worked with in Nashville is Berg. "She invited me to the Bluebird Cafe with Kim Carnes," Steenburgen recalls. "I was knocked out by how brilliant she was. It was an unscripted entry into their world of writing and inspiration, into how these songs are born. When you go to concerts you love the songs, but the history of the song is missing.
"When we got involved with Oxford American and this wonderful space at South on Main, I realized I had to get Nashville writers here to talk about their process," she says. "The whole connection is about the written word; a natural alchemy could be made there. My goal is to possibly start an annual event."
Along with celebrating the wrap of the new season of FX's Fargo (Danson's in the cast) and son Charlie McDowell's work directing Sarah Silverman in a comedy pilot for HBO, Steenburgen is spending the month of June on a Thanksgiving special titled Turkey Hollow with Lisa Henson (Jim Henson's daughter) based on creatures remembered from Henson's childhood.
Obviously, the lack of opportunity that plagues some of her peers is is not a concern--Steenburgen says that, at least for the moment, she can't do everything that's offered. Nevertheless, she's taking July off. "I'm protecting that time off like a tiger," she says.
Editorial on 05/17/2015