Skip to main content

Allison Janney once catfished Paul Newman, the Ohio native reveals

Kenyon grads Allison Janney and Paul Newman
Dayton, Ohio, native Allison Janney appeared on the Late Show with Stephen Colbert and confessed to the talk show host that she once catfished legendary actor Paul Newman.

 “I like to think I catfished him into casting me,” Janney said during her April 24 visit. The part was for a play at Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio, where Janney - and Newman - went to school. Newman returned to Kenyon in 1978 to direct the debut play at the school’s newly constructed Bolton Theater. The play? C.C. Pyle and the Bunion Derby.

 Granted, Janney’s “catfishing” was more of the professional type. And, okay, fine, not really catfishing at all. Though Janney admitted to making up a story about her new Volkswagen Scirocco. It was part of her audition for Newman, which included getting up on stage and extemporaneously talking about anything you wanted.

 “I decided I was going to appeal to his love of race car driving,” Janney said. “I made up a story about (driving my Scirocco) from Dayton. I said, ‘It usually takes two and a half hours to get to Kenyon, but I can make it in an hour and 10, if I take such-and-such exit and the cops aren’t there and I punch it. I made the whole story up and it probably had nothing to do with my getting the part, but I like to think that I catfished Paul Newman.”

 Janney also met Joanne Woodward, actress and Newman’s spouse, there. Both actors were instrumental in coaxing her to New York from Ohio to build her career.

 Janney is best known for her role as press secretary C.J. Cregg on The West Wing and as Anna Farris’s mother on Mom.






Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular Posts

Everything we know about Hulu’s ‘The Land’ TV pilot

Actor Christopher Meloni hanging with the Cleveland Browns (photo Christopher Meloni) >> Does Hulu’s new streaming series, The Land , focus on the Cleveland Browns? Maybe? Here’s everything we know about Hulu’s The Land  streaming series. What is The Land  TV series about? Nothing official has been announced, but some digging suggests that The Land , aka 17 Sundays , is This Is Us creator Dan Fogelman‘s upcoming Hulu series set in the world of pro football, starring Christopher Meloni and William H. Macy. Meloni was spotted in Cleveland over the summer in Berea, attending a Browns' training camp session, according to News 5 Cleveland . Meloni’s Instagram account confirms it, with snaps of Meloni alongside Miles Garrett and other Browns players. Meloni also visited the Cleveland Museum of Art and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum. On August 27, Deadline reported that “'The Land' … got the largest allocation (of California tax credits) … with nearly $43 milli...
2 comments
Read more

Purpose, Passion, and PAs: Meet Lamont Richmond II

Lamont Richmond II > > > A few days after Shooting Stars , the LeBron James biopic, premiered on Peacock, Lamont Richmond II dropped a link to an Instagram post from @MakeItUniversal in my inbox. It was a short feature about working as a production assistant (PA) on the film. “I started in the hospital as a floor tech, cleaning floors,” Richmond tells us in the video. “I did that for three years. Got a call to be a production assistant. She said a P.A. No clue what the letters meant.” And then there he was, on the Akron set of Shooting Stars , handing out call sheets and wrangling extras. I connected with that experience, having worked as a PA on a handful of productions some 20-plus years ago. Which is what stood out to me when Richmond shared the video. Richmond is a young guy. Not like the crew of PAs I worked with. We were all in our early 20s, hoping to make the leap up the production ladder. Beyond his obvious love for the world of film production, why was Richmond work...
Post a Comment
Read more

Former Bobcat brings 'Killer Raccoons!' to the screen, nabs No. 1 comedy spot - technically

Taking aim in Killer Raccoons! 2! Dark Christmas in the Dark It’s pretty safe to say - and with absolutely no disrespect - that at any other time in modern movie making history, Travis Irvine’s Killer Raccoons! 2! Dark Christmas in the Dark would barely make a dent in the box office.  But it’s not any other time in modern movie making history, and for a short period in late July, the parody was the No. 1 comedy in the U.S. It was also the only comedy in theaters that particular week, Irvine told Cleveland.com .   Not too shabby for a $50,000 sequel to a $5,000 feature shot in and around Athens, Ohio, about 15 years ago while Irvine was an Ohio University student. Irvine, writer, producer and director on Killer Racoons! is also quick to spread the creativity and innovation around. “ We had an incredible crew of pros and semi-pros based in Ohio,” Irvine says, “as well as some Ohio-expats living in Los Angeles and New York City, along with 12 to 15 amazing interns from Ohio Uni...
Post a Comment
Read more