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.






Comments

Popular Posts

'Avengers Infinity War' coming to Cleveland? Movie studio built on old Geauga Lake property? Both possible say Russo Brothers

Ivan Schwarz, Greater Cleveland Film Commission, Joe Russo and Anthony Russo, Cleveland natives and Marvel directors. They didn’t share any Captain America: Civil War spoilers, but directors Joe and Anthony Russo told fans that Avengers: Infinity War could land in Cleveland. “It’s on the list,” said Anthony. The reveal took place Saturday during a Wizard World Comic-Con Cleveland panel titled Let’s Shut Down Some Streets: Bringing the Avengers, Captain America and the Russo Brothers to Cleveland. The Russos, who grew up in Cleveland and graduated from Case Western Reserve University, were joined by Ivan Schwarz, director of the Greater Cleveland Film Commission. The trio discussed how the region could grow its production slate and how it could attract more features to Northeast Ohio. The first step, said Schwarz, was getting the Ohio legislature to raise the motion picture tax incentive from $25 million a year to $75 million. That legislation will go before Ohio lawmake

Tina Fey, Jay Roach Bringing Kent State Film '67 Shots' to Ohio

Student protestors at Kent State in 1970 Tina Fey is taking a serious turn, producing 67 Shots , a film about the 1970 Kent State shootings. The movie applied for the Ohio Film Tax Incentive earlier this year and plans to film in and around KSU sometime in 2018. 67 Shots focuses on events that led up to the shooting deaths of four students by Ohio National Guardsmen. The title comes from the numbers of shots those guardsmen fired into the unarmed crowd of protestors. Fey is producing alongside Jeff Richmond, her husband and a Kent State alum. Jay Roach, best known for the Austin Powers and Meet the Fockers franchises, will helm the project. Roach is making more socially and politically aware films at this stage in his career, including Trumbo and Game Change . The film is based on the book 67 Shots: Kent State and the End of American Innocence and is adapted by award-winning playwright Stephen Belber. Fey and Richmond’s production company, Little Stranger, will join

'Walking Dead' star Emily Kinney joins 'Anhedonia' cast

Emily Kinney joins 'Anhedonia' Emily Kinney, perhaps best known for her role as Beth Greene on AMC’s The Walking Dead , is joining Anhedonia , the new indie feature from Cleveland’s Eric Swinderman and Carmen DeFranco. Kinney got her start on stage, with roles in Spring Awakening and August: Osage County , before transitioning to guest roles on television and a star turn as Emily on Showtime’s The Big C . Her breakout role would come as Beth Greene, Maggie Greene’s little sister, on The Walking Dead . Kinney became a fan favorite during a series of dramatic episodes in the series’ fourth season when Kinney’s Greene bonded with fellow survivor Daryl Dixon, played by Norman Reedus. Anhedonia co-stars Breckin Meyer and Giselle Eisenberg. "To have the opportunity to work with such an amazing actress like Emily is beyond exciting,” says Swinderman. “It's also very exciting for the city and people of northeast Ohio to have three huge TV stars coming to town to