Questions with Answers from Joyce Bulifant
The following questions were posed by email by Andrew Szym to Joyce Bulifant in August, 2002. Here are the questions and her responses. MTMShow.com graciously extends thanks to Ms. Bulifant for her contribution, and to her personal assistant Erik Lieberman for organizing the email discourse.
ACS: What do you believe was Marie Slaughter's most important function on the show?
JB: I BELIEVE MARIE WAS CREATED TO PROVIDE A HOME LIFE FOR SOMEONE IN THE NEWS ROOM THAT THE AUDIENCE COULD RELATE TO, I.E.. WIFE AND CHILDREN. FOR ONE EPISODE WE RECEIVED THE PLANNED PARENTHOOD AWARD FOR DECIDING TO ADOPT A CHILD INSTEAD OF HAVING ANOTHER CHILD.
ACS: You are writing your autobiography. Tell us a bit about it.
JB: I WANTED TO HELP PEOPLE HAVE A BETTER UNDERSTANDING ABOUT DYSLEXIA. I THOUGHT SHARING MY STORY WITH OTHERS WOULD BE A WAY TO DO THIS. I ALSO THOUGHT IT WOULD BE INTERESTING TO COMBINE STORIES ABOUT WELL-KNOWN PEOPLE I HAVE WORKED WITH AND THOSE WITH WHOM I HAVE SHARED MY LIFE. IT IS MY HOPE THAT THE BOOK WILL BE ENTERTAINING AS WELL AS INFORMATIVE.
ACS: What kind of relationship did you have with the MTMS cast? Were there any particularly good friendships you made over the years you did the show?
JB: I REMEMBER HOW KIND VALERIE HARPER WAS TO ME WHEN I WAS ON THE FIRST SHOW. SHE OFFERED TO RUN LINES WITH ME AND MADE ME FEEL AT HOME. GAVIN WAS SO THOUGHTFUL AFTER THE BIG EARTHQUAKE OF 1971. HE ARRIVED AT OUR HOME WITH HOT DOGS FROM NATHAN'S IN NEW YORK CITY. ED ASNER WAS IN A BENEFIT PERFORMANCE I PRODUCED TO PROMOTE AWARENESS ABOUT DYSLEXIA. THE BENEFIT WAS TAPED AND THE VIDEO HAS BEEN TRANSLATED INTO MANY DIFFERENT LANGUAGES. ED ALWAYS SEEMED TO MAKE HIMSELF AVAILABLE TO HELP OTHERS. BETTY WHITE SUGGESTED THAT I DO A PLAY WITH HER HUSBAND, ALLEN LUDDEN. BETTY IS ALWAYS A DELIGHT TO BE WITH. BETTY ALSO IS INVOLVED WITH CHILDHELP USA AND SO AM I. IT IS A CHARITY TO HELP ABUSED AND BATTERED CHILDREN.
SOME OF THE CAST WERE MORE OPEN AND FRIENDLY THEN OTHERS- JUST AS PEOPLE ARE IN LIFE. TED KNIGHT LIVED ACROSS THE STREET FROM ME AT ONE TIME. HE WAS SUCH FUN. WE PLAYED TENNIS TOGETHER. IT WAS SOMETIMES DIFFICULT FOR ME RETURNING TO THE SET AFTER I HAD *STARRED* IN THE SERIES, "LOVE THY NEIGHBOR", THEN WOULD RETURN TO A SEMI-REGULAR ROLE AS MARIE SLAUGHTER. I WAS ALSO DOING THE FIRST "BILL COSBY SHOW" AND VOICE OVER FOR A CARTOON. IT WAS A VERY BUSY TIME. BUT I WAS ALWAYS HAPPY TO RETURN TO THE MTM SET BECAUSE OF THE HIGH STANDARD SET BY THE PRODUCERS, WRITERS, AND PERFORMERS. IT WAS A DISAPPOINTMENT TO HAVE BEEN WRITTEN INTO THE FINAL SHOW AND THEN TOLD BEFORE REHEARSAL THAT I WAS WRITTEN OUT. I WAS SUPPOSED TO DO THE MUSICAL "I DO I DO" AND HAD CANCELED IT TO DO THE FINAL MTM SHOW. BY THE TIME I WAS TOLD I WAS WRITTEN OUT I HAD ALREADY BOWED OUT OF "I DO I DO." I DID GO TO THE FINAL TAPING AND ALL THE LOVE THAT WAS SHOWN IN THE SCENE BETWEEN THE CAST AT THE END OF THE SHOW WAS BASED, I AM CERTAIN, ON THE LOVE THEY FELT FOR EACH OTHER.
ACS: Describe some of your favorite roles that you've played on TV/in theater over the years.
JB: THERE HAVE BEEN MANY ROLES THAT I ENJOYED PLAYING. ONE OF THE MOST EXCITING WAS PLAYING OPPOSITE FRED ASTAIRE ON AN "ALCOA PRESENTS" I GOT TO DANCE WITH HIM TOO!! ONE ROLE ON STAGE I ALWAYS WANTED TO PLAY WAS "MOLLY BROWN", AND I PLAYED MOLLY FOR A WHOLE SUMMER...GREAT FUN. WORKING ON WALT DISNEY'S LAST FILM, "THE HAPPIEST MILLIONAIRE" WAS A WONDERFUL TREAT. I WAS ABLE TO WORK WITH THE WRITER A.J. CAROTHERS AND THE SONG WRITERS RICHARD AND ROBERT SHERMAN.
ACS: One of the first shows you did on TV was the early version of "Cobsy", called "The Bill Cosby Show". For those who don't know much about the early series (including me), what was it about?
JB: THE FIRST COSBY SHOW, BILL PLAYED A BASKETBALL COACH IN HIGH SCHOOL. I PLAYED MRS. PATTERSON ,THE SCHOOL GUIDANCE COUNCILOR. BILL DID A LOT OF AD-LIBBING AND I WAS GOOD AT IMPROVING (THANK HEAVENS).
ACS: Today, there are a lot of fans of "Three's Company", which in a sense took over where MTMS left off...or so it's been said. What was your experience like on the "Three's Company" set versus the MTMS set?
JB: I WAS ONLY ON "THREE'S COMPANY" FOR ONE GUEST STARRING ROLE. IT WAS A FUN SET TO WORK ON BECAUSE RITTER IS SUCH A FUN ACTOR TO WORK WITH. IT WOULD BE DIFFICULT FOR ME TO COMPARE "THREE'S COMPANY " TO THE MTM GROUP HAVING ONLY BEEN THERE ONE WEEK.
ACS: Did you enjoy working with Jay Sandrich? Rhetorical question, of course! It seems that everyone did.
JB: YES! JAY SANDRICH WAS AN EXCELLENT DIRECTOR WHO HAD EXCELLENT WRITERS AND ACTORS TO WORK WITH. THEY WERE LIKE MUSIC WORKING TOGETHER--THEY PLAYED A WONDERFUL TUNE.
ACS: You were originally cast in the role of Carol Brady on "The Brady Bunch", only to have creator/producer Sherwood Schwartz change his mind. Of course, if you'd been Carol Brady, you couldn't have done Marie Slaughter! Which role would you rather have had?
JB: FLORENCE DID A GREAT JOB AS MRS. BRADY. OF COURSE IT WOULD HAVE BEEN GREAT TO DO THE SHOW, BUT FLORENCE WAS TERRIFIC. AS TO WHETHER OR NOT I COULD HAVE RAISED 6 KIDS AND A DOG...I HAD 3 NATURAL CHILDREN AND 5 STEPCHILDREN AND DOGS. I NOW HAVE 3 PLUS 7 STEPCHILDREN AND 4 NATURAL GRANDCHILDREN AND 8 STEP GRANDCHILDREN. I LOVE THEM ALL AND WE ARE VERY CLOSE. THEY HAVE ALL BEEN VERY SUPPORTIVE OF MY WORK PROFESSIONALLY AND MY WORK WITH THE NATIONAL DYSLEXIA RESEARCH FOUNDATION.
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