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By Suzanne

Interview with Marion Ross and Doris Roberts of "Major Crimes" on TNT 7/22/13

I really wanted to make this call, but I was in the middle of moving, so I just couldn't make it. I loved the episode when these classic actors from the 70's appeared on it, though.  It was a scream. I would have really loved to have spoken with these two great ladies!

TURNER ENTERTAINMENT

Moderator: Christina Hamilton
July 22, 2013
2:00 pm CT

Operator: Please stand by, we are about to begin. Good day and welcome to the Marion Ross and Doris Roberts conference call. Today’s conference is being recorded. At this time, I would like to turn the conference over to our moderator, Miss Christina Hamilton. Please go ahead ma’am.

Christina Hamilton: Hello and thank you for joining the Marion Ross and Doris Roberts conference call. Both Marion and Doris will guest star in Major Crimes episode There’s No Place Like Home airing Monday, August 5 at 9:00 pm Eastern Time/Pacific on TNT. The conference call is now open for questions. Please press star 1 to ask your question. Thank you.

Operator: as a reminder, that is star 1 to ask a question. If you are using a speakerphone, please make sure your mute function is turned off to allow your signal to reach our equipment. We will take our first question from Jamie Steinberg with Starry Constellation Magazine.

Jamie Steinberg: Hello ladies, it’s such an honor to speak with you both.

Marion Ross: Well thank you Jamie.

Doris Roberts: Thank you.

Jamie Steinberg: Could you each start and tell a little bit about how you got invited to be a part of the show?

Doris Roberts: Well I think our age did something for that.

Marion Ross: Doris, that’s what I was going to say. We are kind of relics you know and I think we had such a good time on this set because everyone who worked on the crew of Major Crimes had been working on The Closer. They are a very close group, but they have known us all their life. I think so, don’t you Doris?

Doris Roberts: Absolutely. In fact, a couple of them I worked with on Remington Steel a long time ago.

Marion Ross: Wow.

Doris Roberts: Over 20 years ago.

Marion Ross: Really.

Doris Roberts: Yes.

Jamie Steinberg: Well both of you...

Marion Ross: It’s the first time I’ve ever worked with Doris.

Doris Roberts: Yes, it is. Isn’t that amazing?

Marion Ross: I know.

Doris Roberts: I mean how about that? It’s like...

Jamie Steinberg: Hopefully it won’t be the last though.

Doris Roberts: We are having a lot of static.

Jamie Steinberg: I was wondering. You both have such great comedic timing. Is it something you found that has always been natural to you or have you had to work at it?

Doris Roberts: You can’t work at it; you either have it or you don’t have it.

Marion Ross: Well I came from an Irish family and so I got that timing from my mother and from the stories around the dinner table.

Doris Roberts: I just was born with it.

Jamie Steinberg: Lucky you had a spark.

Doris Roberts: Yes, I started this whole business in kindergarten. I had one line to say in a play and that is I am Patrick Potato and this is my cousin Mrs. Tomato, and I heard the laughter in the room and that was the big that bit me and it’s still biting.

Jamie Steinberg: Well you both are so amazing. Thank you all for your time.

Doris Roberts: Thank you.

Operator: As a reminder, that is star 1 to ask a question. We will go to Judy Bergeron with Advocate Newspaper.

Judy Bergeron: Hi ladies, so nice to talk to you today.

Doris Roberts: Nice to talk to you.

Judy Bergeron: What do you attribute your longevity in Hollywood where a lot of people think people are washed up at 40 and you’ve doubled that?

Doris Roberts: Persistence. I don’t give in, I don’t give up, I don’t settle.

Marion Ross: Well and you know Doris, some of my friends will say why did you take that part? You looked terrible in that part and I thought well you know I don’t care. I will be - I can be old, young, back and forth, and I don’t care.

Doris Roberts: Working - we are working. It is as working goes and we love to work.

Marion Ross: Yeah.

Doris Roberts: That’s ((inaudible)).

(Crosstalk)

Judy Bergeron: Well I have both of you pegged until you absolutely can’t anymore. I’m sorry.

Marion Ross: Pardon me.

Judy Bergeron: So do you plan to keep working until you absolutely...

Doris Roberts: Yes, I will go on until I can’t anymore, yes.

Marion Ross: I will too.

Judy Bergeron: Wonderful.

Marion Ross: You know we both are - we have our brains. As long as your brain is working, there is a chance we can work just up to the last gaff.

Doris Roberts: That will give us two gaffs.

Marion Ross: Right, but you know I had such beautiful clothes to where in this show because I was playing a stand in, well the stand in, but beautiful clothes.

Doris Roberts: Lucky you.

Marion Ross: I know. I loved it.

Doris Roberts: And what I love though is the list of people that we worked with from Tim Conway, Paul Dooley, Ron Glass, Marion, myself.

Marion Ross: We had so much fun together.

Doris Roberts: It was great.

Marion Ross: And it was a treat I will tell you and the crew treated us as if we were some sort of jewelry, didn’t they.

Doris Roberts: And we are. I love it that we were all together, that we were all alive, and that our brains were functioning and we were working at our best possibility under the conditions that and that we were still there, and I think that’s inspirational for a lot of people who as they get older think that they are passé and they can’t work anymore. Yes, they can. As long as that brain is working, they can do it and have the desire to do it. I certainly do and I know Marion does.

Marion Ross: Well we all go back to the theater too - the stage.

Judy Bergeron: Right, so are you still able to do that? Is that something you plan to go back to again?

Doris Roberts: That’s a little tough. That’s eight performances a week and that’s - I like to go out to dinner too often.

Marion Ross: I went - I did a play this year for three months, so I feel pretty satisfied. I don’t think I have to do one this year, but I will do one next year.

Judy Bergeron: Great and a question for Doris.

Doris Roberts: Well I don’t know that. I love what I keep doing and I go from film to television back again, so that’s all good for me.

Marion Ross: Doris is your show - it’s constantly running isn’t it?

Doris Roberts: Yes, it’s in 156 countries in the world.

Marion Ross: Wow.

Doris Roberts: Isn’t that amazing?

Marion Ross: Yes, bye-bye.

Judy Bergeron: Bye. Thank you.

Doris Roberts: It’s a big hit in Russia, which I find is hysterical. I’m sorry, I didn’t hear the question.

Marion Ross: I think she said, “Goodbye.”

Doris Roberts: That was quick.

Operator: We will take our next question from Earl Dittman with Digital Journal.

Earl Dittman: Hi ladies, how are you all this evening, afternoon?

Marion Ross: Hello Earl.

Earl Dittman: Doing great. It sounds like you are doing wonderful.

Doris Roberts: It’s 12 o’clock high noon here.

Earl Dittman: I’m a little later than you are, but I hope you are having a great day.

Marion Ross: Yes, how about you?

Earl Dittman: Great. I’m talking to the greatest actresses in the world. How can I not have a better day?

Doris Roberts: How sweet, thank you.

Earl Dittman: Seriously.

Marion Ross: you know this is the first time we have worked together Doris and I.

Earl Dittman: I know.

Marion Ross: Amazing.

Doris Roberts: Maybe that will give them an idea.

Marion Ross: So Major Crimes - I will tell you we are going to solve this mystery Doris and I. As Doris said - she said, “Guess who else is in this, Tim Conway, Paul Dooley, Ron Glass.” And you know it was so funny because Tim Conway is - the camera is on our backs, a big master shot, so Tim is trying to remember the lines. Well of course, he’s got them all screwed up, so now he is making up stuff. Well it’s so much funnier than the other stuff, but we are all shaking. I mean surely the camera can’t see that we are just shaking.

Doris Roberts: It looks like we are crying. And G.W. Bailey, another wonderful actor who is in it, and we are all alive, which is wonderful and our brains are functioning very well, so that’s even better.

Marion Ross: And I got to wear beautiful clothes.

Earl Dittman: Yeah, well now were you all big fans of either Major Crimes or The Closer?

Marion Ross: Not particularly, because sometimes actors - we don’t watch a lot of television.

Earl Dittman: Really.

Marion Ross: Because why don’t we? Do you Doris?

Doris Roberts: I watch television to see if there is anything in it that I’m right for.

Marion Ross: Yeah, you know our agents will call up and say they want you to be on such and such show. And I say yeah, and they say, no, it’s a big hit. A big hit - they should look at it.

Earl Dittman: Well yeah, there’s a lot of them like that.

Doris Roberts: I don’t want to do any of that soft porn stuff that you see on TV. I think I’ve given that up for now.

Marion Ross: No, I turn down things if they are too smutty. These young writers think that’s funny and I don’t do that. I don’t - no, I don’t want to.

Doris Roberts: I don’t either.

Earl Dittman: Well what else do you all have coming up? Do you all have any movies or television shows you are going to be on next?

Doris Roberts: Yes, I just did The Little Rascals.

Earl Dittman: Really.

Doris Roberts: Yes and that should be out sometime in October.

Earl Dittman: Yeah.

Doris Roberts: And it’s wonderful. These kids are just like the original ones and they are just fantastic.

Earl Dittman: That’s got to be fun - a lot of fun.

Marion Ross: I just finished a pilot with Ed Asner, and Vicki Lawrence, and Greg Jbara. Vicki Lewis rather and Greg Jbara, All About Kalamazoo, so you know it’s like - every day is like a crackerjack box. We never know what’s going to be in that. Wonderful.

Earl Dittman: Well that’s great. Well ladies, it has been an honor speaking to two great women, and two great actresses, and best of luck, and I’m sure everybody can’t wait for this episode.

Doris Roberts: You can see it on Monday, the 5ht of August, at 9:00 pm Eastern/Pacific Time on TNT.

Earl Dittman: There you go. Boy, you know how to sell those shows. There you go. Well thank you so much ladies. You all are wonderful. Have a great day.

Doris Roberts: Thank you.

Marion Ross: Thank you. Is that it?

Operator: And we will take our next question from Cindy Pearlman with New York Times Syndicate.

Cindy Pearlman: Hi ladies, I’m so happy to talk to you. I’m a big fan of both of yours.

Doris Roberts: Thank you.

Marion Ross: Thank you, Cindy.

Cindy Pearlman: Both of you are so beloved by fans. Do you each have a story of the craziest fan encounter you’ve ever had?
Marion Ross: No, I don’t think so, but you know, we are stopped on the street kissed fondly. You know if you think don’t tell everybody. We will say like we don’t want to be mobbed here, but I find it easier than the Fonz did. If you are the mother figure, it’s a little different response you know. It’s lovely.

Doris Roberts: Well the way I look at it is when they stop we are in big trouble. And when they stop me I say I love you and thank you for the humor you bring into my life, I think that’s very lovely.

Marion Ross: It is.

Doris Roberts: And we get paid for it.

Cindy Pearlman: And for both of you, you both look so gorgeous. Is there any tips or anything you could tell us other ladies out there? What have you done all these years? I mean you both have beautiful skin, gorgeous hair.

Doris Roberts: I use Nivea to take the makeup off my face.

Marion Ross: I use lots and lots of creams you know. And you know what I think it is? It’s feeling needed and we are constantly working and that is a lovely medicine isn’t it?

Doris Roberts: Yes.

Marion Ross: We are in the game.

Doris Roberts: And there is an attitude as well. I think very much that as people and as we get older, we tend to give up. I don’t give up. I don’t give in, I don’t give up, I don’t settle.
Marion Ross: Me either, no.

Doris Roberts: No, I keep on moving.

Marion Ross: Hard to get like that Doris you know.

Doris Roberts: This is what I wanted to do and it’s exactly what I’ve done with my life and I’ve had a great time doing it and I will continue to do it until I can’t do it anymore.

Marion Ross: Well I had a mother that said, “You can be - you can do anything you want to,” you know that kind of talk.

Doris Roberts: Yes and also you have to do that or yourself. You have to be persistent. I mean if they throw me out the door, I will come in the window.

Cindy Pearlman: What do you think for good health? Do you go to the gym a lot or is it - what about health and fitness?

Doris Roberts: ((inaudible)) to my house. I can afford that thank God.

Marion Ross: Do you do that?

Doris Roberts: Yes.

Marion Ross: Good for you. I belong to the gym, but I don’t go. You know I pay but I don’t go, but I’m very active. I don’t sit down all day you know. My thing is I wake up in the morning and I say I’ve got the greatest idea and it can be any damned old thing you know, but that’s the way I function.

Cindy Pearlman: Thank you so much.

Marion Ross: Thank you.

Doris Roberts: Okay.

Operator: There are no further questions at this time. I would like to turn it back to our moderator, Miss Christina Hamilton, for any closing remarks.

Christina Hamilton: Thank you so much for joining today’s call. As a reminder, you can see Marion Ross and Doris Roberts appear in Major Crimes Monday, August 5 at 9:00 pm Eastern Time/Pacific on TNT. A transcript of this call will be available within 24 hours. Thank you so much Marion and Doris and thank you all for participating.

Operator: This does conclude today’s conference. We thank you for your participation.

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