THE TONY DANZA SHOW, TRANSCRIPT OF INTERVIEW
January 17, 2005
Tony: Our first guest got her start on the soap opera Ryan’s Hope. She went on to win an Emmy for her role on a great show China Beach and has since become a household name. She’s currently on the big screen in the movie In Good Company and can be seen every week on television’s most watched show CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. Have a little look.
(Clip of CSI shown)
Tony: Please welcome the beautiful Marg Helgenberger.
Tony: Hey, how is it to work with Bill Petersen? You know we worked together. We did Twelve Angry Men together, so I know him a little bit.
Marg: Oh, he’s a great guy. You know, he’s a wonderful actor, and he’s very smart and funny. And he loves his sports.
Tony: Yes I know .
Marg: Did you talk about sports with him?
Tony: Oh yes, absolutely.
Marg: Yeah, He loves it. Passionate about it.
Tony: So you won the two People’s Choice awards the other night, right? And you accepted for the show when you won the show. Congratulations.
Marg: Thank you very much. Yes, it was a lot of fun. I remember when you hosted that show a couple years ago. You were great.
Tony: That was the introduction to my alter ego, Italian Ice.
Marg: Oh, that’s right. I remember.
Tony: Remember. You’ve heard of Vanilla Ice, I’m Italian Ice.
Marg: That’s right. Italian Ice, Yes.
Tony: Now, by the way, you’ve won for China Beach, which was like one of my favorite shows.
Marg: Was it really?
Tony: I really loved that show. Dana..
Marg: Yes, Dana Delany.
Tony: In fact, I got a picture. What’s interesting is the different woman who picked up the award for The Peoples Choice the other night and the award for… what happened when you won the Emmy?
Marg: Well, I was eight months pregnant.
Tony: Oh yes, that’s what it was.
Marg: I remember weird things occur to you at those events or just when you’re pregnant. The previous award was for Best Actress in a Comedy, Supporting Actress in a Comedy. And Bebe Neuwirth won and she was so svelte and had this little dress on, and she like zipped up those stairs. And all I could think about is ‘If they call my name, how am I going to get up those stairs? How am I going to see those stairs?’
Tony: Just so you know what she’s talking about. Here, how’s that? There she is. She looks beautiful.
(Tony shows picture of pregnant Marg at the Emmys)
Marg: There’s Hughie.
Tony: And then here’s the other side of the coin. This is at the Peoples Choice the other night.
(Tony shows picture of Marg at the Peoples Choice Awards)
Tony: That’s great. Congratulations.
Marg: Oh boy.
Tony: I have a tough time. I mean, don’t get me wrong the show is great. But I get a tough time watching the forensics. Does it bother you? I mean, I get a little squeamish. You know, I get like aye aye ya …we gotta go into that wound, I’m not sure.
Marg: Well, you know, obviously it’s all prosthetics, and we have brilliant make-up artists that make these corpses look just brilliant.
Tony: Because it looks real to me.
Marg: They’re geniuses, they really are. I actually have done research in which I’ve attended actual autopsies, and that was, that was ummm…I actually got an A plus from the coroner because he said there have been some beefy cops that have come in there and down they go.
Tony: Yeah, you get an A plus if you don’t faint.
Marg: Yeah right. He was impressed. Well, I kept asking a lot of questions, you know. Like why… because one body had just died the night before and the other one was what they call a decomp. So you know…it’s daytime here, so I don’t want to get into the details.
Tony: Let’s talk about the soap opera. But I mean, sometimes I go, I’m so into the show and then all of a sudden, they do something with a body and I gotta take my eye off the screen for a little while.
Marg: There’s occasions when it’s too intense for even the crew guys who’ve seen it all.
Tony: Sure.
Marg: But they say, ‘I gotta get outta there it’s too much for me.’
Tony: You’re married to a friend of mine also, Alan.
Marg: Alan Rosenberg.
Tony: Yes, Alan Rosenberg. Great guy.
Marg: How do you guys know each other?
Tony: Just from the Hollywood’s, you know, the men about town stuff. I think we actually worked together once or twice. I’m not sure.
Marg: Well, it could be from New York too that you guys know each other perhaps.
Tony: I was just wondering, knowing him…wow did he end up with you? That’s my problem, my question.
Marg: Oh well, you know. How did I end up with him? We’ve been together eighteen years.
Tony: Is that right? (audience applauds)
Marg: Yes, thank you.
Tony: Guys, I’m just kidding. He’s a wonderful guy. I just like to kid him.
Marg: No, I know. In fact, we met on, I think you mentioned, the soap opera.
Tony: Ryan’s Hope.
Marg: We met there, but we didn’t date then. We were just…we worked together. I was…this is so funny. I was playing …I was a cop on the show, and I was undercover as a prostitute, and he was the proprietor of this sleaze bag Times Square hotel I checked into. Crazy. Anyway, like a few years later in L.A., we bumped into each other as I’m opening up a bank account at the B of A.
Tony: So, nothing happened on the show?
Marg: No.
Tony: And you run into each other and that’s how you hooked up.
Marg: Yeah. He was so cute. He said, ‘You remember me?’ He was like running his hands through his hair as he was approaching me. And I said, ‘Of course, Alan. You know you’re so cute and sweet and all that.’ We exchanged numbers, and I called him. He was stunned, I think, that I, you know, made the first move.
Tony: I want to go back to my original question now.
Tony: Let’s talk about the movie In Good Company.
Marg: Let’s.
Tony: Did you have a good time doing that?
Marg: It was fantastic.
Tony: It looks like a great time.
Marg: It was great. It was seven days is all. It was seven days of wedded bliss.
Tony: It didn’t take seven days to make the movie.
Marg: No, I’m sorry. That’s my involvement was just seven days. It’s just a wonderful script written by Paul Weitz and directed by Paul Weitz, who’s so talented, so gifted. And a wonderful cast.
Tony: Dennis Quaid.
Marg: Dennis Quaid plays my husband. Scarlett Johansson plays our oldest daughter. Topher Grace is brilliant.
Tony: See, this is my nightmare. My nightmare is Dennis Quaid is a guy working. He gets demoted and then loses his job, and he gets a new boss. And the boss is half his age is Topher Grace.
Marg: Half his age.
Tony: And then the boss goes dating his daughter.
Marg: I know, as if that’s not enough of an insult, you know. Exactly. But, you know what, it’s a comedy. You know,a human comedy. I think is like Paul likes to describe it, because it explores themes that could be taken serious, like the ageism and the corporate merging and downsizing. But he’s got a really light touch, and it’s nimble, poignant and charming.
Tony: Well, it’s the only way really to reach people because, you know, they don’t want to hear it.
Marg: Oh yeah.
Tony: But you make them laugh and they get it.
Marg: Absolutely.
Tony: I think we have a little clip. Can we take a look?
Marg: Oh, great.
(Clip of In Good Company shown)
Tony: That’s great. It really is. That’s terrific. I wish you all the luck with that, Marg.
Tony: So, here at the show we like to do things different. You know we can do another chat segment, and it would be wonderful, but since Marg’s series CSI has spawned two spinoffs, we’re going to play a little game we like to call The Spinoff Spinoff. So don’t miss it)
(Commercial break)
(Marg and Tony play game with the audience)
Tony: Well Marg, I know you must be unbelievably excited about the spin off, spin off. I appreciate you being here, I really do. Thank you so much. Good luck with the movie and CSI.
Marg: Thank you.
Tony: Marg’s new movie In Good Company is in theaters now, and you can catch her on CSI: Crime Scene Investigation every Thursday night on CBS. Thanks again, Marg.
*Thanks to fox1 for transcribing this interview.