OPRAH – MARG GIVES A TOUR OF HER HOME, TRANSCRIPT OF SHOW
May 24, 2004
Oprah: I just love seeing how other people live, don’t you? I love it. Now we know how Paige lives (referring to Paige Davis who was interviewed prior to Marg). So when star investigator Marg Helgenberger of the mega hit series CSI invited us into her gorgeous Spanish style home in Santa Monica, we said, ‘Absolutely, Marg. Thank you.’ Joining us from her home in California is Marg Helgenberger. Hi Marg!
Marg: Hi Oprah.
Oprah: Very nice. It’s a nice day there, huh?
Marg: It’s very warm. It’s about ninety-five.
Oprah: Oh boy.
Marg: It’s a little bit too hot. I’m sure it will be a welcome for you folks in the Midwest.
Oprah: Well, thank you for letting us come in. A few days ago, Marg opened her doors and let our cameras in for an extensive tour. Take a look.
Marg: Hi Oprah. Welcome to my home. I’m so excited to give you a tour. Come on in.
Marg: This is my living room. It has not structurally changed since 1928 when the house was built. The thing I love about this room are all the architectural features. There’s lots of curves and arches and coves. Even the floors are the original floors. I’ve darkened them. I thought it would make the house chic. I really like the colors in the room. Green is my favorite color. I also love lavender. They look good on redheads. The rug was the first thing we chose for the living room. It’s designed by Allegra Hicks. It’s kind of this weeping willow effect. The sconces were wrought iron. The decorator Jackie Torrie suggested painting them the same color as the wall, which I think is very cool. I happen to be a fiend for lamps, and this one I just had to have it. A lot of people walk into the room and say, ‘Where did you get that lamp?’ It’s my little secret.
Oprah: From subtle colors in the living room to bright red pillows next door.
Marg: This is what we call the family room because the family hangs out here. We watch television together here. My son Hughie plays the drums, my husband Alan plays the guitar. Sometimes they jam. We have a wall of photos – my father when he was a little boy wearing chaps, which I have immortalized on my wall. A great idea that my decorator was to hide all the DVDs and CDs, put them all in baskets. Season 3 of CSI – Get it. It’s hot!
Oprah: Speaking of hot, check out that color in Marg’s dining room.
Marg: We’re now in the dining room. Its color is very, very unique. It’s pumpkin and it’s everywhere. This used to be part of the family room/kitchen. And we actually made the room smaller and added a little patio. We made smaller rooms, but by doing that it actually makes the house seem bigger because now there are more rooms to go visit. My architect Barbara Shintster had a brilliant idea to disguise what used to be shelving for the television and VCR and stereo equipment. She thought of maybe putting in a bar and using shelving from an old Indian home. I think it’s pretty smashing.
Oprah: Time to go upstairs for a peek at the master suite.
Marg: You’ve now entered the master bedroom. The thing I like most about this room is that all you see is trees, so it makes me feel like I’m in a tree house. We added this whole window seat area, and we added the cabinetry for the television. The master bath was added by cutting into a guest bedroom, and we have both hers and his sinks, which is the only way to go.
Oprah: Another special place in Marg’s home, the big bright kitchen.
Marg: The talavera tile behind the stove is also echoed inside of the arch way to the breakfast nook. And there’s lots of green in there too, of course.
Oprah: Looks like California living at its best. Wow, Marg! When we come back, Marg is going to take us on a private tour of her beautiful patio. We’ll be right back.
(Commercial break)
Oprah: CSI star Marg Helgenberger has so graciously let us into her home today. Ninety-five degrees. She’s standing by in her backyard to show us around. This looks great.
Marg: Thank you. We’re standing on my deck, which originally was a redwood deck that had a funky spa in it. And then there was asphalt. So this was completely redone. It’s got this terra cotta deck with lots of theme from Mexico that my landscape architect had come up with. This railing I have to point out actually is in homage to the original owner William S. Hart, who was a silent film star, and obviously the heart motif is kind of echoed throughout the house.
Oprah: Yes, it goes up the stairs to the bedroom, right? Leading upstairs.
Marg: That’s right, yes, which are the original from 1928
Oprah: Wow.
Marg: And we do a lot of entertaining out here. And we tend to have a lot of barbeques. The pool, which we did add it, of course… we wanted to make it seem like the color of a pond, where in the deepest part of the pool, it actually appears to be more greenish. But in the shallower end near where the jacuzzi is, it’s kind of sand colored. It’s just the way the depth and the way the light reflects and all that.
Oprah: Is it true you sacrificed eight feet from the house? You took off eight feet from the house.
Marg: I did. I know most people would think that would be a silly thing to do. If you’re going to go through a renovation, don’t you want to add more space? But not us! So this is what we did. This used to be the back of the house, and we added this. We went back and cut into, I guess it was the family room, and we made this loggia – is what our architecture likes to refer to it as. Because we are in California and it’s awfully sunny, especially today. This is the perfect spot for us to hang when I don’t want to get my fair skin all pink. And there are some great little things I’ve collected over the years. This is one of my favorite pieces. It’s a tile, a Mexican tile that has, I think it’s from the twenties, that I got at some antique fair. I have a few of them that I’ve placed throughout the back yard because it just has all the naive artwork.
Oprah: Oh I think that’s really beautiful.
Oprah: Hey Marg, if we were not standing there invading your privacy right now with all these cameras, what part of the house would you be in? This time of the day, like if you were just home by yourself.
Marg: I would probably be where it’s the coolest because we don’t have air conditioning. We usually don’t need it because we’ve got cross breezes. We’re near the ocean. These older homes were well built – thick walls. So I’d probably be in the family room, where it stays relatively cool most of the time, and reading now that I’m on hiatus.
Oprah: Well, go have yourself a nice cool drink on that beautiful patio. Thank you so much.
Marg: Thank you.
Oprah: Thank you, Marg Helgenberger. CSI, another hit season for CSI. She’s the star with more than thirty million viewers weekly. It is the number one primetime show in the United States of America. CSI airs on CBS, 9:00pm Thursday nights. Also watch for Marg in a movie coming out later this year called Synergy with Dennis Quaid and Scarlett Johansson.
Oprah: Thanks again, Marg.
Marg: Come back any time. My pleasure.
Thanks to fox1 for transcribing this interview.
If you would like to see photos of Marg’s home, you can view them in our gallery here.