THE ROSIE O’DONNELL SHOW – TRANSCRIPT OF MARG’S INTERVIEW
October 6, 2000
Rosie: We all remember our next guest from her award winning role as KC on China Beach. Starting tonight, she returns to series TV in the new drama CSI. Please welcome back to the show, Marg Helgenberger.
Rosie: How are you, Marg?
Marg: Iâm great.
Rosie: I had a lot of instructions not to say Marge. Do people say Marge?
Marg: Well, yeah, a lot.
Rosie: Iâm going to give you the foot stool.
Marg: Thanks.
Rosie: Itâs good, right? I knew youâd like it. A lot of people say they donât want it. They protest. I give it and they are happy.
Marg: The guys probably protest more than the gals do.
Rosie: Iâve never given it to a guy, have I? Yeah, I gave it and somebody got insulted. Who did we give itâŚOh, William Shatner. We almost killed him with it. The first time we had it tight, and I said to him, âDo you want⌠we got it just brand newâ and I hit the button and the chair started to move. and he fell off.
Marg: No way.
Rosie: And it wasnât a joke.
Marg: Well, I can see why he would be a little upset, I guess.
Rosie: But there was one actor that was tiny and I gave him the fool stool and he wasnât happy. Letâs keep going. Thatâs a bad area,and I donât know why I got into it.
Rosie: How are you?
Marg: Iâm really good, thank you very much.
Rosie: And do people say Marge or not?
Marg: Many people do, yes. Itâs a, you know my motherâŚMary Marg is my full name. Marg is my middle name. My mother intended me to be called Mary Marg. She doesâŚIt gets mispronounced so often my production company is called âDonât call me Margeâ production.
Rosie: Oh, really? Because itâs not Margaret? Itâs not short for Margaret?
Marg: No, Mary Marg.
Rosie: Very Irish, isnât it?
Marg: Yup.
Rosie: Thatâs where I first saw you.
Marg: Ryanâs Hope.
Rosie: Ryanâs Hope, thatâs my show.
Marg: I know. I remember.
Rosie: And how did you get that gig?
Marg: You know, I was at Northwestern University and I was in Taming of the Shrew. Now who would think Kate in Taming of the Shrew would lead to a soap opera? It did. But I actually did have aâŚmy first TV gig was playingâŚwell, it wasnât really playingâŚI was being the weekend weather girl at this station in Kearney, Nebraska. I was pretty bad at the job, you know. It was only a summer and I was doing it just for kicks. But it was serious because the farmers were relying on whatever I said. You know ,depending on what the weatherâs going to be like for the week and the crops. I think they were glad to see me go.
Rosie: Were you schooled?
Marg: I was in school, yes.
Rosie: No, but I mean, did you know meteorology or whatever for the weather?
Marg: No, no.
Rosie: You knew nothing?
Marg: I knew nothing. I was just putting together my information by the UPI and the AP wire services and I would make up my own maps and all this kind of stuff.
Rosie: Really?
Marg: I actually went by the name of Margi McCarty because my name Helgenberger was clashing with the two other anchors on the show whose names were Harvey Knocklinger and Joyce Eisenminger. So it would have been the Knocklinger, Helgenberger, Eisenminger report.
Rosie: That would have been hard.
Marg: Exactly.
Rosie: Now people must have tried to get you to change the name because itâs a tough one.
Marg: Only then. My first job, that was it.
Rosie: Not when you were a soap opera actress, they didnât?
Marg: No, nobody. No.
Rosie: You know who I saw from Ryanâs Hope recently in Remember the Titans?
Marg: Who?
Rosie: The guy who played Ox Knowles.
Marg: My god, you remember his name. Will Patton.
Rosie: I love that show
Marg: I know. He was cool on that show.
Rosie: Heâs in Remember the Titans.
Marg: I know. Heâs got a big role apparently.
Rosie: Huge role.
Marg: I havenât seen it yet.
Rosie: The whole movie I kept going, âI swear he was on Ryanâs Hopeâ, to my friends.
Marg: He was like a demolition car driver or something like that.
Rosie: Yeah. He was a bad guy too.
Marg: He was kind of a good guy, bad guy.
Rosie: He got involved with Delia in a bad way, when she was in a bad place. Because Frank had left her. Cause Frank never loved her. He always loved JillâŚ
Marg: I canât believe you remember this, because I donât even remember.
Rosie: You donât remember?
Marg: I remember him on the show. And I remember he was some kind of dark brooding kind of guy. And something with race cars⌠but I donât remember specifics.
Rosie: You donât? Anything you want to know, you phone me okay?
Marg: What was Kelli Maroneyâs characterâs name?
Rosie: Kelli Maroney? I donât know.
Marg: Okay. She was Rayâs daughter. She was like a vixen on the show. BlondeâŚ
Rosie: Really?
Marg: The reason I bring this up. When I was on that show, I got booted out of the sublet…I was subletting an apartment from one of the actresses on the show. Iâm not going to mention any names.
Rosie: Youâre not gonna, but youâll tell me at the commercialâŚ
Marg: Perhaps.
Rosie: Okay.
Marg: As long as you donât repeat it.
Rosie: Swear to God.
Marg: Okay. Anyway, I was like destitute and Kelli was on the show with me. She said come into my studio and crash on my sofa. So there I was for like three months. The two of us were like co-eds hanging out in this studio together, but I canât remember her characterâs name.
Rosie: Who did she play?
Marg: She was always conniving, and she was very young, sex kitten type.
Rosie: What year? Give me what year.
Marg: This would have been about eighty-two and three.
Rosie: Eighty-two and three. I was still very addicted at that point.
Marg: So?
Rosie: I will find out it out. During this commercial break, I will find it out. You donât think I willâŚyou just watch me.
Marg: I know you will.
Rosie: Watch me non Marge helgenbergerriginduger.
Rosie: Weâll be right back with Marg after this. Donât go away.
(commercial break)
Rosie: Her name was Kimberly.
Marg: Yes.
Rosie: I have a cracker jack staff. They found it out during the commercial break.
Rosie: Now, Marg, I saw your new show. I really enjoyed it.
Marg: Thank you very much.
Rosie: Itâs called CSI.
Marg: CSI.
Rosie: Itâs sort of like a modern Quincy.
Marg: Yeah. A lot of people have said that. CSI stands for Crime Scene Investigation for those who donât know. Weâre a unit of criminalists that work the graveyard shift in Vegas. Weâre sent to the crime scene, gather the evidence, bring it back to the lab, analysis it and then figure out what happened.
Rosie: Right. Do you work actually in Vegas? Do you shoot the show there?
Marg: Some of the time. In fact weâre going next week to Vegas to shoot some.
Rosie: You do the exteriors there and the rest in L.A.
Marg: Right, exactly.
Rosie: Did you bring a clip?
Marg: I did.
Rosie: And itâs about which one?
Marg: I think this clip, if Iâm not mistaken. is myself and an actress named Jorja Fox, and weâre sort of waiting the results of the DNA analysis on a suspect that we think may have been involved in this murder.
Rosie: Take a look. CSI, right here.
(Clip of CSI is shown)
Rosie: It premieres tonight on CBS. Itâs a very good show.
Marg: Thank you very much.
Rosie: It really is.
Marg: Thank you.
Rosie: And youâre a very convincing cop.
Marg: I played a lot of law enforcement. Well, starting with Ryanâs Hope. I played a cop on that show and went undercover as a prostitute. Guess what my name undercover as a prostitute was?
Rosie: It rhymed. Daisy Glue. Wait, what am I thinking? What was your name?
Marg: Pepper Adams.
Rosie: Oh, I wasnât even close.
Marg and Rosie together: Pepper Adams.
Marg: Spicy. I was a saucy littleâŚ
Rosie: Usually when they cast the real pretty girls as cops, theyâre not believable. But youâre pretty and also believable.
Marg: Thank you very much.
Rosie: And I like when that happens. Because, you know, sometimes they get these Barbies that are so un-cop like. You know what I mean.
Marg: Well, you know, Iâve played so many cops and detectives. Iâve ridden with a lot of cops. And you know, my hat goes off to the people. I just respect what they do. Itâs just a hard job.
Rosie: Itâs the toughest gig in the world. Itâs got to be.
Marg: God, yes.
Rosie: Now howâs your son. Is he doing good?
Marg: Heâs doing very well. Thank you.
Rosie: Whatâs he into?
Marg: Heâs now in the fifth grade. And he, well lately, he was into, who wasnât? The Olympics. Completely got into it. âMom, this is the first time Iâve really gotten into âem.â And then when they were coming to a close he said âIâm kind of depressed theyâre not on anymore.â And I remember feeling that as a kid too. There was one night, in fact, we were sitting around watching the womanâs triathlon, which my god, these womenâŚ
Rosie: I know. Itâs unbelievable.
Marg: Those bodies on them. So lean and in such great shape…just a brutal event. And I said, I was commenting…He had four of his friends over sitting around eating popcorn. And I said, âYou know, you couldnât perform in this event if you had large breasts.â Well that brought the house down. You say the word breast in front of a group of nine and ten year old boys, they think itâs the funniest thing ever heard.
Rosie: Really? Did he yell at you for embarrassing him? Did he yell at you?
Marg: No. I think he thought I was cool because all of his friends were laughing their little tushes off too.
Rosie: Itâs so funny because sometimes I call all my kids Fred for no reason. I just go âHey Fred!â to all of them. And if I ever do it in front of their friends, theyâre furious.
Marg: Beause itâs uncool.
Rosie: No. theyâre like, âDonât ever call me thatâ. Iâm like âwhy? Itâs all right at home.â Itâs a bad name in front of everyone.
Marg: Well, he does weird things like that too. I had these pair of shoes that were really groovy. They were these Miu Mius, and I was picking him up at the playground just the other day, and I had the shoes on. And he said âThose shoesâŚwhatâs with the spikes on the bottoms of them? Whatâs with that?â And he was like standing in front of me putting his backpack. And I said âYou know what, every girl in this playground is digging these shoes right now.â
Rosie: Did that change his mind at all?
Marg: No.
Rosie: No. Heâs only in the fifth grade.
Marg: Of course not, of course not
Rosie: Well, itâs great to see you.
Marg: Thank you. It was great to be here.
Rosie: Thank you very much for being here.
Marg: Thanks for having me back.
Rosie: And CSI premieres tonight, so definitely look out for it. Itâs a great show.
*Special thanks to fox1 for transcribing this interview.