BEVERLY HILLS, California 鈥� Multitasking isn鈥檛 a choice for actor Holland Taylor. It鈥檚 a necessity. It鈥檚 impossible for her to focus on just one thing, she says.
鈥淚 think variety and change and mixing things up is essential for me because I have a kind of mild ADD and I jump from thing to thing,鈥� she says.
鈥淚t鈥檚 very hard for me to do one thing for a long period of time. I鈥檓 much better if I have multitasking projects. If I鈥檓 involved in a project in which I apply myself in many different ways I do much better than somebody who just, like 鈥� I could not be a lawyer,鈥� she shakes her head.
She grew up the youngest of three daughters of an attorney and a painter. She attended a Quaker boarding school where she was 鈥渁 fair student.鈥�
But she has managed to multitask her way through an enviable career. Taylor earned an Emmy for The Practice in 1999, conjured her own one-woman show on Broadway and memorably portrayed the self-absorbed mom on Two and a Half Men.
Now as the ginger-haired Ida on AT&T Audience Network鈥檚 Mr. Mercedes, (Super Channel Fuse in sa国际传媒) Taylor is usurping herself once again. She plays the straight-talking neighbour who slowly infiltrates the macho guard of her friend, a former policeman who鈥檚 under threat.
When Taylor graduated from college (where she was a drama major), she headed straight for New York and captured her first role almost immediately. She played a nun (among 20 other nuns) and earned a massive $125 a week. 鈥淭hat was 1965, and exactly the price of a Philips Norelco radio I wanted to buy,鈥� says Taylor.
鈥淚 bought that radio. I think my rent was $140 month, the top floor of a very tiny little brownstone in Greenwich Village, and it was owned by the parents of a girlfriend of mine from Bennington (College) and she didn鈥檛 live there. This top floor had probably been an attic or laundry, I don鈥檛 know what the hell it was up there, but it was not a normal layout,鈥� she recalls.
鈥淚t didn鈥檛 have working fireplaces, but for decor, you had fireplaces. It had little dormer windows that looked out on MacDougal Street. My bedroom looked out on a handkerchief park 鈥� it was a dream way of life.鈥�
Her dream way of life was later shattered, she says, when her heroes of the period 鈥� Malcolm X, Robert Kennedy, John Kennedy and Martin Luther King, Jr. 鈥� were all assassinated within a short period of
time.
鈥淚 dropped out,鈥� she sighs. 鈥淚 just dropped out of public life. I did not read about politics. I did not vote. Didn鈥檛 read the newspaper. I just dropped out because I couldn鈥檛 live in an environment where my leaders 鈥� one after the other 鈥� were going to be assassinated, murdered. It鈥檚 almost like the Hitlers and the Mussolinis don鈥檛 get assassinated 鈥� I mean they get killed in the end 鈥� the good ones that stir passions for the common good, for some reason, they are the ones that draw the fire.鈥�
She eventually regained her stability and continued to pursue acting, which she calls 鈥渂eing a gun for hire.
鈥淎nd a gun for hire is not a career,鈥� she says. 鈥淎 doctor is a career. A lawyer is a career. An archeologist is a career. The work builds, and it鈥檚 a ladder, and you climb and you broaden and increase in your abilities and increase in your accomplishments, an actor鈥檚 life 鈥� from that angle 鈥� is a joke, is a sad joke.
鈥淚鈥檝e had situations where I鈥檇 audition for things where they would say to me later, 鈥榃e鈥檝e made such a mistake. We鈥檙e sorry we didn鈥檛 go with you for this other reason.鈥� Or sometimes it鈥檚 not a mistake, it just doesn鈥檛 go your way. It has nothing to do with your abilities. They say, 鈥榃e actually needed a brunette.鈥� I鈥檝e had that said to me and justifiably. There are very stupid reasons why you don鈥檛 get work.鈥�
One of her proudest moments arrived when she wrote and starred in her solo show, 鈥淎nn,鈥� about the late Texas governor Ann Richards. But she admits it exhausted her. 鈥淚 literally think I had a true case of PTSD. I鈥檇 lost 20 pounds on that job. My doctor said, 鈥榊ou鈥檙e unable to eat enough to support this work.鈥� I became really frail after that long run, then my world disappearing, all those people gone, all the joy gone. I had a serious, serious depression afterward, which I believe was physical as well. I was in the hospital for a while. I just needed time, contemplation, and then back to work.鈥�
Among her joys is her four-year relationship with sweetheart actress Sarah Paulson. 鈥淭alk about taking you off the beaten path,鈥� she grins. 鈥淚t鈥檚 something that I still have to shake my head and say, 鈥榃ait, wait, this is amazing because it鈥檚 just so unlike what life would normally expect to be for me at this time of your life. It鈥檚 completely opposite.鈥�
鈥淗ere鈥檚 this very busy person all over the map working like crazy, but I can hardly keep up with her. There鈥檚 quite an age difference, but she certainly keeps me alert and on my toes. And she demands I be on my toes, and that I keep going strong ... It鈥檚 wonderful to have a mate who will acknowledge something you鈥檝e done and who understands what an achievement it was. She knows exactly what you go through for everything. She鈥檚 very wise ...鈥�
