Mary Louise Wilson: Doing It With Finesse

Mature theater-goers proudly recall seeing musical comedy greats perform. It's easy to remember seeing Mary Martin,Ethel Merman, AlfrEd Drake or Joel Grey because these stars contributed exemplary work in leading roles. However, a book could be written about actors who create vivid impressions in our minds while playing supporting roles in memorable shows.  

Gwen Verdon comes to mind because she nearly stole Cole Porter's Can Can from star Lilo and stories abound about how unhappy the star was about it.Sandy Duncan's giddy laugh and comic timing are happily recalled by the audiences of the original version of The Canterbury Tales and in Angela Lansbury's stunning revival of Gypsy in 1974. Mary Louise Wilson's incredibly comic performance of stripper Tessie Tura will remain indelibly etched in the audience's memory. In Miss Wilson's skilled hands, such choice lines as "Where have you been playing? The Vatican?" and "Tough titty" hit their comic marks and had the crowds roaring with laughter. It should also be mentioned that Miss Wilson looked extremely fine in the abbreviated costume of the stripper. In short, her interpretation of that role was a feast for the eye and the ear.  

"Oh yes, it was a great experience," comments Mary Louise Wilson in a phone conversation from a bus which is taking her upstate New York.  Despite a failing battery in her cell phone, the actress was extremely genial and downright beguiling as she recalled her career which spans 40 years and shows no sign of stopping.She not only has a plethora of stage roles to her credit, but has appeared in such films as The Money Pit, Zelig, and Klute, along with guest shots on such acclaimed television series as "Frasier", "The Cosby Show" and "The Sopranos".Miss Wilson has very fond memories of her time spent in the Lansbury helmed production of Gypsy.  

"We toured with the show for six months and then did it on Broadway. It was a great time. Life was imitating art or art was imitating life because we were on the road with several stage mothers and their children. Still, it was a great time and it was a very classy tour.Angela gave us a party in every town.She fed the actors and watered them, too." Not only did Miss Wilson play Tessie in that production, she also understudied the star.She even had the arduous task of going on for the star at one performance.  

"I never want to be in that position again!" Miss Wilson says with a laugh."I knew well in advance that I was going on.I had about three weeks to turn to stone. I was filled with fear. I was afraid I wouldn't be able to remember anything.When I got out on the stage, I sang the first two words 'Some People--' and thank God, I could see the conductor. He had a great big face and he mouthed the next few words and got me through the first song. I was both blind and deaf, but as I got through each number, my vision improved. One of the great things was that it was an extra matinee and the audience was full of actors. They knew what it felt like so I had tremendous support out there."  

That production of Gypsy featured an electronic runway that moved out over the orchestra.It was used for both Gypsy's strip montage, as well as for "Rose's Turn".Miss Wilson recalls."Angela could dash across it in about two leaps, and I felt like a little peanut running, running, running to get to the end of it.One of the stage mothers tried to be helpful by telling me, 'You could fall in the pit, you know!'That wasn't exactly the encouragement I needed!"  

The actress was born in New Orleans and went to Northwestern University because she wanted to go to theater school. There she studied with Alvina Kraus. To explain why she became interested in acting, Miss Wilson responds, "I couldn't get any attention unless I stood up and performed. People were always telling me to shut up because I was so loud.  Somehow I got approval when I walked on a stage.I've always been interested in getting laughs."  And get them she does.  

So effective is Miss Wilson in getting laughs, that she has a very good working relationship with playwright Neil Simon, a playwright who is arguably the finest comic author in the business. She's appeared in three of his Broadway productions, starting as a replacement for Marian Mercer in Promises, Promises and going on to Fools and the female version of The Odd Couple. 

Miss Wilson had never stopped to realize that she's done more than her share of Simon's plays.Does she have an affinity for this work?"Well, I like to be funny and I think he thinks I'm funny, so there you go!" 

"I remember nothing about Promises, Promises," she says.In that show she played the Woman in the Owl Coat. "Recently someone mentioned that I had the cutest song in Promises and I said, 'I didn't sing!' I had no memory of singing."When asked to comment about the female Odd Couple, Miss Wilson responds, "Well, what about it? It was rough. I can't say that I enjoyed it.It didn't translate that well but it was a big hit." 

Fools, on the other hand, Fools wasn't a hit at all."It wasn't successful," says the actress."I think that Neil's audiences didn't enjoy seeing peasants.  It was a play about stupid peasants and it was terribly funny.TERRIBLY funny and it had the wonderful Harold Gould in it. He and I played husband and wife and it was a lot of fun being stupid."  

In 1977, the uptown Circle-In-The-Square Theater mounted a splendid production of Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest.  Directed by Stephen Porter, the cast featured John Glover, Kathleen Widdoes, Elizabeth Wilson and Mary Louise Wilson as Miss Prism."It was a great part." However, when she was asked what it was like to perform virtually "in the round" at that particular theater, she says, "It wasn't nice.Give me a proscenium any time. The audience on one side of the stage is looking at the audience on the other side of the stage.As an actor, you could be standing at the top of the aisle waiting to go on and someone comes up to you and hands you their tickets.It just doesn't work as far as I'm concerned."  

Miss Wilson is also an experienced playwright and co-authored the Off-Broadway success Full Gallop."I've known about Diana Vreeland since I came to New York in the 50's. She represented a stylish world that I loved.I'd seen a picture of her apartment in a magazine and it blew my socks off.I was always fascinated by her because she was glamorous and funny—and that's what I wanted to be.I got the funny part." Miss Wilson adds with a hearty laugh,"I read her book DV and then I saw her on tape. I also had a friend, Mark Hampton, who was fascinated by her.So the two of us started writing about her. It took us years, you know, to get it going. Vreeland told such funny stories that were really made for the stage.."  Full Gallop played the Bay Street Theater on Long Island and the Globe Theater in California before it was presented by the Manhattan Theater Club in New York. The play won both an Obie and a Drama Desk Award and has been produced around the country and in London, Australia, South Africa, South America, France, Italy and Uraguay.  

Regardless of what plays she's appeared in or what she's written, Mary Louise Wilson will always be remembered for her role in last season's musical Grey Gardens. In it, she played the elder Edith Bouvier Beale and for her stunning work in that, she was awarded the 2007 Tony Award as Best Supporting Actress in a Musical."Scott Frankel, who came up with the idea to do the show, called and said he wanted me for the role.I didn't know him, but bless his heart." It was the same with Christine Ebersole, who was cast in the role of Little Edie.There was no audition process—just a phone call. "Christine and I hit it off , which is rather unusual."Miss Wilson also quashed the rumors that the two of them would be repeating their roles in the London production of Grey Gardens."It's amazing how long that rumor has lingered.It never was going to happen."  

Now, what's it like for a performer to hear their name called out as the winner of a Tony Award? "You know, for weeks you've been in a horrible state because if you win, what are you going to say? If you lose you're going to feel terrible.When I finally heard my name called out, I just sort of went into a trance." What's amusing about it was that Miss Wilson got this award for playing a part that kept her in bed for the entire time she was onstage in Grey Gardens."Now I only get calls for parts where the character is in bed!"

Whether recumbent or assuming any other position, Mary Louise Wilson has created some sharply crafted performances that have entertained, amused and endeared her to theater-goers for several decades. Her well-deserved Tony Award has earned her a special place in Broadway lore.Meanwhile, she continues creating her uniquely daffy characters. If one harks back to her aforementioned role of Tessie Tura, one is reminded of how that character spelled "success". The rhymed response was that she does it "with finesse." That's exactly what this extremely gifted actress has been doing throughout her illustrious career: performing with finesse.

Photos by Walter McBride/Retna Ltd. and Linda Lenzi

Photo of Ms. Wilson as Tessie Tura in Gypsy is from Ms. Wilson's personal collection