Interview: Renee Taylor Brings Her One Woman MY LIFE ON A DIET To The Palm Springs Plaza

Academy Award nominated actress, writer, director and producer Renée Taylor brings her award-winning autobiographical comedy MY LIFE ON A DIET, to Palm Springs’ PLAZA THEATRE on March 18th where she looks back on a life full of memorable roles in Hollywood and on Broadway, and just as many fad diets.  A self-described “diet junkie” who used to think that if she ate like a star, she just might look and live like one, Renée dishes out juicy anecdotes and weight loss tips from Hollywood legends such as Joan Crawford, Marilyn Monroe, Barbra Streisand, and Grace Kelly. She also shares hilarious and poignant stories about Joseph Bologna, her partner in work and life for 52 years. I had the opportunity to catch up with Ms. Taylor to talk about her life and her upcoming Palm Springs outing. Here are a few excerpts from that conversation.

DG: In prepping for my conversation with you I read so many wonderful superlativesdescribing your impeccable timing, your fearless humor and your magnetic presence. Setting aside all those professional accolades, how would you describe yourself?

RT: Just an ordinary girl. Who’s been in show business for seventy years and, ah … the interesting thing is my husband, Joe Bologna, and I wrote this play “It Had To Be You” and when it played on Broadway it got mixed reviews. And, I don’t know, it’s fifty years later – right now it’s playing in Athens, Greece – for four and a half months. Do you believe that? And, I remember we got a rave review from Brooke Atkinson, but he had just left that paper and gone to another paper – so, it would’ve been a good – it was just bad luck. Although, there’s no such thing as bad luck. A lot of our plays got mixed reviews and fifty years later they’re still running.

DG: You were born in the Bronx. What was your childhood like and how did your life lead you into a career in the theatre?

RT: Well, I remember when I was four years old thinking, about my mother, “this woman is crazy”. Some day I’m going to write a play about her and I’m going to play her. But she was very funny. She had a great sense of humor. My father too. They both had great senses of humor. But they were just ordinary people. You know. He was a weatherman. He would look out, depending on the weather is what her would sell. He would sell umbrellas if it was raining and fans if it was hot. You know. We called him a weatherman. But, he wanted to be an actor, too. I talk about it in my show. By the way, did you mention that I’m in Palm Springs? I told Sean Katz, my press agent, that I don’t want to be reviewed. I’ve had forty rave reviews, coast to coast, and I’m gonna quit while I’m ahead.

I was named after Renee Adoree, and she’s a silent screen star that was in The Big Parade. You sound like you’re too young to have seen that. And my mother said I was a dead ringer for her – I didn’t look ANYTHING like her. Anything. So she named me after Renee Adoree and she had my horoscope done. The horoscope said that I was going to become an international superstar. Close. I’m almost.  They know me in Cuba. Anyway, I always wanted to be an actress. Actually it was to fulfill my mother’s ambition. She always wanted to be an actress. My father wanted to be an actor. But he could barely speak English. He never went to school.He couldn’t read it or write. So, I was to fulfill their destiny. So. I’m still trying to fulfill it.

DG: When did you first discover you were funny, and how did you know this was going to be your career?

RT: I didn’t. I just – you know what? There used to be a newspaper called show business. And I would just audition. For everything. If they said they wanted dancers – I’d never danced – so I went and I danced. They said singers – so I went and sang. Whatever people wanted I would go and audition. I was turned down and I just kept going. I said, what’s the difference if I’m good or bad. The thing is, I like it.

DG: You have been such a success in stand-up, on stage, in film and on television. Which medium is your favorite, and is any one of them more challenging than the other?

RT: I wouldn’t say I was a success – I’ve been fired in every medium. But I just kept on going. You’re a success if you just keep going.

DG: You are, perhaps, best known for your work as Sylvia Fine on The Nanny. What do you consider to be your biggest professional accomplishment?

RT: Well. It was great writing with my husband, you know – it was great when you have a play published and it says written by Renee Taylor and Joe Bologna. You see your name and you say “Oh my God, I must have written that.” And you know how Lovers and Other Strangers Happened? It was the first play we ever wrote. So, my husband and I went to the theatre one night and I said “We could write a play better than that. That was the worst play I ever saw. We could write something”.  So three years later wrote Lovers and Other Strangers and we were going to do it Off-Broadway, and then we did it in Detroit and Davis Susskind said I want to buy it for the movies – and then it became a movie, the first thing we ever wrote and then it was nominated (for the Academy Award). It seems like it was easy but it took a lot of years. You write wrong until you write right.

DG: How did your one woman show, My Life On A Diet, come about?

RT: I wrote a book, which was My Life On A Diet, and I said who would be interested in hearing all the crazy diets I was on – and he said, everybody. So, that’s what happened. Here’s some of the crazy diets that are in the show that I’ll tell you. I was on the champagne diet from Vogue Magazine a few years ago. They said to have two glasses of champagne before each meal. And, umm… it has to be good champagne because cheap champagne has more calories. So, I walked around with a bottle of Cristal in a paper bag and Joe would say, oh you can’t go into a restaurant with that and I’d say “oh, please, don’t take away my diet. Anyway, I became a drunk. He said, I think you’re going to have to go to AA from that diet. I became addicted to Cristal. It was an expensive diet.

DG: What do you hope audiences take away from spending an evening in the theatre with Renee Taylor?

RT: You know, comedy is very healing. And, actually, it’s very healing for me. I hope it will be healing for both of us. You know, people often say to me “I haven’t laughed this much in years” and that always makes me feel good.  Life is full of sorrow as well as joy. I hope I’m bringing the joy. Every time people laugh I want to thank them. For getting it, you know. In a very deep way that I’m sharing it with them. Like all my crazy diets. I was on a diet – there was a diet, the Protein Diet, do you remember? Well, I was one that and I lost a lot of weight and then I read The Times – people were dying from it. There wasn’t enough to eat. Literally dying!!

DG: I know the business is night and day different form when you began, but what advice would you give to young people who have aspirations for careers in professional theatre, or show business in general?

RT: I tell young people, don’t worry if you’re good or bad. Just worry that do you love it. Why do you want to be an actor? Why do you want to be a dancer? Why do you want to be a singer? So many people tell me – yesterday I was in a store and a guy told me he was going to ban actor but her was frightened, and I said I’m still frightened. I have to pray before I go on stage. I was once on stage and Helen Hayes crossed herself before she went on stage and I said “Oh, Miss Hayes, I’m Jewish but does it help to cross yourself? And she said “Only if you can act!”