'The View' Interview
MEREDITH VIEIRA: On the hit sitcom Frasier, Jean Smart was so good as Frasier's high school dream date who turns out to be an absolute nightmare that she snagged an Emmy Award and had everyone wondering when she'd be back. Well, the wait is over. On tonight's episode, she comes screaming back into Frasier's life. Please welcome back Jean Smart. MEREDITH: Ok, Emmy Winner, are you going to live longer? JEAN SMART: Boy I liked hearing that. My husband's grandmother turned 96, but I don't think she's won any Emmys, but she's doing great, bless her heart. JOY BEHAR: Has she won an Oscar? JEAN SMART: No no. MEREDITH: Well you won for playing this sexpot -- this kind of annoying, loudmouth sexpot -- on Frasier, are you anything like that? The sexpot part you are, of course. JEAN: Well according to my husband, yeah. He says "I don't get the joke. I live with this. I don't think it's funny." JOY: What were you like in high school, because in this show you play sort of a high school bombshell, or you were, and Frasier was in love with you and had a crush. Were you like that? Were you a hot number in high school? JEAN: I don't know. I was ok I guess. I was a cheerleader, and I was in plays. High school was fun. I had a good time in high school. JOY: Where did you grow up? JEAN: Seattle. JOY: Oh Seattle! I was just there last week -- what a cute city. JEAN: I love Seattle. The whole (jittering).... on every corner there's a coffee house. JOY: I think you were a hot number. JEAN: Well in high school it was funny because you know how most people have their little click in high school they stick with, and I didn't. And I always thought there was something wrong with me because I didn't have like this little crowd that I hung with. I had friends that were considered really cool, and I had friends that were considered really geeky. And then I had friends that were in the drama department that no one 'got' at all, and then I had friends that were, y'know, really bad kids because I had this big crush on this hoodlum. LISA LING: Where is he now -- the hoodlum? JOY: Where's the hoodlum? LISA: Have you heard anything about him? JEAN: Just through a friend, yeah. STAR JONES: Is he still a hoodlum? JEAN: I don't know. He's ok. STAR: Look! She still has a little crush on him! JEAN: (Laughing) No. JOY: He's probably a United States Senator now. JEAN: No, no. But y'know, I don't know. I didn't feel like I fit in completely with any one group so I just go to the lunchroom and go "Where do I sit?" STAR: Well, I know where you fit in this year. You fit in with the Tony Award Nominees, Miss Big Time Tony Award Nominee. The Man Who Came to Dinner. JEAN: Yes. JOY: Which I saw right away. I have to just say you were pheonominal in that. JEAN: Thank you. It was so much fun. JOY: You were so good in that play. JEAN: Playing another lunatic. JOY: You just owned that stage. You were fabulous. JEAN: Thank you. STAR: Well she owned it with someone that is pretty dear to you, didn't you? Who acted with you this time? JEAN: Yeah. My little boy made his Broadway debut. He was in New York with me and there was a scene in the play where six little boys come out and have to react to different characters and sing 'Silent Night' in choir robes. I'm not a stage mother, but I said "Do you have an understudy in case one of the boys gets sick or anything?" because they were all about his age and blond and everything. They said no we don't, and I said "Well Connor is a good singer." He did it four times, and he got nineteen dollars a show, so he was loaded. He thought he was so rich. He spent all the money -- he said "Mom, I really just did it for the money." LISA: Because he doesn't want to be an actor. JEAN: I said, "Nobody does plays for money! What are you talking about? I said "That's ok. That's fine." He spent all his money at the pet store on mice. MEREDITH: On mice?! Do you have a house of mice? JEAN: We have five mice. STAR: Promise me you will not move to my building. JEAN: Oh, I smuggled one in my bra onto an airplane. JOY: What?! STAR: You smuggled a mouse? JOY: Loose?! Loose? JEAN: I would never do it again because I know that mice shouldn't be on airplanes because they chew through wires. I hadn't thought of that at the time, but it was in a cage. I just had to get it through the x-ray thing because we had two of them in a cage. STAR: I have one word for you; VIBRATOR. You do not need to bring a mouse in your bra. JEAN: Well I was trying to keep her in my pocket -- we had three mice. On the way up they said it was ok, and on the trip home they said, "No no, no rodents and no snakes." They wanted me to put them in the luggage thing. So I said "They'll get thrown around. They'll die," y'know. So I didn't know what to do, so I went around the corner pretending that my son I and were going to take them back to the desk and check them in. And I said, "C'mere, where's your parka?" and I unzipped his pockets and put a mouse in each pocket. Then I took the other mouse and I had her in my pocket, but she kept crawling out, and I'm going towards the x-ray thing and I'm thinking, "This isn't working." So I said "C'mere c'mere" and I was wearing a stretchy leotard thing, so I stuck her down in there. I got back in line for the x-ray thing, and I could feel her coming out. Now she's under here and she's running around here. So I'm kind of going like this (pressing the top of her blouse to her neck), and all of a sudden I can feel -- just as its my turn to go through -- I can feel this little head just trying to.... and I said "Look! A lucky penny!" And you know, there was one. I looked down and there was a penny. (Jean looks up to the heavens and mouths "Thank you"). And I said "Merry Christmas!" and goodbye and I went through the line. We put them back in their cage and I was just laughing so hard. My son was just flipping -- "Stop laughing, stop laughing! Act normal!" because he was walking like this (all stiff). I said "Put your arms down, just put your arms down, it's ok." MEREDITH: You are crazy! JEAN: So I put them back in their little cage and put them on the plane. I'm sorry, I won't do it again ever, I promise. JOY: Was this on American Airlines? JEAN: No no! It wasn't. MEREDITH: We'll forgive you if you do another sitcom because we miss you so much. JEAN: Thank you. STAR: We so enjoy seeing you. MEREDITH: We really do, we love you. Our thanks to Jean Smart, and maybe she'll be doing one soon. Be sure to catch her tonight on Frasier. |