Gilbert Gottfried's Amazing Colossal Podcast - 268. Beverly D’Angelo

Episode Date: July 15, 2019

Actress and singer Beverly D'Angelo ("National Lampoon's Vacation," "Hair," "Coal Miner's Daughter") joins Gilbert and Frank for a VERY spirited conversation about her long, strange trip through show business, her gig as a Hanna-Barbera storyboard artist, her enduring friendships with Chevy Chase and Carrie Fisher and her on-screen collaborations with Woody Allen, Alan Arkin, Eddie Bracken, Ava Gardner and Peter O'Toole. Also: Beverly auditions for "Raging Bull," Gilbert reads "Fifty Shades of Grey," Burgess Meredith puts on the moves and Bela Lugosi directs a Marx Brothers movie. PLUS: Lurleen Lumpkin! "The Sentinel"! Remembering Patsy Cline! In praise of Andrew Bergman! And Beverly favors the boys with "The Girl from Ipanema"! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Body Wash. Buy it today at major retailers. Hi, this is Neil Sedaka on Gilbert Gottfried's amazing, colossal podcast. Don't miss it. Don't miss it. Strolling along country roads with my baby It starts to rain, it begins to pour Hi, this is Gilbert Gottfried. It's going to be a rough one. I'm drinking coffee for this. Yeah, okay. It's going to be a rough one. I'm drinking coffee for this. Yeah, okay. This is Gilbert Gottfried, and I'm here with my co-host, Frank Santopadre,

and our engineer, Frank Furtarosa. And this is Gilbert Gottfried's Amazing Colossal Podcast. Our guest this week is a singer occasional recording artist and one of the most popular and respected actresses of her generation you know her work from tv shows like entourage law and order svu family guy frazier mom cougar town and The Simpsons as country songstress Laureline Lumpkin. She's also delivered memorable performances in features like Hair, Coal Miner's Daughter, Every Which Way But Loose, Honky Tonk Freeway, Order, Every Which Way But Loose, Honky Tonk Freeway, High Spirits,

Illuminata, American History X, and everything from 2000 is shit. Sorry. Sorry. No, I'm just worried that people will be going, when, what was that like? Oh, yeah, that was last century.

I'm sorry. Have we started? Did we start yet? Yeah, he's just going to wrap it up. Okay. Okay. Really. We'll get to that. And, of course.

I am working. I am alive. I am working. Okay, go ahead. And, of course, as Clark Griswold's long-suffering wife, Peter O'Toole, Woody Allen, Jack Nicholson, Robert Preston, Christopher Plummer, and the late Burt Reynolds, who calls her a combination of Gene Arthur and Gene Harlow. They're dead, too.

She's also She's also worked with several Gilbert It's I know it's Keep going Okay She's also worked with several

Of our previous guests Including Chevy Chase Amy Heckling Buck Henry Ileana Douglas, Keith Carradine. All true. Paul Dooley. Yep. Ed Vigley Jr.

Oh, yes. Many times. And John Astin. And John Astin? And Andrew Bergman. And Andrew Bergman. And Andrew Bergman. I'm like three degrees of separation.

But wait, there's more. And listen to the guy she slept with. She's also a gifted son. Thank you for tuning in. Bye. a gifted song... Thank you for tuning in. Bye. She's also a gifted songwriter and singer.

Even I'm laughing at this, doesn't I? And the winner of I Lost My Place Here. Oh, the winner of Country Music Association Award. The Golden Reel Award. No, wait. The Golden Globe Satellite Award Emmy nomination.

I've been getting some Lifetime Achievements Awards lately. You know, and I really, I just show up. I don't even know why. And they really don't either. It's just, you know, they I really, I just show up, I don't even know why, and they really don't either. It's just, you know, they had to get somebody they couldn't get, Brenda McCarro or something. Brenda McCarro. Let them explain who you are here. Okay.

They should have figured it out by now. Nobody cares. And you could hear her perform in her own voice. No Marnie Nixon here, folks. Oh, how did you know about Marnie Nixon? We know a lot of stuff. You know, she was in the repertory company I was in, in Canada. And I would, when you're in a repertory company, you do, like you star in one show.

It was my boost to Broadway. That's the story. Marnie Nixon was in the company and she gave vocal lessons on the weekends. Yeah. I do know Marnie Nixon. Okay. She knew Marnie Nixon was in the company and she gave vocal lessons on the weekends. Yeah. I do know Marnie Nixon. Okay. She knew Marnie Nixon. Yeah.

In Hair, Coal Miner's Daughter, Honky Tonk Freeway. In the Mood. What? I did the soundtrack for In the Mood. Yes. Right. In the Mood. Put that in there.

The Mood. In the Mood. In the Mood. The Miracle. Patrick Dempsey's debut. Yes. Good little movie. The Miracle.

Who cares? Daddy's got it. Everybody, you've lost everyone. No, they're all this long. You've lost everyone. They're all this long, Beverly. They've moved on to another podcast now. It's not...

Let's cut to that part. Okay. What's the last thing? What the hell was the other stuff you've done? Please welcome to the podcast a performer of numerous talents and a woman who says that despite being as Italian as they come, she's never been offered a real Italian role. Never. Am I supposed to not be talking?

That's okay. Beverly D'Angelo. I'm exhausted. It's nice to meet you, and I'll see you next time. Thank you. That was very kind. That was really, really sweet, and very, very flattering that you would go to so much trouble

to try to find something that would make people want to listen. I appreciate it. I really appreciate it. You're far too modest, Beverly. Now, I don't think we ever officially met. We didn't. No. We didn't officially meet.

But we both took part in the Friars Club roast of Chevy Chase. Yes, we did. When was that? I know it was right after I had kids, so I think it was like 2000, because I was weighing about 500 pounds, strutting around the stage. And it was right, was that like 2001 or 2002 or something right around it was a while ago certainly yeah it was it was a while ago but those kinds of burns you know leave scars that one doesn't forget that was that was deadly it 2002 actually it. It was very weird because, I mean, I guess, you know, it's funny. Chevy, who I don't know him as well as you do, but I worked with him once and I've socialized.

What did you do with him? Oh, I did one scene and one crappy movie that nobody ever saw. What was it? And it was never released uh jack and the beanstalk jack and the oh with james caron yes yeah really yeah yeah that's cool yeah but um and i socialized with him yeah and with with chevy i can use that classic line which is well he was always nice to me. Good for you.

Yeah. Good for you. But see, I know he certainly had a reputation in the business. You know, I've known Chevy since 1982. And I've worked with him not just on the five vacation movies, but on a national campaign for Old Navy. And also we were like this figurehead or whatever it is for some rental company, Home Away or whatever. And we're close friends socially. He has a place close to mine in Los Angeles. I mean, our paths are linked.

I'd say we're very, very close friends. I'd say that I think I know him very well. He always called me his movie wife or something like that. But, I mean, I've been with him as long as his wife has been, and the professional level only. But I have a lot of theories about Chevy's behavior. I have a lot of theories about the dynamics that he creates. I've always been fascinated by how he can kind of always get to the same place no matter what he's doing.

But, you know, here's – should I go into it immediately? Yes, yes. Okay. Well, here's the thing. You've got to remember that I met – I'd just done Coal Miner's Daughter. And there was a lot of stuff happening. You know, I'd hit Hollywood and I was like on fire and blah, blah, blah. And so i got this

script and um uh it was like you know i was 29 at the time and i was supposed to be mother of teens and and uh there was a dog in it you know you're supposed to work with kids or dogs and and i thought that's kind of fast to go to mothers like i haven't even starred in a movie yet oh i'd done this movie with burt reynolds but that doesn't count it's kind of like on the same level as jack and the beanstalk probably but um like those films the cinema the shin so so anyway um but i was married to an italian duke at the time and he read said, Beverly, this is so hilarious. Look at this cousin, Eddie. He's so funny. And look at this, a dead woman on top of the car. It's hilarious. You do it. So I did. And we shot it all on location. So we were kind of in a bubble.

So my introduction to Chevy and Harold and John Hughes was in this bubble of, and I actually saw that film. First of all, I wasn't the only person. It was a satire. It was a satire and the anticipated audience was going to be the Saturday Night Live crowd who'd made the National Lampoon's Delta House, you know, a big hit. And it was a satire as opposed to just like a comedy. But I saw it as a romantic comedy. And I saw it as a love story. I always saw it as a love story. Interesting.

Yeah, so that really, that helped me make the character real. I just thought, well, this is my mom. You know, I can do that. Even though I was so different, my personality was so different. My lifestyle was so different. Everything was so different. But I met him in the context of this. This was a guy who, when we did that first vacation, if we were driving down the street for a driving shot in the car, people would go, I'm Chevy Chase and you're not. In every restaurant, the waiter would go, I'm Dave, you're waiting for the night. I'm Chevy Chase and you're not. Or I'm Dave and you're not. Like in every restaurant, the waiter would go, I'm Dave, you're waiting for the night. I'm Chevy Chase and you're not.

Or I'm Dave and you're not. You know, I mean, just it was, oh, you know, he was really peaking. And second one, we were in Europe, not so much recognition there, but still everything was built around Chevy. So I saw a lot of people who, you know, his humor, he has a humor, his style of humor is, I'm smarter than you. And if you don't get it, you're a dope. And, you know, it's kind of like Waspie, you know, he has a style. And I did watch a lot of people around him over the years kind of go, yeah, and laugh at the put downs of them to go along with it. And then he had the talk show. And it was like, to me, it was like Captain Cook. You know, like everybody had idolized Captain

Cook so much they thought he was a god. And then he stumbled on a little stone and he bled. And all the natives just pulled out knives and started stabbing into it. They were so furious. But they were the ones who had catapulted him to that godlike status. And once they saw he was human and the talk show didn't work, he didn't work in that format, it was like the knives were out. And I think as a performer and as a person, it'd be hard not to react to that. Chevy was a writer. Chevy started out as a writer. And all the cameras, like, you know how they have all those cameras on a baseball field that are all aimed at the players? And then whenever

there's a celebrity in the crowd, you see that all the cameras turn around. All the cameras had turned around to Chevy. You know, he was really under scrutiny. And I don't think he ever prepared for that. I don't think he ever thought of himself as a performer and just was kind of winging it.

But I do love Chevy and I've worked with him forever. We even tried to do a pilot together. That was bad. And the thing that's weird is he was so mean. He was so messed up on the pilot and I was like, what? And everybody around him was really mean to me too. I think they were like, you know, like how a dog, if he can't, like, I have these dogs, okay? I have a bunch of dogs.

And I observed this, and I thought of Chevy because, and they're little dogs. I keep them inside a lot, but I have gardeners, too. And so I had this one dog, and the gardener was really close to the back door. He was trying to, like, you know, mow and blow, you know, like, I don't even know why I pay him. But anyway, so there were all these leaves and they're getting rid of the leaves and the gardener's really close to the back door. And my dog was growling and leaping at the door trying to get at this invader, right? But he was frustrated by the door and he couldn't. And I saw him start to gnaw his paw, you know.

So I felt like there were many times when I was working with Chevy over the years, many, many, many times that I would get the kind of anxiety and the anger even that really wasn't directed at me. But it was kind of like the overflow from things that they were afraid to deal with Chevy over. So Chevy really never even had realistic or, you know, it's hard for him to have realistic relationships with people. You know, they're anticipating. They know what he's going to say or they know who he is. There's a lot of prejudice going to that guy. He's a good guy. He's a family man.

He's got three daughters, a wife he loves. He's been married to her for 32 years. You know, I mean, there's a lot to say about his core values. But, yeah, he can be a dick. And, I mean, and I'll just have to say once again. He was nice to me. Yeah. He was nice to me.

We had him on the show. Yeah. He was great. I've only seen his good side, I'm happy to say. Yeah, he's got a good side. But the roast was really... Oh, my God. I've never seen anything like that.

It eviscerated. But I think it's because the people didn't know him enough to make really pertinent jokes. It was just they look on a piece of paper, see he's been busted for that. The recurring theme of the back pills joke was like, how many times can you call somebody a drug addict? Ha, ha, ha. You know what I mean? It just – I don't know. Gilbert, you were there, but you didn't perform?

No, I don't think I performed. No, I think you had to have said something. Oh, I did? You must have. Oh. Paul was the roast master, as we talked about. and perform no i don't think i perform no i think you had to set you had to have said something you must have oh paul was the roast master yeah i guess i guess i performed then but it was also that was the second time he'd done it yeah he had done it before so maybe they were kind of like fresh out of the fresh jokes but i think that he was really hurt by – because the resounding image was here's a guy who's addicted to all kinds of drugs. Ha-ha. You know what I mean?

There wasn't like – you know, didn't have the – I don't know. It was pretty direct. It wasn't like a roast where it's your friends tearing you to shreds. Okay, you've said it. That's it. I hear I'm talking 55 words per one. Well, the only people that really knew him were you. You and Lorraine were really the only people that had history with him.

Paul did. Well, Paul. The Roastmaster, you and Lorraine Newman, and everybody else was sort of a comedy central comic. It's like a typical roast. A typical roast has old people you've known, your cronies. And so you can really say something funny, but there's love there.

Yes. And there's just hatred there for Chevy. And it's fine. What did you mean by really when you said you had Chevy's number when you first met him? Because I've heard you say that in interviews. Did I say that? Yeah. I had Chevy's number when i first met him

uh well i know that when that when we met um uh he sure looked familiar to me because he was i saw my background was very different from his how i ended up in hollywood is very different from his and um i'd kind of like come in through music and even just like singing in bar bands and strip clubs and all this kind of, I mean, I saw a whole different way of life than like a college graduate would. Sure.

But there were these really, really bright, like I like to say that I was singing in a topless bar when Meryl Streep was in the Repertory Company. We know about the topless bar with the trapeze. Yeah, that was my college. But anyway, my art studies. But anyway, you know, there were all these really, really smart guys that just kind of invaded Hollywood from Harvard. And although Chevy didn't go to Harvard, they loved him.

I think he won the aristocrat joke, gilbert has like the best version of in history thank you yeah it's true but chevy i think you know won one of those things and endeared himself to all those guys i i probably not getting the history right but the point is these were smart middle upper middle class doug kenney ramus all of those guys. Yeah, yeah. Chris Miller. I got that. I knew who they were. Yeah. You know what I mean? Yeah. How did you wind up with an Italian Duke?

Because I starred in the film of Hair, and the film of Hair opened the Cannes Film Festival in 1979. And we went, and like, you know, when your film opens, the Cannes Film Festival, it's a really big deal, and everybody gives you yachts and stuff. So, kind of en masse, Milos Forman, the director, and myself, and most of the cast, took a yacht to Saint-Tropez. And this fantastic woman arrived, her name is Princess Claudia Ruspoli. And we were sitting there having dinner, and M started singing, you know, that Italian song. Oh, sure. Everybody knows it. Stromboli.

Oh, yeah. Yeah, right. Okay. So Milos started singing. She spits her legs for me. And then she comes on me just like a stromboli, which is a big volcano. And she threw a glass of wine in his face. Wow.

And I just thought, this is the most fantastic person in the world. I want to be her best friend. So I befriended her immediately, and we started talking. And she said, you know, my cousin, Lorenzo, goes to school at USC, studying economics there. You should look him up and so when I went back to LA it was really not much longer after that, I was at a birthday party

at the Roosevelt Hotel and there were a lot of crashers there and I was talking to this gorgeous man who looked like a Greek god and the birthday boy came in and he said, it's midnight and I don't want to sell. I want everybody that I know in that room and everybody that I don't know has to stay in this room.

There are too many crashers. And he goes, Beverly, that means you. Leave this room. And I looked at this guy beside me and he goes, don't go. And I didn't. I took him home and it was Lorenzo, the cousin of this woman that I'd met in Cannes. And we just kind of, we eloped seven months later. Does it make you a duchess if you actually become, if you're married to a duke?

That's pretty cool. Yeah. That's pretty cool. Oh, no, I'm in the, I'm in like the books, you know, like the heirs of Europe. Sure. If you look it up, yeah, I'm there. We actually stayed married for 15 years. Nobody in Hollywood knew that, but I was married from 81 to 96.

I did live with other people during that time. So did he. Because the thing is, when we got married, we were young. I mean, I'd only had one film out when we got married. And I always thought I was going to be a singer and I didn't know if the acting, I mean, I didn't care that much about acting.

Right, right, right. So who knew? And he was a student so our vow was that we would end up together. But the culture owes him a debt of gratitude for you being

in the vacation movies. And so do I. Right, right. You know, yeah, yeah. While I nudge Gilbert awake, listen to these words from our sponsor. Are you speaking? Baseball is finally back. Get in on Major League action and swing for the fences with BetMGM,

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major retailers. And now we return to the show. You said something in an interview that I really identified with that you were basically saying, because I always say I had stupidity on my side when I was starting out. Yeah. And you were saying something basically like that way too. Just blind and courage. Yeah. Courage. I wasn't afraid of anything.

I hadn't learned, you know, what to be afraid of. There were just so many interesting things to do and try out and be, and I just seemed to be one of those people who could go, I can do that. Oh, I need to tap dance? Okay. Oh, I need to sing? Okay. Oh, I need to act? Okay. That kind of thing.

But as things got more, I really kind of honestly, by 81 I was pretty well done with Hollywood, and I lived in Italy. I was based in Italy. I kept working all the time, but I was based in Italy from 81 to 86. And then I was based in Ireland from 86 to 90. So I was out of the country, just kind of flying to wherever I'd have a job for whatever reason. I wasn't really, I'm not one of those ambitious kind of actresses. I've heard you say that you never had a career plan, a real, a plan that just sort of things happen.

You're, you're essentially lazy. Well, a laziest girl in town. Yeah. I've claimed that before, but, um, parallels Gilbert parallels. Yeah. I know. That's why I said I should do the whole thing like this. I'm a, I'm a Gottfried, but, um, I came, I came I should do the whole thing like this. I'm a Gottfried.

But I came out here to be an – I came out here to work in cartoons. Yeah, well, let's talk about that because we're both fascinated by your Hanna-Barbera experience. Because I knew Bill and Joe. You did? Yeah, I was an animation writer for a time. Bill's dead. They're both gone. What do you mean you were in animation for a while?

I wrote Saturday morning cartoons for a while. Do you think it was're both gone. What do you mean you were in animation for a while? I wrote Saturday Morning Cartoons Do you think it was the Italian connection? Is that why we got the job? I have no idea, Beverly, but I had a shingle there for a while and I got to know Bill and Joe. What years? Oh, God, in the early 90s. Oh, wow. When they weren't speaking to each other anymore. I'm so old.

I heard that Hanna-Barbera, they were in the same building. Absolutely true. But they had two separate floors. My last day, I wanted a poster sign, and I had to come back two different days to get built. I know. I got a cell signed by Joe for a Penelope pit stop.

Oh, yeah. Wacky Races. I used to do the thing in Wacky Races. And he was so old. He put, to the original Penelope Pitstop. Oh, yeah, Wacky Races. I used to do the thing on Wacky Races. And he was so old. He put, to the original Penelope Pitstop. And I was like, well, okay. You know, I'll take that. I just wanted the sell sign.

How did you get there in the first place? It's fascinating. Well, here's, I don't know how fascinating it is. There's a little bit of nepotism involved, as it turns out. I was, okay, if you really want to know how I got there, it starts with Grady Poe. Okay? Because Grady Poe

was my best friend, Ginny Poe's older brother. I fell in love with them, lost my virginity on the night of the junior senior prom because his parents were chaperoning. And my parents figured that out. And I was really young.

And so the next thing you know, I'm going to school in Italy for the summer. Ah, convenient. And so the next thing you know, I'm going to school in Italy for the summer. Ah, convenient. And so I took art courses at the American School in Florence. I know they just want, I mean, this is all retrospect, and they both, may they rest in peace, Priscilla and Jean. I know, I kind of know what they're doing, because now I have teenagers. But anyway, so I got a portfolio there.

I had an art portfolio, you know, and so when I was my senior year, instead of applying to colleges, I just sent that portfolio to Hanna-Barbera and Disney, but I sent it to Hanna-Barbera because even though my dad had been a musician, you know, and kind of like a stay-at-home father before they invented that term, until I was about seven, he got into broadcasting. And by the time I was 17, I was 17 when I graduated, by the time I was 17, he was vice president of Taft Broadcasting, and Taft Broadcasting purchased Hanna-Barbera. Nice. Now, Hanna-Barbera paid $1.25 an hour, and Disney paid $100 an hour. What did you do specifically for them? I was a cell cleaner, then an inker and painter, and then I ventured into backgrounds. But then I was a hippie, and I was living on a commune, and it was seasonal work. So you'd work for eight months, and then you're in the union, so you get paid.

Well, you must know this. Do you remember this? Yeah, sure. This was before computers. Yeah. This was 1969. Right, right. Okay.

So I had edged my way up to, you know, clouds of of Dust and the Wacky Races and stuff like that. But I didn't, when that hiatus came, I took to the road myself. And I wanted to be a singer, so I just sang all the way all over the place. Right. Across Canada and back.

What did you call it? The commune circuit? I did the commune circuit. I had a square dance band and won. Right. And, yeah. Tell Gilbert about, he wants to know about the topless bar with the with the women on the trapeze yes okay here's the deal so i was on so i i was so i i'm i know i'm long-winded but anyway

just just come to my show instead but anyway okay here's how here's here's what happened so i i went well actually you, I don't care. I'm going to tell you this. On one of those communes, I got pregnant, and I was very young. And this was just shortly after I was out of high school and had left California. And I had to go to New York to get this done. And I had a friend in Mamaroneck, and she arranged it. So I drove down there with a bunch of hippies and had the thing done.

And then my friend Jackie said, let's go into the city. And so she said, listen, there's this really great band that wants a singer. So that night, I went into this club on 113th Street and auditioned. They said, yeah, you're in. So that band was pretty cool, and we played an outdoor gig at Bard College, opening for Paul Butterfield Blues Band, and the speakers were from Woodstock. They were gigantic.

So we're like, oh, let's plug into that. But the guitar player was wearing tennis shoes. We were on grass. He got electrocuted. It was a disaster. We drive to a diner, and they said, Beverly, you know, and I thought it was funny. They didn't drive to a diner and they said beverly you know you're and i thought it was funny they didn't think it was funny and they said you know what you're too green on stage and off bye-bye at the same time my friend patches eisenberg was taking

off to go across the country to uh british columbia where a couple of the mass marauders that have been busted with ken kesey had set up this fantastic commune. So we go all the way across the country, and it was just like we'd get like a letter from Owsley that was just a big piece of windowpane. It was crazy. We weren't allowed to tell the kids no there. That was one thing they were doing with the children there. But as all communal life goes, I'm getting to the topless bar, Gilbert. As all communal life goes, I'm getting to the topless bar, Gilbert.

As all communal life goes, you know, each person has to do what they can do. And I could sing, so I formed a square dance band. Because there were musicians there. And I was in that square dance band when somebody from, because the world was so transient in those years. Everybody was hitchhiking, connected in some way. And it was like a subculture. I was in the subculture. And so this guy wanted me to come to Toronto to sing backup on an album.

So I go, yeah, to get on the train. And so now I'm in Toronto and I want a gig and I'm ready to work anywhere. So in the newspaper, you could, like, you know, Singer Wanted, I'd get those gigs. I joined the musicians union playing castanets because they would guarantee you a job, like you could sing at New Year's Eve at the mental hospital or something. But my first real professional gig was at the fabulous Zanzibar. The Zanzibar was on Yonge Street. And it was a, I wouldn't say 24 hours, but I think it opened like around 2 in the afternoon.

And it closed at, well, it was Toronto the Good, so it probably closed at midnight or maybe 2 in the morning. But anyway. And the best jazz players in town were there. And I wanted to sing with them because the thing about those drummers that have worked behind strippers is like you put your arm out like this and they go, pchoo. So everything you do, they're used to backing strippers. Now, I performed fully clothed, I might add, in a full-length gown, very classy.

And on either side of me were these giant oil drums with the tops cut off, replaced with plexiglass that served kind of as like an uplight that illuminated, you know, their twats. And every, it's true, every 20 every 20 every 40 that's not even funny but anyway every 40 minutes i would say so i i mean it was like an eight hour gig or something i think i sang from like two until ten at night it was like insane is that eight hours yeah so um every 40 minutes i'd say and now gentlemen it's swing. And these trapezes would drop down. And the gentleman sat in these raked, you know, like kind of, what do you call that? Raked seating, you know, when it goes up real steep.

Yeah. It was popcorn. They gave him popcorn. Like a movie theater. So the trapezes would drop down. The girls would get on in their G-strings and swing, you know, for 20 minutes across these guys' heads like, you know, watching

this stuff. And I'd sing the most extended version of Girl from Ipanema you can imagine. I'd love to see that. There'd be drum solos and Girl from Ipanema is like a samba. But we'd have a drum solo, you know, a guitar solo. You know, we'd just... But the real hot spot was down the street with Ronnie Hawkins.

Ronnie Hawkins was enjoying, this is about 72, Ronnie Hawkins was enjoying a big flurry of fame. A big rockabilly singer. Yeah. He was one of the original rockabilly singers. He's still around. Yeah, he is. But he had gone to Canada where they'd never heard of rock and roll, and that's where he found Robbie and Ricky and Levon,

who would end up in Coal Miner's Daughter. Thank you, Pamela. Yes. Yeah. So anyway, those guys had left him to go on the road with Bob Dylan. They'd become the band. But Ronnie had a way of pinpointing great players, and he could form bands. So I heard they were looking for a singer i walked down after

my gig at the sans bar i auditioned with like a les mccann jazz tune which is that's how i i'm i'm in an evening gown and i've walked into rockabilly heaven but anyway i sang this song and he said to me i swear to god this happened he said stick with honey, and I'll have you farting through silk. And that's the God's honest truth. So I entered into, even though rockabilly wasn't my thing, I entered into this very exciting world of musicians really, really playing this roots music, to tell you the truth. And it was a very fundamental part of me, so much so that when I did come to Hollywood, even though I'd been cast as a debutante, you know, in hair, I think I just exuded so much of my kind of past experience, that kind of crunchiness. That's interesting. That it was all country and western stuff for me.

People can see that. People can see you singing with Ronnie Hawkins. Yes, they can. It's on YouTube. Yes, it is. There's some clips of you singing crazy. Now, can I hear a little bit of you singing Girl from Ipanema? Can you hear that?

Yeah, it's good. Tall and tan and young and lovely, The girl from Ipanema goes walking and when she passes each one she passes goes ah. When she sways it's like a

samba that and I never learned the words. She doesn't see. Oh. Anyway, it goes on. I never learned the words. She doesn't see. Oh. Anyway, it goes on. I never really learned the words. I don't.

Lyrics by Norman Gimbel, Charles Fox's old partner. Yeah. And tan and young and lovely. You know, I really tried to get that into it. But yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Thank you for favoring us with that. Well, that's very kind of you i wouldn't

consider it my finest rendition but you get the picture yeah you know what listen to this listen to this this is true too one of the so that was the the thing the trapeze is that was basically you know the gimmick but but uh that and the popcorn but one of the one of the strippers well they didn't strip. They just wore G-strings. They were dancers. They're topless dancers. It was already off.

But so one of them said to me, you know, Beth, I've got a specialty act I can. And what she wanted to do was, is this too gross? Well, you can cut it. Yeah. She said that the act that she wanted to do, she'd learned it in Hawaii at a place called the Stoplight Club. And what she wanted to do was gather quarters from everybody in the audience, make a stack, kneel down, take it up into her, and then walk around and deposit them in the guy's hands and she said to me you think you think i should tell the owner and i said why what you're trying to class up the joint like what yeah yeah it was that kind of place it was fantastic the characters

were fantastic she could pick up quarters with a pussy? Yes. She could squat her way. You know, I have children, but you know what? This is my story. And I was doing that and listening to that while Meryl Streep was hearing. Now, when we approach Shakespeare, first we know that his words, the words themselves, will take you where you need to go emotionally. I was hearing, you think I ought to introduce this as a classic?

That's hilarious. So she wanted to pick up quarters with a pussy one after the other. Squat, like here are the quarters. Beverly is acting this out. Down like that, and then keep them in, and then pop them out.

Haven't you ever heard of that before? Let's see her try that with Susan B. Anthony dollars. Are they going to do that? Are they going to do the Susan B. Anthony dollars? I hope not. What about the Harriet Tubman bill? I hope not. I hope they do. She stood up in her chair, lifted her leg up, and demonstrated.

I was trying to show you. By the way, Beverly, about those days. Does this make me look bad? Not at all. No. Working with me, Michelle. It's my truth. Did you bill yourself as Beverly Moses at one point?

Yes, I did. Were you trying to pass yourself off as a Jewish singer? Yeah. You know why I did that? That's interesting. Talking about Gilbert, referring to I had stupidity on my side, I got the bright idea that I could get more work if I had a Jewish name. See, I just threw that in there for him

because I knew he'd appreciate it. Yeah, it's true. So you went as far as Moses? Beverly Moses. That's what sprung to mind. You couldn't have just gone to Goldberg? Beverly Disraeli. No, I just said Moses.

I mean, how could you question Moses? It didn't work, so I went back to D'Angelo. But I did put an extra E in Beverly once because somebody told me that the numbers of my name added up to a bad number. And I needed like another five or something. So for a while I spelled it with an extra E. Nothing, you know, whatever. I'm superstitious. I have another note know, whatever. I'm super stupid. I have another note here, Beverly.

The benefit of stupidity. Were you Miss Ponderosa Steakhouse? Wouldn't you love a steak tonight? Tender and juicy, tastes just right. A meal that'll satisfy your appetite. At Ponderosa, get a steak and a sandwich. And a salad. Mashed potatoes, too.

You can get a square meal, square deal. At Ponderosa. Oh, that's fantastic. Now you tell me if I was Miss Ponderosa. I'm singing low. I'm resting my voice. Okay. That's fantastic.

So I guess the answer is yes. Yes. A resounding yes. She was Beverly Moses and Miss Ponderosa. Hey, I've got some claims to fame. That is versatility. You're not the only one, Gilbert. Oh, by the way, wait a minute.

Speaking of claims to fame, I don't know when you're airing this but can we just have like a round of applause aladdin has like has had the biggest opening in the history of electricity practically i mean congratulations iago no but i'm not in this one oh you're not? This part will cut out of the show. That's a good one. That was hilarious. Oh, God.

I'm so sorry. I didn't mean... That's really the wrong... We can cut that. No, it's too good. We can cut that. I wanted... Oh, gosh. The first one was a success too, Gil.

That's terrible to tell somebody, hey, the movie you weren't in made a lot of money. I didn't mean it like that. I was just trying to. You could make it up to him by telling him what you told us about Aflac before we turned on the. Please. Well, I'll tell you. Let me make it up to you because I'll tell you one thing. I wouldn't buy Afleck insurance fucking paid me

god bless you i'll take it god bless you god that's hilarious the best thing about that commercial was you that's what made it it didn't exist who's gonna who in the world who in the world would go hmm let's see there's this insurance company and that insurance company. There's Aflac. Nobody is even going to go with that insurance company. You know why they did? Because of you, Aflac. Because of you, right?

Isn't that nice, Gil? God bless you. No, but I think it's true. No. And I think that these, you know, I understand how stuff goes down. I do. I mean, I get it. I know that when you're living in a country where you cannot exact any, not demand any repercussions or consequences for an amoral president, it will leak out into other parts of the population.

to other parts of the population. And you will find, like that dog gnawing its paw, people brought up on things that maybe if we had more moral order coming from our president, we wouldn't pick on, you know, we wouldn't look on. It's like we have a desire. We have a desire for morality in this code in this country, but it's not being satisfied by our present president. Are you a Republican?

Well, no, no. But he wasn't president when I got fired. He's got no excuse. You got what? It was coming. Obama was an office. I just had to get it in. I just had to get it in.

Well, they were scared in advance. Speaking of amorality, can we ask you a quick... I'm ruining everything. Now the Aladdin. I'm just trying to tell you how much I love you. Speaking of amoral things, can we ask you a little bit about The Sentinel? Just for a laugh. Oh, The Sentinel.

It turns out I won an award for it. I think it was the funniest masturbation scene in cinema. Okay, here's how The Sentinel went. So I started this Broadway show that closed. I was in this teeny repertory company in Canada. And really, Gower Champion, who had directed Mame. Sure, everything. Yeah, big Broadway deal.

Came to see the show beckoned by Colleen Dewhurst, who had just done Eugene's Moon for the Misbegotten. She had a summer home in Prince Edward Island. She brought up her producer, who brought up Gower Champion. What's this charming little Canadian provincial rep company? This was one of the things... You were doing the rock version of Hamlet. No, no, it wasn't. It was not so rocky.

It was just musical. It was called Kronberg 1582. Okay. And Gower said, fire everybody but that girl. And boom, I opened on Broadway. And they totally redid it when they took it to New York. They built the sets into the, they were so confident. They built the sets into the stage of the Minskoff Theater, held 3,000 people. They didn't even took it to New York. They built the sets into the... They were so confident. They built the sets into the

stage of the Minskoff Theater. Held 3,000 people. They didn't even take it to Boston. They figured, well, it's toured all the provinces in Canada. Anyway, they added Meatloaf was a priest. They made Hamlet black on purpose. That was the plot point. And I sang

for my... for Ophelia's death scene or suicide, I strangled myself with a microphone cord and died on stage. Good times. Okay, yeah, so it bombed. Right, closed in a week. It closed, closed in a week.

We previewed for three, I mean, for three weeks, I was getting standing ovations every time I'd strangle myself, and then it opens, and it's like, you know, the minor version of show business no business like show business so i'm in now i'm in new york i really didn't

have enough money to get back to toronto and i kind of there was no what am i going to go back to like sure so um so but the movie's beckoned. And this director named Michael Winner, who everybody said, he's a big deal, he did Death Wish. Yes. And the cast, because there were so many casting directors and a lot of people like kind of found me in this Broadway thing. It was evidently very legitimate, except it sucked. But I got a lot of attention. And so, all the casting directors, you know, reaching me and stuff. And so, I went in to meet Michael Winner. And he said, Oh, Beverly, now I'm doing the film and I want you to take this script home. I'm offering you the part of Sandra.

have anything else to do. I read it. I go, huh. And I called the office back, called the casting director. And I said, oh, it's Beverly D'Angelo. I need to come back in. I need to, I can be there in about 15 minutes. I need to talk to the director. And she was like, oh, this is highly unusual. I mean, you should call your agent. And Willa Rainey said, no, no, no, no, no. I got to talk to him right now. It didn't occur to me that like there was all this machinery, right? She goes, well, just a minute. She said, Michael said to come down. And so I went down and I said, okay, look, I don't know if I want to be an actress. But if I wanted to be an actress, I don't know if this is how I would start. I said, look at this. On page 50, on page 30, I'm eating the brains out of a guy's head.

And he said, oh, but my dear, you'll be eating the brains out of Chris Sar guy's head. And he said, oh, but my dear, you'll be eating the brains out of Chris Sarandon's head, and he's just been nominated for an Oscar. And I went, oh, okay. But look, look over here. I'm a deaf-mute lesbian with a

masturbation scene, and I'm part of a couple. He said, oh, yes my dear, your partner is Sylvia Miles and she's been nominated twice. So I thought, well, okay, you know, I guess in the movies, you know,

Oscars mean something. He's a big deal, so sign me up. And so I did it. I've never seen a larger crew in my life than when I did that thing. And I've seen it because on YouTube, there's a hilarious thing that I'm going to steal and show in my multimedia show. I'm stealing it, just telling you. It's called the Dykes Downstairs. And they've taken the scene and they've put a laugh.

Well, you can see people are watching it and laughing. And it's really hilarious in retrospect. It's just ridiculous. And even the masturbation part was ridiculous because I didn't have any qualms about it personally. I figured I masturbate. What's the big deal? You know, I mean, just whatever. Nobody was saying, Beverly, don't do that.

I mean, I didn't know those people. But when I look at it, I was a bit rambunctious I did kind of overdo it I mean that's you know I was like you know it's like some the moment of you topless playing the cymbals oh yeah that was a good one stays with you and you were there with I wasn't just a mute lesbian I was was also a zombie. A zombie mute lesbian. Did you have to be careful with the symbols? No. I just put my arms out.

It was okay. What about those actors? Eli Wallach and... What about... Oh, God. Ava Gardner. John Carradine. Ava Gardner.

Ava Gardner. Burgess Meredith. John Carradine. Martin Balsam. The the guy who was Arthur Kennedy. Arthur Kennedy? Yeah, I mean, it would have been like if we cast me in a movie now. I mean, you know what I mean? It was like all the greats from another era.

And everything that I did took place in this, I think they'd taken over a brownstone in Brooklyn, I think, Brooklyn Heights or something. And the first floor of the brownstone was designated for costumes, and I had to go in for costumes, which was basically like a leotard and some wisps of chiffon for the symbol act. A lot of makeup, you know. Symbol act. A lot of makeup, you know. So I go in, and lo and behold, in walks the majestic, the beautiful, the perfection, the woman I watched every afternoon in black and white as a little kid on Harwich Road in Columbus, Ohio, Ava Gardner.

And she came in. She's smoking a cigarette. She's in a pink Chanel suit. She sat down, kind of like this. She said, where is everybody? And I said, I don't know. I'm waiting for them, too. We were surrounded by wrecks.

And she said, what are you doing in this? And I said, I'm playing Sandra. And she went, oh, yeah. And I said, yeah, I'm playing the lesbian. And I said, look, I've got to tell you something. I don't know if I even want to be an actress. But if I did, you know, A Ava I think I called her you know what what would your advice be and she went keep the clothes and it turned out that when and then then I devoured all these biographies about her and autobiographies and that was always in her

contract about that every article of clothing you know that was designed for her belonged to her, and that was her thing. So that was her acting advice, keep the clothes. Good advice. And didn't that movie, I think, got in trouble? Yes, it did. Yeah. Two reasons. Well, one of them, they used actual handicapped people as the creatures from hell.

They weren't just handicapped people. It wasn't like let's give an opportunity to people with abnormalities. These were institutionalized people. Wow, I didn't know that. Yeah, these were people that were institutionalized and were taken from an institution and carted there. And there were burn victims. There was a guy that they called Harry the Lip. It was terrible.

He had a lip that came down to here. You know, they had inoperable things, but also, you know, other things about their being that required institutionalization. And there was a big thing, SAG did that, but there was another thing that happened too. And it had to do with the masturbation scene. And what happened was, when they released the film, now you know how films go. The producers make it. The studio, in that case, makes it. And then there's a distribution process. And the various distributors use various theaters. And then there's the theater owners, right? You know about that, right?

Yes. Sure. Okay. So anyway, but by the time it gets down to the theater owners, they're just accepting the opportunity to show the film. They get most of their money from the first couple weeks. But anyway, what happened was, I think it was Utah, it could have been Colorado, but what happened was a couple of theater owners cut the masturbation scene. And so there was legislation passed that any actor who was in a film could only be cut

by the director or the studio or whoever had the cut, that theater owners could not, they either had to take the film in its entirety or not. And so it was a little, so I think I kind of won one for our side in that. Wow. Because actors can't be, you can't't a theater owner can't cut out a performance that's interesting did you have good do you have good parents did you are they with you now are they still around your parents or no but were they did you have a good child yeah yeah i i had good parents too i i grew up my parents loved each other i kind of grew up witnessing a wonderful love affair,

and it was in the Midwest, and those core values, they really socked them in there. And I really, more and more, I'm so grateful for the parents that I had. I didn't have whack jobs at all. My mother joined the circus once, though. Your mother joined the circus? Yeah, she did. I was reading about your parents, too.

Your dad was a local celebrity in Ohio. Yeah. He sounds like a real character. He was a musician who worked with big bands. He just passed away. I know, I know. He was the greatest. I'm sorry.

Our condolences. He was the greatest. Gino the Giant Killer. Yeah, yeah. Called everybody babe, I read. Called everybody babe. Yeah. He built a replica of the Santa Maria and floated it in the Siam River.

Yes, I was telling Gilbert that story. Yeah, yeah, yeah. A talented family all around Beverly. Very talented. My mother was a – she got a full four-year scholarship to Smith College as a violinist. And then she ran away to Sarasota and joined the circus. Very impressive. Yeah.

They brought her back, though. Shocked Very impressive. Yeah. They brought her back, though. Shocked me a little bit. They brought her back. They did. I remember working with some of these great old characters, like Martin Balsam. Well, I mean, I remember meeting him, but you have to understand that when I entered into film, it was kind of on my way, I thought, to being a singer. Just a stepping stone for you.

It wasn't a stepping stone. It was an opportunity. It was like another opportunity to express myself, because that's what I was going to say to you, is that I started out thinking, well, commercial art, and then I discovered I could sing, and that when I sang, it changed the molecules around me and the way that the atmosphere was, and it felt good, and I could express myself through it. around me and the way that the atmosphere was and it felt good and i could express myself through it and then that led me to you know singing and dancing on broadway and that led me to films even though it was the sentinel but you know it's just kind of i just always musical films yeah yeah

but and then the musical films yeah hair and goldmine's daughter but it's to me life has always been and continues to be just kind of like an expanding thing, and you just look where it can be. I had my kids very late. I got pregnant when I was 48. Nice date. But anyway, surprise, it didn't happen like that. We used all kinds of science, Al and I. But the point is that for me, motherhood was not a casual thing.

that for me, motherhood was not a casual thing. And I saw that as an opportunity to expand myself too in expression. And this had to do with being a parent and a teacher. And I pulled back from movies. I think it's interesting you say it's sort of a philosophy of life. You know, a door opens and you walk through it. Yeah. Yeah.

That's the way hair... What else are you going to do? Well, that's... What are you going to do? And when you're talking about... Gilbert was talking about... The curtain is closed. Gilbert was talking about being too stupid to know the difference

or to know any better when he started his career. What were you too stupid about? Because that's... Yeah. Well, it's one of these things where... Well, first of all, I went into it not thinking the odds against but you were like 15 yes he was when you started doing stand-up right what got into your mind too i i think i'll go do

stand-up tonight yeah what was that well it's it's for a while i was just kind of joking around thinking i wanted to be in the business. But was there some person that you said, I want to emulate that? Or did you make it up in your mind, too? Oh, there were a million people I'd watch on TV and in movies. Jack Parr? Well, I didn't want to be Jack Parr. You're Jack par now yeah and and the funny thing but now when people say to me

oh i'm an aspiring comic or actor or when they say how would you feel about your kids doing it i think you know now i think realistically like the odds are ridiculous. The odds are off the charts. Yeah. The odds are ridiculous. Like how did that happen? You're right. And I think like I could only imagine what my parents thought back then because it's like here I was, this kid failing at school, and it was like so, but I can't.

Did they recognize that you'd found your spark or was it just so foreign to them what i think it was foreign to them and i think now it scares me to think back on it where i think does it make you feel so grateful that they understood that even even though they didn't understand it, they didn't say, you can never leave the house or anything like that. Yeah, they never did that. Yeah, well, that's pretty cool. Yeah, but I think of it now,

and I think like if my kids said they wanted to be in show business, I would think like I understand reaching into a trash can, taking out bottles and turning it in for a five cent deposit. That at least is logical. Right. So I kept, I went into the business like an idiot and I kept doing it like an idiot. But you did it because you loved it, right? Yeah.

Do you remember that one moment when you were standing on a stage and it all went, and kind of carved a neural pathway in your brain that made you want to get that again and again and again? Oh, I would remember that, but then it would be followed by the next night where you'd bomb like, ah. It's the tough, it's like, I mean, isn't the stand-up comedian like the boxer of sports? You know what I mean? Yeah. It's just, it's a one-on- Oh, that's an interesting analogy. It's one-on-one, you know?

Yeah. So I would always, I would do great and think, oh, that's it. I'm a star now. Right, right. And then the next night I'd bomb like no one else did. With the same jokes? Yeah, yeah. And so what did that teach you?

Did you learn to read the audience more or timing or how did you get around that? I guess years and years later. But still, you're up there not knowing what's gonna happen isn't is that exciting do you like that i it i'm i'm excited when the show's over and they give me the check well beverly you said i saw an interview with you and you were saying that specifically one of the times where you said you were too stupid to realize what you were taking on was taking on patsy klein was oh that was just blind yeah i can do that that was just blind i can do that it didn't occur to me that there was it just it was like i met the casting director i told him my background i said i've been singing these patsy klein songs forever and uh uh so i knew who she

was but you got to remember when we made coal miners daughter people didn't really know who patsy klein was singers knew who she was yeah musicians knew but she was not popular and none of her records were in release she wasn't you know it's just it was she was a if anybody knew about her it's because loretta lindsay said this is my mentor but she had a very brief career yes very brief Very brief career. She stopped when she had kids, and then she started, and then she died. I mean, it was very brief. By the way, I'm the docent of the Patsy Cline Museum. Yes, I'd heard that.

I'm the video docent in Nashville. Very cool. Yeah. But the point is that it didn't occur to me that I was 5'3 and she was 5'9 and she had black hair and she was big. You know, it just, that didn't occur to me. And what I did was, instead of doing a screen test, Owen Bradley, who did the sound, who recorded Patsy Cline and Loretta Lynn originally, produced the soundtrack, the re-record. And so he sent some tracks of, I think it was Sweet Dreams or I Fault a Piece, something like that, minus her voice, and I sang on that.

That's great. And so that's how I got it. If I would have had any inkling that it was being vied for, or that if I would have had the ability to look at me through anybody else's eyes, I probably would have said, oh, I'll never get that. But it just didn't occur to me. The courage of youth. The courage of youth. And also, you know, the casting director, his name was Michael Chinich.

You know, he was a big fan of Ronnie and he was a big fan of Levonnie and he was a big fan of levon helm too was my friend from from back in the day and so levon got cast too so it was it was very and and also the director michael apted he was coming from a document oh yeah background so he just kind of created an atmosphere and we were just who we were i think to tell the truth more than anything because i i was so broke i didn't have any access to, to, you know, archival stuff, except the music. So I, I would listen to her sing and get everything I needed to know, I felt at that time, like, for example, so I had Owen separate the track and, and there was a song, she was singing, oh, oh, Crazy. And so I'm listening to the track

And the very last And I'm crazy for loving you Well, on the track When she comes to that part at the end She goes, loving you Like that And I said, what's that weird breath in there? And I said, was she crying?

And Owen said, no, she'd gotten in a car accident. Her face was all banged up and her ribs were broken. And when she took that big breath, it hurt. How about that? So that led me on the trail. Well, tell me about the car accident. Tell me about the thing. What about this?

So I kind of approached that all through the singing which is what i could could really understand i could hear the way she breathed i could hear the way that she attacks certain words and that can tell you so much about who a person is you know when you when you hear them up close with no other music singing so that was that was uh i got way off the subject probably no it's i just want to recommend to our listeners that they get the coalal Miner's Daughter soundtrack because your tracks are on there. Available in vinyl. Well, the ones that didn't end up in the movie,

the ones that got cut, they can listen to. We shot a scene with Walking After Midnight, but it got cut. It's on YouTube. A lot of stuff got cut. Yeah, they're worth hearing. Thank you. Good movie, too.

Just watched it again, by the way. And who knew Leon Helm could act? Wasn't he great? I mean, I love the band. He made another movie, too, The Dollhouse. Right, right. No, it wasn't called Dollhouse. Dollmaker.

Dollmaker. It was good, yeah. Great documentary. Good film all around. Yeah, good film. Good film holds up. Yeah. great documentary good film all around yeah good film good film holds up yeah we will return to gilbert gottfried's amazing colossal podcast after this spring is here and you can now get almost

anything you need for your sunny days delivered with uber eats what do we mean by almost well you can't get a well-groomed lawn delivered, but you can get a chicken parmesan delivered. A cabana? That's a no. But a banana? That's a yes. A nice tan? Sorry, nope. But a box fan? Happily, yes. A day of sunshine? No. A box of fine wines? Yes. Uber Eats can definitely get you that.

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Echo thanks its presenting partners Sun Life and its official partners Air Canada and MasterCard. Tell us too, this is Gilbert will enjoy this. You will? Where is my card? You were going to tell us before. Frank, you are so thorough. I'm so grateful and impressed. Oh, it's just.

I really am. Oh, it's just stuff I do, Beverly. Okay. I've got my own pathology. Ooh. Tell us about screen testing for Raging Bull. I want to know about your pathology. Oh, it's a whole other show.

Oh, okay. So what happened with Raging Bull was I was up for that. with Raging Bull was, I was up for that. I remember going to an apartment to meet Marty and Robert De Niro and we improvised a little bit. Oh, it was the same casting director who did The Sentinel.

I'm not kidding you. Oh, interesting. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Anyway, so I was really interested in that. You would have been cast as an Italian, as we said in the intro. You never get any Italian parts. Well, she was Irish. Oh, Vicky.

The character was Irish. Vicky was Irish. That's right. Vicky was Irish. That's right. But anyway, so what happened was it was going kind of well. And they wanted me to screen test. And it came down to me and one other person.

And I got offered Coal Miner's Daughter. And I said to my agent, no, I want to go for this. And so when you do a screen test, you have to sign a contract. And this particular contract said that if I got the role, I wouldn't be allowed to appear in any other movie until this was released. I see. appear in any other movie until this was released. I see. And it was going to take a year to shoot because De Niro had to do the weight gain and the weight loss and all that kind of stuff.

So I was ready to do that. And I said, no, no, no, no, no. I want to do the screen test. Tell him goodbye. I'm not going to do Cole Maynard's daughter. Right? And so I went to do the screen test in the morning and put on the little 40s stuff. And we did this one scene.

I improvised a line. The line I improvised was, I sucked your brother's cock. I just did. It stayed in the movie. But anyway, it was a fight scene between the two of them. And then Kathy, who, by the way, is a good friend of mine. Then they did Kathy. It was over.

Everything was over by about 10 in the morning. And the next morning, Marty called me and he said, listen, Beverly, if we were going to go with an actress, we'd go with you. But we put Kathy on film. We didn't know what would happen if we filmed her. And she just is this role. And I said, great. Picked up the phone and I called marriage and I said, you know how I said I didn't want to do it yesterday? Can you get it back? And the call manager started. Good timing. And he said, I never told him. No. Oh. So I took off and went to Nashville, and I had, it was wonderful.

That was wonderful. It was meant to be. Yeah, it's good. Totally meant to be. It's great the way it worked out. Yeah. Where I was going to go with Gilbert, because he has a monkey obsession. Yes.

I wanted to ask about working with Clyde in Every Which Way Belues. Oh, oh, oh. And you know something? I think, like, I mean, I worked with this act. The Berlusconi brothers? It might be.

Berlusconi, I think. Three orangutans. You worked with orangutans? Yes. Yes. And it was the brisk we got to look this up because they got arrested and everything and this was on thick of the night okay brisconi or something like that then a year after i'm off of thick of the night i auditioned for a show called mr smith yeah which i think were the same orangutans. Wow. Probably. And I think those are the orangutans that are in Any Which Way But Loose.

Every Which Way But Loose. Yes, probably. It was the, I'll tell you something about that. They then got arrested for animal cruelty. Oh, God. Because they ended up doing an act in Vegas. And I know why, because this is the truth of what happened. It's terrible. Should I tell you this, too?

Yes. If it's terrible, we'll cut it out. But you have, you said, I want to just establish this first. You have a monkey obsession, or your past is tied up with monkey? All right, tell her your chimp theory from Sunset Boulevard.

Oh, okay. Oh, right. He started it, the dead chimp? Well,set Boulevard. Oh, okay. Oh, right. He started it, the dead chimp. Well, according to... It's his funeral. In Sunset Boulevard... I'm ready for my close-up now. In Sunset Boulevard, there's a funeral for her pet chimp.

Yes. Exactly. And the story that I heard is Billy Wilder said to her, Okay, now remember, the chimp is your lover you're fucking the chimp uh billy wallace and the the story i heard and i talked to jack so then my stories are nothing compared to that okay Oh, yours are plenty good. They deal about the quarters. We talked about this, and there's a theory that back then, rich women would buy chimpanzees. And fuck them? No, no.

Who were trained to perform cunnilingus. Really? With their giant mouths and tongues. who are trained to perform cunnilingus. Really? With their giant mouths and tongues. Yeah, because, you know, if you look scientifically, chimps do have a very small penis. That's a fact. Yeah.

So where did you get, wait, wait, what's the origin of that? What's the origin of the cunnilingus dream? Gilbert dreamt it. Jims. No, honestly, well, I mean, Billy Wilder did say, remember, you're fucking the chimp. Okay, but that's not cunnilingus. Yeah. Well, he meant, I guess he meant you had a relationship with the chimp. That's an interesting point.

So is the word fucking for you like a catch-all for just sex? Maybe. Or maybe chimpanzees are considerate, and they like to warm the woman up first with cunnilingus. Like a stork. What do you call it? A fluffer. A fluffer.

They're the fluffer. Yes, yes. Okay. The orangutan was named Manus. I'm still missing the link here. I know what Billy Wilder said, but where did you hear this rumor about the... Well, me and, of course, Jackie the...

Oh, Jackie the... You guys made it up. No, no. This is a popular belief. It's out there, Beverly. I've got my iPad. It may be an urban myth, but it's floating around out there.

It's an urban myth. And, you know, when I'm on a movie set, to keep my heart on, they bring in a female chick. He insists. Come along me. It's in his rider. I didn't know you were now in porn. You've done so much in your career. You have a chimp rider, Gil?

Yeah, a chimp rider. Well, what happened? And the music. My story cannot follow this film that we wandered into. And the music that's played while a chimp is eating a rich woman's pussy. Tall and tan and young and lovely, the girl from Ipanin. Right? Is that what you were going say that's good that's certainly

but there's another one we'll put it in after yeah i know i know what you're thinking do you know that i i my son i gotta i gotta says my son is so excited about this he sends me stuff of yours all the time and and he knows that i'm like i'm rocky going to sleep you know what i mean it takes a bit an hour but i really tried i set my alarms and everything to get my eight hours and blah blah and he sent me your meditation oh my god yes it's the greatest it's the greatest in the world the absolute greatest yeah the meditation tape on the comedy channel yeah calm down you know relax you know it's just it's brilliant it's really brilliant so maybe you should make maybe you should make one of those like seduction tapes like how to speak to your lover

have you seen his 50 shades of gray narration bever narration, Beverly? No, I haven't. And I didn't do my homework as much as you have. That's okay. We'll send that to you. I'm sorry. I know it's there. I'm ready for it. We're going to move off the orangutan.

Tell us about, you were starting to tell us before we put the mics on about Big Trouble and our friend Andrew Bergman. Oh my God. You interviewed Andy Bergman. Did he talk about it? Briefly. Did he say anything about it? Briefly.

We love Andrew. Well, I remember. Good guy. I once worked with Alan Arkin. Who we love. Yeah. He's a real actor. Terrific.

Terrific. Yeah. And he was talking about making. Into reincarnation when I worked with him. Oh, interesting. He would look at me and say, does Russia mean anything to you? But go ahead. He was talking

about making big trouble yeah and what'd he say he said above working with we should really do a documentary about cassavetes as a director yeah he said it was like the mox brothers being directed by betaela Lugosi. Okay, I got to tell you something. I've also heard that John Cassavetes says that it was referred to it as, John Cassavetes referred to it as the aptly named Big Trouble. I'll get rid of the tragic stuff first, but when he turned in his cut, they said to him, this is way too long.

It's a comedy. It's got to come in at 90 minutes. And he said, over my dead body, he had cirrhosis, and it wasn't his cut. It wasn't his cut. But here's what happened, and this is my point of view. I love Andy Bergman. I love Andy Bergman. And when I, and that was, it wasn't exactly an audition, but that was a meeting, a chemistry meeting with me and Andy and Peter Falk and the producer, Mike LaBelle and Alan Arkin. And Alan Arkin said, I can see you with these guys. Like that's, it's going to work. I was very excited about it. It was, it was a parody. It was, as Andrew wrote it, it was a parody of Double Indemnity. My character's name is Blanche Rickey.

Anyway. Blanche Rickey. Yeah. Good joke. So, Andrew had written a script that was, you know, the earmarks of Double Indemnity and that, you know, innocent Alan Arkin is pulled into an insurance scam and he's hoodwinked and blah blah so anyway um we had rehearsals uh where the sets were taped off and we ran some stuff and that we did that for a couple of weeks and then we went to shoot and this is what i remember that the first night we shot it was a night shoot and we were on a bridge and this particular scene was post-kidnapping Charles Durning. And we're fighting in the back seat, Alan Arkin, me, and Peter in the driver's seat or something.

But there's a fight going on and Peter stops the car and he goes, that's it, and he gets out of the car, and he goes, everything's my fault, that crack in the road, that's my fault. And then, and I think, and Alan Arkin gets out going another way. Anyway, I'd have, I've never seen the movie, but I'd have to watch it.

Anyway, the point is that, oh, wait a minute, I'm telling to watch it. Anyway, the point is that... Oh, wait a minute. I'm telling the wrong story. Can we go back? Yeah. We can go back. Can we go back? I was going to tell the story about how the director quit.

How Andrew quit. That's fine. Yeah, tell that one. We'll trim all this. Okay, okay. It's not live. So what happened was, so I get the thing. And I was living in Italy at the time, so I rent a house, and I'm all down for it.

It's all great. Costumes are going to be great. Fantastic turbans. Fabulous clothes. And the script was funny. It was all good. And Alan Arkin and Peter Falk are great. They're just great. So we're doing these rehearsals, and then i don't even think we'd shot anything

except this scene that i'm telling you about i am telling the right story i'm telling the right story okay thank god okay so we're shooting this thank god so we're shooting this scene it was at night and what was happening was peter falk would do it differently every time, different to the extent of the window would be rolled up or rolled down, and he'd go in the car door one way and climb back into the window or open up the car door and turn around. And, you know, matching was very important in the days of 35mm film, A, because it was expensive. So, you know, when they said action, you had a finite amount of time to get it done. And they traditionally cut on the move. So you would stop and start a take with like a move, like you move into it. And so if you got your coverage and you open up the door, chances are you'd start the next take on the door opening. Anyway, Peter kept doing

things differently and changing things and saying different lines and it was, and Alan wasn't happy about it. And so Alan said something to somebody. The next thing you know, I'm looking over here and I see, I see the wardrobe man getting like shaken like that. It's something had happened. Alan would have to tell you what happened. I don't know, but I know that he wasn't happy about Peter not matching. The next day, I got a letter that said, Dear Beverly, I've talked this over with my wife, and I've decided that I'm not going to continue on on this film. It's been wonderful. Thank you for understanding. Andrew Bergman. I got a call then from the producer, Michael Bell, who said, Look, here's the thing.

We're just going to be down for a couple of weeks, just a couple of weeks. I think Howard Deutsch is going to direct it, but don't leave. It's still all happening and all that kind of stuff. Four days later, I'm called back to set, and now John Cassavetes is directing it. And I'm in the makeup trailer, and John comes in, and there's just, to know that guy is is to love him and it's just it it falls off of him so he walks in and and he says you see this and then he goes and he throws the script out yeah so so the set was we had two continuity women one who had the there were four scripts at any given time the original script the rewrites the days that the the revisions for that particular scene for the day

and then we had one woman who just wrote down what we actually shot oh boy because it was all and john said that famous line matching is for sies, which it is now that there's digital. But, you know, there were so many gifts on that movie. I remember Peter, because I did say to him, like, what did you do to make Alan so mad? I mean, what's happening and everything? And he said, listen, he said, it's all okay. And he said, every person has to do what they need to do to make that their set. And it's true.

I've seen it again and again. It's kind of tied into maybe even Chubby a little bit. But everybody has a different way of working there. I've worked with an actress who just eviscerated everybody. And she would just say, I remember being in her trailer once, and the director knocked on the door. She said, whatever you want, the answer is no. Brilliant actress, but she had to do that.

Because unless she took everybody down to a certain level of being beaten up or treated badly, she didn't feel strong enough. And everybody has a different way of approaching that creating that space that you need to really be like, you know, creative and to do your thing. And it doesn't happen all the time. It gets harder and harder as the concept of acting becomes more and more, you know, corporate.

Gilbert, are you that diva on your film sets? Oh, yes. Are you the one that won't come out of your trailer? Yeah, unless I... See, you can't do that anymore. Unless I have my own personal hairdresser. And chimp. Yes, and chimp. And chimp. A chimp plopper.

Unless you have your chimp writer. Unless I have a cunnilingus chimp. A train. Oh my god. Cunnilingus chimp. Beverly, can we ask you about some of the other famous people, icons that you worked with? We're just throwing this out here. Eddie Bracken in that wonderful reshoot. Oh, my God, the sweetest man in the world.

Okay. A vacation. So the original ending of the first vacation, National Poon's Vacation, ended with Eddie Bracken, famous song and dance member. Sure. But it ended with we get to Wally World, it's closed, so we go to Wally's house, and we hold up Eddie Bracken and make him perform for us at gunpoint, and he did a song and dance with Tom, what's his name? Anyway, he does a song and dance, and it was great, he was a song and dance man, but at

gunpoint. So then I get called back from Italy because we're reshooting the ending. And we're back at Magic Mountain. And we're getting on the roller coaster. And I look at, it was for a rehearsal. And Eddie had on a tie with all of his grandchildren's name on it. Like, Bobby, Betty, Sue. Oh, that's sweet.

So sweet. And I said to Matty, hey, what's the deal? Why are we changing the ending? And Matty Simmons always smoked a cigar that was kind of attached to his lips by these couple of strings of saliva. And I was always fascinated, like, how far is he going to take it out of his mouth? Are the strings going to break or stay intact? So he goes to the thing, he said, well, he said the first ending was, you know, we tested it and it's a bit too tasteful.

And I looked at Eddie and he was just like, you could tell he was crestfallen because he wasn't going to get the song and dance. Oh, I didn't know that. Because it was too tasteful. Yeah. It was too much of a golden moment, evidently, because it was so great. But what a sweet man. Well, if you watch the documentary about the making of the movie,

I mean, the first ending. Oh, I didn't see the documentary. Was I in it? Yeah, you're in it. They previewed it, and the audience didn't like the original ending, and that's when Harold... I know, but it was Eddie singing and dancing.

Right, right. And what about working with Woody Allen? Yeah, you went in and you told him that you'd had a dream about him with Bob Dylan. Yes, here's what happened. Again, this was on the overflow of the Broadway show. And Marion Doherty called me in to meet him. And I have kept diaries since I was maybe 15, and I still have them.

But I kept a diary at that time, and I had had a dream about him. So I took my diary, and I said, you know, I had a dream about you. And he goes, oh. I said, I brought my diary. And so I read it to him, and the dream was that we were at a party, and I went outside in the snow and Bob Dylan was there and Woody Allen came out and he was playing the tuba. So I read him that dream and he said, you know, I'm making this movie. Can you be in it?

And I'm going to shoot. It was like either tomorrow or the day after tomorrow or something. And I said, yeah, great. But I wasn't in SAG. And he said, you know, we'll do the thing, whatever you have to do. Because I had already done the deaf, mute, lesbian. So I think there's something taffed. Whatever it was, I needed to have a card to be in his movie.

So I got the card. And I went to shoot with him. And we spent the whole day. We shot a little bit. And then we went out to lunch. And then went to shoot with him, and we spent the whole day. We shot a little bit, and then we went out to lunch, and then we went back and shot. And it was a scene, from my point of view, it was a scene. He shot it on video, and this was 76 or 70. I think it came out, whatever it was. Came out in 77.

It was video. I mean, it was like this great big thing. And I played the wife of a guy who ended up being Cole Miner's daughter, by the way, a wife of a guy on a sitcom. And in the film, when Woody Allen comes out to California and Tony Roberts has gone all Hollywood. The laugh track. He takes him and they're putting, that's me saying, you know, my cousin, the Neanderthal man, ha ha, or something like that. But the thing that happened was I knew nothing about film.

In fact, I remember going to meet him and free, I was so cold that I actually did this really cool thing where I cut these really colorful socks off and like wrapped them around my knees. So they were like up to my thigh over my boots it was cool look but i mean i was free i didn't have money to buy clothes i was making them up so anyway um uh i then thought well i spent the whole day filming and a movie's only two hours long so stupidity um so from then on i said to everybody oh i'm in the woody allen film and you know he always kept people so um like in awe and so quiet about you know like everything

was under wraps i didn't even i think i was told that the name of the project was anhedonia yeah that was the original title working title but but anyway, I didn't even get a script. I mean, it was just like pages, and it was all super secret. So, in other words, when I would say to people, oh, yeah, just shot the Woody Allen movie or whatever, you know, they thought I was starring in it. Because for all I knew, for all I knew, he shot me for eight hours, nine hours. I mean, going to cut it down, that would be two hours of me, you know. I had no idea. You thought you were the star.

But I think, I didn't know what else to think. Right, right. What about Peter O'Toole and making High Spirits? Peter O'Toole. Peter O'Toole was, was Peter O'Toole. I mean, he was very, he was magnificent. I don't know how happy he was during the filming, but he also had – he was on a – and I worked with Richard Harris, and Richard Harris did the same thing. There was some program going on where you would stop drinking, but you always had to have a bottle in the room with you.

That's interesting. It was a method. I think they just did it in England. I don't know. But I know that he had that bottle, and there was this fantastic singer named Mary Coughlin, a friend of mine when I lived in Ireland. Beautiful singer, fantastic person. And she liked to drink, so he would always have her in his dressing room, and she'd like sit there, and she'd get drunk while she was talking to him, so he'd at least be around drunk. I never made it into the dressing room to get drunk, but he was such a creature, such a cinematic creature.

Just the way he lifted his arm was poetic visually, you know? I asked this – go ahead, Gil. Oh, what about John Carradine? I had no contact with him because I was only there. Well, no, wait. I must have. I don't know. I'd have to watch the movie if I was in a scene with him that I was there.

I remember having lunch with Arthur Kennedy and Burgess Mayer. Burgess Mayer just kept saying, I live in Malibu. If youess Meredith kept saying, I live in Malibu. You know, if you're ever in California, I live in Malibu. And I was thinking, why is this guy telling me he lives in Malibu? It's in on you. Yeah, now that I look back, yeah. But I was a kid, I mean, yeah.

Burgess Meredith was working you. I live in Malibu. So the penguin wanted to fuck you. I don't, in retrospect, maybe, I don't know. He told me he lived in Malibu you know so the penguin wanted to fuck you i i don't in retrospect maybe i don't know he told me he lived in malibu a lot um but uh i don't know who knows here's the thing do you know i was i was gonna start a hashtag why not me too because i was never i was never me too'd no one ever tried to meet interesting wow no one ever tried to meet you. That's interesting. Wow. No one ever tried to meet you. Now, one of the reasons is because by the time I came to Hollywood, I'd met criminals and real, you know, like I was at the, I'd say certainly working with Ronnie, I was at the core of show business. I was at the direct.

You sing a song. They're standing there. you gotta do the, you know what I mean? It was like, it was, I'm not saying it was stand-up, which is even more basic, but it was so basic that when I met these wealthy and, you know, well-d uh boys and men who were running hollywood it was like i those oh yeah those kind of guys you know what i mean yeah you were but you were no babe in the woods after experiencing i was no babe in the woods when i was 17 but it just it never came up and also here's another thing here's another thing i never slept with anybody that i that i didn't want to it never would occur to to me that if you slept with somebody,

it could make a guy do what you wanted to do. All I wanted out of, you've got to remember that love child background, all I've ever wanted out of men that I've had affairs with was them and that relationship and that love. So the idea, I couldn't even look at a guy and think, oh, if I blow him, then he'll give me the empire state building just it's not it's not no you know what i mean i wish i could say the same about my career it really wouldn't have occurred to me so i maybe i never put out the the the thing that that i was even open to that kind of exchange.

Also, we're not looking at an amazing career really. I mean, I didn't go after stuff. I just got offered stuff. It's still kind of like that. And you were really close friends with Carrie Fisher. Yeah. Yeah.

Very. 32 years. Best friend. Very. What do you remember about her? Yeah. Yeah. Barry, 32 years, best friend. Barry. What do you remember about her? Her last text was, we were talking about whether it was going to be Christmas at my house and New Year's at hers or vice versa, and she said, I'll see you tomorrow. I was devastated. I loved Carrie. Everybody loves Carrie. And she belongs to everybody. But my friendship started with her in the most amazing way and it reached a level of intimacy that never ended. I never thought of myself as a single mom when I broke up with Al because she was there.

Oh, that's nice. And, I mean, she was there. She was my kid's godmother. But anyway, the way we met is fantastic. Okay? So what happened was, now remember I told you I was married for 15 years, but I guess it was an open marriage,

you know, for him and for me, so I guess that makes it open. With the Duke. With the Duke. Yeah. And so it's 85. you know for him and for me so i guess that makes it open with the duke with the duke yeah and so it's 85 and uh so i was fucking a rock star i mean i don't know how else to well i was having an i thought i was having an affair and uh so he called me on this friday and he said god my son's gonna listen to this show well hi this is it anyway um he called me he called me on a friday tell us what to edit beverly yeah he called me

on a friday just edit anything that isn't entertaining you want to reach people we'll go over it together but um so anyway he called me on a Friday. It was about 5 o'clock. And he said, I'm at this charity event. And it's really boring. And they're going to break for dinner soon. Do you have anything to eat? Now, I want to point out that do you have anything to eat there is rock star language for do you want to do it? So I said yes.

And so I was making some pasta or something like that. He shows up. Yeah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And then he's lying there. He goes, you know, I got to go back to this thing. I got to go back. Okay. He goes, but look, I want you to spend the night with me.

I'll call you when it's over. I'll meet you at the house. Because he just slipped on my horn. Not far from me. And so I go okay fine and I'm kind of luxuriating in the afterglow and it's like 7, 8, 9

10, 11 12 nothing so I pick up the phone and I called him and I hear like hello like you know the sleep thing and I said oh and I hear like, hello? Like, you know, the sleep thing. And I said, oh, oh, did I wake you up? Yeah, I'll call you first thing in the morning. So I hang

up the phone and I thought, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, cannot be here when he calls. So I, first thing in the morning, I called Murrieta Hot Springs, which has these mud baths. And I booked myself in and got in the car and drove down to Murrieta. Now, Murrieta Hot Springs was this health spa. I think there was a time in the 80s when people – it was before rehabs existed, and a lot of people would go to these health spas on the weekend and eat health food and be very clean and work out, and then they'd go back during the week and snort a bunch of coke or something. But anyway, so everybody in the industry was always at these places on the weekend. very clean and work out. And then they'd go back during the week and snort a bunch of Coke or something. But anyway, so everybody in the industry was always at these places on the weekends. So I go to Muriel Hot Springs, no phones in the room,

but there's one pay phone by the cafeteria where you get your lentil and your lettuce leaf. So everybody's eating dinner. And now there's a big long line for the pay phone. And I'm in the long line for the pay phone, too, because I had one of those services. I just wanted to hear him say, hello, are you there? Anyway, for voice messages. Anyway, so in the line, there's like John Peters,

all these big deals, like pop-navi people. And there's Carrie. And she goes, Bev, Bev, we had met earlier at a party where she wanted me to raid somebody's bathroom with her for the medicine cabinet. I was like, no, man, that's not cool. No, it's great. It's great.

Come on, let's raid Sue Menger's house. And I was like, no, you can't do that. You can't do that. Anyway, so we didn't bond then. But now here we are in the middle of nowhere, eating lentils and soaking in mud. She goes, come back to my room. Come back to my room. So, we're walking back.

She said, what are you doing here? Oh, it's a long story. What are you doing here? She opens up the door. I'm going to put this in my show, by the way. So, if you see my show and this repeats it, just dig it. Just dig it. Just dig it.

So, anyway, she opens up the door and the floor of her bungalow was covered with these big yellow legal pads and this loopy writing of hers. And she was there with a guy who was editing her book, Paul Slansky. And she had gotten a deal on the tail end of Mommy Dearest. There were these tell-alls about horrible movie star mothers. So she'd gotten a deal to write a memoir. Mommy Dearest. There were these tell-alls about horrible movie star mothers. So she'd gotten a deal to write a memoir. It was 1985, so what was she, like 25? Anyway, 28.

It doesn't matter. The point is that she was writing a memoir, and she said she was going to call it Money Dearest. So she was down there just starting to get it together. It was destined to be Postcards from the Edge. But anyway, so she goes, so why are you here? And I said, it's too long a story. She goes, come on, tell me, tell me.

So I said, well, you know, I'm having an affair with this guy, and he called me yesterday and came over, and he said, you know, I'll call you when I get done and spend the night. And he didn't. And he said he was going to call this morning. So I came down here instead. And she said, wait a minute. He called you yesterday. What time? And I said, I don't know. It's like four or five, something like that. He said he was at a charity event and he, you know, wanted to take a break from dinner. And then he said he had to go back there. And when I called him, he was asleep. So I just don't want to be around for that guy.

I'm playing. I'm going to be hard to get for this, you know. And she said, what was the charity event? And I said, I don't know. She said, I was right beside him when you called last night. He went to the charity event with me. And he left saying he had to go somewhere. And he came back. And i went home with him and i

was eating a hamburger when you called at midnight so we realized it was the same guy wow telling you who it is okay so we realized so then we were instantly best friends and we made this plan that whoever he called first when we got back to town on monday would bust him so he calls me first i'm lying there and and he's going so what what happened to you this way where'd you go and i said oh god i met the most fantastic woman in the world she's my new best friend she's amazing her name's carrie fisher and he and he went it was literally like like one of those movies like okay okay bev bev okay and it wasn really like one of those movies, like, okay, okay, Bev, Bev, okay. And it wasn't like he was saying, like, I can explain. It was basically like, okay, that's it.

You know, like, I'm not going to be busted like this. And she, because she's so fabulous, he kind of petered out with me, and he was like, hi, you know, across the room from me. I didn't care that much. Plus, I was married. But Carrie was just so fascinating that it didn't matter what happened. It didn't care that much. Plus, I was married. But Carrie was just so fascinating that it didn't matter what happened. It didn't matter what happened. There was no leaving her. I mean, yes, he was busted. But even if she told him, go away, he wouldn't have. Nobody would have because she was just a, there is no, it just doesn't exist. You know, this is a very, very singular person with an engine and with a battery that was so unique and so brilliant that it set off sparks and they burned her up.

I'm glad you got to have that wonderful friendship, though, for all those years. Yes, so much. It changed my life. Did you meet Craig through her? Because we obviously – Craig Bierko introduced you to us. Yeah, I think she said something flattering to Gilbert. Didn't she, Gil? Yeah. Before we get out of here.

We were at a roast together. And at one point she just says to me, she looks at me and smiles. Yeah. And she goes, you are just my type yeah and and i said to her what type is that and she goes little cute and funny oh it's true it's true about that true didn't you ought didn't you fall in love with her never to fall out then oh yeah yeah i mean it's just it can't it was poets must describe it novelists must describe it i wrote a song about her but i don't have a piano so i can't play it otherwise i would okay tell us what you tell us about the podcast you're

gonna do tell us you're still saying i don't know look it's been going for a year i'm insane i need help help help help me well what happened was a year ago, a friend of mine, Moon Zappa, said, you got to do a podcast. You got to do a podcast. You're a talkaholic. It's your medium. And plus, I really do believe that podcasts are what's happening right now. This is like radio. Yeah.

I think it is your medium, by the way, Beverly. Well, I'm into it. So anyway, I couldn't figure out what to focus on and then I got this obsession about Steve Perry before his album came out and I was just obsessed with him and my friend Charlie Wester said,

he said, that's your podcast. I said, about Steve Perry? My obsession with Steve Perry? He said, no, just the way your mind works,

you know? And so, originally, I was going to call it I'm Beth D'angelo and i'm obsessed and then have dot dot dot with but you know as it evolved and i became more adult about and you know discarded the steve perry thing because a horrible thing happened but he i'll tell you later anyway um it's i think i'm gonna call it specifically or specifically speaking.

Okay. Because the guests that I interview, I like to do a deep dive into them, like a really deep dive into them and their profession. And I've done eight so far, but I just want them to be so good. And the next one I want to do is I'm going to call it the Council of Women. I've got four fantastic women that I'm going to get together to talk about. These are all women who have really achieved in their field, which are all male-dominated fields. One is the world of coding, you know, computer coding.

The other is management, managed all the acts in Motown, modeling, Lauren Hutton. And I want to get Lorraine, because what I want to talk about is that stuff that you learn just in living that isn't taught to you, but it's like internecine, you know, it's like deep inside knowledge that I think women should be sharing with other women. Because if, for example, Harvey Weinstein had jerked off in front of somebody and that actress was coming from a culture where she had women saying, hey, listen, watch out for that guy. Or if a guy does this, do that, that, and that.

You know, who knows what would have happened? Because I think that, you know, especially now women are being so, it's like a moment where women are saying, listen to our experience, listen to what happens to us, listen, in general, you know, I'm actually working with Alyssa Milano, so. This sounds like a good idea for a podcast. I don't think anybody's doing it. And we love Lurleen Lumpkin, by the way. Isn't she the best?

And talk about Full Circle. Bless your heart. That's one of my favorite characters on one of my favorite shows. Me too. Yeah. Me too. And those are terrific songs you wrote. Gil?

Thank you. Well, this has been Gilbert Gottfried's Amazing Colossal Podcast. I'm Gilbert Gottfried with my co-host Frank Santopadre. And we started out. I was a little disappointed because we had a guinea on this show and I don't like to talk to them. About time. But it turned out that she was...

We're good people, right, Frank? Absolutely. But it turned out she was actually Moses. So she won me over that I'm talking to Moses. So for a Jew, this is quite an accomplishment. It's been my pleasure. I just love you.

I love you. And now I'm in love with you too, Frank. Oh, you're bringing out the gems. I just blushed. We've been talking to the wonderful Beverly D'Angelo. Beverly, we got 12 cards here. We barely got into the deep woods. So when you launch the show, will you come back to plug it?

Not only will I come back to plug it, I'll come back with bells on. I mean, I'd be absolutely thrilled. This has been a wonderful, wonderful afternoon. I can't think of anybody else I'd want to spend it with. This has been heaven. You're a doll. Thank you for doing this. Thank you.

And thank you to Bierko for setting this up. I know. Let's hear it for Craig Bierko. We love the guy. And now, to lead us out, the cunnilingus chimps. Oh, the music? The music for the chimps? Play it. I go out walking after midnight

Out in the moonlight Just like we used to do I'm always walking after midnight Searching for you I walk for miles along the highway Well that's just my way of saying I love you I'm always walking after, searching for you I stopped to see a weaving willow

Cried on his pillow Maybe he's crying for me And as the skies turned gloomy Night winds whisper whisper to me I'm lonesome as I can be I go out walking after midnight Out in the moonlight Just hoping you may be somewhere

Walking after midnight midnight searching for me I stopped to see a weaving willow Right on his pillow Maybe he's crying for me And as the skies turn gloomy, that wind whispered to me, as lonesome as I can be. I go out walking after midnight, out in the moonlight,

just hoping you may be somewhere a-walking. After midnight, searching for me. gilbert godfrey's amazing colossal podcast is produced by dara godfrey and frank santa padre with audio production by frank ferderosa web and social media is handled by mike mcpadden greg pair and john bradley seals special audio contributions by john beach special thanks to john fotiatis john murray and paul rayburn