She's been the recipient of six Emmys, two Tonys, one Grammy and numerous other distinguished accolades in the entertainment industry in which she has played an important part for over 45 years on various stages.
Actress and comedienne Lily Tomin has worked alongside some of the very best talents in the history of television, film and all other areas of media. The characters she's created still live in all of our hearts. ( Remember Edith Ann and Ernestine from Laugh-In? ) The Detroit native struck gold in the hilariously popular 9 to 5 with Dolly Parton and Jane Fonda. From there, she went on to win our hearts repeatedly with The Incredible Shrinking Woman and opposite Bette Midler in Big Business.
Tomlin also starred in the screen adaptation of The Beverly Hillbillies and the Franco Zeffirelli film Tea with Mussolini. She co-starred alongside Dustin Hoffman, Jude Law, Naomi Watts, and Mark Wahlberg in I Heart Huckabee's and then joined Meryl Streep in A Prairie Home Companion. Perhaps most notable in recent years, however, was her four year stint on The West Wing. A role on the uber-popular Desperate Housewives would follow.
Tomlin and her life partner, Jane Wagner, have been together since 1971. She came out officially in 2001, although, Tomlin never made it a point to keep her relationship a secret from the press or media.
Windy City Times: Multiple generations know of your characters Edith Ann and Ernestine. Did you have any concept of how popular these two characters would become and their staying power?
Lily Tomlin: Oh, I just don't know how you could ever know. I started taping for five or six weeks on Laugh-In before I aired with "Ernestine". "Edith" didn't come until the next season. I was just glad to fit into the group because they were already big stars and I didn't come in until the third season. As soon as "Ernestine" aired, it was just like phenomenal. It took a little while for it to even sink in. You don't really quite get it at first. The show was already so huge and then this character was like a new kind of life blood to the show in the third season so she really got a lot of attention. No, I don't think you ever have any notion that a character is going to have that kind of longevity.
WCT: How do you approach roles and choose the ones you ultimately decide upon? You have a great track record!
LT: Well, you have your own instinctsartistic and otherwiseand you follow your sensibility and what appeals to you. I guess you would probably assume that it would appeal to other people. [ laughs ]
WCT: How do you continue to stay motivated in the business of entertainment? How do you bounce back from a setback?
LT: Well, yeah, sure, it's just like any other choice or path in life. You know, sometimes you're very high on it and sometimes you're not so high. Or, you know, sometimes things are going so well and you get a lot of great new ideas and other times you think you're never going to get another new idea as long as you live. It's just part of a life process and you just live it or you don't. It's been so much a part of my life for so long. I guess the expression of stuff through character…you know, I've been fortunate enough to cover a lot of ground both dramatic and comedic. Much more comedic because that's how people see me generally. When I get a dramatic role, it's usually a fluke because I don't get it all the time. It's hard to go against what other people view as "type."
I feel like saying, "Listen kidit's just life." I've been fortunate in certain ways to have a long career. I think because I've always done such a variety of things…I've been able to move around and do different kinds of media and different kinds of roles. All the characters also represent another life and history. Any number of characters I've created have enriched my life. I'm like a cat with nine lives in one.
WCT: Time for a silly question: Where do you keep all of your awards?
LT: [ Laughs ] Well, they mostly sit in my office which is in another place.
WCT: So you don't have to look at them?
LT: Right! I don't have to sit there if the Emmy ball falls off and worry about if it got bent, or…
WCT: You have starred alongside so many now-famous talents in the entertainment industry. Has there ever been a time when you've had to stop and go, "is this my life?" or is it just normal for you after all of this time?
LT: I think both. Many times I sit back and say, "I can't believe that this is my life!" Other times I feel self-satisfied. I mean, there's a lot to be proud and thankful for but, nonetheless, it's just a life!
WCT: And it's a lot of hard work. It's not easy!
LT: Right. What happens is that people like mewho can do stand-up, MC and do fundraiserscan be called on a lot. The longer you're in the business the more people you know and the more often you get tapped and the list goes on!
WCT: Finding the balance must be a trick, huh? Have you been able to accomplish it yet?
LT: It's very hard. I'm not sure I've ever achieved that!
WCT: One actress/singer you've worked with in the past was Bette Midler. How was the experience of making Big Business for you?
LT: I had known Bette for a long, long time. We started out in the business at relatively the same time so we'd play a lot of the same places. We both played at Mr. Kelly's in Chicago and she'd often come in right behind me or the other way around. We both knew Bruce Vilanch from Chicago. He's another one who gives constantly and will give his time for benefits all the time.
When we were doing Big Business… Oh, let me think of what I can share with you and tell. One thing I can say very simply was that on our last day of shooting, Bette gave me a big plaque that said that I had graduated from the Midler Institute of Mugging.
We had lots of action on that movie because we went to New York and it was the summertime. It was so damn hot. We had to shoot on the streets for the exteriors. Then we went back to L.A. and we had an earthquake on the soundstage one morning while we were in the make-up trailer. Boy, it rocked like mad! Bette is so darn funny, you know. She wouldn't go on the soundstage because there was so much hanging overhead, you know? The soundstage is sort of scary when there's an earthquake. She was lying on the chaise outside of the soundstage and said, "Lil, hun, I can't work today." She is such a character.
Sophie [ Bette's daughter ] was a baby then. She was just a little toddler. I've seen Sophie grow up and she's gone to Yale and has studied Mandarin Chinese. I always knew that kid was really smart. She looks just like Bette!
WCT: The West Wing was already a fabulous show before you entered the cast, but it became even more so following your arrival. Did you have a good time on that project?
LT: It was a great show and I loved being on it. It was really fun. I loved spending time with Martin [ Sheen ] and Allison [ Janney ] and the other great people on that show. Aaron [ Sorkin ] was the creator. I wanted to get on that show. When it first aired, I was crestfallen that I didn't have a part on it and I thought, "this show is so good and the writing and characters are so good…I have to get on it." So, I started lobbying for a guest part and never dreamed I would be cast in a recurring role. I played the part for four years.
WCT: We'd love to hear about your time on Wysteria Lane a la Desperate Housewives. How did that role come about?
LT: This is how the business goes so many times in life. You know so many people and are thrown together. Kathy [ Joosten, who plays Karen McCluskey on the show ] and I were great friends and we were at a SAG meeting and she said, "The producers are going to write a sister into the script for me. Why don't I tell them you'll do it and we'll have fun for the rest of the year?" So, I said "okay" and it was just that simple. That was how it happened.
WCT: Any plans to go back to Desperate Housewives?
LT: No, I think it's unlikely, you know, because they go on to write other storylines. Sometimes I will hear from the show that they are considering writing in my character again to come back and steal her sister's boyfriend and stuff like that, but, no, it's never a real discussion. Cathy and I got a lot of response from that storyline on Desperate Housewives and we've sort of gone off to develop a series which is still a possibility.
WCT: You could really tell that there was some chemistry there.
LT: Oh, great. Good. Maybe it'll happen then! Who knows?
WCT: My last question is a little more personal. You said once in an interview that you felt like the media was purposely not mentioning your partner Jane Wagner in interviews and news reports. Can you offer any insight?
LT: That goes back so farto 1970. Yeah, in the business it was certainly no secret. People didn't write about it very much. They thought they were protecting you back in that era from the sensationalism back at that time. What you probably read was in 1977 when I was on the cover of Time and Newsweek at the same time. I interviewed with them for weeks and they followed me around everywhere for the story. They would meet me places and come to the house and everything. Jane was almost always present and it was no secret in the industry. In one story, they said that I shared a house with writer Jane Wagner and in the other one, they said I lived alone. That was just how it went.
There was a piece in the New York Times not too long ago and the writer made no mention of our relationship. He probably did think he was protecting us because he is a friend. But, also, some people make no mention because of your professional career. I'm an actress and Jane is a writer. Very often, I get credit for everything and Jane gets very little credit. She is really the originator of so much of my material and loftier content. If you look on the internet, I get quoted for everything and, in most cases, it's Jane's material from one play or another. It diminishes her in a sense. In some ways, people want to protect Jane and her authorship.
I mean, they offered me the cover of Time in 1975 if I would come out. Not because of me or my work, but because they needed a gay person. Our first Broadway show got us on the cover two years later and that was because of our work.
In 1973, I was on Carson and, knowing full well that I was a lesbian, he said, "Well, you're not married? Don't you want to have children?" The whole audience got dead quiet because back then it was controversial to be a female and not want to get married and have children. So, I said, "If you mean, do I want to biologically bare children, no I don't." I mean, you could hear a pin drop. And then I said something like, "By the way, who has custody of yours?" and the audience laughed. That's how different the times were just those few years ago. I feel like the gay community has made tremendous progress just by virtue of the younger generations. They have come up in a much more demanding way. It's good. I'm proud of them.
WCT: We are proud of you, too, Ms. Tomlin.