Sharon Gless: On Being ‘Madeline’

When I got the invitation to join in a conference call with Bruce Campbell and Sharon Gless, I jumped at it, largely because of Sharon Gless. I mean no disrespect to Mr. Campbell, but I had just had the chance to chat with him at Comic Con and I was on two previous conference calls already for this season. To be honest, I was out of questions for him that hadn’t already been asked and answered. So, I turned my attention to Sharon Gless, whom I had been a fan of for many years, since seeing her on Marcus Welby, M.D. That was before Cagney and Lacey.

Sharon and Bruce together were quite entertaining. They played off each other just like their characters on Burn Notice. Campbell shows a lot of respect for Sharon, queuing her to answer the questions first. Well deserved respect, too. Everyone knows her first from Cagney and Lacey, but Sharon has been quite active over the years before she landed Burn Notice. Or Burn Notice landed on her. “I was actually sitting in the fat farm and this script arrived and I was sitting all alone in  my room and it made me laugh out loud and I was all by myself.  And I thought, this is funny.  This is fun, I like this.  It had substance to it, too.”

I had been curious to know what she thought and felt about Madeline. “I’ve never actually had children, myself, but I just connected with Jeffrey’s character and every week it’s different and as the show goes along, Madeline, my character, first she’s totally in the dark and very needy and very sort of just all sort of emotional things that are unattractive.  And as time went on, Matt Nix said, “Sharon, she’s smarter than what I was writing.”  And he gave me one clue, he said, “Remember, he gets his smarts from her.”  I said, “Oh, okay.”  So I just took that information and it gave me and my character a little more confidence.  But I don’t know, how do you prepare for playing someone who’s manipulative?  Is it built in?  I don’t know.”

Sharon Gless

One of the things that is becoming clearer is that Madeline probably strongly suspects what Michael does for a living by now. “ I think Madeline is slowly figuring it out.  I don’t think, to this day, she really understands the full impact of what it is he really does.  But she knows he helps people.  That’s how she phrases it.  That’s how she lives with it.  And yes, she is getting more informed.  I think there are moments where she does trust him.  She has to, she is, despite what you see, she loves him.  It’s her boy.  But I think there’s always a bit of doubt because he’s never completely forthcoming.  So what she finds out she sort of finds out on her own.  He’s a little vague when he explains things, enough to calm her down or to get her to help in an indirect way.”

Madeline is one kick-ass momma, too. “The only bad guys I have to find my way around are Jeffrey (Donovan) and Bruce.  I mean, my job on the show is the mother from hell.” But Madeline is starting to get more involved with Michael’s cases. Interrogating a bad guy when her son was kidnapped was pretty awesome to watch. it was fresh and exciting and I hope we get to see more of that as the season continues after the break. Campbell agrees. “What’s amazing is she turned out to be a very good interrogator and then who knew.  I actually think we’re going to see in the scenes that come – because Sharon, you were also on a stakeout and you had to spot somebody.   You had to be a lookout. So don’t kid yourself.  You’re going to be an operative before too long maybe.”

“And Maddie is, she is smart, she can be very keen and if she’s, sometimes she plays a little manipulative,” Sharon says. “She’s not totally informed as to what he’s (Michael) doing, but she knows him.  It’s her boy, it’s her son. I think the story would start to end soon if she was totally understanding of what has happened to him and what it is he’s attempting.  Do you know what I’m saying?  Attempting to find his way back.  So I don’t think she knows all of that yet.  She just knows that he’s doing stuff that’s not ordinary and I think she fears for his life, I’m sure.”

I couldn’t ignore the fangirl in me any longer, so I asked Sharon about working with Tyne Daly in an episode due out after the break. “It was wonderful.  And I’m not just saying that.  Tyne Daly is one of the finest actresses I’ve ever met or ever had the pleasure of working with.  It was just like old times.   I mean they were different characters, but we know each other now and her mother had a great expression.  Okay, her mom said, “Sweat makes a great cement.”  And she and I sweat together for six years and we just know each other’s timing, we know, and we love, we love to rehearse, we love to work, and it was a real treat for me and I think for all of us to have her on the show.” Oh, to have been able to watch the two of them working together again. I’m so excited for that episode! I have so much respect for Tyne Daly’s work as well as Sharon’s.Sharon and Bruce would both like to have Tyne come back for another episode. Says Sharon, “I’d like to have Tyne Daly come back.  She wants to come back as a bad guy. Like Judy Dench on the James Bond things.  Not a bad guy, but she would be running the whole thing.”

I mentioned Sharon’s role on Marcus Welby, M.D., earlier, and she had a great story to share about that show. “Do you know I was put on Marcus Welby as a regular for a year because I was to be a love interest of James Brolin, and they said that there was absolutely no chemistry between James Brolin and me and I got fired.” I figured it was a good thing, since she ended up doing Cagney and Lacey not long after that.

And what would happen if Christine Cagney met Madeline? “I don’t see them going camping together. They’re so different.  I don’t know.  I think Madeline might have a little more respect for Christine and what she does, maybe not her attitude. Christine was highly competitive.  I don’t know if she liked any other women around.  There was an episode where they brought in a young cop who was going to observe and they became sort of comedic because Christine just didn’t want anything to do with her and all the men were all over the woman, of course.  I don’t think Christine sees anybody but herself, do you know what I’m saying, herself and her work.  That was part of her problem.  She was a raging alcoholic, I mean they were very different.  But I don’t know, maybe if you sat them down in a bar together that they’d get along.  That’s the best I can do I think.  I could see them just forgetting what either of them do and what their backgrounds are and just sitting down and having a drink.”

Well, count me in, ladies!

Watch the season finale of Burn Notice, Long Way Back, Thursday, Aug. 8, at 9/8 Central, on USA Network.