9 Questions With: Ted Danson
Everybody knows Ted Danson's name.
He was Sam Malone on 'Cheers,' and scored an impressive 9 Emmy nominations and 2 wins during its 11-season run. Danson's latest TV role as Arthur Frobisher, a billionaire businessman with some serious legal problems on FX's 'Damages,' added another Emmy nod to his tally.
Danson talked to AOL TV about his fate on 'Damages,' 'Curb Your Enthusiasm' ... and why we shouldn't feel sorry for his wife. -- By Maggie Furlong
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1. We're happy to see you back as Frobisher ... are you excited to be back?
Yes -- what a great character. But you don't know whether I'm coming back ... because they have dead people come back on this show. The joke is, once you've been killed on the show, you have another two or three seasons of work left ahead of you. [Laughs] But I love how smart these guys are -- and what a great cast. So whatever they concoct at the last moment, it's fun and it's exciting. It's almost spoiled me.
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2. Dead or alive, will we get to see Frobisher with any of the new cast members -- William Hurt, Timothy Olyphant or Marcia Gay Harden?
I have no idea! [Laughs] They don't tell you -- you literally don't know. You show up on the set and you go, "Oh, really?" But Timothy Olyphant is a very talented guy -- I love watching his work. He laughed at the first joke [I told him], and I was his forever. [Laughs] I only need just a little love and I'm yours for life ... that'll do it.
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3. What was the fan response like for 'Damages' ?
It was really good for me as an actor to do something totally different that is so beautifully written. It's fun to play a guy who does really bad things but is really fleshed out and very human. Then it becomes a very intriguing part. If you're basically an OK, good actor in that ballpark, and you get handed great material, it really is the material. I mean, Arthur Frobisher is a wonderful, brilliant character -- if you show up and have the decency to have fun, you're bound to be pretty good at it.
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4. What is it about you as an actor that makes Arthur's indiscretions seem OK?
I think I probably bring baggage with me. The 'Cheers' guy who makes you laugh and smile ... and "Oh, look what he's doing!" You're kind of willing to go along with him. In the same way that Glenn [Close] is playing the good guy -- but she's a little scary because of her baggage. She kills Dalmatians! She boils bunnies! [Laughs] Using people's baggage to spin things off-balance is kind of neat.
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5. Did you know Arthur's fate from the very beginning?
No, you know they keep the scripts pretty fluid -- yes, they know where they want to go, but they also watch things. It made an impression on them that the Frobisher character was likable, so then they made him dark and they escalated with the hooker, and he was still somewhat likable. Then they started writing towards [his murder]. I think it was a dance -- they made use of what they were seeing.
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FX
6. There were things that Arthur did that were so unbelievably abhorrent that they were almost laughable!
And it is funny. I think this is like a really dark, subversive comedy. This is as funny as it gets as far as I'm concerned. My character's a narcissist who's in way over his head, and stupid enough to think he can go up against Patty Hewes. And I'm stupid -- Ted's stupid enough to go up against Glenn Close! See what I mean?
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FX
7. You met with an acting coach to prepare for this role -- what was that like?
It's funny because at first I was like, "They want me to go see an acting teacher? Wow. They really must think I suck." But it was the best gift I've ever gotten -- it was very liberating, and [the teacher] kind of instilled in me the fun of the arrogance of the character. So then I could show up on set and have three or four lines in a speech, and maybe I'll say two, maybe I won't. I'll do whatever I want. I don't have to be funny -- I don't have to be anything I don't want.
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FX
8. Can't you get your wife, Mary Steenburgen, a small part on the show?
She's little miss feature film! She's got 'Step Brothers,' she has 'Four Christmases' coming out, she just finished 'The Proposal' ... all big studio comedies, so don't cry for Mary! She's so busy it's unbelievable.
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9. Will you two be back for another season on 'Curb Your Enthusiasm'?
I think! I mean, I don't know -- Larry David is another person who's incredibly creative, marches to his own drumbeat, and you learn only what you need to learn. So I never know -- I don't know if we're coming back, I don't know anything. He calls you a week beforehand and goes [in his best Larry David voice], "Teddy Boy! Come on down!" And you show up, you ask what the scene's about and he says, "Oh, you just come in the door." [Laughs] I do better as an actor on a need-to-know basis. Don't tell me the whole story ... I'll f--- it up for you! [Laughs]
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