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driftwoodthrone · 2 years

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As promised, I'm gonna make them a thing @ktlsyrtis ;)

DI Jill Raymond/Professor Helen Lynley AU

Two sharp knocks on Helen's door jolts her slightly out of concentration, as Jill Raymond's blonde head peeks over the threshold of her office. The imposing detective strides in without preamble, in her crisp white shirt and fitted trousers, and sits on the edge of Helen's desk with little regard for the papers strewn about. Holds up the coffee in her hand as a peace offering.

"Got a minute, Lady Helen?" Jill asks, beckoning the brunette's attention, giving way to a privately held joke between them.

Helen rolls her eyes derisively at the posh title. Frankly, she's glad to be rid of it and Tommy⁠ — surviving a near-fatal gunshot wound does wonders for sorting out one's priorities, she thought.

The scar at the centre of her breastbone is a stark reminder of the life she's left behind.

And although it didn't need saying or counting, she owes Jill an enormous favour after her divorce and an endless string of kindness for refusing to leave her side as she recuperated from surgery. So Helen lets the title go, lets it mean something different between them, knowing her dearest friend loved to get a rise out of her.

"Jillian," Helen greets with a saccharine smile, a name reserved only for herself and Jill's mum, it sticks like toffee on her tongue. She wraps her fingers around the steaming cup of coffee, and welcomes the interruption, especially when it's Jill's handsome face. "What do I owe the pleasure?" Helen hums gratefully as she takes a sip. "Have you finally come to sit in on my lecture?"

"Not today, I'm afraid. I thought I might borrow your expertise though?" Jill dangles a case file in her hand and pretends to look sorry for dropping by unannounced, but Helen sees a hint of that wolfish grin. Jill doesn't care a jot about her office hours, and if she did the woman would pick up her damn mobile phone.

Helen lets the request hang in the air, and buys herself several agonizing seconds by sorting through the mountain of grading on her desk, before coming back around to Jill's expectant face inching closer towards her. "So, you did come to learn something new, Detective," Helen teases.

Jill crowds her and a flicker of desire glazes over the detective's eyes as they trail towards soft inviting lips. It's the only evidence of Helen's effect on her, and it's gone in an instant as she leans forward to bop Helen on the head with the file.

"Get a shift on, Professor," Jill says impatiently, and the brunette gawps at her for the cheek. "I've got a murder to solve."

Helen pouts. She was rather hoping to be plied with kisses for her keen intellect, but she knows Jill is dreadfully restrained during her working hours. There was no wearing her down, she's tried.

She swaps the coffee for the folder in Jill's hand and opens it on her lap. Jill offers her reading glasses with practiced ease and takes a large gulp from the same cup as Helen scans the suspect list.

She was starting to think she worked for the Greater London Police at how frequently Jill sought out her professional opinion. It's Jill who takes a certain delight in picking Helen's brain, involving her in small, quiet ways in the investigation — as long as she's never actually on scene (lesson learned), and Jill is quite firm on that matter.

Secretly, she enjoys it too — cracking a case, bringing justice to the surface, becoming Jill's unwitting partner in crime (solving) as they've done since they were girls in uni fighting their way up the ladder. Although they had wound up choosing different career paths, they had never forgotten to pull each other up.

Jill screws her face into an imperceptible smirk to save her blushes before rising to circle Helen's chair. She tugs at her waistcoat to smooth out her appearance and school her features as she flips open a packet of mints from her coat pocket.

"I will require dinner, for the consult," Helen says nonchalantly, raising an eyebrow to hint at the double meaning with a wicked sparkle in her eyes.

Jill coughs and splutters at the suggestion, and Helen's pleased to see the nearly unflappable detective fidget in her seat.

She doesn't waste the opportunity to turn dinner into breakfast, slipping Jill's glasses off her face to hang them at the crux of the blonde's waistcoat, a familiar intimacy that pushes and pulls at the seams of their friendship.

There's a moment where they're idle, waiting for the other to have the last word. Jill is helpless to the gravity between them, she turns Helen around in her seat to lean forward on the armrest, framing the other woman between her arms. Helen's breath hitches as their noses brush, barely a whisper between them, and a flush works its way up Helen's delicious neck.

Jill's eyes remain trained on Helen's own growing dark, stirring at the heightened state between them. Hearts pounding in unison, they are two sides of the same coin, immovable and unyielding.

"You do drive a hard bargain."

#di jill raymond #helen lynley #berena #jill x helen #rrcmv #new expansion pack #and a ficlet!#i live here now #jill/helen as recent divorcees and long-standing friends who went to uni together and are now maybe definitely engaging in #no-strings attached casual sex against their better judgement b/c she's alive and they're both single for the first time in years #jill would absolutely be sick of tommy's bs and putting helen's life in danger (again)#follow this blog for more fictional ships that do not exist lmao #*#my fics #*hc

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shippingsincebeforeyouwereborn · 1 year

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2022 was the year I reconnected with my inner fan. After several years of having been packed up and set in the corner, talking only to herself in hushed tones, she took one look at Bernie Wolfe and Serena Campbell on a windy roof. Suddenly with a great whoosh she was set free again.

Thankfully I remembered that that Tumblr thing was the place for fannishness and not evil birdsite. Maybe it was a google search that brought me here, I don’t know.

And here I found a wonderful set of fun, kind, witty and wicked smart, fannish humans.

Thank you for accepting me into the social circle around the fire of fannish discussion and creation.

And thanks to Serena and Bernie, and Catherine and Jemma for just being!

I can’t wait to see what 2023 will bring!

#bernie wolfe #serena campbell #kate stewart #jill raymond #julia child #helen lynley #rachel cazelet #caroline mckenzie dawson #gillian greenwood #greta gill #carson shaw #amy silva #kirsten longacre #rhaenys targaryen #several others

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yestolerancepro · 6 months

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With a little help from my friends Tolerance Project Extra Celebrates International Day of Persons with Disabilities

Introduction

Hello Today marks the annual International Day of Persons with Disabilities I thought I would celebrate that by writing and posting this one off blog first a little bit of background.

International Day of Persons with Disabilities (December 3) is an international observance promoted by the United Nations since 1992. It has been observed with varying degrees of success around the planet. The observance of the Day aims to promote an understanding of disability issues and mobilize support for the dignity, rights and well-being of persons with disabilities. It also seeks to increase awareness of gains to be derived from the integration of persons with disabilities in every aspect of political, social, economic and cultural life. It was originally called "International Day of Disabled Persons" until 2007.

Every year since 1992, the UN announces a theme for International Day of People with Disability. The 2023 theme is “United in action to rescue and achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for, with and by persons with disabilities.”

Obviously, that is a bit of a mouthful. In simpler terms, the theme calls for us all to work together to make the world a better place for people with disabilities — it shouldn’t be up to them alone to constantly fight and advocate for themselves

So in plain English for those that don’t speak UN this years Day for disabled people is all about working together so the title of this blog originally written last year called with a little help from my freinds could not be more apt

What was the Tolerance Group?

If I have got my sums right 'Tolerance' came into my life round about time I was still at Shelley High School in about 1995 It was created out of one of the summer school play schemes that Kirklees used to run. We had such a good time one year that this particular group wanted to see more of each other to socialise and do other projects.

With the help of one of the play Scheme organisers called Craig Wood he suggested we get Together as a youth group.

We began as a small group of people, calling ourselves the Deighton Group. As the local PHAB group was shutting down, the group got a lot bigger and we changed our name to 'Tolerance'. It was Craig I think who came up with the name we began appearing in local media and were becoming more well known, a local development officer who was called Jeremy Walker organised us into a fully-functioning group. I was asked to be co-ordinator, a job which I did for 7 years. Gemma Blagbrough was my second-in-command and transport secretary. With the help of the local development officer, we applied for funding for a variety of projects. As co-ordinator for the group I found myself doing a lot of the admin work, filling out funding forms, writing newsletters, doing radio and newspaper interviews, and going to various meetings to ask for money to get projects started.

Tolerance The Movie

The idea behind the film was one of Jeremy Walkers many ideas and it was a good one the aim of the film was simple We wanted to make a film that reflected the life of young disabled people in the 21st century. It was important to us as a group that it was funny, and that it would capture the humour within the group. At the same time, we wanted it to deliver a serious message about what it was like to live with a disability day-to-day.

Jeremy can be seen in a cameo in the finished film as Julie’s Taxi driver Julie was played by actress Claire Abbot

The film has five main themes: Employment, Social Life, Transport, Accessibility, and Relationships. We chose these themes because they were important areas of all the lives of the group members.

Also If we were going to make the film we wanted to be involved with it as much as possible provide as much of the cast and crew in the finished film as we could. In the end other members of Tolerance who were not in front of the camera worked in the sound and make up departments

After a couple of false starts we approached a company called Eclipse Productions run by Richard Hellawell.

The script was written by Richard Hellawell with input from Tolerance members; myself and Jeremy Walker were the film’s producers. In keeping with the humour we wanted the film to portray, we included film spoofs of Officer and a Gentleman, Star Wars, and The Good, The Bad and The Ugly.

One major difference of opinion was who was going to act in our film. Richard wanted people he had worked with previously, where as myself and some of the group members had envisioned that we would use disabled actors. Was our film going to be stopped in its tracks before it had even started?

In the end we managed to reach a compromise and two of our disabled members appeared in the finished film: Gemma Blagbrough as the cinema manager; and Michael Weaver as a blind person using Huddersfield Train Station.

Filming began on 16th August 1999 but the most stressful days shooting was at Huddersfeild Train Station

Shooting scenes at Huddersfield Train Station

From Rob Martin’s photos, the train sequences where shot on 17 August 1999. I remember the day as being very stressful and bursting into tears!

Michael for me gives a very natural performance, and he and Claire Abbot work well together.

On the photo front we have 35 photos of this day’s filming – most of them in black and white. As it was Michael Weaver’s day, when he was playing a starring role, he appears in quite a few of the photos having a laugh with our leading lady, Claire Abbot. There are also some photos, when he was being made up by our make-up lady, Andrea Dowdall Goddard.

Since working on Tolerance, Andrea has worked on episodes of the Doctor Who spin-off, Torchwood, Coronation Street and the film, Guest House Paradiso. Andrea’s credits are on IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1350227/?ref_=nv_sr_1

Gemma Blagbourgh was the second member of Tolerance to appear in the film, Gemma Blagbrough, appears as the cinema manager. All her scenes were shot on the last day of filming I had the day off that day but the rest of the cast and crew had to get up at 5.30am to shoot the cinema scenes. Gemma said about her Tolerance experience afterwards:

‘Yes I really enjoyed the whole experience of working on Tolerance. The only thing I didn’t like were the early mornings; the earliest being half past five in the morning when I had to film my scenes. It was long hours, but I wanted to show people with a disability that you can work and you can work in positions of authority.’

If you have read this blog and like it please consider giving a donation to our gofundme page by clicking on the above link https://www.gofundme.com/gnk3ww

Photos

Me with my producers hat on with the Tolerance film director Richard Hellawell sorry I look so miserable

Claire abbot with Michael Weever

Gemma Blagbourgh helping Michael learn his lines

Michael having his make up done

Gemma Blagbourgh as appears in the Tolerance film as the UCI cinema manager

Paul Lockwood doing his job as a sound man on the Tolerance film the picture also features Actors David Smith and Claire Abbot

More of the Tolerance production Team at Huddersfield Train station along with Director of Photography Ian Medley this photo features Liam Centeno who was given the nickname the party animal by the production team and Jonathan Lyndley

Notes Thanks to the following people for the pictures Rob Martin and Helen Batty thanks to Gemma Blagbourgh for the interview this new blog was put together using material from the the following blogs Gizza Job I can do that part 2 Tolerance Ability not in Ability a producers commentary Part 1 In the Beginning Tolerance Ability not in Ability a producers commentary Part 2 Transport and Tolerance Ability not in Ability a producers commentary Part 4 Accessibility

Thank you also to wikpedia for information on the history of the International Day of Persons with Disabilities

I would like to thank 2 members of Tolerance that are not mentioned in the blog and don’t feature in the photographs Claire Louise Wallice and Sandra Brennan whose contribution to the Tolerance film was just as valuable as everyone else’s

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batnbreakfast · 2 months

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AO3 Writer's Ask Game

Thank you for tagging me @slightlyintimidating ! 🥰

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

102378

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Mainly Bernie Wolfe/Serena Campbell although I branched out into the RedgraveRussellCinematicMultiverse.

And there's this one Deadloch fic, I really would like to finish. *side-eyes her brain*

4. What are your top five fics by kudos?

Notting Hill

My Berena Notting Hill rewrite with Serena Campbell as the bookshop owner and Bernie Wolfe as the famous actress.

Before the Sun Sets on the River Thames

Yet another film rewrite (I just love them) - this time it's Before Sunset with Bernie & Serena reconnecting years after having spent an unforgeable night together.

fragments of a holiday season

My Berena advent fics collection

clouds in my coffee (but the sun's coming through)

My Berena coffee shop au for @fortytworedvines day

chi va piano

My Berena smut fic, which has forever changed how I look at pianos

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

Ah. It's complicated. During the last year I only had comments like "Please finish this!" and no, most of the times I don't respond to them. While I LOVE comments and use them to motivate myself to get back to writing, I find comments that don't even say why someone would like me to continue a store utterly unhelpful. Also there's my beloved ADHD brain, which makes me forget to answer sometimes. I will though, even if it's like stupidly late.

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

*chuckles* Well, I wrote this fic with Bernie's thoughts while she's dying under the rubble after they killed her in an explosion off screen. Lucky for most of you preferring a happy ending to your angst, I did not publish it. Instead I rewrote it to become a chapter for my collaboration with the lovely @ktlsyrtis

everything is different, everything has changed

Five times Bernie Wolfe’s life explodes - and one time it doesn't.

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

I feel like all my fics have a happy ending. I love a bit of angst, but seriously life is bad enough without giving your favs a happy ending after putting them through the mangler.

My favourite might be

Before the Sun Sets on the River Thames

because Bernie stays.

8. Do you get hate on fic?

Huh. If so, it apparently was too irrelevant to remember.

9. Do you write smut?

Yes, I do. And I honestly love to connect them via smut with feelings.

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written?

I do love a good film au. I have dozens of ideas what films to cast them for and I've only written two so far, with another three sitting in my WIP folder.

My crossover ideas aren't that crazy actually, but maybe

the slow appraisal of silent things

might fall into the category, because why not mash up Lynley and my love for Berena, replace the old Helen with Catherine's Helen, and have her leave Lynley (as one should do), to fall in love with Jemma's Grace Finegann (who did not shoot anyone).

Others might say that it was absolutely crazy to write my first Berena fic, which is also a crossover, without ever having watched a single episode of Holby.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

I don't think so.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Not to my knowledge.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Yes! I wrote

everything is different, everything has changed

with @ktlsyrtis and I loved, loved, loved doing this.

14. What’s your all-time favourite ship?

Seems a bit like anyone reading this far could answer this, but

💖 Bernie Wolfe/Serena Campbell 💖

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but probably won’t?

Nope. Not going there. All my WIPs have a chance to being finished. It took me almost three years to finish Notting Hill. I might get inspired on something that's been sitting in my drafts for longer. Who knows - certainly not me. I won't give up though!

16. What are your writing strengths?

I'd say dialogue with feelings and with smut also showing without spelling things out in detail.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Commas and formatting. *chuckles* Apologies to all the lovely people who ever beta'd for me. I appreciate you so, sooo much.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

I could have them speak German and Italian and would, if I found it necessary. I prefer to have a translation in the notes at least while reading fic.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Ah. Something wlw that I'm not looking back to.

20. Favourite fic you’ve written?

Urghhhhhhh... I love all my children, I don't have a fav-

Before the Sun Sets on the River Thames

Because it marks the beginning of a new fandom journey that is still bringing me so much joy and made me make wonderful friends.

Okay, I'll stop now before getting even soppier.

I'm tagging @ktlsyrtis @lapalfruity @fortytworedvines @ariverandasong and everyone of you who wants to take part in this. Seriously, just run with it if you want to!

Questions to respond to:

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

3. What fandoms do you write for?

4. What are your top five fics by kudos?

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

8. Do you get hate on fic?

9. Do you write smut?

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written?

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

14. What’s your all-time favourite ship?

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but probably won’t?

16. What are your writing strengths?

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

19. First fandom you wrote for?

20. Favourite fic you’ve written?

#ao3 asks game #writers ask game #thanks for tagging me friend 😊#slightlyintimidating

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figureofdismay · 7 months

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I do believe that (tv show verse) Tom loved Barbara within like 6 months of working together, while having no conscious perception that the intensity of his fascination with her meant anything other than 'hmm, my work partner is an interesting complicated person isn't she, of course i want to spend 95% of my time with her. for interesting work reasons, certainly' and that Barbara was like 'so you're a little intense, please go play with Helen instead, I don't understand why you're crowding me, I am a sexless and emotionally disastrous object, obviously you don't see me as a woman you see a puzzle and I don't see why you're always under foot, if you're acting insane it must be because you love Helen so much,' and she maybe had some lonely, abandoned feeling twinges when Tom and Helen left on honeymoon -- which led to that whole seaside mild stalking disaster. But Barbara did save his (and Haddiyah's) life at great expense to her career! And that maayy have given Tom a little nudge in the feelings realization department, though not really, and then Barbara almost resigned thinking Tommy wanted her demoted, (when really he'd advocated for demotion over firing her completely, which were the only options) and he put 'Barbara is leaving and Helen is pregnant' on the same level of 'upsetting and unwanted change' in A Traitor To Memory, but he still doesn't seem to Get It.

Meanwhile Helen clearly has realized some things, with the "It would be one thing if you were having an affair with her" line, feeling unwanted and inferior in Tommy's priorities to work and his partnership with Barbara -- she must see that when Barbara's there to talk to she fades into a kind of background idea for Tommy, he's really kind of awful to her and he was throughout their relationship, I've never understood why she agreed to marry the guy giving her the yo-yo treatment like that!

But I do think that Tom sticking by Barbara's side after the shooting rather than following Helen, who clearly told him where she'd be if he'd really wanted to reconcile and grieve together and rebuild, that decision and that sense of his own priorities must have finally shaken something loose for him because he spends s4 and onward following Barbara around with big adoring eyes and seems fairly aware that he has some big non-platonic-work-partnerly feelings for her, though he seems to see himself as too much of a mess and an emotional liability to do anything about it, especially considering Barbara's volatile and easily wounded nature. He knows he can't just casually treat Barbara like he did Helen (and thankfully seems aware he shouldn't have treated Helen like that either) so he just wanders around in limbo between guilt and longing.

and I'd kill for an AU thru s3 and 4 where Helen confronts Tommy about his feelings for Barbara directly instead of hinting, forcing things out into the open. It would have been in character for her as a profiler and psychologist, the only reason she didn't is probably because EG is wildly against Lynley/Havers in a romantic sense so Helen was written without significant awareness of the top spin the BBC writers and Nathaniel Parker and Sharon Small were putting on the central relationship 😩

#i have wanted an AU about this for the last 19 years #and as I don't think anyone's ever done it... i may have to write it #lynley x havers #tom x barbara #inspector lynley mysteries #....is there any fandom for this show left??? it's been so long #i fall down this rabbit hole every few years though and it remains wildly important to me

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socket79 · 6 years

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Catherine Russell | Helen Lynley

#Helen Lynley #Catherine Russell #The Inspector Lynley Mysteries

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oldshrewsburyian · 2 years

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Would you mind expanding on the different feels for books versus series?

I presume this concerns my cryptic Lynley mutterings, and no, not at all!

First, the books have a larger supporting cast of important and interesting characters in relationship to each other, and I miss them -- the disabled pathologist with the interest in fine whiskies, his radiant photographer wife, the gang member turned policeman who loves his mom and her cooking -- in the show, where they make one-off appearances.

Then there's the question of Lynley and Havers' relationship. I love a well-written friendship, and I love a pair of detectives as an odd couple, and these two are wonderful. Lynley (very rarely, to his friends, Tommy) has given up his title but kept a London townhouse. He wears immaculate suits, protectively keeps a Bentley, and has a guilt streak a mile wide and an Oxford accent that could cut glass. Barbara Havers is a working-class junk food addict and fashion disaster who cuts her hair with nail scissors. Over the course of the books, they build a rock-solid, loving friendship that never has romantic tension/frisson. I love them, and I love their relationship. In the show, I can't help the suspicion that the casting of actors with incredible chemistry was not planned from the outset. There's some coy "will they/won't they" framing, but mostly, I feel, it's a script for a friendship. And yet!

Also, and here I get even more annoyed, there's Lady Helen Clyde, Lynley's lover and then wife. (I don't think her late Victorian literary namesake is a coincidence, either; I think it's a deliberately obscure allusion. I love a deliberately obscure allusion, me. Anyway.) In the book, she's a compassionate, charming, generous socialite whose joie de vivre balances out Lynley's guilt streak (innate) and his tendency to angst (professional hazard.) She worries both that attending philanthropic dinners is not an adequate life's vocation, and that she risks being, for Lynley, merely a casual attachment. But she is an extremely sympathetic character. I like her, and I really like how Elizabeth George writes her and her arc. In the series, she's a psychologist/profiler -- because you can't have a female love interest without a profession that will get her screen time, I guess -- and she's just miserable all the time. I am never convinced that her relationship with Lynley is functional. I am convinced that he wants it to be. I am convinced that he feels tenderness for her and that she feels desire for him, and recognizes him as a safe pair of hands. But I don't think it works. I don't like how it begins, I don't like how it proceeds, I don't like how it ends. There's infinitely more romantic tension and emotional intimacy between him and Havers. In the books, I would have been outraged if Lynley and Havers had tried to date (how vulgar, how ill-advised.) In the series, I want them to kiss. The end.

#i have opinions!#my detection obsession #asks and answers #inspector lynley #and havers! <3 #nat parker is on record as thinking tv!lynley would end up chasing tv!havers into the sunset and i support him

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sapphoshands · 3 years

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30, 34, 35, 40. :)

30: Who’s your favourite author?

i... do not have one. i know, a cop-out, but i just can't! Tana French, Laurie R. King, Sara Paretsky, Pat Conroy, Nicola Griffith, Louise Penny, Taylor Jenkins-Reid, Madeline Miller, Val McDermid... so many more... D:

34: List five OTPs

ughhh this is surprisingly challenging? i don't HAVE that many book-based OTPs!

Julie Beaufort-Stuart/Maddie Brodatt, Code Name Verity (!!!!!!!); Shizuka/Shefali, the Ascendant trilogy; i fully broke up with Elizabeth George after what she did to Tommy and Helen Lynley in 2006 and have never looked back; Phèdre/Melisande, the Kushiel's books (shush, i was an impressionable youth); ....i don't have a fifth /o\

35: Name a book you consider to be terribly underrated

following from above, i really wish the Ascendant trilogy had gotten more attention: The Tiger's Daughter, The Phoenix Empress, and The Warrior Moon by K. Arsenault Rivera. they are truly epic sword-and-sorcery lesbian fantasy novels set in fictional china and mongolia and full of betrayal and politics and demons and love and tenderness and war. i hugely recommend them.

40: Name one of your favourite books from your teenage years

The Blue Place, Nicola Griffith. my local library put genre stickers on the spines of all the fiction books, including rainbow stickers for queer books; i used to start at the As and work my way down, borrowing any that were about women, which is how i ran across a number of my long-term favourites. the self-assurance and self-possession of Aud in The Blue Place really stuck with me; she's a terrible role-model in many ways, but i imprinted at a young age!

#this was harder than expected #i promise i tried #meme #talk to me #dollsome-does-tumblr

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tcm · 3 years

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A Conversation with Patty McCormack on Growing Up on Screen By Kim Luperi

Not many child stars go on to enjoy long, successful careers in show business – and fewer still have earned a prestigious Academy Award nomination before they turned 18. Patty McCormack has achieved both. The actress, who made her first film appearance in 1951 and went on to star in THE BAD SEED (’56, for which she received an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress as the murderous Rhoda at age 11); THE ADVENTURES OF HUCKLEBERRY FINN (’60) and THE YOUNG RUNAWAYS (’68), continues to work in Hollywood and shows no indication of slowing down.

I had the pleasure of speaking with McCormack recently about some of these titles and more, including the delightful film KATHY O’ ('58) in which she plays a famous child star – an apt springboard for a discussion about growing up on screen and transitioning into more mature roles over her incredibly long, accomplished career.

(This interview has been edited for length and clarity.)

I was watching KATHY O’ last night, and I really enjoyed it. In that movie they talk about your blonde pigtail braids as a trademark, and I realized it kind of was; you had that hairstyle in THE BAD SEED and ALL MINE TO GIVE (’57), too. Do you know how that style came about, or was it something you did that caught on?

Patty McCormack: It seems to be! I believe I even had them early on in Mama, which was an old live TV show that was a weekly event. I don't know how that [trademark] happened. I think it just happened because of THE BAD SEED – I think it was the hairdo that I went in with or they just decided on. When you see the original artwork on William March’s book, there’s a very long face drawing of Rhoda, his Rhoda, and there were braids in it. I don't know if they were looped or what, but that could have been it – or I honestly don't remember if it was chosen by my mom because it was easy, but it stuck!

I loved KATHY O’ because I got to live the dream. I loved the notion of them cutting my hair off – except it was a wig that they cut. After a while it felt like I didn't want to look like an older person with braids – you have to get rid of them eventually. As soon as I could, I wanted hair that was like, in that era, a page boy or something like that, where it landed on your shoulder. But I carried that long hair for a long time. And then you know how you revert back to certain hairdos years later?

They come back in style.

PM: Yes, they come back, but now I have shortish hair, and I'm growing it one length. So I got over the braids – just in the nick of time!

Circling back to Rhoda, you originated the role on Broadway before the film version, so you obviously had a lot of practice and familiarity with the part before you took it to the screen. Since she's such a chilling character, how did you get into that mindset at age nine, especially when you had to play the part multiple times a week?

PM: I always go back to the source, and the source was the director, Reginald Denham. He was so good with directing me. He made it fun, because I learned when I'd get an audience reaction on a face I’d make or something, I'd look forward to doing that again – you know, that kind of joy.

He made it so clear and simple, and his point of view was that Rhoda was always right. I know I've said this before, but it's the truth. No matter what anybody says, Rhoda is correct, and anything she wants, she feels entitled to – not using that word ‘entitled’ – but I really wasn't thinking of myself as a bad person, or especially not a murderer. I just thought it was their fault, which is classic, I guess. I had to kill him [the little boy] because he was so mean. So I think that was how I learned to be that character. I was aware of the murders – people were dead because of me, that I knew – but somehow it wasn't disturbing to my mind. If you take a look at it knowing that, you see it. I'm not coming from some sort of evil place, I don't think.

You were nominated for an Oscar for THE BAD SEED, which is amazing; it's a true testament to your talents, of course, but it’s also such a big accolade to have at such a young age. Do you remember there being any pressure on you for your next role?

PM: Well, the role was so odd for a kid to be so noticed, in that era anyway. I can't think of any jobs I didn't get after that that somebody else got, you know? What happened, though, was that each year I grew, and so I just experienced the typical kid actor dilemma which is going from category to category and establishing yourself in that category and learning how to be in that category. I did do something on Playhouse 90 – I did a few PLAYHOUSE 90s back then – and I did a lot of television –

You played Helen Keller [in the original 1957 Playhouse 90 teleplay “The Miracle Worker”].

PM: That's what I was going to say! That was after THE BAD SEED. But mostly, as far as movies went, there was KATHY O’ and a few here and there and at different levels of development. I was always aware that it had been a while since I worked, that I felt, but I didn't think business, like “What will I follow up that with?” I didn't have that kind of mentality, and I really don't think my mother did either, so it just sort of went the way it went.

As you mentioned too, you were still growing up. So, you’re a child, then a teenager, then young adult. You probably wouldn’t be thinking about the business part of it.

PM: No, it's so strange. It's not an easy transition, and as you know famous people go through really hard things. You don't get to sit and relax in a certain mode for too long because before you know it you're in the next one. And then you go through your ‘ugly period’ in front of everybody, which is horrible.

The movie that you mentioned TCM is going to air, THE ADVENTURES OF HUCKLEBERRY FINN, when I see the headshots from that I just think, “Aw, I looked uncomfortable!” I could see it even in my body. I felt like I was at the awkward time – you know, part of me was getting bigger, developing – and that hairdo they gave me didn't help; it was still the braids but wrapped up.

I want to ask you about that transition. Did you find anything difficult or surprising about navigating Hollywood and growing up on screen?

PM: The most difficult part, honestly, as a person growing up – I think at the time I always say Sandra Dee was the person we all looked to. She was just so beautiful, and no one else looked like that – maybe Carol Lynley a little bit – but the bar was set very high. With that, you’re insecure anyways because you’re at that age, and more than anything you don't want to be different. I think that's true for a lot of kids. So the maturing, that part of development, was difficult when I look back. You don't have the confidence that you had as a little kid when you don't think about anything. You become all self-conscious about how you look, if you're thin enough, if you’re pretty enough, if your hair looks nice. It's a little bit of an adjustment to get through all that and go back to what you like to do, which is to pretend, and take the focus off what you look like or who you look like or any of that stuff. I don't know if other kid actors had the same experience, but usually people grow out of a look that made them known – most of us anyway, not all of us.

I know when you left Hollywood you went back to Brooklyn and finished high school there. What was that experience like for you?

PM: Well, I took my real name back, and I was going to the high school that my mother and older sister went to, so I was really excited. This is going to sound so weird, but it was almost like playing a part – I was playing the part of a high school student. My real name is Russo, so I was Patty Russo. The experience was really kind of shocking, because I think they expected me to be very conceited, and so I had to hide in the cafeteria in the early days, because it was Brooklyn and they were pretty tough – they were on me! But I made a best friend who helped me navigate through it, and it turned into a nice experience finally. I was glad to have had that.

Then I came back out here [Los Angeles], and I stayed with a friend of my mother's family for a while. I wound up leaving Utrecht [her Brooklyn high school] – it’s a long story – but I did a soap opera in between while I was going to Utrecht, and that was kind of tricky because they weren't flexible like California was. In California they were used to kid actors, and in New York at that time, they really weren't. Then when I came out here, I went back to finish high school at Hollywood Professional and got my diploma that way. But I'm so glad I got to go back to Brooklyn. I'm pleased about that.

It sounds like you had a pretty grounded childhood, especially in attending a regular high school. Do you think that helped how you adjusted when you returned to the film industry?

PM: It was a little bit too grounded, I think! I came from a really good family. I never thought that I was a big deal, and they [her mom and dad] made sure of that. So, coming back to the industry after, I really didn't know the ropes. People handled all that before – the only thing I knew was what I did, and so some things maybe didn't get handled so well, but I learned on my feet when I came back out here. Then I married my childhood boyfriend and we had our children, and I kept working.

Yes, you’ve worked steadily since then.

PM: I did work a lot! It’s true. Nothing on the level of nominations, but I was a journeyman, I like to say.

You've spent six decades in the industry, which is really astounding, especially since you started as a child. I read an interview from 1974 that featured a humorous quote from you that I’d like to share. You said that you lamented that you never got the guy in movies and just once you wanted to “kiss the guys instead of kill them.”

PM: That is funny!

But throughout your career, you played Helen Keller, you played a career woman in THE BEST OF EVERYTHING (’70), you played Pat Nixon more recently in FROST/NIXON (’08), so you've had a lot of experience with different characters. Was there any genre or any type of character that you wish you could explore further?

PM: Well, I'll tell you the truth, it's actually seven decades from when I started, although if you want to make me younger, I don't mind! At this point in time, I'm so grateful when I work, because there could be nothing now, you know? I do enjoy what comes along. The only thing I never got to do, which I would have loved, was to have been in a habit – I would have loved to have played a nun in a habit.

That’s interesting.

PM: Isn’t it? It’s the Catholic school thing.

We’ll have to find you a role like that!

PM: I know, wouldn't that be fun? And it would be a nice way, in your later years, to go from a killer to a nun, you know? I think it would be a good idea.

Going in the right direction!

PM: Yes! But anyways, little things change here and there, and I sometimes do voiceovers, and I did something recently that I had never done, which was so much fun. Did you notice on Netflix a show called ARSENE LUPIN [working title for LUPIN]?

I haven’t heard of it, but I know there’s an old movie with the same name.

PM: Yes, this is a remake. It's in French, and I dubbed a French woman into English, and it was so much fun to do, to have someone else's face up there. I know some people watch foreign movies and they say, “Oh it's so unfair to dub the other actors,” and I probably wouldn't love it if somebody dubbed me either, but I had such a ball doing it. So, if you catch that show, you'll see somewhere in there I'm speaking English for a French woman.

I wanted to talk about two of your more recent roles. I know you starred in MOMMY in the 1990s, kind of a grown-up Rhoda, and you played a psychiatrist in the Lifetime remake of THE BAD SEED in 2018. This story has been filmed a few times; what do you think resonates with people, and how did it feel going back to that character and story but from different perspectives?

PM: Right. Well, to be honest, the Rob Lowe production [for Lifetime] was really a totally different story. There was no mom – he was the mom character – so the writing was really different.

There were two MOMMY movies: MOMMY (’95) and MOMMY’S DAY (’97). Those were written by a writer who lives in Muscatine, Iowa: Max Allan Collins. This is a long time ago now, but it was fun to grow her up, you know, physically. I talked to you about how that is the strange thing about transitioning, and it was so enjoyable to do that. It really was a journey for me internally.

There was also something about shaking hands with that, because in my day, it was never a good thing to have something so long ago be talked about all the time. I got that impression by other people's opinions, not my own, and as time went on, the world changed and people started knowing actors’ work from 20 years ago. So, the appreciation for that old work came back, and I learned to feel good about it through other people's feelings about it. I do have such a different perspective on it now, and it's a character that was so special. That really changed my ability as to how I could hold it [the role].

It’s nice to be able to do that.

PM: Yes, it is.

I have one more question for you. I know we’re in a pandemic and many productions are halted, but do you have any upcoming appearances that I can share with fans to look out for?

PM: Aw, I wish! It's funny, I did some Hallmark Christmas movies. Well, I did one, and then last year I was supposed to do another one, and they cut our parts because of COVID. So, I'm rooting for [the next one], and I have a good feeling, you know, when we have our vaccinations. Also, a downside was that they shoot in Canada, and they have to bring you up there, and at that time you had to stay in 14 days.

A lot of rules!

PM: Yes, a lot of rules. So hopefully there will be a new one. I can't honestly say, but there's no reason there shouldn't be!

My dad loves the Hallmark Christmas movies, and I watch a lot of them because of him, so I'll be rooting for you and looking out for you!

PM: I know, there's so many. People have blankets and all these things! There are real hard-core fans – it's amazing.

#patty mccormack #child actors #TCM #Turner Classic Movies #The bad seed #kim luperi #growing up on screen #acting #actor

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