Feb 25, 2021
We got Hollywood royalty on the show--this week Kate Burton is here! You Might Know Her From Grey’s Anatomy, Scandal, Hedda Gabler, The Elephant Man, Company, and Big Trouble in Little China. Kate talked about how Shonda Rhimes and the soap world of Shondaland opened up doors for her career with a newfound zeitgeist-y fame. She brought us to tears talking about being on Broadway (in two shows) right after 9/11 and rallying with the theatre community to let the world know New York was still here. And she was super candid about her showbiz upbringing with actor parents: her father Richard Burton (and stepmother Elizabeth Taylor) and mother Sybil Williams (and stepfather Jordan Christopher). Whoo boy, this one just took us out.
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Ross Perot quintessential youngest child (Damian and Anne loved him)
Famous youngest children: Eddie Murphy, Ellen DeGeneres, Jim Carrey, Whoopi Goldberg, etc
“Madame Defarge big as a barge” -Damian Bellino to the tune of “Bust a Move”
Worked for 22 years before meeting Shonda Rhimes who cast her in Grey’s Anatomy and then Scandal
Kate has been in the pilots of Grey’s, Veep, and Grimm
Peter Horton directed the pilot of Grey’s
Debbie Allen directs many episodes of Grey’s
Playing a ghost (Ellis Grey) for one day is mostly fun
Nominated for 2 Tonys in the 2002 Broadway season: Best Actress: Hedda Gabler; Best Supporting Actress: The Elephant Man)
Later nominated for her 3rd Tony for The Constant Wife
Starred with our favorite acting family: The Van Pattens (former guests: Joyce Van Patten and Talia Balsam) in Jake’s Women with Alan Alda
Singing “New York, New York” with the cast of every Broadway show in Times Square
Old New York theatre restaurant, Angus McKindoe
Played Sarah in the 1995 revival of Company, replaced Chriheastine Estabrook in the original Spring Awakening
Mother; Sybill Williams Burton Christopher started The Bay Street Theatre in Sag Harbor
Ken Burns’ Jazz documentary reminded Kate that she saw Duke Ellington live
“We are a musical nation” - Dylan Thomas
Jane Krakowski to Kate Burton in rehearsal for the 1995 Comapny revival “there’s nowhere else I’d rather be right now.”
A few perfect plays Kate has worked on: The Beauty Queen of Leenane (Martin McDonagh), An American Daughter (Wendy Wasserstein)
Russian Studies teacher at Brown: Abbott Tom Gleason
Kate applied to Yale. ACT, NYU, Central School of S&D
Amanda Green Kate and Tony Goldwyn (another child-of) met when they were 21 and 20 respectively and have been friends ever since
Currently working on a project with Amanda Green (Adolph’s daughter) is another child-of, and kids Peter O’Toole and Richard Harris
Nicole Fosse (daughter of Bob and Gwen) did a great job with Fosse/Verdon
Is close with what she calls her “Elizabeth Taylor” siblings (step-sisters and brothers, half-brothers) Liza Todd, Michael Wilding Jr, Christopher Wilding, Maria Burton
The unspoken Richard Burton/Elizabeth Taylor film: Liz & Dick
Richard Burton recently listed as one of Top 50 actors of all-time
Kate has followed in Elizabeth’s footsteps by working on AIDS research and education
Sat with Jeff Sessions and Liz Taylor’s kids regarding AIDS research
Big Trouble in LIttle China (1986) was her first movie and was shot on the same soundstage as her dad’s first movie. Loved Kurt Russell “an angel.”
Did Wild Honey on Broadway with Ian McKellen and Kim Cattrall
1982 Broadway Alice in Wonderland was then restaged for PBS Great Performances
Eva Le Galienne (“le G”) friend and director of Kate’s lived her life semi-openly as a lesbian. Eva a torrid affair with the original Alice on Broadway, Josephine Hutchinson
PBS Alice in Wonderland (Richard Burton, Kaye Ballard, Andre DeShields, Donald O’Connor, Maureen Stapleton, Colleen Dewhurst)
Richard Burton wanted to produce an all male Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf (if Kate were to do an all-female cast she’d cast Frances McDormand and they’d swap George & Martha every night, Julia Garner as Honey, still waiting on that Nick).
Picture of young Kate backstage at Mame with Angela Lansbury, her dad and Elizabeth
“I’m so bored” from Liz & Dick
Kate Burton was in the 1985 tv miniseries Evergreen with next week’s guest(!!!)