Marlo Thomas

It's a shame about the work ...

" When families thank Marlo Thomas for the medical treatment they received at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, she kindly corrects them. “I say, ‘Well, you know, I’m not a scientist, I’m a wheelbarrow,’” the actress, producer and activist says with a smile that has been famous since her days starring in “That Girl.” “I take the wheelbarrow, put the money in it and bring it to the scientists.”"

I think she's a saint, and I wish we had an army of celebrities who used their popularity to raise billions for genuinely needy causes.

She was in That Girl which was a popular TV show when I was young. . . . I have some concerns about St. Jude's Hospital. I wouldn't give them money. Many large charities are not what you would hope.

She’s worked hard when she probably didn’t need to. She’s had an interesting life that she’s earned. The stories we hear are what they are. I’m sure she can be entitled. You have to question the motives of the people telling the stories. I’m sure they’re resentful. Resentful about her circumstance versus theirs and how they’re treated at times.But MT didn’t sit around. waiting for her life to happen. She made it happen.She’s made contributions as a person and an actress. Who did? That Girl!

Love her! It's definitely too bad about the horrid plastic surgery, but she seems to have lived a very full life.

She made two major movies in the 70's "Jenny" with Alan Alda and "Thieves" with Charles Grodin based on the play she starred on Broadway. Now I was a little movie nut kid I have no idea if they were hits but but scouring the movie sections daily, they played all over the NY area first run and then as a double feature but they never came to home video. You can see horrible versions online but not a proper presentation.

Marlo Thomas never did WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF on Broadway. She did do it at Hartford Stage. About which, Mel Gussow for the NY Times said:

[quote] "Marlo Thomas is an unsuitable Martha. She takes a straightforward approach and misses the primal terror that is so essential to the character. As described by the author, Martha is "a large, boisterous woman." Ms. Thomas is petite and neatly groomed. At the very least, she should have decosmetized her looks, as Elizabeth Taylor did in the film version of the play. The character is blowzy, the better to exude blatant sensuality."

She was okay, but more of a personality. Best feature - that voice, which also limited her imho.

Movies? She made movies?

She's never been nominated for a Tony.

R3 - I think St. Jude's does a great job, covering expenses that insurance doesn't cover. That's the part they don't talk about. Which is still noble and great.

But the amount of money they spend on advertising has to be 9 figures. It's excessive. It's a 73 bed facility - that's all. 73 beds.

St. Jude is sitting on billions of unspent donations.

It also goes in on long protracted lawsuits to contest wills so they can get $ from wills - when some of the older people weren't of the right mind.

Read this - it is scary. They love-bomb old folks they think will leave a lot of money from their estates to St. Jude. I'm done with them - they've done some good, but the $$$ is too tasty and they've done some fucked up things and aren't spending the donations on the kids' bills.

The face in R2 looks like an image made of unrelated cut-and-pasted photo fragments of corpses.

[quote]Movies? She made movies?

One of my favorites...

IN THE SPIRIT

R6 - As soon as I read your post I remembered seeing what I suspected was "Jenny" as a little kid at the drive-in with my parents.

I don't really remember the movie, since it was the second feature, and my sister and I were supposed to go to sleep in the back of the station wagon after the first. But we never really did - and I'd pop my head up over the front seat to catch snippets until my mother would tell me to lay back down. I just remember the That Girl lady walking in some grass by the ocean with a man.

So I googled "Jenny" and sure enough that's the scene on the poster as well - it's so weird what random crap stays lodged somewhere in your brain. Another inappropriate movie I remember sneak-watching from the back of the station wagon was the political assassin drama "Z" by Costa-Gavras.

I'm not surprised that are would struggle in the legitimate theatre.

Mike Nichols wanted to remake Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf for HBO in the 90's with Marlo as Martha

And Phil as George?

[quote]he was so impressed with her in the roll

JFC, OP -- and you guys claim to be Broadway and film buffs? Oh, dear!

That said, was it a sweet roll? A spring roll? I really like those.

Her gender switching version of It's a Wonderful Life, where she played the Jenny Stewart role and Wayne Rogers took the Donna Reed role was a game changer!

Stop...

Pop....the drink that's HEAVENLY.

Marlo hasn't posted on Instagram since Phil died last August. I'm sure she was devastated. They seemed like a great couple.

I've tried it, r20. Not only did it *not* tickle my nose, my toes remained tingle-less.

I liked Marlo in the 1977 ABC TV remake of It's a Wonderful Life, entitled It Happened One Christmas, where gender roles are reversed, and she plays Mary Bailey (vs. George Bailey) - did anyone else watch it when it was on TV in the 70s?

I remember her TV-movie version of “A Christmas Carol” with her as a female take on Scrooge, which I thought was an innovative in a way that a lot of her work has seemed purposefully to strive for. Always thought that in her post-classic-1960-system way, she was a lot like Elizabeth Montgomery in her 1970s and later work.

Oops, thanks and apologies R23, I hadn’t seen you beat me to the punch and correctly! Careless of me to have done that and misremembered the Christmas classic she’d reprised, in my post after yours. :)

I haven't seen this one. Co-starring the always pinched David Dukes.

I loved her gender switching role in It's a Wonderful Life! She played the Jenny Stewart role and Dwayne Rogers played the Dona Reed part. Terrific stuff!

I love her as an actress. That Girl is one of my favorite shows. As a person though she's a cunt. A nasty piece of work no one can stand.

This one I've seen where Marlo plays the sister of Mel Harris and Ally Sheedy.

I was reminded tonight that she did several episodes of SVU and was very good.

Corn? When did she eat corn?

Marlo IS Nobody's Child.

She really had no career beyond That Girl except Free To Be….

[quote]But the amount of money they spend on advertising has to be 9 figures. It's excessive. It's a 73 bed facility - that's all. 73 beds.

Give me break, St.Judes is also a research hospital and they SHARE what they learn with the world. Go watch "And The Band Plays On" and see what it's like when a hospital, this time in France refuses to share their AIDS research..

R17 JFC calm your tits, bitch

R32. That was Marlo's Emmy winning role and she was very good.

An ok actress. Nothing special. Her tendency to inflate the impact and importance of her work is annoying. Liked her on "Friends". St. Jude's is many things, but they're fundraising is cringeworthy and there are plenty of other ways to support the health of children.

r1 Have you compare "her work" with the ORIGINAL work she had done? Take a look at her schnozz when she was on "The Joey Bishop Show" (nepo role, of course.)

R18- I think I saw that version as a gayling when it first aired WAY BACK in 1977- I liked it too plus DL's favorite version the 1995 EBBIE.

mingle mingle

I saw her in a Woody Allen play that consisted of three different stories. She was an excellent theater actress and I was impressed. I also saw Mia Farrow in Love Letters and she was incredible. Neither of them is as good in movies or television in my humble opinion.

She was great in “Imitation of Nose.”

That was Marlo's Emmy winning role and she was very good.

R36 - Wonder who she was up against that year?

Gena Rowlands - An Early Frost

Vanessa Redgrave - Second Serve

Mare Winningham - Love is Never Silent

Katharine Hepburn - Mrs. Delafield Wants to Marry

Those two girls….

R43, I recall hoping for Gena.

Redgrave was fine as a trans tennis player, although her American accent really faltered.