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my mom mary tyler |
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new york post (feb. 03, 2000) |
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Soap star Joie Lenz grinned a wide, toothy grin to make it obvious why she was hired to played Mary Tyler Moore's daughter in next week's TV movie, Mary and Rhoda. "We both have big brown eyes, big smiles," she says. "And lots of teeth." It will be Lenz's prime-time debut and the biggest break so far in the teenager's career. In November 1998, then 17-year-old Lenz was cast in CBS' Guiding Light for a nine-episode stint playing a clone. Her performance was so good that just five months after it wrapped up, the producers broke with soap tradition and hired her back for still another role—the part of ingenue Michelle Bauer. And now that she's 18 and newly graduated from high school, Lenz is making another big career leap. Her role in the movie which reunites Mary Tyler Moore and Valerie Harper started out by being in the right place at the right time. "I was actually auditioning for a completely different movie," Lenz says. "As I was walking out, the casting director yelled for me to come back. She gave me the script for Mary and Rhoda and asked me to read for the part of Valerie Harper's daughter." Then came the hard work. She auditioned three more times as Harper's daughter, Meredith. Then, when she and Mary finally met, Moore suggested Lenz instead try for the part of her daughter, Rose. After another three or four more auditions, Lenz got the job. "It really was an honor," she says, "to be chosen by her to work so closely with her. "It was neat to see how Mary can take anything and make it funny," says Lenz. "You could write down directions on how to get to the Empire State building, and she'll read it and have you rolling on the floor. It comes instinctively to her. "She'll look at something and know immediately where the punch line is and how to re-arrange things to make it even funnier," she says. "And Valerie was terrific, too. She always made sure everyone was comfortable. She'd get coffee and food for the crew. She was just so personable. "It was one of the best sets I've ever worked on." While all this was going on Lenz was also playing a front-burner role on Guiding Light, performing in cabaret (she dances and sings with a four-octave range), writing two screenplays and a TV pilot, and planning her future. "I won't remain on Guiding Light," she reveals. "My contract is up in October, and I'll leave with wonderful memories." After that, she'll move to California. "That's where the work is," Lenz says. — Claire Siegel |
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