What NOT To Say To Kathleen Turner At The Stage Door

First, no she doesn't sign at Matinees. I found out today.

Second, I don't stage door often. Only if there's a particular actor that I would very much like to try to meet for a moment or ask a question or something along those lines. I have a poster that was given to me 25 years ago that I've always wanted Mrs. Turner to sign so I thought I'd take a chance and ask tonight (she was beyond gracious about it and was as kind as she usually is. (A couple years ago she spent around 15 minutes or so discussing her process as an actor of discovering and playing Martha after a performance of THE THIRD STORY, something I will never forget)

ANYWAYS, the woman standing next to me in her best Brooklyn accent kept "axin'" peoples would she take a pitcha wit huh to which I told her she has never taken pictures with people. The man working the stage door told her the same thing. She said "Nah, she'll take it. I'm a gonna ax huh". So when she came out and she said "Take a pitcha wit me, Kathleen!", she said "No, I'm sorry I don't do that."

"Well, why not?"

Uh oh.

Kathleen looked at her and said very forcefully - "Because. I don't WANT to. I performed for you tonight. What else do you want from me?"

Uh oh.

"Well fine, I'm a take one of you, den. Y'know, Ben Stilla and Edie Falco took pitchas yesterday".

Before she got in her car she handed me back my sharpee which she borrowed, looked at the woman, looked at me with that "put a gun in my mouth and pull the trigger look" which just made me laugh. I really love that woman. But don't ask for pitchas wit huh.

Updated On: 4/6/11 at 09:26 AM

One of my all-time favorite threads was one Namo started years ago called "Does Marlee Matlin Sign?"

I was asking about Kathleen Turner, not Vanessa Redgrave.

It all worked out.

Edited above. :)

To me the real shocker is professional crank Ben Stiller takes pictures with people.

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i also asked kathleen for a picture and she said the same thins , however disappointed I was i know better and respect the actors enough not to question their decision....

Why can't people just Photoshop themselves next to Jessica Rabbit. Same difference.

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Kathleen Turner was a beyond sweet woman when I went and she signed and conversed with everyone. She discussed how she loved playing Martha, and how she died laughing at BOOK OF MORMON. I understand her not allowing people to take pictures with her, it's her prerogative.

Those people were horribly rude...You just don't so that.

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(Total Sidebar: I just finished watching THE GRADUATE in my Film Studies class and I want a film remake with Kathleen Turner as Mrs. Robinson...)

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I saw her after Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? a few years ago, and she was great. It was clear she wasn't taking pictures with people but didn't mind everybody taking picture of, not with, her. I saw Bebe Neuwirth at the stage door of Chicago about two years ago, and she didn't want people to take pictures at all. After people still flashed away about six inches from her, she said in a tone I can't describe "I would really rather you didn't (do that)". Something about the way she said it was so authoritative I couldn't help but respect her wishes. (Okay, I've just realized that was a pretty pointless thing to say, but I've typed it so I'm posting it!)

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i wonder if La Turner feels that a shot of a woman that looks something like her former glam self and something like Ernest Borgnine might be hard to pass off as "actually" Kathaleen Turner. Is her offstage voice still a cross of Tallulah and Michael Caine? and believe though my tone seems sarcastic i DO LOVE HUH onscreen and onstage...i wanted to see the Tallulah venture and she plus Roger Rees in the French farce back in the day were pure heaven. That being said, i'd rather see Jerry Hall stark nekkers in THE GRADUATE than Varla Jean Merman (which is how reportedly La Turner looked nude). La Turner's bravery in playing a male-to-female TV or CD as Chandler's "dad" on FRIENDS points out her great good humor and strong self-confidence. She was freaking hilarious in that guise.

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I'd like to be Kathleen Turner.

Good for Kathleen Turner! If she doesn't want to take photos, she shouldn't have to, or have to explain her reasons. Nor is she alone. Anthony LaPaglia ('Lend Me a Tenor') didn't want to have his pictures taken with strangers either. When you pay for a ticket, all you're entitled to is their performance onstage. Anything they do at the stage door is a bonus.

I don't know why some people are such jerks. At one stage door of a show that featured a movie star, it was announced that the movie star would be signing only Playbills, no film memorabilia. Yet the woman next to me said she'd brought a movie still and would ask anyway. When the movie star appeared, she made a big scene, but he stuck to his guns. He was happy to sign any Playbills, but not the movie still.