Bradley Whitford on Happyish, The West Wing, and his high heels on Transparent. Welcome to. Random Roles, wherein we talk to actors about the characters who defined their careers. The catch: They don’t know beforehand what roles we’ll ask them to talk about. The actor: Bradley Whitford first broke through as an actor on the stage, as befits someone who trained at Juilliard. But he soon made the jump to on- camera work, doing small roles in films and on TV series during the late ’8. Just as the ’9. 0s were wrapping up, however, Whitford scored the role that would take him from a “that guy” actor to a regular prime- time presence for the next seven seasons: Josh Lyman on The West Wing. Since President Bartlett’s departure from the Oval Office, Whitford has added a few more series to his resume, including Studio 6. ![]() ![]() On The Sunset Strip and Trophy Wife, and he can currently be seen alongside Steve Coogan and Kathryn Hahn on Showtime’s Happyish. Happyish (2. 01. 5)—“Jonathan Cooke” Bradley Whitford: This guy is a dark soul. Luckily, it’s with two of my favorite actors. I’m playing it with . Did you see her in Afternoon Delight? The A. V. Club: We just did this feature with John Kapelos, who shared a sex scene with her and Juno Temple. BW: ! I had not seen it when Transparent came up—because, you know, Jill . You never once looked me in the eyes when you came. Not once.” ? She was unbelievable. AVC: So how did you find your way into Happyish in the first place? Was it a standard audition, or did they approach you specifically? BW: They approached me. I’d been aware of it when Phil . I’m from Madison, Wisconsin, and we have a really terrible union- busting, anti- education governor named Scott Walker, and apparently the thing that got me Happyish was a speech at a labor rally that’s on You. Tube that Shalom . So go figure. And something like this in my world is an absolute no- brainer. It’s people I love, and you know that Showtime real estate is precious real estate for writers and actors. It’s a no- brainer. AVC: What did you think about the tone of the series? Because it’s definitely not for the faint of heart. The West Wing (1999–2006) is a television show about a fictional United States presidential administration, set mainly in the West Wing of the White House. Best Episode? We’ve yet to screen all the episodes from Season 1, and the embargo on reviews doesn’t lift until January 5. So all we can say is that the trailer. ![]() It’s challenging for me. I have a 1. 2- year- old daughter. I have three kids. The West Wing (TV Series 1999–2006) cast and crew credits, including actors, actresses, directors, writers and more. Media Quotes "Last week I decided I want to And, yeah, it’s very, very, very, very, very, very dark. And I’ll tell you, quite honestly, I sometimes have mixed feelings about it. I’m being totally honest. So I struggle with that because, you know, you can’t offend me unless I think you’re just trying to offend me. But my daughter’s friend, she’s 1. I said, “No, no, no! No, no, no no!”AVC: As a father with a 9- year- old daughter, I absolutely take your point. ![]() BW: “Mommy, why is Daddy saying ? AVC: And we have our first pull quote of the interview. BW: . I forget the character’s name, but it was a movie. AVC: That is also on IMDB, although they just call it Doorman. BW: Well, that was actually directed by Henny Youngman’s son, Gary. I didn’t realize he was Henny Youngman’s son until I saw his child in a onesie that said, “Take my grandson. Please.” That’s when I realized, “Oh, are you. And then on The Equalizer, what I remember about that was—here’s an acting tip: Don’t make the choice of chewing tobacco in a role if you don’t chew tobacco. It really made me ill. I didn’t feel good. I think I threw up. That’s when I realized that integrity when you’re acting is overrated. I grew up in Wisconsin. It’s not like growing up in New York or L. A., where you know somebody’s cousin who does this.
It was in the back of my mind, but I would never say that I wanted to be an actor, but as I look back, I was in every play I could possibly be in. I went away to college at Wesleyan University and was an English major, but I kept doing plays, and I became a theater/English major. And it wasn’t until I applied to grad school and I got into Juilliard. AVC: And yet you pulled it off. BW: Well, you know, I was very lucky. Juilliard was four years, and I called it “med school with guaranteed unemployment at the end.” And it ends, you’re getting ready to go out and be an actor, and. Absolutely nothing is happening. I was catering an event at the Philip Morris executive dining room, which was, like, a Nazi bunker. You’d have to arrange these bouquets of cigarettes, and you’d hear these guys talking about the big market opening up with Chinese girls. I mean, it was just horrifying. But then suddenly I got a part in a play called Curse Of The Starving Class, with Kathy Bates. It was an incredible job, but I got it because Bill Pullman—and I have subsequently thanked him for this—dropped out to go do a movie. So I had to go in in a week. And in this part, you have to urinate onstage, and you have to walk out completely buck naked, straight toward the audience, and squat, which is what everybody who’s naked wants to do, and pick up a lamb, who I called “Meryl Sheep.”AVC: Of course you did. BW: So it was a very wonderful, terrifying first job. AVC: And yet it seems like it could also be the perfect example of an “It’s all downhill from here” situation. BW: Well, I find a way to make my good fortune seem like it’s victimizing me. But, no, that was such a wonderful job. And when you finish these wonderful jobs, you think, “Oh, God, I’m so spoiled!” Like, after West Wing, it was, like, “Oh, my God, how does that happen again?” But it’s a good problem. It’s white actor plight. AVC: There’s a hashtag for you. I’ll post that, along with my 8- by- 1. ER (1. 99. 5)—“Sean O’Brien” BW: Oh, wow. Yeah, that was incredibly exciting. It’s interesting, I just saw that again, because I think it was the 2. The moment I read that script, I thought, “Oh, this is gonna be something.” It’s just such an excruciating situation. By the way, Anthony Edwards—and I’m not saying this because he’s a friend, although he is—his acting in that episode is as good as it gets. You’ll see certain performances, and I’ve done certain performances, where you might as well be wearing a placard around your neck that says, “Please nominate me.” But Anthony was a very important reason why that show worked. On shows, there are people who end up being kind of the acting captains, and he set an amazing tone. It was very exciting to shoot. ER was this absolute bonkers phenomenon at that time. I remember we were shooting this one thing, and all of a sudden Steven fucking Spielberg comes around the corner and says, “Why don’t you try it like this?” And I’m, like, “What? Steven Spielberg is at the monitor!” . My sister is a nurse who delivered babies, and it really upped the unnecessary paranoia of young mothers, that something like that could happen. But that was just an amazing group to work with, and at a moment where there was incredible excitement about the public reaction to the show. The Sarah Silverman Program (2. Toby Grossnickel” BW: That was fun. I’d do anything for Sarah. I’d do, like, yardwork for her. She makes me laugh very, very hard, and I loved that show. I remember a really nice atmosphere on the set, loose and fun. I also remember that her dog was there. But she was gorgeous and funny; there were a lot of really funny people around; and it was just fun. BW: I love working with Matt . Matt is truly one of the funniest people on the planet, and we had so much fun. I’ve been very lucky to have worked as much as I have, and back when you’re doing, like, 2. I don’t like to watch. I guess it’s like touch football: It’s really fun to do, but it’s a shitty spectator sport, I think. I got in trouble when I was directing the last episode, because . Often guest directors come in, and as an actor, it’s kind of a pet peeve where you’ve got, like, a hundred people staring at you, holding lights and mikes at you, and these guest directors will come in and they’ll go, “Okay, are we rolling? Okay, we’re rolling. Guys, are you ready? You don’t need to do that. Action!” Like, a totally humiliating, devastating note, and then, “Action!” ! Action!” Or, “Guys, are we quiet? Quiet, guys! Action!” So, yeah, that was a fun day. More seriously, though, I was very lucky to surf on top of Aaron Sorkin’s mind for all those years. That’s where you truly do feel lucky. Because being an actor, you always feel like you’re swimming upstream. People are going, “No, they don’t like you. They don’t like the way you look. They don’t like how old you are.” But an experience like The West Wing is what I would imagine—even though I’ve never done it—that surfing feels like. I can just stand up here and ride this without all the anxiety!” And that’s one of the amazing things that can happen on television: that extended relationship with an audience. And it becomes sort of interesting as a character develops, because you’re performing it and learning about the character with the audience. There are things you learn in the fourth year. In the right situation, acting on television can be extraordinarily satisfying creatively. But that’s incredibly rare. Otherwise, it can be like working in a really remunerative coal mine. That’s the down side. Adventures In Babysitting (1. Mike”Revenge Of The Nerds II: Nerds In Paradise (1. Roger”BW: That was when I was playing yuppie scum. Adventures In Babysitting—I remember I had a huge crush on Lisa Shue, and? I think he’d sold some scripts, but it was the first time he’d directed. He’s one of the sweetest guys on the planet, so that was a really fun experience. But, yeah, I kind of got into this jerk mode, and right around that time I showed incredible range by doing Revenge Of The Nerds II: Nerds In Paradise, where I showed I could not only play an asshole at home but also one who was on vacation, which. AVC: It’s no wonder you’ve made it as far as you have in your career. BW: Actually, I’ll tell you something funny. I was in New York after Adventures In Babysitting—I’d been playing all these jerks—and it was one of the first times anybody recognized me. A homeless guy said, “Hey, you’re that guy! You’re in those movies, right?” And I’m like Jeff Daniels in Purple Rose Of Cairo. Yeah, I am!” And the guy goes, “Yeah, why do you always play assholes?” ? The West Wing . The Ticket. As Bartlet's time in the White House comes to an end, two formidable men vie for the Presidency: Arnold Vinick and Matthew Santos. The Mommy Problem. As a grand jury convenes to investigate the White House military shuttle leak, the campaign's focus changes to national security. Message of the Week. Vinick undermines the Santos campaign by targeting immigration issues, a topic Santos had previously successfully avoided. Frost. 42m. Since several members of the staff have been subpoenaed to testify in the military shuttle leak investigation, C. J. Here Today. 43m. After answering questions from White House Counsel Oliver Babish, Toby concludes that he needs to retain counsel. The Al Smith Dinner. A third- party attack on Santos brings unwanted attention to both his and Vinick's stance on abortion. Meanwhile, Will gets a promotion. The Debate. 44m. Congressman Matt Santos and Senator Arnold Vinick participate in a tension- filled debate. Undecideds. 43m. Santos visits an African American family whose child was shot by a Latino police officer. The Wedding. 43m. On the eve of Ellie's White House wedding, a military situation in Central Asia takes Bartlet away from the rehearsal festivities. Running Mates. 44m. Leo struggles through debate practice and makes Josh and Lou extremely nervous. Meanwhile, Santos gets a brief respite from the campaign trail. Internal Displacement. C. J. Duck and Cover. Bartlet must face the possibility of a nuclear reactor meltdown in California. In the midst of this emergency, the presidential campaign goes on. The Cold. 43m. The effects of a nuclear scare in California continue to shake things up on both sides of the campaign trail. Two Weeks Out. 43m. As the end of the campaign trail nears, the candidates feel the burden more than ever. Welcome to Wherever You Are. The attorney general pressures Toby to reveal his source on the shuttle leak. Meanwhile, Santos continues his dizzying tour of the country. Election Day. 43m. The night before Election Day becomes even more meaningful for two staffers. Josh stresses over returns, while C. J. Election Day, Part II4. As the polls close and the results are tallied, emotions run high. Santos and Josh face the loss of their vice presidential candidate. Requiem. 43m. Bartlet and his current staff - - as well as some friends from the past - - come together for Leo's funeral. Transition. 44m. A controversy occurs when the president- elect places a telephone call to the president of China and espouses a different viewpoint than Bartlet's. The Last Hurrah. 43m. While Santos is wrapped up in choosing his new vice president, Helen is overwhelmed by the issues facing the new first family. Institutional Memory. As the Bartlet administration prepares to transition into the Santos administration, C. J. Tomorrow. 43m. As the Bartlet administration prepares to leave the West Wing, C. Greatest Television Episodes. The 1. 00 Greatest Television Episodes of All Time. An Ongoing List. by Stephen Bowie. Lists, lists, lists. So why am I risking my own credibility? Kelley’s exit, and “The Zanti Misfits,” a plodding Outer Limits that reflects little of Joseph Stefano’s mad brilliance. Also out: Non- U. S. To make the reading experience a bit more unpredictable, and to help conceal a few chronological gaps in my experience, I am presenting the list in absolutely no order whatsoever. However, it seems appropriate to begin with . Philco Television Playhouse “Marty” (May 2. Paddy Chayefsky’s empathetic but never sugar- coated chronicle of the tentative connection between two lonely souls at the Stardust Ballroom is still as poignant today as it was in 1. Rod Steiger’s unforgettable performance in the title role. The Defenders “Blood County” (September 2. This unusual episode of the landmark legal drama took its protagonists, Manhattan defense attorneys Ken and Larry Preston (E. The rousing finale in which Preston smuggles in a federal marshal to finally restore some law and order parallels the equally cathartic faceoffs between blatantly corrupt, segregationist southern law officers and the Kennedy Administration’s Justice Department that viewers were then watching on the news. The Alfred Hitchcock Hour “The Jar” (February 1. Everyone who’s seen this one- of- a- kind, atypical faux- fantasy Hitchcock Hour – the one in which a bunch of backwoods types sit mesmerized around a mysterious canning jar fetched back from the county fair, one which may or may not contain a human head or something worse – remembers it, even decades later. The Wonder Years “Goodbye” (April 2. This was the deeply affecting climax to a story arc (spread out across the series’ third season) in which Kevin Arnold’s formidable, unsmiling new math teacher and his lack of aptitude for the subject combine to create considerable pre- teen anxiety. Collins’ austere tutelage, and comes to fancy that they have a budding friendship – when suddenly Mr. Collins tells Kevin he’ll have to succeed or fail on his own, and disappears. Collins was terminally ill – only later, when a vice principal who can barely be bothered tells him in passing that the teacher has died. Collins’ secret. Rawhide “Corporal Dasovik” (December 4, 1. Brought in fresh to executive produce the seventh season of this flagging cattle drive western, young upstarts Bruce Geller and Bernard Kowalski (only a year away from launching Mission: Impossible) blew everything up. Siegel’s Western Heritage Award- winning script was nothing less than to toss all of television’s accepted notions of militarism and heroism onto the scrapheap. Boomtown “Blackout” (April 1. This ambitious, inconsistent mosaic of municipal Los Angeles peaked with the mesmerizing flameout of David Mc. Norris (Neal Mc. Donough), the masochistic, hard- drinking deputy prosecutor. Adventures in Paradise “Walk Through the Night” (January 2. A lean, fatalistic exemplar of pure action, in which directorial imagination triumphs over the budgetary limitations that typically compromise adventure fare in episodic television. Lewis or Sam Fuller or Budd Boetticher. WKRP in Cincinnati “Turkeys Away” (October 3. WKRP’s twisted Thanksgiving episode was an instant classic and makes all the “best- of” lists now, but I’d never heard of it the first time I came across a rerun and was floored by the audacity of its gore- drenched punchline. The Dick Van Dyke Show “Never Bathe on Saturday” (March 3. Never was this series’ frank, hip attitude toward sex more evident than in this episode that sent the Petries on a second honeymoon. Breaking Point “The Bull Roarer” (October 2. Am I a man or . Veronica Mars “Poughkeepsie, Tramps and Thieves” (January 3. Veronica Mars was so much better than any other network show on the air during its entire three- year run: a cathartic, postmodern- Marxist- feminist revenge- of- the- oppressed fantasy in which the jaded neo- Nancy Drew heroine (the wondrous Kristen Bell) uses the tools of modern law enforcement to exact a little payback against callow preppies, principals, rich kids, and dumb cops every week. The Name of the Game “LA 2. January 1. 5, 1. 97. As this loosely- structured reporter drama wore on it passed into a fascinating experimental phase – one episode, “All the Old Familiar Faces,” used a pop quintet as a kind of Greek chorus – but the one that went way, way far out is “LA 2. Steven Spielberg. Dick- type moment when one of the last surviving aquarium fish dies. Outlaws “Beat the Drum Slowly” (October 2. Borrowing from The Untouchables, this nearly anthological western marginalized its law enforcement heroes to focus on a colorful villain every week. The Paper Chase “Not Prince Hamlet” (April 1. A rare superlative outing from late in the series’ run, and one that featured mainly the second- tier cast at that, “Not Prince Hamlet” follows a grieving father as he interviews friends and acquaintances to try to find out why his law student son committed suicide. The Young Lawyers “The Whimper of Whipped Dogs” (March 1. Unfairly derided as The Mod Squad with law books, The Young Lawyers was an attempt at a sixties- style social drama with a radical Jewish law student, Aaron Silverman (Zalman King), as its hero. Cobb) warn him that she’s a hopeless case, but Aaron is still in love and won’t listen (at first, he can’t even admit that she’s using). Cimarron Strip “Knife in the Darkness” (January 2. The renowned science fiction writer and essayist Harlan Ellison was also one of the best freelancers toiling in television for much of the sixties, and at least a half a dozen of his scripts are contenders for this list. Kildare “One Clear, Bright Thursday Morning” (November 7, 1. Dr. Kildare was less tough- minded than the other doctor shows of the early sixties, but this atypical episode confronted a topic that most viewers were probably loathe to acknowledge. The X- Files “The Post- Modern Prometheus” (November 3. Shot in black and white, this deranged, semi- farcical outing sends Scully and Mulder to a small midwestern town to track down the Great Mutato, a hideously deformed, peanut- butter sandwich- loving mutant who may or may not be a hoax perpetrated by some teenaged fanboys. True “Nitro” (April 2. You wouldn’t think twenty- five minutes of nail- biting suspense could begin with Jack Webb narrating, “On July 2. Ed Gleason was mixing an electrolyte solution of sulfuric acid and glycerine. The White Shadow “The Death of Me Yet” (March 1. TV shows had killed off regular characters before, but likely never one so beloved as Curtis Jackson, the Carver High basketball player who takes a bullet during a liquor store holdup in this episode. The FBI “Collision Course” (November 1. Wait, The FBI? Kraft Television Theatre “Patterns” (January 1. The comparisons to Arthur Miller and Death of a Salesman weren’t merely superlatives; Rod Serling understood that the surest way to probe the American character in the fifties was through the world of business. Night Court “Yet Another Day in the Life” (May 3, 1. The breezy, episodic, by- the- seat- of- their- pants storylines in this airy ensemble comedy offered some of the most underappreciated laughs of the eighties. Thriller “Pigeons From Hell” (June 6, 1. This adaptation of Robert E. Howard’s pulp story deserves its reputation as one of television’s scariest hours. The Sopranos “The Happy Wanderer” (February 2. The character actor Robert Patrick does a revelatory guest turn in this jaded entry of The Sopranos which, like many of the best episodes, navigates the surreal borderline between the civilian world and the cracked- mirror realm of the mob. Saints and Sinners “A Night of Horns and Bells” (December 2. It’s New Year’s Eve and cub reporter Nick Alexander (Nick Adams) is drafted into emergency service as the night city editor of a New York paper. Zane Grey Theatre “Miss Jenny” (January 7, 1. An arc of the lyrical, unsentimental revisionism that would drive Sam Peckinpah’s iconic feature films a decade later can be traced through his stints on The Rifleman, The Westerner, and The Dick Powell Show. Battlestar Galactica “3. January 1. 4, 2. 00. The series’ premiere (following its launch via a mediocre four- hour miniseries) had a perfect high concept premise in the style of a classic science fiction short story: the entire fleet must teleport through space every thirty- three minutes just before the Cylons catch up and wipe them out. Columbo “Any Old Port in a Storm” (October 7, 1. Columbo had a rigid, clockwork formula, and the episodes that succeeded almost always matched the shabby, loquacious detective against his opposite: one of the Nietzchean supermen played with cold calculation by Robert Culp or Patrick Mc. Goohan or Robert Vaughn. Novak “I Don’t Even Live Here” (October 8, 1. This portrait of a corrupt teacher is full of the quotidian material at which the workplace drama Mr. Novak (James Franciscus) finds his incoming students from Otis’ class underprepared. Otis at least the possibility of redemption. The Twilight Zone “Walking Distance” (October 3. The temptation is to pick a scary one – “It’s a Good Life,” with little Anthony wishing his terrified neighbors into the cornfield – or one of the political allegories, like “The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street,” with the suburban everypersons turning on each other to root out the alien among them. Six Feet Under “I’ll Take You” (May 1. In the penultimate episode of its second season, Six Feet Under did something that few serialized dramas can ever afford to do: it paid off all the emotional threads it had cultivated with a sometimes infuriating deliberateness over the whole of its existence, very much as if that had been the master plan all along. Peter Gunn “Let’s Kill Timothy” (January 1.
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