What was it like working with Bea Arthur and Rue McClanahan?
AB: Fantastic! They are both great ladies, but both separate from the personalities (on television) and the fun of going to work everyday to be with all of them –they were extremely professional. It was a wonderful six years, which I think I sort of took for granted at the time. I didn’t realize you could walk onto a set where it wasn’t like that; where people either didn’t want to be bothered doing the work, or weren’t pleasant to hang out with. GLT: Your roles in the horror and sci-fi films The Fog and Escape From New York were strong female characters written specifically for you – would you have accepted them if they were of the damsel in distress variety? AB: I don’t tend to get cast as the woman who’s not capable (laughs). All of the roles I have taken, there has never been one factor that has lead me to take them. The character and the words come first, and then I look at all of the other elements – I suppose if there was a character that was a victim, or not a heroine in a real
