Tag Archives: Mary McDonnell
MCTV Exclusive: Ties That Bind – Mary McDonnell on Family and Major Crimes
By Mina Sharpe
Photo credit: Justin Stephens. Courtesy TNT, used with permission
It’s all quiet on the set of Major Crimes as Captain Sharon Raydor, played by Mary McDonnell, tries to come to terms with what her foster son, Rusty Beck, has just told her. Long estranged from her husband, Raydor has tolerated his occasional comings and goings for many years. But when his actions threaten to do serious harm to the trust she has so carefully built with Rusty over the past two years, it’s clear that Jackson Raydor may have finally gone too far.
Over several takes, McDonnell gives different glimpses into the complicated relationship with her character’s husband, and Raydor’s varying reactions to it. What doesn’t change is the fierce loyalty and protectiveness Raydor shows towards the boy she already considers her son, and the clear message that Sharon Raydor is a force to be reckoned with when those she loves are threatened.
As she sits down with MajorCrimesTV.net for a chat after the scene is done filming, it quickly becomes clear that like her on-screen persona, for McDonnell, family– in whatever form it comes– is key. Whether it is the family you are born into, the family that you adopt along the way, or the family that is forged out of difficult circumstances, McDonnell recognizes that family can have the largest and most resounding impact on a person.
When Captain Sharon Raydor first marched into the murder room on The Closer, audiences and fellow officers of the Major Crimes division alike bristled at the seemingly tough-as-nails and emotionless new officer, and on both sides of the screen she quickly became known by the moniker “Darth Raydor”. Now as Major Crimes enters its third season, McDonnell credits the relationship between her character and foster son Rusty Beck as the catalyst that helped make the transition between the two shows occur flawlessly, allowing the greater depth of Sharon Raydor to be revealed. “In my mind it’s kind of a genius element to this,” McDonnell says. “Because James [Duff] has this ability to understand, seemingly out of the blue, what is needed. And when he thought up this Rusty character and saw Graham [Patrick Martin], he understood that this could be our connecting object into the new series. It relieved us from having to force Sharon Raydor this way or that way, because he knew that through this personal relationship he could expose her as a human without her having to give up her Darth Raydor.” McDonnell laughs. “I did not want to give up Darth Raydor.”
Major Crimes Season 3 Press Round Up
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A few more Major Crimes Season 3 interviews were released over the last few days, and we’ve gathered them together in this post for you:
Mary McDonnell talks Major Crimes on the Fox4 Morning Blend
Mary McDonnell and Tony Denison talk about the season with CinemaSource from the set of Major Crimes:
Mary McDonnell talks about Major Crimes on the Pop Culture Podcast:
Mary McDonnell talks Major Crimes during the premiere press tour:
Major Crimes cast attends the season premiere screening and Q&A at Raleigh Studios
Mary McDonnell talks family, career and Major Crimes in Closer Magazine (click thumbnails for viewable version)
Mary McDonnell on Career, Family, and Major Crimes
In a great new interview with Women of Upstate New York magazine, Mary McDonnell discusses her early career, what’s ahead for Sharon Raydor this year on Major Crimes, and why, when it comes to the glass ceiling, she’s not worried. ‘No, that’s not the ceiling, I can’t see the ceiling yet. I don’t even know where the ceiling is.”
Mary McDonnell is one of Hollywood’s most recognizable leading ladies. Nominated for two Oscars — one in 1991 for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for Dances With Wolves, she was again a nominee in 1993 for Best Actress in a Leading Role for Passion Fish. She has also been nominated for two Primetime Emmy awards — both for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series for her performances as Dr. Carter’s mother on ER (2002) and as Capt. Sharon Raydor in The Closer (2011).
“In my freshman year, I started to be introduced to the theatre. I auditioned for and did my first play called The Crucible,” Mary said. “That’s when I realized, ‘Oh, that is what I am supposed to do.’” Eventually she developed her talents as an actress, moving from off-Broadway productions to Broadway, television and film.
“There were many years in NY, that I was pursuing it as something I love to do, but I was paying to be able to do it,” Mary said. “I was waitressing or doing this or doing that, while I worked for free. It wasn’t as if I had a career path in front of me that I kept trying to pursue or create. I was on an artistic path and knew that this was the way I would express myself and I knew that there was a world of commerce associated with it. So I knew eventually I wanted to make a living doing it.”
“The biggest thing that changed my life was Dances with Wolves. Part of it was getting a role that was extraordinary and that I could use my talent in a way that was extreme. But the movie itself was… so desperately needed by our culture, so it became iconic…. the respect and opportunity that came from that moment in my life is the gift that keeps on giving.”
Now, at age 62, McDonnell 
stars as Los Angeles Police Captain Sharon Raydor in TNT’s hit television series Major Crimes, where she “heads up a special squad within the LAPD that deals with high-profile or particularly sensitive crimes.” The series is a spin-off of ‘The Closer’ (starring Kyra Sedgwick).
“When you represent a character, your job is to represent an authentic human being and your job is to champion whatever character you are asked to play,” Mary said.
McDonnell is conscious of her own influence on her portrayal and how much of herself she brings to the characters she plays on screen.
“I think you bring a lot of yourself,” Mary said. “You may be more visible or not depending on the character. Whether or not you use your particular personality, you are still using yourself in the role. It’s your energy. It’s your emotional background. It’s your imagination. It’s your brain, your pattern. You change them. You alter them. But you do use the self in your work. It’s very dangerous being an actor to listen to yourself every time. You have to find a way to use it without it costing you.”
In Season 3, fans can expect to see a more personal side of Sharon Raydor. McDonnell said she has learned more in the first six episodes about the private life of her character than she did in the first two seasons of Major Crimes. Perhaps most inspiring about her character is that she is a strong woman in a leadership role.
“It is the perfect time for Sharon Raydor. Because this is the moment in time when women of a certain age are expanding even more, as opposed to retreating into retirement, or disappearing or having never broken the glass ceiling to begin with,” Mary said. “I don’t think it is a glass ceiling, it’s a lot more subtle. It’s like a vapor. How do you push it out? How do you keep pushing it? There are so many women of my generation who are expanding the vapor. They’re just saying, ‘No, that’s not the ceiling, I can’t see the ceiling yet. I don’t even know where the ceiling is.’”
“Not only can we continue to shine, but if you really look at the world, and what women are doing now, they are essential. Women and their years of wisdom, putting it out into the world, and using the wise woman as an archetype in the world in a major way, whether it’s business, politics, entertainment, whatever it is, is essential to the balance of things. Because we’ve been in trouble for a long time. And we are starting to see that women in those positions are actually creating balance, creating money, creating healing, creating a lot of very interesting things. The whole idea that women couldn’t handle all of that, that’s just gone,” Mary said.
Read the complete article here
Mary McDonnell- Life Reimagined
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In a new interview with Life Reimagined, Mary McDonnell talks about the unexpected turn-of-events that lead her to role on Major Crimes, now one of the most-watched shows on TV, and how at one point in her career she thought, ““I was at a certain age where I wondered if Hollywood would ever let me work again.”
“There’s babe, district attorney and Driving Miss Daisy,” fumes Goldie Hawn’s character in The First Wives Club, uttering the much-quoted line lamenting the three stages for actresses. Mary McDonnell says that line speaks the truth.
In the 1990s, the flame-haired beauty played babe roles in Dances with Wolves where she snuggled with Kevin Costner and Independence Day where she was the brave First Lady. A few birthdays later she wondered: Is my career over?
“I’m not 25. I’m not even 40,” says the soft-spoken actress who never dreamed that at 60, she would become the star of Major Crimes on TNT, one of the biggest hit dramas on TV. “I was at a certain age where I wondered if Hollywood would ever let me work again.”
She paved the way to playing Capt. Sharon Raydor, head of the LAPD major crimes division with a surprising move: downsizing her expectations. When she got a call to do a small role on The Closer opposite Kyra Sedgwick, McDonnell didn’t pass because it wasn’t the lead – or the sexy love interest.
“I think you have to change your expectations with age,” she says. “It wasn’t the biggest role to start, but I knew this was a refreshing role because I would work with creative and brilliant people. Meanwhile, I would be playing a female police captain and woman of power. She’s competent in her own skin, but dealing with all the dysfunctional things in her life. This is a woman who gets the job done.”
Then something incredible happened. When The Closer ended, McDonnell got the call to make Capt. Raydor the lead in her own series. “If I didn’t do that role on The Closer, I wouldn’t be here talking about this great show today,” she says.
With this amazing opportunity, she had to shift her expectations once more, and deal with some anxiety. “I had a lot of fears born from an actor always wanting to do well. Could I pull it off?” she says. “That’s when I realized that my fears really did inform this character while speaking to so many real-life women. After 40, it’s about how do you get clear, and how do you practice living a great life. That’s what I try to do.”
The result? “I hear from women all the time who say, ‘Thank you for showing me someone my own age on TV. They can relate to her issues. It’s like meeting up with an old friend once a week,” she says.
The job has helped McDonnell stay in tune with herself. Because she wants to portray women in the healthiest, most beautiful way on the small screen, she says, “I ask for what I need including in this HDTV age asking the cameramen to shoot me in a loving way.”
Most mornings you can find her doing laps in the pool at her home in Pacific Palisades. “It’s just you and the water. You can’t be on the phone. You don’t have to run through a laundry list of things to do. You just have to focus on breathing and swimming. It’s not just good for you, but a great way to get rid of any stress.”
McDonnell’s Tips for Looking and Feeling Good
Admit What You Can’t Do: “I’m a terrible cook. I need help and ask for help within my family. We work together to create balanced meals.”
Forget the Numbers Game: “In my mind, I still feel the enthusiasm of 25. I still feel the same drive about life.”
Go Inside: “I like to meditate to stay in tune with my body. It also helps you open up and broaden your life.”
Reembrace Childhood Loves: “I was a competitive swimmer as a child and that gave my body a good base. I just have to keep it up at this age. I do advise people to think about how they were active as kids and what they loved and try to incorporate it into a healthy activity now.”