The ‘Queen of Flamboyance,’ Having Conquered, Moves On

NEW YORK â€”  Christine Baranski got tagged as the “Queen of Flamboyanceâ€� during the time she commuted between her home in Connecticut and Hollywood while filming the CBS sitcom “Cybill.â€�

But on this sunny, hot and lovely day sitting on the terrace of a tony restaurant in Litchfield County, Conn., Baranski was far from flamboyant-looking.

Dressed in a white tank top, white casual skirt, with a sweater tied around her waist, she could have been any local matron--except for her clipped, theatrical voice and her bearing, much like a Broadway star coming from the wings for a curtain call.

But Baranski, who co-stars with Steve Martin and Eddie Murphy in the comedy “Bowfinger,� which opened Friday, wasn’t playing the star at lunch last week. Warm, open, chatty, she talked freely about her emotional makeup, her career, husband and children and Hollywood role-playing.

With dark blond hair cut shoulder length, a strangely upturned nose and a face that’s not quite beautiful but is eye-catching and sensuous, she attracts attention without trying.

In “Bowfinger,� Baranski plays a 50-year-old, over-the-hill diva whose grand gestures and entire one-note repertoire could have come from a book called “The Art of Coarse Acting.�

“Is there really such a book?� she asks. Assured there is, she laughs one of her hearty laughs and says: “Oh, I took the role because it was such a wonderful script and because this washed-up actress, who never was any good, is such a wonderful character, with her gestures, her overwrought delivery.�

In the movie, a nearly broke, failed Hollywood producer-director, Bobby Bowfinger (Steve Martin), makes one last stab at fame and fortune by recruiting a motley crew of misfits, including the ham actress, conning them into a scheme to trick the movie’s biggest star, played by Eddie Murphy, to appear in his extremely low-budget film.

“I loved doing the movie,� she says. “Steve and Eddie are so brilliant. I love being in the process with gifted people, being on a set with Steve and Eddie and Heather [Graham] and Frank Oz.�

She is now working with Ron Howard and Jim Carrey on Universal Pictures’ feature film version of Dr. Seuss’ “The Grinch Who Stole Christmas,� expected to be released next year around Thanksgiving.

But back to “Cybill,� and Baranski’s extended stay in Hollywood. (Her husband, actor Matthew Coles, and their two children stayed back East.) She played Maryann Thorpe, a witty, neurotic divorcee. As long as she was in Hollywood, she says, she decided to make a splash, LaLa Land style. Hence, the “Queen of Flamboyance� label.

“I really decided to have fun with it,� she says. “I mean, I had gowns designed for myself and I did the awards shows�--a couple of times as a recipient, winning an Emmy and other awards for her work on “Cybill�--�and I made the best-dressed list several times.�

Buffalo, N.Y.-born and Juilliard-trained, Baranski has won countless other awards, including two Tonys for her work in Tom Stoppard’s “The Real Thing� in 1985 and for Neil Simon’s “Rumors� in 1989. She learned her craft in dramatic, comic and musical roles on the road, then off-off-Broadway and off-Broadway, developing a breadth that few actors possess.

“My career has been a slow, steady progression,� she says, gesturing a rising line on a graph. “I’ve loved it.�

She’s looking to keep the graph line moving up in the future. Earlier this year she played Mrs. Lovitt, the Angela Lansbury role, in a Los Angeles concert version of “Sweeney Todd,� and she sang at Carnegie Hall in May at the 16th birthday party for the New York Pops Orchestra.

“I’ve been doing more and more singing,� she says, “because it’s my theory that it may get harder for actresses to age in front of a camera and to maintain their stellar presence. But if you can sing in a nightclub, the older you are, the more textured your artistry. So, I intend to put together a cabaret act.�