Classic Hollywood: Lainie Kazan insists she would have done ‘My Big Fat Greek Wedding’ sequel ‘for nothing’

Lainie Kazan went from understudy to star — and it wasn’t by accident.

Kazan was the understudy five decades ago for Barbra Streisand in her well-known Broadway role as Ziegfeld Follies star Fanny Brice in “Funny Girl.� Though she had a part in the musical as a Ziegfeld showgirl, Kazan waited 18 months to play the lead.

“Barbra didn’t want me to go on,� Kazan recalled. “I can’t blame her. It was her part, her everything.�

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While she was waiting for her opportunity, Kazan collected names and phone numbers of press and other people of “import.� So when Streisand was felled by strep throat, Kazan’s mother called everyone on the list to come see the show.

“Most of them came,� said Kazan, 75, in Studio City. A free-spirited Earth-mother type, Kazan possesses a delicious laugh and infectious sense of humor. She’s a show business survivor and speaks of it all with wonderful candor.

Kazan ended up getting a record deal after her two performances as Fanny. “I got two weeks at Basin Street East, two weeks at the Plaza Hotel. I went to the hungry i in San Francisco. I opened for the Smothers Brothers. It just hit me all at once.�

These days, the grandmother of two is best known for her ultimate mother roles in 1982’s “My Favorite Year� — she also appeared in the Broadway musical version — and 1988’s “Beaches� and most notably as the larger-than-life Greek mother Maria Portokalos in the 2002 blockbuster indie comedy “My Big Fat Greek Wedding.�

Kazan and the entire cast, including star Nia Vardalos, who plays daughter Toula, reunite for “My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2,� which opens March 25.

Vardalos, who earned an Oscar nomination for her original screenplay, has also written the sequel, which finds the Portokalos clan discovering a family secret.

Kazan believes the first film became an international hit because “it spoke to everyone. It had a universal theme.� And Maria, she noted, “was loved by everyone who has a mother like that — ‘Eat, honey. Educate yourself.’ There are basic things that every mother — most mothers — try to impart. I did that. My mother did that.�

In an email interview, Vardalos noted Kazan excels in playing “warm and wonderful� characters such as Maria because “she’s exactly that in real life. Lainie is a lot of fun on the set.�

The cast members, said Vardalos, have remained friends. “We have all seen each other for many long lunches and dinners over these years between the films. We are genuinely a family.�

That’s why, said Kazan, the entire cast and even the extras “ran back� to do the sequel. “I would have gone back for nothing,� said Kazan. “It was like we just worked yesterday.�

Kazan’s film career took off when was chosen by Frank Sinatra to appear in his 1968 detective film “Lady in Cement,� which also starred Raquel Welch.

“I was opening for Don Rickles at the Eden Roc in Miami Beach,� she said. Sinatra was appearing at the nearby Fontainebleau Hotel. “He called my manager and said I want to meet Lainie for a part in this movie,� Kazan recalls with a big smile. “I went up to his hotel room with my manager. He was flirtatious and delightful.�

Equally delightful was Dean Martin, who invited Kazan to be on his NBC musical variety series “The Dean Martin Show� more than two dozen times.

“Dean Martin heard me sing and invited me on the show,� she recalled. “He adored me, and I adored him. He was full of life. He had the best sense of humor — much funnier than Jerry Lewis, if you know what I mean. He had a real sense of humor about himself.�

There’s a clip on YouTube of one of her appearances where she and Martin were joined by Ethel Merman, who drowned them out in a musical medley. “Oh, my god,� said Kazan, laughing. “She did not know that anybody else was on stage with her.�

Kazan posed for Playboy in 1970. “I wasn’t the centerfold. I had an eight-page spread. I swear to God I didn’t realize what it was. I was a hippy, so taking off my clothes was nothing. I was very avant-garde. We all ran around naked. When it appeared, it had such a lascivious quality to it.�

She soon discovered other women who posed for Playboy “got cars. Some of them got major jewelry. Some of them got $250,000. I got nothing. I did it for art.�

Kazan has also added college professor to her résumé. She’s taught acting for singers at UCLA for the last five years.

“I love teaching almost as much as I love performing,� she enthused. “Right now, I teach one semester a year and they asked me to teach more. My mother would be so proud of me not because of my work but because I’m a teacher now.�