Hitting a Turning Point
It had been a long day, and Khandi Alexander was finally taking her turn reading for the female lead of a major HBO miniseries. But she was not feeling like herself.
Alexander entered the room with a definite attitude, and she would not take off her sunglasses or her surly scowl. She refused to engage in obligatory small talk with the producers and directors sitting in judgment of her. She lit a cigarette. She glared at the camera filming her audition, and went through the lines.
When Alexander had finished her reading, she lunged at the camera as if to attack it, flicking her still-lit cigarette at the creative team. The sparks almost set a chair on fire.
The producers and director dropped their jaws.
It was perfect.
“I remember the director, Charles Dutton, looking at her and saying, ‘We’ve been waiting a long time for you,’ ” recalled David Mills, an executive producer of the project. “We all said, ‘We’ve found Fran.’ ”
Said Alexander with a smile, “It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. I’ve always wanted to jump at a camera like that. This is something this character would do.”
Alexander, who gained notice as the flamboyant radio anchor Catherine Duke on “NewsRadio,” then surprised fans of the comedy when she left the cast in 1997 to pursue more satisfying opportunities, is making critical sparks fly with her role as Fran Shea, a deceitful and manipulative yet loving and sympathetic junkie on HBO’s “The Corner,” a fact-based miniseries about a drug-infested inner-city neighborhood in Baltimore.
Critics have largely embraced “The Corner” for its uncompromising yet affectionate look at a ruined neighborhood and its troubled inhabitants. Although the ensemble, including principals T.K. Carter and Sean Nelson, has drawn praise, the New York-raised Alexander in particular has been singled out for her multilayered performance as the real-life Shea.
In recalling Alexander’s audition, Dutton says: “It was scary. She just took over the room. Usually when someone does an audition like that, it’s very big, very theatrical. But Khandi was very grounded and true. Khandi succeeded in this role because she didn’t intellectualize it. She’s a very visceral actress.”
When she became aware of “The Corner,” Alexander knew she had to be in it. “From the moment I read the first sentence, ‘Fran sits on the stoop smoking a Newport,’ I knew I had to have it. I just understood it.”
She became friends with her real-life counterpart. Said Alexander: “Fran is a survivor. During her addiction, she was like a panther. It took such energy for her to redirect that energy to save her life and her children’s life. I just wanted to bathe in this role. It was like finding a glass of water in the desert. And whenever I would start to lose my focus, Fran was there on the set to snap me back to reality.”
Alexander portrays Shea as a bowed but far-from-broken street warrior, bouncing between bouts of uncontrolled rage, dead-eyed drugginess and unrestrained joy. She is afraid to face her demons yet determined to protect her sons from the lifestyle that has nearly destroyed her. Alexander’s Shea defies viewers to admire or sympathize with her, then breaks their hearts.
Admirers of Alexander say the portrayal--as well as her audition for “The Corner”--illustrates how Alexander can disappear into a role, making her virtually unrecognizable from one part to the next. Her Fran Shea bears no resemblance physically or otherwise to the sassy professionalism of her Catherine Duke. At the same time, both those characters are worlds away from Alexander’s recurring role as Jackie, the earthy sister of Dr. Peter Benton (Eriq La Salle), on NBC’s “ER.” And all of those characters do not come close to looking or acting like the long-legged and sexy dancer in a lead role in Bob Fosse’s “Chicago” at the Shubert Theater in 1998.
Although Alexander’s versatility is easy to trace through several film, TV and stage projects, the actress, who also is a former choreographer for Whitney Houston, may have reached a turning point with “The Corner.” HBO has already agreed to develop a drama series revolving around her.
“People are always talking about great undiscovered talent,” said Chris Albrecht, president of HBO. “Khandi is just a brilliant actress. The amazing thing is she’s beautiful and sexy, yet she is totally credible as Fran. She just needed a chance to show what she could do. She gave as good a performance as anyone I’ve seen this year.”
‘Fulfillment Just Out of Doing the Series’
Mills said he felt that out of the whole cast, Alexander had the hardest role of all.
“Khandi had to be credible as a hardened and manipulative, streetwise addict, then turn around and show this great motherly feelings toward her son,” said Mills, who wrote “The Corner” episodes along with fellow executive producer David Simon. “Then she gets clean. There’s this constant shift in balance between the better and worst parts. In all of those moods, she has to be believable. She shows it in her eyes and in her face.”
Alexander, though, has already moved beyond “The Corner.”
“Yes, I am pleasantly surprised because no one really knew what kind of reception we would get,” Alexander said. “All of this is nice, but overall, I got the fulfillment just out of doing the series. All of this other stuff is after the fact.
“And as far as the [new HBO drama] series, we had pitched and sold the pilot before anyone had even seen ‘The Corner’ or knew what was going to happen.”
What matters ultimately for Alexander is her craft, and “The Corner” provided her the opportunity she has been hoping for ever since leaving the comfort of the “NewsRadio” fold. She prefers to bury herself in her characters with different looks and approaches.
“It all starts from within,” she said. “It has to be deeper than a gimmick. I want me to go away, to the point that everything I am and have is gone.”
It’s also one reason why she declines to specify her age: “My goodness, don’t you want me to work again?” she said with a bellowing laugh.
The seriousness of Alexander toward her craft offstage is offset by a charming accessibility mixed with a rousing appreciation for good humor. Her playfulness and striking beauty are usually hidden when she is possessed by another character. She continually apologized for smoking during a recent interview.
“I’m so sorry,” she said while lighting up at a pizza restaurant near her West Hollywood residence. “I had quit for a year, but the character of Fran smoked so much I just got back into it.”
And she almost chokes on her pizza as she emits a table-shaking laugh about some of her past roles--a sexpot groupie in the Chris Rock rap parody “CB4,” a hooker in the Roger Corman opus “Streetwalkin’,” an Ikette in the Tina Turner biopic “What’s Love Got to Do With It.” And Fran Shea was not her first junkie. She portrayed an addict who overdoses in front of her two young sons in the memorable first scene of the otherwise forgettable crime drama “Sugar Hill.”
Being cast in “NewsRadio” proved to be a blessing and a curse. She had a steady gig that allowed her to dabble in theater and other pursuits, and she got to work with her good friend, the late Phil Hartman.
“Khandi brought ‘NewsRadio’ a lot of dignity and grace--and let’s not forget cleavage,” said Dave Foley, a colleague from the show who has remained friends with the actress. “She’s highly underrated and underused. She should be doing everything.”
Ready for a Series of Her Own
The experience ultimately proved to be less than satisfying for Alexander.
“It was hard being the only black person on a show that was all white,” she said quietly. “The cast was so large, and I was on the periphery. It was frustrating, but I understood the structure of the show. So many had to be served. It was OK for three years, and it was a loving atmosphere. I had the best time. But I wanted to act.”
She continued, “It was not easy walking away from that check. I had to trust in what I believed was my talent. I needed to get rid of the safety net.”
Even after her departure, “I was offered several other roles exactly like the one I had left,” Alexander said. “It was hard to resist because the money had gone up.”
Why didn’t she take it? She throws back her head with a huge laugh: “Honey, I wanted my own show!”
But seriously, Alexander did have ideas for a series that would star her, and she developed concepts with groups of writers. She went on several meetings with TV executives to pitch the idea.
“I got in the door because of me,” she said. “There were meetings where they just laughed in my face.”
HBO, however, didn’t laugh. And her upcoming role will put the character actress center stage. Mills is helping to write the still-untitled weekly drama in which Alexander would play a Washington, D.C., radio talk-show host who becomes mayor. Said HBO’s Albrecht: “She’s always going at the establishment for things that are wrong. But when it comes time for her to walk the walk, life becomes a little more complicated.”
Mills said Alexander is already heavily involved in the show’s creation: “Khandi wants her character to be married to a white man. She wanted to have a black female writer to help capture her voice. We wanted to take a substantive look at big-city America and the black ruling class.”
Ultimately, it’s rewarding parts, not fame, that Alexander is pursuing: “I never get recognized. Most of the time when people think they know me, they believe I’m a member of their family. And that’s the way I like it. That’s just fine.”
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* “The Corner” can be seen Sunday nights at 10 on HBO.
