Cherry Jones is turning up everywhere you look -- in work that’s getting attention
It took theater legend Cherry Jones a while to adjust to television. “I was wonderful when the camera was on somebody else,” she says. “But the minute that camera would swing around to me, I’d be paralyzed with fear. The camera would be right in your face. I’d want to say, ‘Can you just back it up to the mezzanine?’” Then her Tennessee-based parents both fell ill, and she ended up as President Allison Taylor on “24: Redemption” for two seasons. The role allowed her the time and money to visit her folks regularly. Along the way, she got comfortable with TV. Since then, she’s taken home three Emmys. Now Jones is a contender for a trio of nominations — for guesting as a murderous film executive in Peacock’s comedy “Poker Face,” a supporting role as a compassionate supervisor in Apple TV+’ s adaptation of Pulitzer Prize winner Sheri Fink’s book “Five Days at Memorial” and her second guest nomination as an old-money media matriarch in HBO’s drama “Succession.”
How did you know “Memorial” and its tragic true story was for you?
It was still the pandemic. We were all so concerned about our medical staffs around the country, and the fact that they were now our frontline soldiers really, and lots of people seemed to think they were disposable. To see a script about a medical hospital and a woman who was the director of nursing and the incident commander [during] Katrina? I couldn’t say yes fast enough. And it was one of the great experiences of my life.
How so?
We got incredibly close. It was shot in Toronto. The U.S. and Canadian borders were shut down, except for people in television and film, because it’s such a vital part of their economy. So when we got up there, we were really sequestered, we were together every weekend. We’d have these big potlucks, and Julie Ann Emery, who played a pregnant [administrator] on the upper floors, would make huge pies, tarts and galettes, and we’d just play games and sing. It was wonderful.
Quick aside: What does the great Cherry Jones bring to a potluck?
My wife sent me the recipe for this beans, tomatoes and onion salad. It was really good. Everyone would always ask, “Are you going to bring the bean salad?” They were very sweet. [laughs] I think sometimes they were just humoring me.
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Back on track. Let’s talk about playing Susan Mulderick.
I can’t say I play Susan Mulderick. She is a real, extraordinary human being who I haven’t met or had any contact with but have tremendous respect for. But one of the first things I asked for was a schematic of the hospital. Susan Mulderick had been in that hospital for 30 years. She knew every square inch. In the scenes I had as incident commander during the hurricane and the horrendous aftermath when the levees broke, I had to know everything.
Speaking of strong women parts, what will you miss about playing Logan Roy’s powerful adversary, Nan Pierce, on “Succession”?
Everything. I was so glad I got two episodes in that second season. If you get to go and play with those people, you’re not satisfied after one. Like everybody else, I’m a huge, huge — it goes beyond fan — of that show. As a fellow actor who loves brilliant writing, it’s just heaven on a stick. The thing that’s so interesting is most of the writers are British. The scripts are British, the humor, the playing with the language. Even some of the profanity feels British. And yet that cast, they all manage to make it seem truly American. Americans who talk with that kind of razzmatazz. I admire that so much. [laughs] I’m in Prague right now and I’ve been followed down the street. I thought they were stalking me. But it’s all “Succession.” People love it everywhere.
So, “Poker Face.”
Oh my gosh, it was so much fun. And again, nothing I ever thought I was going to get to do. I never get to do comedy. I never get to do wackadoodles and that character was a total nut. It was the first season and [the series] hadn’t aired yet so I didn’t really know the style, tone, how far to go. Natasha Lyonne directed, starred, co-wrote and produced that episode. She was great with me. She knew exactly how to get me to do all this outlandish stuff.
Share some advice that’s been given to you about being a theater actor navigating television?
I was invited to meet Sidney Lumet once. It wasn’t about a part. He just wanted to meet and talk. And he said, “I know a lot of people who think theater actors are going to be over the top.” And, of course, he worked with Al Pacino, and any number of great theater actors. He said, “I always tell actors from the theater that you can hang from the rafters and turn purple, as long as you mean it.”
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