Sarah Paulson Calls Out Actress Who Sent ‘Outrageous’ Email Critiquing Her Performance
Sarah Paulson might be an Emmy and Golden Globe-winning actress, but that hasn’t stopped people from sending her unsolicited advice on how she could improve her acting skills.
The American Horror Story star appeared on the latest episode of the Smartless podcast, where she opened up to hosts Jason Bateman, Sean Hayes, and Will Arnett about the time she received six pages of notes from a fellow actress after a play performance.
“I did do a play once. The last time I was on stage, I did a play called Talley’s Folly at the Roundabout,” Paulson shared, per Variety. “And the actress — and I’m going to say this, and I’m not going to ask you to cut this out, because I don’t f****** care — this actress came to the play. Her name is Trish Hawkins — Hi, Trish! Hi, Trisha!”
She continued, “Trish Hawkins came to the play — am I going to get sued? I don’t care because I think this is outrageous. She came to the play… she looked at me up and down, and then she went, ‘Your dress is yellow. Mine was pink.’ And I thought, ‘What?’”
Hawkins originated the role of Salley Talley in the original 1979 off-Broadway run of Lanford Wilson’s Talley’s Folley, which made its Broadway debut in 1980. Paulson took on the role in 2013 for an off-Broadway revival.
Paulson explained how her own mother had brought Hawkins with her to watch the revival because they were “in some kind of writing group together.”
“Cut to two days later, I got an email that was six pages long of notes and a communication to me about what she had done when she had done the play, what she recommended I do,” the Ratched actress added. “It was outrageous. It was really outrageous. Trish Hawkins, I have not forgotten it, and I hope to see you never.”
Paulson went on to say she still has the notes, but she never told her mother about what had happened. “I just put it back in the file of things my mother has done,” she quipped.
In addition to her stage work, Hawkins starred as Mimi Haines Frame on the television soap opera Another World from 1978 to 1979. She also appeared in episodes of Kojak and the original version of The Equalizer.
Meanwhile, Paulson recently earned her first-ever Tony nomination for her performance in the Broadway comedy-drama Appropriate.
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