October 5, 2023 • 40 mins
All in the Family.
Liz is here!! Kathleen Wilhoite aka Liz Danes!From how she got the part to working with Scott, Milo and Michael DeLuise.
These "siblings" are sharing their memories, stories, and love for Gilmore Girls.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
I am all in. Oh, let's kiss you.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
I am all in with Scott Patterson an iHeartRadio podcast.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
Hey everybody, Scott Patterson, I am all in podcasts one
of them productions iHeartRadio. One on one interview with my
sister Liz Danes. Kathleen Wilhoyt Here she comes. Let me
give you some of her staffs. She played the role
of Liz for sixteen episodes two thousand and four two
(00:41):
thousand and seven. First appearance season four, episode twelve, A
Family Matter. Last appearance, season seven, episode twenty two, bon Voyage.
Liz is the younger sister of Luke Danes. She was
born and raised and stars Hollow. Follow her mother's death,
Liz began to cut loose and get into trouble, including
smoking pot. She met Jimmy Mariano at a festival. The
(01:04):
two married and Liz gave birth to a son, Jess Marianno.
Jimmy left her right after the birth of Jess, and
Liz began a series of bad relationships, drug problems, had
trouble keeping a job, and was unsure of how to
raise her son. Let me tell you something a little
bit about Kathleen Wilhoyd's career, and it's an amazing one.
(01:27):
She began acting in theatrical production as a child the
Santa Barbara Youth Theater. She attended the University of Southern
California before studying acting at the Lease Strasbourg Institute in
Los Angeles. She made her feature film debut in Private
School nineteen eighty three, before having a leading role in
Murphy's Law nineteen eighty six, followed by supporting parts in
(01:48):
Witchboard in nineteen eighty six, Crossing Delancey nineteen eighty eight,
Roadhouse nineteen eighty nine with Patrick Swayze, Lorenzo's Oil nineteen
ninety two. Show also had notable guest starring roles on
several series during this time, including Twin Peaks nineteen ninety.
Beginning in nineteen ninety four, will Hoyd appeared as Chloe
(02:11):
Lewis in the recurring guest staring role on the series
Er and voiced the role of the titular character on
the ABC animated series Pepper Ann nineteen ninety seven to
two thousand. Other notable film roles during the nineties include
science fiction thriller Fire in This Guy in nineteen ninety three,
and the survival film The Edge nineteen ninety seven. In
(02:33):
two thousand and three, she was cast in a recurring
role as Liz Danes on Gilmore Girls, and has subsequently
had guest staring roles on Criminal Minds, Grey's Anatomy, Jane
the Virgin, and in twenty twenty she a guest starred
on an episode of Yellowstone and Coat. Can most recently
be seen in CSI Vegas, Ladies and Gentlemen, I give
(02:55):
you my sister, Kathleen Willhoyd. There she is, Hi, Sis,
you doing good looking, great, great backgrounds. We uh you
know the fan we are just such huge fans. The
the there needs there needed to be more Liz more TJ.
It was the most hilarious stuff. Uh. We are lauding
(03:18):
the performances. Just absolute comic genius and just heartfelt great stuff.
Tell us how you got your start in show business?
How did it all begin?
Speaker 2 (03:30):
Oh? Uh, I was a kid that came out of
the shoots saying watch me. So I was like a
natural born theater dork. And I started singing in my
church choir as a you know, in kindergarten, and I'd
get the solos, so, you know, whatever, I started getting
involved in musical theater, just a theater kind of dork
(03:52):
dorky kid. And then in high school I dated Tony
Edwards and Eric Stoltz, you know, at first and then
Eric and both those guys were working in to Anthony
Edwards and Eric Stoltz. Anthony or Tony had an age
and manager. They had the same manager, this guy Gary,
And they invited Gary to my senior class play was
(04:17):
House of Blue Leaves, and Gary came to the play
and I didn't hear from him. And then I went
down to college at USC. I was there for about
six weeks. Gary calls me. He's like, listen, they want
a comedian to play sixteen. Why don't you go to
this address? And they want to meet you. So I
go to the address. It was a huge house, as
(04:38):
this guy ben Ephrem's house. They were having a party,
so I just almost assumed I had the part. I
didn't even know that it was necessarily an audition, and
they said, hey, will you read with Phoebe Kate's I
was like sure, but you know, just that kind of
bullet proof naive ta. I just didn't have any I
(05:00):
never really beat the streets. I wasn't like nervous, because
I didn't. I just went from lead in the high
school play to of course they want me kind of
a mentality. Since then, I've had rumorous humbling blows time.
I was like pretty freaking bulletproof. And then I just
so I went upstairs red with Phoebe. She was great fun.
(05:24):
And then that was on a Friday, and then drove
to the set on a Monday. So yeah, so my
whole life changed in a weekend.
Speaker 1 (05:33):
It was meant to be.
Speaker 2 (05:35):
I guess. I mean, I didn't really think that I
was going to do anything else, but I just liked
singing and acting.
Speaker 1 (05:42):
Right, So do you remember the audition for Liz.
Speaker 2 (05:49):
No, because there wasn't an audition. I was. They offered
me the part, and I I love getting offers and
not auditioning to such an extent that if they offered
me the part of you know, a day player person
who changes porta potties, I would take it. I was
(06:12):
just like, what audition I'm in? And so I I, uh, yeah,
they offered me the part. I was thrilled. And then
I do have a memory with you because day one
was the eight page scene I think around I feel
like it was all about finding pot or something. But
(06:33):
it was an eight page scene. That's not anything that
I was ever used to at the on Er or
any of the other shows. You sit in the makeup
trailer trailer, you look at your lines. I got it,
and then you put on the set because you have
like two three lines in a big scene. This was
a mind screw, like a mind.
Speaker 1 (06:55):
I know what you want.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
It was crazy.
Speaker 1 (06:58):
It sounds like duck, yes.
Speaker 2 (07:01):
My duck, and you you know you are doing a
First of all, it's totally stylized, which my age. They
told me before I showed up on the set, they
were like, listen, you gotta talk fast. That's the style
of this. It's like doing Moliere, is what I tell
my students. Doing Gilmore Girls is like doing a period piece.
(07:21):
It's a different language and you have to know it.
You have to be word perfect. So it was a
huge trial by fire for me to be to have
to do an eight page scene from my very first
scene with an offer, only because I always feel like
I'm going to get fired, like they're going to find out,
(07:43):
you know what I mean, no talent that I am
or whatever. And but you were very patient with me,
and there was a lot of like back to one,
like you said, uh instead of like what yeah, you said, Uh,
It's it's okay. Back to one here we come.
Speaker 1 (08:07):
Yeah. Perfect.
Speaker 2 (08:09):
The minute my head hit the pillow, I was like,
it was crazy. That's hard work. My hat's off to you.
You did that for years and years. You must be
really good, Lauren said. It's like a muscle, and you
just get really good at at memorizing, you know, right,
you know.
Speaker 1 (08:29):
Being It's like it starts out like you said, it
starts out as panic, yeah, and then you just get
acclimated to it and then it just becomes like She's right,
it's like a muscle, and it's short term memory. You
don't remember a thing you did the day before, maybe
maybe twenty forty eight hours. It's just washed out to
make room for the new stuff to come in. Because
(08:50):
and that's just kind of how you function. Yeah, it's odd,
it's odd, that's.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
Crazy, and you did that for years. Did so what
was your preparation for a scene, like for that eight
page scene, like, did you get into a a big
kind of thing? How'd you prepare?
Speaker 1 (09:09):
Just mainly it was George Bell. We'd just run it
until it was sop bulletproof. You know, just run it
and run it to death, and run it to death,
and run it to death. And you know, I always,
I always knew the acting would take care of itself
because there wasn't a lot of acting going on. It
(09:29):
was a lot of blocking and attitude and tone and
pace and that sort of like served everything that. I mean,
it filled and filled in everything you needed to fill in.
But it was really just like I remember Gavin Palone
had this conversation with me season one because there were
(09:50):
a couple first couple episodes we were all kind of
getting we were a little clunky, you know, and we
were kind of blowing takes and stuff, and like one
day I was just really strong and I just was
like it was you know, you get that you start sweating,
like I'm not going to be able, and so he said,
(10:10):
just just listen, just come in cold. You got to
know it cold. And I and I know that I
always did that in theater in New York and I
knew it, but this this was a different animal. It
was You're right, it was the pace of it that
you had to get used to. It's like it's like
what they described, you know, college players going into the
NFL freaking out because it was like, these guys are
(10:32):
so fast, the game is so fast. I can't adjust.
So you have to make that adjustment. And you know
if they I think anybody could do it, you know,
you're you're put your back against the wall and you're
forced to do it or else lose your job, lose
your livelihood, lose your career. You know you're going to
do it right, So you figure out a way. So
(10:55):
you have been part Uh and this is from Jessica
from Saint Louis. You've been part of so many other
TV series. What still stands out to you about your
time on Gilmore Girls? Okay, I really have to ask.
What was it like working with Michael Dea Louise.
Speaker 2 (11:18):
Oh, Michael is fantastic.
Speaker 1 (11:19):
Oh my god.
Speaker 2 (11:20):
We were fast friends, you know if they cast a
show correctly. Uh, there's chemistry, like he is my cup
of tea, I'm his cup of tea. We had a
blast hanging out. He's peculiar in a way that I
feel like I understand I'm peculiar in a way that
he understands. He became a very good friend. Now since
(11:44):
Gilmore girls. You know how, I don't see him. He's
not a part of my life at all, you know,
other than I have like if he posts something like
when his father died or his mother died, I was like, oh,
that's got to kill that guy, because I know how
she was so important to him. And David Delouise was
also on the show for a while, but he was
(12:06):
a very good friend, easy hang. We would run lines
together all the time. Working with Michael was great fun.
When we did the wedding scene and his brother came
on the show, then I got to see the Delaise
kind of family dynamic, which is just full of love
and ploy and silliness and laughter. I mean that is
(12:30):
quite a family and anyway, so I really enjoyed that.
But I remember the highlights for me were Carol King
was on the set once and Sebastian Bach and Carol
King were on a golf cart driving. I don't know
where they were going, and I was about one hundred
(12:52):
yards away and Sebastian Bach says, Kathleen and I turn around.
I might have been with friend or something. And I
turned around and I was like, he goes, come in here.
I said, hold on a second. Oh, he says, Carol
wants to meet you or something. So I'm just like
swirly eyes. You know, I've been a huge Carol King
(13:13):
fan my whole life. I run to the golf cart
and then he looks at me and he sort of
blinks and he was like and then who like looks
and then I said, Hi, I'm Kathleen. He goes, no,
not you. The PA. I was like, and then the
(13:34):
pa who I was with or something she was like, Oh, Carol,
that's Kathleen Sebastian. This is Kathleen too. She's in the
cast or whatever it was. But getting to meet Carol
King was huge highlight. I've been a huge fan my
whole life.
Speaker 1 (13:50):
So did you so you met she was on the Uh?
Well it was that during the series of the reboot
because I met her on the reboot. I never met
her on the series.
Speaker 2 (13:59):
Oh, she was at the she was on the lot.
I don't know if she was on, but I didn't
get to be on the reboot. And my agent called
me and she said you need to call Amy and
say you should be on the reboot. And I'm like,
I'm not going to call her, and like, if she's
not putting me on, then she doesn't want me on. Gross,
I'm not that guy.
Speaker 1 (14:18):
You know. That's what it needed. It needed, it needed
Lizen TJ. It needed. It really did well.
Speaker 2 (14:24):
It turns out I'm available.
Speaker 1 (14:32):
Was there one particular scene that was your favorite to film.
Speaker 2 (14:37):
And Gilmore girls one particular scenes?
Speaker 1 (14:39):
I'll tell you that wedding was hysterical.
Speaker 2 (14:42):
Yeah, probably, the wedding was really Oh you know what
was fun too was working with you and Ventimiglia Milo.
Speaker 1 (14:50):
Sure. Yeah, I felt like.
Speaker 2 (14:52):
We created you and me and Milo. I felt like
we created a you know, i' meanto the moments, and
I felt like we created a real family, kind of
acrimonious but but heartfelt relationship. So you know, that's a
that's a testament to your acting ability and to Milo's
(15:15):
acting ability and to mind, you know whatever. It's good.
But I mean, I did feel like that dynamic was
at play when we did our scenes together. And by
that time, I'd already gotten my my muscles, I'd gotten
better at my preparation, so I could just really focus
in on the sending and receiving part of the acting
(15:37):
task with the two of you guys. So that was
fun for me too.
Speaker 1 (15:41):
Yeah, they were very spirited, fun scenes and Luke. Luke
was always very happy, you know, the one that watching it.
I didn't like some of the things Luke was doing.
We could talk about this all day, but when you
were setting up your earrings and your jewelry in the
day because you were moving to town to be close
(16:03):
to Jess, and then I sort of had this attitude
like I don't like this, I don't want this. Get
him out of here. And I thought that was a
little much, and I didn't like what it did to
the character, because it's like, you know, you're here now
and the past is the past, and you've figured it out,
and you've got a relationship, and you know, why not
(16:25):
live and let live? I did not. I was highly
critical of Luke's behavior in that because you always because
Luke's behavior when Liz was around was always so up
and energetic and happy, and you never really saw Luke
that way, especially in the first four seasons. But so,
why do you think Kathleen will Hoyt? Why do you
(16:50):
think Kathleen Because people want to know why Gilmour Girls
has stood the test of time.
Speaker 2 (16:58):
Ah, what a great question. I recently I've been asked
to do Gilmore Girls Reunion fan things for years and
years and years, and I never do them because I
don't like fan things. They embarrassed me. I feel like
I'm not a big enough star to do that kind
of thing. I'm not being humble pie, I'm just telling
you the truth. I did a twin Peaks one years ago,
(17:21):
and nobody came to my table. I'm like, no, I'm
not doing this anymore. So I resisted, resisted, resisted, and
then finally somebody sent me an email that just felt
right and I needed the dough and I was like,
you know, pay me and I'll do anything, but I
need the dough. So they paid me and I went
and I was so delighted by the fans. I was
(17:46):
so enchanted. They weren't, you know, I don't know what
I expected, but there were mothers and daughters primarily, and
sensitive dudes. They were though, so sweet, and the whole time,
even picking up the airport, I was just like, oh, Mike,
I can't believe I'm doing this. I'm oh my god.
(18:07):
And then when I got to the hotel, it was
the day for my autograph signing, and I I said
to the person who runs the thing. I was like,
nobody's gonna come to my table. Whatever, thank you for
paying me. And my had a line around the block
of people who were so sweet and funny and delightful
(18:30):
and excited by it. So Amy Palladino tapped into some
sort of zeitgeist poles between mothers and daughters, and in fact,
I was so moved by that experience. I wrote Amy
an email and I never heard back. Whatever, I don't care.
(18:51):
I just needed her to know that she wrote something
that stands the test of time, that isn't just words
on a page, that lifted up off of the television
screen into the hearts and minds of a whole bunch
of really cool people. And I felt like she should
know what she created because it was moving to see people.
Speaker 1 (19:13):
Yeah, I do these conventions and the fans show up
and they are as you describe, these are wonderful, sweet people.
It's a mother daughter celebration and they want to share
with you their feelings about the show and how it
helped their relationship and now they're great friends, and you know,
(19:36):
it was just it's wonderful. So how do you as
a mother now and almost a grandmother and we'll get
into that. How do you feel about Liz as a mom?
Speaker 2 (19:49):
That's funny, Well, you know, I have been a mother
since nineteen ninety five, is when my oldest son was born.
Prior to I have really had a career of playing
horrible mothers. I've sold babies for crack, I've I have
(20:12):
kidnapped babies. I've I've tied them up and beaten them.
I mean, I have a career of playing archetypal horrible,
horrible mothers. So as a mother, playing those kinds of roles,
I always approach every character that I play with the
(20:35):
mindset that they are doing the best they can with
what they have. And you know, for for Liz, you know,
she I would say clearly was probably somebody a candidate
for medication for certainly ADHD, and she and Amy had
written that in the character. The character was all over
(20:56):
the place. You know, I talk about this, and then
I talk about that, and then I talk about this,
and that, I talk about that, and then you know,
maybe she was a drug addict, which you know, I
certainly have been sober thirty one years, but I certainly
can bring that to the table. So there's plenty of
the mom things that I can easily bring to the
(21:18):
table to use from my crappy mom characters.
Speaker 1 (21:25):
Has your daughter Ruby seen the show?
Speaker 2 (21:29):
Yeah, she's not one of my biggest fans. No, so
she likes the show, I think pretty much up until
I come on and then she's like Cake. You know,
she's very sweet my daughter, But I think it's weird
for her to see me. I don't know, she's she's
not one of my biggests.
Speaker 1 (21:46):
She doesn't want to see you that way or something
like that.
Speaker 2 (21:48):
I guess, I don't know. One time, here's a funny story.
One time somebody was watching a TV show and it
was a part I was on a show called cop
Rock where I sing a song and I trade my
baby for crack. And my son was about seven and
a half eight years old at the time, and the
neighbor friend was like, Jimmy, come to my mom's on
(22:11):
TV and he comes in sees me sing this song
then trade my baby for crack, and he just was
like it was that me. Oh they came and I
was like, no, no, no, that was just acting acting.
Speaker 1 (22:24):
Thank you. You should have gotten Stephen Botchko on the
line and said, talk to my daughter tell him it's
your fault. You know you wrote it. We just discussed
cop Rock in the last episode because it was a
reference in the last episode because they had a night
where they ate all this junk food and they were
going to watch cop cop Rock Marathon, Laurela, Laura and Laurela.
(22:51):
What a show, what a concept, right little ahead of
its time. When't you say.
Speaker 2 (22:56):
It's a drama musical? Yeah, no, it was great fun.
I love doing com.
Speaker 1 (23:01):
Oh, I'm sure it was.
Speaker 2 (23:02):
I've had a good run, you know. Gilmore Girls was fun.
We had a good time. I mean I felt like
at closet of my house, I've thoroughly enjoyed doing that show.
Speaker 1 (23:16):
I can't I can't have you on and not talk
about Patrick Swayzey. I cannot do it because you know
you did Roadhouse with him. You know, you did one
of the big movies of his career and one of
the big movies of your career as well. You were
great in it. And I did a film. I played
(23:39):
a minor role. I worked a ton of days in
a minor role in Martha Coolidge did a film with
Patrick in the lead and Mary Elizabeth Bestor Antonio as
a married woman living in the nineteen fifties suburbs of
outside of New York. It was called Three Wishes, and
(24:01):
Patrick played this sort of mysterious traveler, stranger kind of
a guy, obviously a World War Two vet who was,
you know, getting very spiritual and very centered, and he
showed up in town and really affected people's lives and
affected her life and her marriage and the whole thing.
And I had the opportunity to see him work and
(24:25):
to be on set while he was working, and he
stayed in character pretty much the whole time as this
sort of you know, this centered, balanced, mysterious guy. And
we had lunch a couple of times, and I asked
him about the career, and he was just so generous
(24:46):
and so lovely, and it it I wasn't thinking at
that point of leaving the business, but it was. You know,
it's a hard road. You know. It's not everybody can
just step into the business and all of a sudden
have success, you know how that is. It's just it
takes a while. So I was struggling along and he
(25:09):
kept me. He just said, keep your head down and
keep grinding, and you're gonna get there, you know. And
he took. But the thing that impressed me so much,
a star of that stature took the time to talk
and actually have lunch with some little nobody in the cast.
I didn't matter, my role didn't matter, it was all
background stuff, and he just just what a lovely guy.
(25:31):
What was your experience like with him?
Speaker 2 (25:33):
Yes, he's absolutely lovely and you know in Roadhouse he
played a great dancer, super hot Texas, tough guy, heart
of gold, you know. And I think so that apple
didn't fall far from the tree. He's a lot like that,
you know, a lot like his characters. So I did
(25:54):
not see him do that, you know, staying in character thing.
I say that, you know, you have a lot of
similar qualities that Patrick has, So it doesn't surprise me.
Again back if I circle back to they cast Gilmore girls, well,
when they cast Michael DeLuise to play my husband, because
(26:16):
he's my cup of tea, So it doesn't surprise me
that Patrick would find you interesting and worth his time
to seek out a little bit of a friendship have
some lunch with you. Interestingly, I would imagine he's a
little older than you are, but you two would have
(26:38):
occupied a similar space in like had he not blown
up into such a huge star. You know, there wouldn't
have been this huge Like you were just a little
guy on the set and he was a big movie star.
I think that if he were guesting on The Gilmore Girls,
the two of you would probably have been friends. That
(27:01):
doesn't surprise me, because there's a you have a similar
vibe and energy. I think Patrick. One of the things
that I do is I play a kid's sister in
terms of the set politics. That's just my default position,
my super technique. So on a set that was driven
(27:22):
by testosterone. That set was about sex, drugs, and rock
and roll, no question if you want to know about
you know, decadent Hollywood. That movie because sex, drugs and
rock and roll, pokers, guns, cocaine, alcohol shenanigans, and I
(27:47):
love that I have one of those in my uh,
in my memory. I hope I never lose my mind
and forget about that because it was extraordinary and a blast. However,
that guy did not I that I was aware of,
and I partied with everybody the whole time because I
(28:08):
was still drinking and doing drugs back then. You know,
like I said, I've been sober thirty one years, but
he he was true to his wife. He has was
very principled. He was quick to laugh, generous to me.
But again he I assumed roll a kid's sister kind
(28:31):
of thing with that guy, and with with with Joel
silver To, who's a Hollywood mogul guy. I found all
of those guys really very charming and enchanting and I
had a blast.
Speaker 1 (28:46):
So that that was eight That was in the eighties, right,
that was late eighties. What mid eighties? Right, Yeah, I
don't know.
Speaker 2 (28:55):
Yeah, I got sober ninety one, so I was not
sober when I.
Speaker 1 (29:00):
Yeah, that's heard. I've heard a lot of stories about
mid eighties cocaine fueled sets.
Speaker 2 (29:08):
Yeah, the craft service person is the coke dealer, right.
Speaker 1 (29:13):
A little different now.
Speaker 2 (29:15):
Oh my god, now it's spent. I mean, I find
it very moving to work on a set now in
terms of the doors that have opened for so many
different kinds of people, diversity. I mean, it's just it's
so different than it was in the eighties, where the
doors were locked, that locked a whole bunch of people
(29:35):
out get to play, And now that's not the case.
And it's quite lovely and moving to me to have
to really be able to see what it was like
and what it's like now. And it's great now. I
worked more, you know, I kind of aged out. I'm like,
I can't be the mom of teenagers anymore. I don't know,
(29:56):
I just don't. I feel like I was.
Speaker 1 (29:58):
Well, you're going to be a grandmother. Tells about that.
Speaker 2 (30:00):
Oh my son, my oldest kid. He's twenty eight. He
married a tremendous person, this girl, Brianna. I love them,
and uh, they're gonna have a baby Lana. They're naming
her and I'm so tickled. I cannot wait. Did you
end up getting married and having kids or no?
Speaker 1 (30:17):
Oh? Sure? Yeah. I have a nine year old boy.
He just turned nine.
Speaker 2 (30:20):
Oh nice. Oh that's so sweet.
Speaker 1 (30:23):
Yeah, he's very sweet.
Speaker 2 (30:25):
He's so happy because you did not have kids.
Speaker 1 (30:27):
When no, No, I was with the same girl, same woman. Nice. Yeah,
we've been together since two thousand. Oh yeah. Yeah. We
have a beautiful boy, Nicholas, and he's just the joy
of our life. And you know, I miss him when
he goes to school, you know what I mean.
Speaker 2 (30:49):
That's so sweet.
Speaker 1 (30:51):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (30:52):
Every thing I always say is like the most wonderful, fabulous, hideous,
horrific thing I've ever embarked upon. Yeah, because it's rough. Well,
you got a nine year old, they wake up and
they're thirteen years It gets harry, but then they come
out of it like now my life seventeen and he's fantastic.
(31:12):
We're looking at schools and yeah, collegen, you know, it's
just it's I wouldn't trade it for anything, but not
it's no.
Speaker 1 (31:21):
I know, another couple of years, I know it's gonna
get dicey, but.
Speaker 2 (31:26):
He still likes you right now, so that's good. You
got to enjoy it.
Speaker 1 (31:29):
Oh yeah, that's right. And I know there's going to
be that time when the rebellion comes. Ah, it's gonna
be hard.
Speaker 2 (31:36):
It's like what happened to my baby?
Speaker 1 (31:41):
Yeah it is, I know, I know. But what are
you working on now? You're working on anything now? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (31:48):
Yeah, I wrote a script. I like to write stories.
I wrote a script and I am at the moment.
I did a zoom read through and I'm editing it
together because I feel like I have been bumping into
walls about trying to get people to read my script.
So now I can get actors to do read throughs
because I'm friends with actors, but to get to that
(32:12):
next level to get financing. I feel like I have
to I don't know, I have to do a little
put some effort into presenting something just to get them
to turn the page, you know, because I say, oh, well,
you read my script, and I don't believe it gets read.
So that's frustrating. But I very much am enjoying the process.
(32:33):
I also teach acting for the camera at cal Arts
Oh wow, which I wow, really enjoy and I taught
at UCSB acting for the for the camera. I did,
like an intensive showbiz thing ATSB, and I've taught. I
went away for a year and taught at a school
(32:54):
called Savannah College of Art and Design SCAD in Savannah.
I realized that I can't be away from my family.
I broke, right, So I did. I satisfied my year contract.
I was a full time professor there, and then I
was like, I can't do it. I gotta be broke.
If that's what the case is, I'm going to be
(33:15):
broken and be with my husband and my kids.
Speaker 1 (33:17):
Right right right. But cal Arts that's a big deal
kind of place.
Speaker 2 (33:22):
It is a big deal, and the students are freaking amazing,
are so talented. Wait, many times I'll see them. They'll
do a scene in front of the camera and I'll
be like, yeah, well I got nothing that was stupid.
Next that was to do that, And you'll be fine.
Speaker 1 (33:40):
It ain't You're good to go. Thanks for playing.
Speaker 2 (33:45):
Yeah, talented kids, Well.
Speaker 1 (33:48):
Good for them. I wish them all the best. All right,
We're going to do a little section here called rapid fire.
It's not necessarily fast, we just call it rapid fire.
I don't know why we ever called it rap I
think I used to do it quickly and then fans
would write and say, could you slow it down? We
(34:10):
don't understand what's going on. So I'm going to ask
you a series of Gilmore related questions and just answer
them at your leisure. Okay, okay, and here I go.
How do you like your coffee?
Speaker 2 (34:22):
You mean this for the like related to my character?
Speaker 1 (34:26):
No, to you, to me as Kathleen.
Speaker 2 (34:28):
Not my character, because I'm like, I don't remember the
character liked your coffee? I like my coffee. I'm picky
about it because I don't you know, I do caffeine
like crazy. So I have like a coffee bean of
the month. I'm in a coffee bean of the month. Club.
So I like a brown bean if it's too I
(34:48):
don't like black, greasy French rust. I'm a Kona kind
of brown bean and teleg kind of bean. I have
a grinder. I steam my milk, and my husband and
I sit out on our veranda and we look out
on the San Fernando Valley and I drink you know,
I drink my coffee and read my book there. That's
(35:12):
how I like my coffee.
Speaker 1 (35:14):
Have you binged the entire Gilmore Girls series?
Speaker 2 (35:19):
No, I don't like to watch myself. I see when
I see myself on TV, I see like a chin.
She's a long chin, a big fat butt and a high,
squeaky voice. And I just see, like I could blur
my swirly eyes watching a chin on a butt floating
around me. No, so I do not watch myself. So no,
(35:42):
like I don't watch myself.
Speaker 1 (35:44):
Yeah, we have that in common. I can. You know
I started this podcast based on I've never seen the
show for that very reason. You know, I do not
want to watch what I do. But now it's you know,
it's twenty three years removed. I can. I can kind
of deal with it because it's like a different person.
It's like I you know, I vaguely remember that guy.
(36:06):
Yeah you know. Are you team Logan, Team Jess or
Team Dean? I think we know? Yes, Yeah, there you go?
And uh, what would you order at Luke's diner?
Speaker 2 (36:22):
Oh, grilled cheese sandwich like the Luke Steiner would make
the perfect grilled cheese sandwich and probably cup of coffee
and h and I do a side salad with the
probably ranch dressing.
Speaker 1 (36:38):
Harvard or Yale?
Speaker 2 (36:40):
Oh interesting, Yale because of drama.
Speaker 1 (36:44):
Mm hmmm, uh sure yes. Luke's nickname in high school
was Butch. What's your nickname the character? No you Kathleen?
Speaker 2 (36:54):
Oh well, I went by Kathy for years and I've
been called like will beIN high cath Mm Kathy, I'm
not very nothing really very funny. I can't think of anything.
Speaker 1 (37:13):
It's who would you? Who from Gilmore? Would you not
want to be stuck on a desert island with?
Speaker 2 (37:22):
You know? I only worked with you and uh Belise
and you guys are nice Soulian.
Speaker 1 (37:27):
Oh jeez, I lose that fight. Best memory of Gilmore girls, Oh.
Speaker 2 (37:37):
The wedding and being with you guys and everybody.
Speaker 1 (37:40):
The wedding was just classic. I'm still trying to remember
that line that TJ said when he walked by. He
leaned in and said something really funny. Show your binge
watching right now.
Speaker 2 (37:55):
Oh the Gemstones are also the bear.
Speaker 1 (37:59):
Okay cast member you texted most recently.
Speaker 2 (38:07):
I don't keep in touch with anyone. I think I
facetimed or not FaceTime. Facebook messaged Michael Delawis and his mom.
Speaker 1 (38:17):
Passed, mm hmmm something in your life you are all
in on.
Speaker 2 (38:23):
I like to write. I write right right, right right.
I get my novels, my plays, my movies. I write
like when everybody else is off doing whatever they do.
I'm probably home in front of my computer writing my stuff.
Speaker 1 (38:37):
Kathleen Wilhoyt, it has been a pleasure. Brilliant performances, Liz,
brilliant career. Keep it going. Thank you for your time.
This was really fun. The fans are going to love
this and keep on keeping on and and congratulations.
Speaker 2 (38:54):
Then.
Speaker 1 (38:54):
I don't know if it's appropriate to congratulate you for
being your grandmother, but it's it's a great feeling that
must be.
Speaker 2 (39:02):
It's been crazy. I mean I got a T shirt
that said my daughter in law's baby shower that says
somebody's fine ass Grandma.
Speaker 1 (39:12):
You go, Kathleen, best of luck with everything, and we
will probably want to have you back on I got
a feeling this is going to get a big response
in the fan base anyway.
Speaker 2 (39:27):
All the best, all right, all right, take care, all.
Speaker 1 (39:31):
Right, take care. Hey, everybody, don't forget. Follow us on
(40:02):
Instagram at im all In Podcast, and email us at
Gilmore at iHeartRadio dot com.
I am all in. Oh, let's kiss you.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
I am all in with Scott Patterson an iHeartRadio podcast.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
Hey everybody, Scott Patterson, I am all in podcasts one
of them productions iHeartRadio. One on one interview with my
sister Liz Danes. Kathleen Wilhoyt Here she comes. Let me
give you some of her staffs. She played the role
of Liz for sixteen episodes two thousand and four two
(00:41):
thousand and seven. First appearance season four, episode twelve, A
Family Matter. Last appearance, season seven, episode twenty two, bon Voyage.
Liz is the younger sister of Luke Danes. She was
born and raised and stars Hollow. Follow her mother's death,
Liz began to cut loose and get into trouble, including
smoking pot. She met Jimmy Mariano at a festival. The
(01:04):
two married and Liz gave birth to a son, Jess Marianno.
Jimmy left her right after the birth of Jess, and
Liz began a series of bad relationships, drug problems, had
trouble keeping a job, and was unsure of how to
raise her son. Let me tell you something a little
bit about Kathleen Wilhoyd's career, and it's an amazing one.
(01:27):
She began acting in theatrical production as a child the
Santa Barbara Youth Theater. She attended the University of Southern
California before studying acting at the Lease Strasbourg Institute in
Los Angeles. She made her feature film debut in Private
School nineteen eighty three, before having a leading role in
Murphy's Law nineteen eighty six, followed by supporting parts in
(01:48):
Witchboard in nineteen eighty six, Crossing Delancey nineteen eighty eight,
Roadhouse nineteen eighty nine with Patrick Swayze, Lorenzo's Oil nineteen
ninety two. Show also had notable guest starring roles on
several series during this time, including Twin Peaks nineteen ninety.
Beginning in nineteen ninety four, will Hoyd appeared as Chloe
(02:11):
Lewis in the recurring guest staring role on the series
Er and voiced the role of the titular character on
the ABC animated series Pepper Ann nineteen ninety seven to
two thousand. Other notable film roles during the nineties include
science fiction thriller Fire in This Guy in nineteen ninety three,
and the survival film The Edge nineteen ninety seven. In
(02:33):
two thousand and three, she was cast in a recurring
role as Liz Danes on Gilmore Girls, and has subsequently
had guest staring roles on Criminal Minds, Grey's Anatomy, Jane
the Virgin, and in twenty twenty she a guest starred
on an episode of Yellowstone and Coat. Can most recently
be seen in CSI Vegas, Ladies and Gentlemen, I give
(02:55):
you my sister, Kathleen Willhoyd. There she is, Hi, Sis,
you doing good looking, great, great backgrounds. We uh you
know the fan we are just such huge fans. The
the there needs there needed to be more Liz more TJ.
It was the most hilarious stuff. Uh. We are lauding
(03:18):
the performances. Just absolute comic genius and just heartfelt great stuff.
Tell us how you got your start in show business?
How did it all begin?
Speaker 2 (03:30):
Oh? Uh, I was a kid that came out of
the shoots saying watch me. So I was like a
natural born theater dork. And I started singing in my
church choir as a you know, in kindergarten, and I'd
get the solos, so, you know, whatever, I started getting
involved in musical theater, just a theater kind of dork
(03:52):
dorky kid. And then in high school I dated Tony
Edwards and Eric Stoltz, you know, at first and then
Eric and both those guys were working in to Anthony
Edwards and Eric Stoltz. Anthony or Tony had an age
and manager. They had the same manager, this guy Gary,
And they invited Gary to my senior class play was
(04:17):
House of Blue Leaves, and Gary came to the play
and I didn't hear from him. And then I went
down to college at USC. I was there for about
six weeks. Gary calls me. He's like, listen, they want
a comedian to play sixteen. Why don't you go to
this address? And they want to meet you. So I
go to the address. It was a huge house, as
(04:38):
this guy ben Ephrem's house. They were having a party,
so I just almost assumed I had the part. I
didn't even know that it was necessarily an audition, and
they said, hey, will you read with Phoebe Kate's I
was like sure, but you know, just that kind of
bullet proof naive ta. I just didn't have any I
(05:00):
never really beat the streets. I wasn't like nervous, because
I didn't. I just went from lead in the high
school play to of course they want me kind of
a mentality. Since then, I've had rumorous humbling blows time.
I was like pretty freaking bulletproof. And then I just
so I went upstairs red with Phoebe. She was great fun.
(05:24):
And then that was on a Friday, and then drove
to the set on a Monday. So yeah, so my
whole life changed in a weekend.
Speaker 1 (05:33):
It was meant to be.
Speaker 2 (05:35):
I guess. I mean, I didn't really think that I
was going to do anything else, but I just liked
singing and acting.
Speaker 1 (05:42):
Right, So do you remember the audition for Liz.
Speaker 2 (05:49):
No, because there wasn't an audition. I was. They offered
me the part, and I I love getting offers and
not auditioning to such an extent that if they offered
me the part of you know, a day player person
who changes porta potties, I would take it. I was
(06:12):
just like, what audition I'm in? And so I I, uh, yeah,
they offered me the part. I was thrilled. And then
I do have a memory with you because day one
was the eight page scene I think around I feel
like it was all about finding pot or something. But
(06:33):
it was an eight page scene. That's not anything that
I was ever used to at the on Er or
any of the other shows. You sit in the makeup
trailer trailer, you look at your lines. I got it,
and then you put on the set because you have
like two three lines in a big scene. This was
a mind screw, like a mind.
Speaker 1 (06:55):
I know what you want.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
It was crazy.
Speaker 1 (06:58):
It sounds like duck, yes.
Speaker 2 (07:01):
My duck, and you you know you are doing a
First of all, it's totally stylized, which my age. They
told me before I showed up on the set, they
were like, listen, you gotta talk fast. That's the style
of this. It's like doing Moliere, is what I tell
my students. Doing Gilmore Girls is like doing a period piece.
(07:21):
It's a different language and you have to know it.
You have to be word perfect. So it was a
huge trial by fire for me to be to have
to do an eight page scene from my very first
scene with an offer, only because I always feel like
I'm going to get fired, like they're going to find out,
(07:43):
you know what I mean, no talent that I am
or whatever. And but you were very patient with me,
and there was a lot of like back to one,
like you said, uh instead of like what yeah, you said, Uh,
It's it's okay. Back to one here we come.
Speaker 1 (08:07):
Yeah. Perfect.
Speaker 2 (08:09):
The minute my head hit the pillow, I was like,
it was crazy. That's hard work. My hat's off to you.
You did that for years and years. You must be
really good, Lauren said. It's like a muscle, and you
just get really good at at memorizing, you know, right,
you know.
Speaker 1 (08:29):
Being It's like it starts out like you said, it
starts out as panic, yeah, and then you just get
acclimated to it and then it just becomes like She's right,
it's like a muscle, and it's short term memory. You
don't remember a thing you did the day before, maybe
maybe twenty forty eight hours. It's just washed out to
make room for the new stuff to come in. Because
(08:50):
and that's just kind of how you function. Yeah, it's odd,
it's odd, that's.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
Crazy, and you did that for years. Did so what
was your preparation for a scene, like for that eight
page scene, like, did you get into a a big
kind of thing? How'd you prepare?
Speaker 1 (09:09):
Just mainly it was George Bell. We'd just run it
until it was sop bulletproof. You know, just run it
and run it to death, and run it to death,
and run it to death. And you know, I always,
I always knew the acting would take care of itself
because there wasn't a lot of acting going on. It
(09:29):
was a lot of blocking and attitude and tone and
pace and that sort of like served everything that. I mean,
it filled and filled in everything you needed to fill in.
But it was really just like I remember Gavin Palone
had this conversation with me season one because there were
(09:50):
a couple first couple episodes we were all kind of
getting we were a little clunky, you know, and we
were kind of blowing takes and stuff, and like one
day I was just really strong and I just was
like it was you know, you get that you start sweating,
like I'm not going to be able, and so he said,
(10:10):
just just listen, just come in cold. You got to
know it cold. And I and I know that I
always did that in theater in New York and I
knew it, but this this was a different animal. It
was You're right, it was the pace of it that
you had to get used to. It's like it's like
what they described, you know, college players going into the
NFL freaking out because it was like, these guys are
(10:32):
so fast, the game is so fast. I can't adjust.
So you have to make that adjustment. And you know
if they I think anybody could do it, you know,
you're you're put your back against the wall and you're
forced to do it or else lose your job, lose
your livelihood, lose your career. You know you're going to
do it right, So you figure out a way. So
(10:55):
you have been part Uh and this is from Jessica
from Saint Louis. You've been part of so many other
TV series. What still stands out to you about your
time on Gilmore Girls? Okay, I really have to ask.
What was it like working with Michael Dea Louise.
Speaker 2 (11:18):
Oh, Michael is fantastic.
Speaker 1 (11:19):
Oh my god.
Speaker 2 (11:20):
We were fast friends, you know if they cast a
show correctly. Uh, there's chemistry, like he is my cup
of tea, I'm his cup of tea. We had a
blast hanging out. He's peculiar in a way that I
feel like I understand I'm peculiar in a way that
he understands. He became a very good friend. Now since
(11:44):
Gilmore girls. You know how, I don't see him. He's
not a part of my life at all, you know,
other than I have like if he posts something like
when his father died or his mother died, I was like, oh,
that's got to kill that guy, because I know how
she was so important to him. And David Delouise was
also on the show for a while, but he was
(12:06):
a very good friend, easy hang. We would run lines
together all the time. Working with Michael was great fun.
When we did the wedding scene and his brother came
on the show, then I got to see the Delaise
kind of family dynamic, which is just full of love
and ploy and silliness and laughter. I mean that is
(12:30):
quite a family and anyway, so I really enjoyed that.
But I remember the highlights for me were Carol King
was on the set once and Sebastian Bach and Carol
King were on a golf cart driving. I don't know
where they were going, and I was about one hundred
(12:52):
yards away and Sebastian Bach says, Kathleen and I turn around.
I might have been with friend or something. And I
turned around and I was like, he goes, come in here.
I said, hold on a second. Oh, he says, Carol
wants to meet you or something. So I'm just like
swirly eyes. You know, I've been a huge Carol King
(13:13):
fan my whole life. I run to the golf cart
and then he looks at me and he sort of
blinks and he was like and then who like looks
and then I said, Hi, I'm Kathleen. He goes, no,
not you. The PA. I was like, and then the
(13:34):
pa who I was with or something she was like, Oh, Carol,
that's Kathleen Sebastian. This is Kathleen too. She's in the
cast or whatever it was. But getting to meet Carol
King was huge highlight. I've been a huge fan my
whole life.
Speaker 1 (13:50):
So did you so you met she was on the Uh?
Well it was that during the series of the reboot
because I met her on the reboot. I never met
her on the series.
Speaker 2 (13:59):
Oh, she was at the she was on the lot.
I don't know if she was on, but I didn't
get to be on the reboot. And my agent called
me and she said you need to call Amy and
say you should be on the reboot. And I'm like,
I'm not going to call her, and like, if she's
not putting me on, then she doesn't want me on. Gross,
I'm not that guy.
Speaker 1 (14:18):
You know. That's what it needed. It needed, it needed
Lizen TJ. It needed. It really did well.
Speaker 2 (14:24):
It turns out I'm available.
Speaker 1 (14:32):
Was there one particular scene that was your favorite to film.
Speaker 2 (14:37):
And Gilmore girls one particular scenes?
Speaker 1 (14:39):
I'll tell you that wedding was hysterical.
Speaker 2 (14:42):
Yeah, probably, the wedding was really Oh you know what
was fun too was working with you and Ventimiglia Milo.
Speaker 1 (14:50):
Sure. Yeah, I felt like.
Speaker 2 (14:52):
We created you and me and Milo. I felt like
we created a you know, i' meanto the moments, and
I felt like we created a real family, kind of
acrimonious but but heartfelt relationship. So you know, that's a
that's a testament to your acting ability and to Milo's
(15:15):
acting ability and to mind, you know whatever. It's good.
But I mean, I did feel like that dynamic was
at play when we did our scenes together. And by
that time, I'd already gotten my my muscles, I'd gotten
better at my preparation, so I could just really focus
in on the sending and receiving part of the acting
(15:37):
task with the two of you guys. So that was
fun for me too.
Speaker 1 (15:41):
Yeah, they were very spirited, fun scenes and Luke. Luke
was always very happy, you know, the one that watching it.
I didn't like some of the things Luke was doing.
We could talk about this all day, but when you
were setting up your earrings and your jewelry in the
day because you were moving to town to be close
(16:03):
to Jess, and then I sort of had this attitude
like I don't like this, I don't want this. Get
him out of here. And I thought that was a
little much, and I didn't like what it did to
the character, because it's like, you know, you're here now
and the past is the past, and you've figured it out,
and you've got a relationship, and you know, why not
(16:25):
live and let live? I did not. I was highly
critical of Luke's behavior in that because you always because
Luke's behavior when Liz was around was always so up
and energetic and happy, and you never really saw Luke
that way, especially in the first four seasons. But so,
why do you think Kathleen will Hoyt? Why do you
(16:50):
think Kathleen Because people want to know why Gilmour Girls
has stood the test of time.
Speaker 2 (16:58):
Ah, what a great question. I recently I've been asked
to do Gilmore Girls Reunion fan things for years and
years and years, and I never do them because I
don't like fan things. They embarrassed me. I feel like
I'm not a big enough star to do that kind
of thing. I'm not being humble pie, I'm just telling
you the truth. I did a twin Peaks one years ago,
(17:21):
and nobody came to my table. I'm like, no, I'm
not doing this anymore. So I resisted, resisted, resisted, and
then finally somebody sent me an email that just felt
right and I needed the dough and I was like,
you know, pay me and I'll do anything, but I
need the dough. So they paid me and I went
and I was so delighted by the fans. I was
(17:46):
so enchanted. They weren't, you know, I don't know what
I expected, but there were mothers and daughters primarily, and
sensitive dudes. They were though, so sweet, and the whole time,
even picking up the airport, I was just like, oh, Mike,
I can't believe I'm doing this. I'm oh my god.
(18:07):
And then when I got to the hotel, it was
the day for my autograph signing, and I I said
to the person who runs the thing. I was like,
nobody's gonna come to my table. Whatever, thank you for
paying me. And my had a line around the block
of people who were so sweet and funny and delightful
(18:30):
and excited by it. So Amy Palladino tapped into some
sort of zeitgeist poles between mothers and daughters, and in fact,
I was so moved by that experience. I wrote Amy
an email and I never heard back. Whatever, I don't care.
(18:51):
I just needed her to know that she wrote something
that stands the test of time, that isn't just words
on a page, that lifted up off of the television
screen into the hearts and minds of a whole bunch
of really cool people. And I felt like she should
know what she created because it was moving to see people.
Speaker 1 (19:13):
Yeah, I do these conventions and the fans show up
and they are as you describe, these are wonderful, sweet people.
It's a mother daughter celebration and they want to share
with you their feelings about the show and how it
helped their relationship and now they're great friends, and you know,
(19:36):
it was just it's wonderful. So how do you as
a mother now and almost a grandmother and we'll get
into that. How do you feel about Liz as a mom?
Speaker 2 (19:49):
That's funny, Well, you know, I have been a mother
since nineteen ninety five, is when my oldest son was born.
Prior to I have really had a career of playing
horrible mothers. I've sold babies for crack, I've I have
(20:12):
kidnapped babies. I've I've tied them up and beaten them.
I mean, I have a career of playing archetypal horrible,
horrible mothers. So as a mother, playing those kinds of roles,
I always approach every character that I play with the
(20:35):
mindset that they are doing the best they can with
what they have. And you know, for for Liz, you know,
she I would say clearly was probably somebody a candidate
for medication for certainly ADHD, and she and Amy had
written that in the character. The character was all over
(20:56):
the place. You know, I talk about this, and then
I talk about that, and then I talk about this,
and that, I talk about that, and then you know,
maybe she was a drug addict, which you know, I
certainly have been sober thirty one years, but I certainly
can bring that to the table. So there's plenty of
the mom things that I can easily bring to the
(21:18):
table to use from my crappy mom characters.
Speaker 1 (21:25):
Has your daughter Ruby seen the show?
Speaker 2 (21:29):
Yeah, she's not one of my biggest fans. No, so
she likes the show, I think pretty much up until
I come on and then she's like Cake. You know,
she's very sweet my daughter, But I think it's weird
for her to see me. I don't know, she's she's
not one of my biggests.
Speaker 1 (21:46):
She doesn't want to see you that way or something
like that.
Speaker 2 (21:48):
I guess, I don't know. One time, here's a funny story.
One time somebody was watching a TV show and it
was a part I was on a show called cop
Rock where I sing a song and I trade my
baby for crack. And my son was about seven and
a half eight years old at the time, and the
neighbor friend was like, Jimmy, come to my mom's on
(22:11):
TV and he comes in sees me sing this song
then trade my baby for crack, and he just was
like it was that me. Oh they came and I
was like, no, no, no, that was just acting acting.
Speaker 1 (22:24):
Thank you. You should have gotten Stephen Botchko on the
line and said, talk to my daughter tell him it's
your fault. You know you wrote it. We just discussed
cop Rock in the last episode because it was a
reference in the last episode because they had a night
where they ate all this junk food and they were
going to watch cop cop Rock Marathon, Laurela, Laura and Laurela.
(22:51):
What a show, what a concept, right little ahead of
its time. When't you say.
Speaker 2 (22:56):
It's a drama musical? Yeah, no, it was great fun.
I love doing com.
Speaker 1 (23:01):
Oh, I'm sure it was.
Speaker 2 (23:02):
I've had a good run, you know. Gilmore Girls was fun.
We had a good time. I mean I felt like
at closet of my house, I've thoroughly enjoyed doing that show.
Speaker 1 (23:16):
I can't I can't have you on and not talk
about Patrick Swayzey. I cannot do it because you know
you did Roadhouse with him. You know, you did one
of the big movies of his career and one of
the big movies of your career as well. You were
great in it. And I did a film. I played
(23:39):
a minor role. I worked a ton of days in
a minor role in Martha Coolidge did a film with
Patrick in the lead and Mary Elizabeth Bestor Antonio as
a married woman living in the nineteen fifties suburbs of
outside of New York. It was called Three Wishes, and
(24:01):
Patrick played this sort of mysterious traveler, stranger kind of
a guy, obviously a World War Two vet who was,
you know, getting very spiritual and very centered, and he
showed up in town and really affected people's lives and
affected her life and her marriage and the whole thing.
And I had the opportunity to see him work and
(24:25):
to be on set while he was working, and he
stayed in character pretty much the whole time as this
sort of you know, this centered, balanced, mysterious guy. And
we had lunch a couple of times, and I asked
him about the career, and he was just so generous
(24:46):
and so lovely, and it it I wasn't thinking at
that point of leaving the business, but it was. You know,
it's a hard road. You know. It's not everybody can
just step into the business and all of a sudden
have success, you know how that is. It's just it
takes a while. So I was struggling along and he
(25:09):
kept me. He just said, keep your head down and
keep grinding, and you're gonna get there, you know. And
he took. But the thing that impressed me so much,
a star of that stature took the time to talk
and actually have lunch with some little nobody in the cast.
I didn't matter, my role didn't matter, it was all
background stuff, and he just just what a lovely guy.
(25:31):
What was your experience like with him?
Speaker 2 (25:33):
Yes, he's absolutely lovely and you know in Roadhouse he
played a great dancer, super hot Texas, tough guy, heart
of gold, you know. And I think so that apple
didn't fall far from the tree. He's a lot like that,
you know, a lot like his characters. So I did
(25:54):
not see him do that, you know, staying in character thing.
I say that, you know, you have a lot of
similar qualities that Patrick has, So it doesn't surprise me.
Again back if I circle back to they cast Gilmore girls, well,
when they cast Michael DeLuise to play my husband, because
(26:16):
he's my cup of tea, So it doesn't surprise me
that Patrick would find you interesting and worth his time
to seek out a little bit of a friendship have
some lunch with you. Interestingly, I would imagine he's a
little older than you are, but you two would have
(26:38):
occupied a similar space in like had he not blown
up into such a huge star. You know, there wouldn't
have been this huge Like you were just a little
guy on the set and he was a big movie star.
I think that if he were guesting on The Gilmore Girls,
the two of you would probably have been friends. That
(27:01):
doesn't surprise me, because there's a you have a similar
vibe and energy. I think Patrick. One of the things
that I do is I play a kid's sister in
terms of the set politics. That's just my default position,
my super technique. So on a set that was driven
(27:22):
by testosterone. That set was about sex, drugs, and rock
and roll, no question if you want to know about
you know, decadent Hollywood. That movie because sex, drugs and
rock and roll, pokers, guns, cocaine, alcohol shenanigans, and I
(27:47):
love that I have one of those in my uh,
in my memory. I hope I never lose my mind
and forget about that because it was extraordinary and a blast. However,
that guy did not I that I was aware of,
and I partied with everybody the whole time because I
(28:08):
was still drinking and doing drugs back then. You know,
like I said, I've been sober thirty one years, but
he he was true to his wife. He has was
very principled. He was quick to laugh, generous to me.
But again he I assumed roll a kid's sister kind
(28:31):
of thing with that guy, and with with with Joel
silver To, who's a Hollywood mogul guy. I found all
of those guys really very charming and enchanting and I
had a blast.
Speaker 1 (28:46):
So that that was eight That was in the eighties, right,
that was late eighties. What mid eighties? Right, Yeah, I
don't know.
Speaker 2 (28:55):
Yeah, I got sober ninety one, so I was not
sober when I.
Speaker 1 (29:00):
Yeah, that's heard. I've heard a lot of stories about
mid eighties cocaine fueled sets.
Speaker 2 (29:08):
Yeah, the craft service person is the coke dealer, right.
Speaker 1 (29:13):
A little different now.
Speaker 2 (29:15):
Oh my god, now it's spent. I mean, I find
it very moving to work on a set now in
terms of the doors that have opened for so many
different kinds of people, diversity. I mean, it's just it's
so different than it was in the eighties, where the
doors were locked, that locked a whole bunch of people
(29:35):
out get to play, And now that's not the case.
And it's quite lovely and moving to me to have
to really be able to see what it was like
and what it's like now. And it's great now. I
worked more, you know, I kind of aged out. I'm like,
I can't be the mom of teenagers anymore. I don't know,
(29:56):
I just don't. I feel like I was.
Speaker 1 (29:58):
Well, you're going to be a grandmother. Tells about that.
Speaker 2 (30:00):
Oh my son, my oldest kid. He's twenty eight. He
married a tremendous person, this girl, Brianna. I love them,
and uh, they're gonna have a baby Lana. They're naming
her and I'm so tickled. I cannot wait. Did you
end up getting married and having kids or no?
Speaker 1 (30:17):
Oh? Sure? Yeah. I have a nine year old boy.
He just turned nine.
Speaker 2 (30:20):
Oh nice. Oh that's so sweet.
Speaker 1 (30:23):
Yeah, he's very sweet.
Speaker 2 (30:25):
He's so happy because you did not have kids.
Speaker 1 (30:27):
When no, No, I was with the same girl, same woman. Nice. Yeah,
we've been together since two thousand. Oh yeah. Yeah. We
have a beautiful boy, Nicholas, and he's just the joy
of our life. And you know, I miss him when
he goes to school, you know what I mean.
Speaker 2 (30:49):
That's so sweet.
Speaker 1 (30:51):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (30:52):
Every thing I always say is like the most wonderful, fabulous, hideous,
horrific thing I've ever embarked upon. Yeah, because it's rough. Well,
you got a nine year old, they wake up and
they're thirteen years It gets harry, but then they come
out of it like now my life seventeen and he's fantastic.
(31:12):
We're looking at schools and yeah, collegen, you know, it's
just it's I wouldn't trade it for anything, but not
it's no.
Speaker 1 (31:21):
I know, another couple of years, I know it's gonna
get dicey, but.
Speaker 2 (31:26):
He still likes you right now, so that's good. You
got to enjoy it.
Speaker 1 (31:29):
Oh yeah, that's right. And I know there's going to
be that time when the rebellion comes. Ah, it's gonna
be hard.
Speaker 2 (31:36):
It's like what happened to my baby?
Speaker 1 (31:41):
Yeah it is, I know, I know. But what are
you working on now? You're working on anything now? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (31:48):
Yeah, I wrote a script. I like to write stories.
I wrote a script and I am at the moment.
I did a zoom read through and I'm editing it
together because I feel like I have been bumping into
walls about trying to get people to read my script.
So now I can get actors to do read throughs
because I'm friends with actors, but to get to that
(32:12):
next level to get financing. I feel like I have
to I don't know, I have to do a little
put some effort into presenting something just to get them
to turn the page, you know, because I say, oh, well,
you read my script, and I don't believe it gets read.
So that's frustrating. But I very much am enjoying the process.
(32:33):
I also teach acting for the camera at cal Arts
Oh wow, which I wow, really enjoy and I taught
at UCSB acting for the for the camera. I did,
like an intensive showbiz thing ATSB, and I've taught. I
went away for a year and taught at a school
(32:54):
called Savannah College of Art and Design SCAD in Savannah.
I realized that I can't be away from my family.
I broke, right, So I did. I satisfied my year contract.
I was a full time professor there, and then I
was like, I can't do it. I gotta be broke.
If that's what the case is, I'm going to be
(33:15):
broken and be with my husband and my kids.
Speaker 1 (33:17):
Right right right. But cal Arts that's a big deal
kind of place.
Speaker 2 (33:22):
It is a big deal, and the students are freaking amazing,
are so talented. Wait, many times I'll see them. They'll
do a scene in front of the camera and I'll
be like, yeah, well I got nothing that was stupid.
Next that was to do that, And you'll be fine.
Speaker 1 (33:40):
It ain't You're good to go. Thanks for playing.
Speaker 2 (33:45):
Yeah, talented kids, Well.
Speaker 1 (33:48):
Good for them. I wish them all the best. All right,
We're going to do a little section here called rapid fire.
It's not necessarily fast, we just call it rapid fire.
I don't know why we ever called it rap I
think I used to do it quickly and then fans
would write and say, could you slow it down? We
(34:10):
don't understand what's going on. So I'm going to ask
you a series of Gilmore related questions and just answer
them at your leisure. Okay, okay, and here I go.
How do you like your coffee?
Speaker 2 (34:22):
You mean this for the like related to my character?
Speaker 1 (34:26):
No, to you, to me as Kathleen.
Speaker 2 (34:28):
Not my character, because I'm like, I don't remember the
character liked your coffee? I like my coffee. I'm picky
about it because I don't you know, I do caffeine
like crazy. So I have like a coffee bean of
the month. I'm in a coffee bean of the month. Club.
So I like a brown bean if it's too I
(34:48):
don't like black, greasy French rust. I'm a Kona kind
of brown bean and teleg kind of bean. I have
a grinder. I steam my milk, and my husband and
I sit out on our veranda and we look out
on the San Fernando Valley and I drink you know,
I drink my coffee and read my book there. That's
(35:12):
how I like my coffee.
Speaker 1 (35:14):
Have you binged the entire Gilmore Girls series?
Speaker 2 (35:19):
No, I don't like to watch myself. I see when
I see myself on TV, I see like a chin.
She's a long chin, a big fat butt and a high,
squeaky voice. And I just see, like I could blur
my swirly eyes watching a chin on a butt floating
around me. No, so I do not watch myself. So no,
(35:42):
like I don't watch myself.
Speaker 1 (35:44):
Yeah, we have that in common. I can. You know
I started this podcast based on I've never seen the
show for that very reason. You know, I do not
want to watch what I do. But now it's you know,
it's twenty three years removed. I can. I can kind
of deal with it because it's like a different person.
It's like I you know, I vaguely remember that guy.
(36:06):
Yeah you know. Are you team Logan, Team Jess or
Team Dean? I think we know? Yes, Yeah, there you go?
And uh, what would you order at Luke's diner?
Speaker 2 (36:22):
Oh, grilled cheese sandwich like the Luke Steiner would make
the perfect grilled cheese sandwich and probably cup of coffee
and h and I do a side salad with the
probably ranch dressing.
Speaker 1 (36:38):
Harvard or Yale?
Speaker 2 (36:40):
Oh interesting, Yale because of drama.
Speaker 1 (36:44):
Mm hmmm, uh sure yes. Luke's nickname in high school
was Butch. What's your nickname the character? No you Kathleen?
Speaker 2 (36:54):
Oh well, I went by Kathy for years and I've
been called like will beIN high cath Mm Kathy, I'm
not very nothing really very funny. I can't think of anything.
Speaker 1 (37:13):
It's who would you? Who from Gilmore? Would you not
want to be stuck on a desert island with?
Speaker 2 (37:22):
You know? I only worked with you and uh Belise
and you guys are nice Soulian.
Speaker 1 (37:27):
Oh jeez, I lose that fight. Best memory of Gilmore girls, Oh.
Speaker 2 (37:37):
The wedding and being with you guys and everybody.
Speaker 1 (37:40):
The wedding was just classic. I'm still trying to remember
that line that TJ said when he walked by. He
leaned in and said something really funny. Show your binge
watching right now.
Speaker 2 (37:55):
Oh the Gemstones are also the bear.
Speaker 1 (37:59):
Okay cast member you texted most recently.
Speaker 2 (38:07):
I don't keep in touch with anyone. I think I
facetimed or not FaceTime. Facebook messaged Michael Delawis and his mom.
Speaker 1 (38:17):
Passed, mm hmmm something in your life you are all
in on.
Speaker 2 (38:23):
I like to write. I write right right, right right.
I get my novels, my plays, my movies. I write
like when everybody else is off doing whatever they do.
I'm probably home in front of my computer writing my stuff.
Speaker 1 (38:37):
Kathleen Wilhoyt, it has been a pleasure. Brilliant performances, Liz,
brilliant career. Keep it going. Thank you for your time.
This was really fun. The fans are going to love
this and keep on keeping on and and congratulations.
Speaker 2 (38:54):
Then.
Speaker 1 (38:54):
I don't know if it's appropriate to congratulate you for
being your grandmother, but it's it's a great feeling that
must be.
Speaker 2 (39:02):
It's been crazy. I mean I got a T shirt
that said my daughter in law's baby shower that says
somebody's fine ass Grandma.
Speaker 1 (39:12):
You go, Kathleen, best of luck with everything, and we
will probably want to have you back on I got
a feeling this is going to get a big response
in the fan base anyway.
Speaker 2 (39:27):
All the best, all right, all right, take care, all.
Speaker 1 (39:31):
Right, take care. Hey, everybody, don't forget. Follow us on
(40:02):
Instagram at im all In Podcast, and email us at
Gilmore at iHeartRadio dot com.
Hosts And Creators
Amy Sugarman
Danielle Romo
Scott Patterson
Tara Soudbaksh
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