Plus, that crazy ’70s TV movie she did that was co-written by Joan Rivers.
Stockard Channingwill never forget her first day onThe West Wing.
“I flew from Toronto across the country, they threw me into an evening dress.
Michael O’Neil/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images via Getty Images
Marty was outside sneaking a cigarette, wearing white tie and tails, I’ll never forget.
And they said, ‘Okay, we need you on set.’
That was it.”
“It just worked,” she says.
“We had this chemistry from the beginning.
I don’t know what it was, but we had it and it didn’t go away.
It was a happy accident.”
Channing, 76, says Abbey Bartlet didn’t get her M.D.
until after that first episode.
I said, ‘Whatever you say, boss,'" she says with a laugh.
So that’s it.
That was the beginning of that whole arc that went for seven years.
I don’t remember eating very much.
It was very much of a whirlwind thing, but it worked.
That’s Aaron’s imagination, it’s incredible."
“Everything was just premium, it was a joy to be part of it.”
It certainly has stuck in viewers’ minds as well.
Her costars includedEd Asnerand “Gopher”-turned-Iowa congressman Fred Grandy.
(If you have not seen it, treat yourself.
It is bonkers.)
Well, I mean, you know, you don’t f— with Joan.
And she also realizes that if she killed him, no one would ever make the connection.
I’m not making this up.
So that was the seed."
I just was raring to go.
I had a washer up my nose [to help make her look ‘ugly’] because… seriously.
And my boyfriend at the time said, ‘What if your nose stays that way?'"
Crazily enough,The Girl Most Likely Toended up being pivotal to her career.
I’m not kidding.
It was a million years ago, and then it was the highest-rated movie of the week.
Revenge always works."
For more onThe West Wingcast reunion and EW’s 30th anniversary,order the September issue ofEntertainment Weeklynow.
