(For those who don't get the reference, the title of this topic is inspired by an old Saturday Night Live skit, "Coffee Talk," featuring Michael Myers as talk maven Linda Richman "filling in for my dear friend Paul Baldwin, who is STILL in Boca Raton with shpilkis in his genechtigezoink." In this skit, Linda and two of her dear friends, played by Madonna and Rosanne Barr, were discussing "Barbra Joan Streisand" and the movie "Prince of Tides," which they kept saying was "like BUTTAH." Madonna said "It's better than HEROIN, not that I would ever know what heroin is like!")
In honor of the imminent publication of "Grayson Hall: a Hard Act to Follow," by R. J. Jamison, the new full-length biography of our very own Dr. Julia Hoffman, I am starting this thread to discuss favorite scenes by the Divine One on our show. Her own favorite role on the series was that of Magda--after 1969 she mentioned in several magazine interviews that Magda was "still alive" and hinted that she would enjoy playing her again. One of my favorite Magda moments was featured in the board slide show a couple of days ago: [spoiler]after Sandor's death, Magda tells Barnabas to bite her, so she can know what Sandor went through during his last months of life. Even better, perhaps, is the scene where Magda takes an axe (at the end of this show) and chops the Hand of Count Petofi in two--I just love the look on her face in this scene![/spoiler]
This highlights how so many of Grayson's great moments on the show were entirely (or almost entirely) non-verbal. I loved the scene (used by Claude North in one of his videos available on You Tube) where Julia comes to the Old House in the 1967 storyline and [spoiler]informs Barnabas that she's wiped Maggie's memory through hypnosis--and Barnabas is now going to have accept that Dr. Hoffman is in charge. While she makes this statement, she lights her cigarette off of one of Barn's cherished candelabras, inserts it into a long holder, and casually blows smoke around the room, while he glares at her in outrageous. It's a FABULOUS moment.[/spoiler]
I do think that in some ways, Grayson's finest acting was as Hoffman, the housekeeper in Parallel Time 1970. You get to see her toning things way down and working with a degree of restraint not seen in her other work on DS. I love how subtly she intimidates and condescends to Maggie in the initial days of the storyline. One of my favorite moments is when she is talking about Quentin and says (clearly thinking of his sexual relationship with late wife Angelique, whom Hoffman idolized) "He had EVERYTHING." The way she says the line makes it clear, with devastating finality, that in Hoffman's eyes, Quentin deserved NONE of what he had. And then there's the great moment when Hoffman comes into the drawing room and [spoiler]sees Alexis for the first time, believing her to be Angelique back from the dead. Her reaction is beautifully played and very realistic.[/spoiler]
I encourage other fans to share their favorite Grayson moments in this thread.
Can't wait to see the new book! Big congratulations to RJ!
Best, G.