Swoosie Kurtz has spent decades alternating between stage and screen, winning two Tony awards and an Emmy along the way. But when she got the script for ABC’s new hit “Pushing Daisies,” she assumed it was for a juicy role in a feature film.
“I always go where the material is,” Swoosie told me recently. "The woman on the page, can I bring her to life? is she someone I played before? Does she scare me? This just leaped out at me, this script. I mean, this was like no other thing I had read. I got to the bottom of page one and thought, ‘Wait. This is a film script. But no, it said ABC television. I couldn’t believe this was going to be on network television. I thought, I don’t care if this gets picked up or not, it’s something I’m going to be proud to say I was a part of. Anything can happen in this story because it’s magical, fantastical and has a spiritual quality about it.”
Kurtz and Ellen Green play eccentric sisters who were once the renowned synchronized swimming duo the Darling Mermaid Darlings but are now racked with social anxieties.
"I love this character, I love where she's going - there's some secrets down the line.
The quirky “Daisies,” which many feared might be a tough sell, is one of the breakout hits of the fall season and gives Swoosie her first real TV hit since the long-running NBC drama "Sisters" in the 90s. She was Emmy nominated, however, for her recurring role on the late Showtime seires "Huff."
Glad to be in a hit Swoosie says she is always prepared for any outcome and looks ahead.
"I've sort of followed ny bliss, followed my heart."