Mary Steenburgen Credits Jack Nicholson with Jump-Starting Her Career: 'I Owe Every Single Thing to Him'
Mary Steenburgen and Jack Nicholson costarred in 1978's 'Goin' South,' which marked Steenburgen's feature film debut
Mary Steenburgen is recalling how Jack Nicholson made a major impact on her career.
On Wednesday, Nov. 20, Steenburgen, 71, appeared on SiriusXM's Where Everybody Knows Your Name podcast, hosted by her husband Ted Danson, and spoke about her experience auditioning for 1978's Goin' South, her feature film debut. Nicholson, now 87, directed and starred in the movie and eventually cast Steenburgen as his co-lead after a chance meeting outside a casting director's office.
"And he had to fight for me because Paramount said, 'Yeah, that's the best screen test, but you've got to pick your second choice because she's never done anything, she has a weird last name, you pick number two, all of whom are huge stars,' " she said. "And he fought for me. He said, 'Then we don't do the movie.' And the movie was shut down for a few days until they relented. He was my mentor and I owe every single thing to him."
The actress recalled that she lingered after a meeting with a casting director — in hopes of apologizing after she felt she too forcefully asked for a script for the movie — when she bumped into Nicholson, who asked whether she was auditioning for the movie; he handed her a script when Steenburgen, then an unknown aspiring actor, said she was not and he asked her to return the following day to audition.
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Jack Nicholson and Mary Steenburgen on set of 1978's Goin' South"We read every scene in the movie twice. And then he said, 'So, where have you been?' I said, 'Well, I've been here for about six years.' And he was so beautiful and kind to me," Steenburgen recalled of the audition, adding that Nicholson "kissed each of my cheeks" before the meeting was over and revealed he intended to direct the movie.
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Though Steenburgen admitted it seemed unlikely she would get the part given her unknown status at the time, she was eventually offered a screen test with six other actresses.
Nicholson himself wound up visiting her at the restaurant she worked at in New York City to tell her she had won the role outright. "Jack was sitting there smoking a huge cigar and he goes, 'Sit down, kid, don't worry about that because you're on the payroll now,' " she said.
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Jack Nicholson and Mary Steenburgen in 1978's Goin' SouthGoin' South marked an infrequent directing job for Nicholson, who has only four directing credits to his name over more than five decades spent working in Hollywood. Nicholson is better known for his acting and has won three Academy Awards; he retired from acting after making 2010's How Do You Know.
New episodes of SiriusXM’s Where Everybody Knows Your Name premiere every Wednesday on the SiriusXM app and wherever podcasts are available.
