Marilu Henner
Performs at "Help is on the Way" 14
by Tim Gaskin

Actress chats about the fundraiser, her career and why San Francisco is the perfect city.
Marilu Henner is headlining at Help Is On The Way happening August 3 at the Palace of Fine Arts. Marilu, welcome to OUT Spoken.
Well, thank you. Thanks for inviting me!

I am glad to be talking to you. What will you be performing on stage that night?
Ah, I am very excited, because the theme is Blame It On The Movies. So, when I heard I'd get a chance to do one of my favorite numbers from an old movie. I'd done the Broadway show years ago and now they're doing a revival and everything. I've always loved the show Pal Joey and the movie Pal Joey (1957), so I chose to do the Rita Hayworth number "Zip," from the movie.

How did you find your way back to "Help is on The Way"?
Oh, you know Bruce Vilanch is a friend. David Galligan who directs it every year, he is helping me put together my one-woman show. So he called me and I'd done the show seven years ago in San Francisco and then recently in March I did the one in Los Angeles. And I had such a good time and met so many great people; when he invited me to come to San Francisco, I thought, okay, this sounds great, I like the theme, I am in.

Let me ask you this about your one-woman show. Will you be bringing your one-woman show through San Francisco?
Oh my gosh, are you kidding me? I love San Francisco. I mean to me, San Francisco is kind of the perfect city because it's a little bit of Chicago, my home town, a little bit of Los Angeles, New York, New Orleans; it's kind of the perfect city with the best of everybody, yet it is uniquely San Francisco.

Now you're a big Broadway star, television star, film star, and reality TV star; what do you like doing best?
People ask me that question all the time and I always, I think my favorite thing to do is always what I am in the middle of doing. I think I would get board if I only chose one medium to perform in. I mean, I really love being on a movie set and doing something more intimate and then you do this quiet scene and it's recorded for all times and hopefully they pick the right version of it and you know, that's what ends up in the movie. And it's very real and very, you know, very natural.

And then I love being on stage, because you have the excitement of the audience and you're in present time and you can sort of gauge your performance and it's different every night, and there's nothing like the energy of live theatre.

And you know, sitcoms sort of have, sort of a balance between the two because you have the audience but it's recorded for all times. And you know, I think I just always love what I'm right in the middle of, I certainly love writing to because that setting is so intimate and natural.

Well, it doesn't get any bigger in television right now than reality; you were on one of the biggest reality shows, The Celebrity Apprentice.
I had a great time too; I had a great, great time. We did thirteen tasks in twenty days, so it definitely suited my energy. It was pretty wild.

What's it like with Donald Trump. Good guy?
He's fun! I loved him. This guy, you know I wrote a book called, Wear Your Life Well. I was working on it before I started the show and then finished it afterwards. And boy, if there's someone who wears his life well its Donald Trump. I mean he loves what he does. It reminded me of that line from Apocalypse Now, you know, I always imagine Donald Trump waking up and saying, "I love the smell of competition in the morning!" You know?

In your autobiography, By All Means, Keep on Moving, you discuss romances with John Travolta and Taxi costars Judd Hirsch and Tony Danza.
Great, great, great people from my past, I love all of them.

If it were a different time and place, would Donald Trump have ended up in the book as one of your great romance?
[Guffaws] I certainly hope so [giggling]! I don't know, I mean who knows, who knows, yeah, possibly. I love people who love, I think a man who loves his life and does what he does really well, and seems to enjoy himself, that's always really sexy to me; so probably.

You guys still in touch?
Yeah, I call him all the time; I talk to him about every couple of weeks.

You're going to be performing on stage with some big hitters. Who are you most looking forward to seeing backstage the night of "Help Is On The Way"?
Gosh, you know what's so funny everybody is so for one another and you get to really kind of bond over the rehearsals, and then it's always very crowded backstage and you're always three or four people in each dressing room. So, I don't know, it's going to be fun to see everybody.

Bruce Vilanch is always a blast; I mean everything that comes out of his mouth is funny. He and I played Celebrity Charades and my kids got involved too. So, you know, he knows my family, which always makes for a great connection.

I love Constantine Maroulis, because he and I are both Greek and so we are always talking about being Greek. I don't know I always get a kick out of the American Idol people, and Rita Moreno, she's great, Ricki Lake's fabulous, Maureen McGovern so, I don't know, just the whole group of them. It's going to be a lot of fun!

Help Is On The Way, August 3 at the Palace of Fine Arts. VIP Reception: 5:00pm Gala Reception: 6:00pm Performance: 7:30pm Underwriter Dessert Reception: 10:00pm richmondermet.org.