February 22 marks the diamond, 60th anniversary of the 1965 TV broadcast of Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella. Starring a then-18-year-old Lesley Ann Warren in the title role, the broadcast was actually the second television presentation of the musical, a follow-up to a 1957 version starring Julie Andrews.
That '57 broadcast, while an immense success, went out to TVs live nationwide; the technology at that time made it so that being live also meant it was not recorded in a quality that could be shown again. Audiences got to see it in full color, but all we have now is what's called a kinescope, which is essentially made by pointing a 16mm black-and-white camera at a TV screen as the broadcast airs. As a result, the original version of Cinderella—the only Rodgers and Hammerstein musical written expressly for TV—was not available to watch in any official capacity until decades later, when its historic nature prompted a commercial release despite its deficiencies in video quality.
That is why CBS endeavored to make a new Cinderella just eight years after the first. The '65 version was filmed in color on video tape so that it could be shown again and again. Once home video became a situation, it got a release there, too. For many musical theatre fans, the Lesley Ann Warren Cinderella is what first comes to mind when one thinks of the Rodgers and Hammerstein classic.
The '65 Cinderella featured an all-star cast: Ginger Rogers and Walter Pidgeon as the Queen and King, original Oklahoma! stage star Celeste Holm as the Fairy Godmother, Tony Award winner Jo Van Fleet as the Wicked Stepmother, Pat Carroll (later the voice of Ursula in Disney's The Little Mermaid) as one of the Stepsisters, and later General Hospital star Stuart Damon as the Prince.
Warren was a soon-to-be star. At the time, she'd basically just launched her career with a supporting role in Broadway's 110 in the Shade, and was enough of an unknown that she was billed in Cinderella as "introducing." She would go on to a long (and continuing) career full of iconic performances, including an Academy Award-nominated turn in Victor/Victoria (fittingly opposite Cinderella originator Andrews). She also played Miss Scarlet in cult classic whodunnit Clue.
But on occasion of the diamond anniversary of her Cinderella, Playbill recently talked with Warren about the role that kind of started it all and put her on the map. The conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
Warren's Cinderella can currently be streamed on Peacock and Amazon Prime.
Watching this back as I was getting ready to talk to you, I was struck by how lucky I was to have had this to watch when I was a kid. It was an uncommonly good theatrical education, a cast that is just legend after legend, yourself very much included in that.
Lesley Ann Warren: Well I was not a legend at 18—I'll tell you that much. But boy, you're right, legend after legend. I wanted to be a dancer. That was my first love from when I was six years old. And that went on until I was about 14 or 15. So to have Ginger Rogers in the cast was such a dream come true. And then of course Walter Pidgeon, and I was a member of The Actors Studio, and Jo Van Fleet was a legend there, as she was in the film. It was a phenomenal experience.
Tell me about Lesley Ann Warren at 18, when this role falls into your lap.
I had made my Broadway debut in 110 in the Shade, and I had won the Most Promising Newcomer Award that year. And so Charles Dubin, the director of Cinderella, had seen me in that. When I went to audition the first time, I was terrified and pretty much immobilized by being in the room with Richard Rodgers. So they passed on me. It was Charles Dubin who said, "No, no, no. She's just 18. She was really afraid, insecure. Please bring her back." And they did. And this time, Eugene Loring, the choreographer, and Johnny Green, the musical director, and Richard Rodgers and Charlie Dubin were in the room, in Mr. Rodgers' apartment. And [Rodgers] actually asked everyone to go into the other room and invited me to sit down next to him on the piano bench. He played "My Funny Valentine" and had me sing it the way that he wanted it to be sung, which was very much the way it had been written. No riffs, no changes. Just the way he had written it. And that's what got me the job. It was amazing.
If I may ask you to indulge your own ego, do you have any thoughts on why you were the choice for this role beyond that session with Mr. Rodgers?
I honestly don't think this has to do with ego, believe it or not. It's a quality that I had when I was that age, that was a combination of enormous vulnerability and the sensitivity, a particular kind of sensitivity. And a longing and hope. I sort of carried that within me. I could dance and I could sing, all of that, but I think it was the emotional makeup that I was, that radiated from me to them. And that's what they wanted.
Had you seen the Julie Andrews broadcast?
No, which is kind of wild. When I went in to meet [screenwriter and director, and Andrews' husband] Blake Edwards for Victor/Victoria, we talked about that, that we had both done Cinderella. But I had not seen her Cinderella, because when hers came out, I was quite young. For whatever reason—I don't know why—I didn't see it. But that was kind of great in a way, too, because I was able to come to that role with my own perspective and my own understanding, and I treated it like I would any other role in that way. I saw her as a very real young girl in a terrible situation who is really abused, and is secretly hoping for something better for her life. I think that's what I brought to it.
Do you remember being aware of the fact that your Cinderella would be the one that would still be around, with it being filmed on videotape?
You know, I never thought about that. I was very much just focused on doing the best job that I could, and on bringing life to this character that I identified with in many ways. The future of it, I didn't consider that. It wasn't until somebody pointed out to me that it was the highest-rated non-sports event on CBS for 45 years... I couldn't believe it. That was extraordinary.
It's kind of hard to even fathom now in the streaming and on demand age, but audiences had a lot fewer options back then. The entire country, basically, got together to watch Lesley Ann Warren in Cinderella.
Right!
Do you remember how long the process was?
Not exactly. I think we rehearsed for weeks, maybe two, maybe three. Probably three, a combination of rehearsal and costuming. And I think the shooting of it was maybe 10 days, something like that.
That's so interesting, because watching it now, it's very clear that they wanted it to look like a live broadcast, even though it was not a live broadcast. What were those shooting days like?
They were incredibly long days. Stuart Damon [Prince Charming] and I, they gave us rooms across the street from CBS. They put us up to sleep there, because sometimes we would be working 19, 20 hours in a row. In those days, I don't think that AFTRA [the screen actors' union] had the rules that they have now, so we would work these incredibly long hours and they put us up in this motel to sleep for four or five hours and then come back. For me, it was just a combination of a magical experience coupled with nose-to-the-grindstone hard work.
What was the direction you got, and the things you learned from Richard Rodgers and Charles Dubin about the show and the role?
Richard Rodgers was there every second, and he was so amazing with me. I have great pictures of him sitting next to me, pointing out on the sheet music what he wanted different, or what he wanted more of. He was very involved in every way musically. But he took such great care of me. I remember one night, it was like three in the morning or some crazy hour, and I mentioned to somebody that I just felt like some peanut brittle. The next thing I knew, he had driven to an all-night market and came back with this peanut brittle for me.
Charlie was a such a dream. I remember the first time we shot "In My Own Little Corner," he came down from the booth and said, "Sweetheart, we can't understand what you're saying because you're crying so much." I was so emotionally involved in what I was singing and portraying. But he was gentle with me, and protective, because I was the youngest person there and with this huge pressure to fulfill this iconic role. But I never felt anything but support from the two of them.
Well and speaking of crying, it definitely sounds like all the singing is happening on set?
We did sing live. Happily, coming from Broadway, I had that experience very much under my belt, performing musicals. That wasn't new to me, which could have been really terrifying.
Did you have the orchestra there, or were you singing to piano like we read about with modern movie musicals?
We sang to a pre-record of the orchestra. And I remember being in the studio with Johnny Green and the orchestra so that my vocal interpretation was very clearly in line with what they were doing, and vice versa.
Tell me about working with Jo Van Fleet, your "Evil Stepmother."
Well, it was easy to be scared of her. But she was vulnerable as an actress, and a powerful person. I didn't get to really know her, so I don't know if that's really who she is. But she was scary in that role, and I didn't have to do much acting. She was a force to be reckoned with.
It's so wild imagining being 18 around these people. Did you feel confident in what you were doing, or insecure being surrounded by these legends?
Neither, to be truthful. I was a very dedicated young performer. From the time I was so young, I started auditioning for things. I was 14, and my parents didn't let me do the things that I got, like the road company of Bye Bye Birdie, because they wanted me to finish high school, which I did. But upon finishing high school, I immediately went into rehearsal for 110 in the Shade that summer. I was very driven, and driven to be as excellent as I could be. It wasn't confidence. But I was solidly entrenched in everything that I had learned up until that point. So I became her. I became Cinderella. It was no longer Lesley versus Jo Van Fleet, or Lesley and Ginger Rogers. It was Lesley and the Queen Mother. That takes away from me the fear and the separation and the judgement. You are simply being that character in that situation, with the other actors doing the same.
Tell me about Celeste Holm, of course already Rodgers and Hammerstein royalty by the time you worked together.
She was really a movie star to me. Ginger Rogers was as well, of course. But she carried a kind of movie star air about her, Celeste. I remember her telling me not to move my face too much, because I would make lines in my face—I didn't listen to her, sadly. But she was very beautiful, and an absolutely perfectionist actress. She was funny and tender, but she had a certain aloof way about her too, which was sort of perfect for the role. She had this sense of royalty about her. And again, because I was Cinderella, it was very easy for me to look up to her and to be bedazzled by her. She carried that.
Let's talk about that dress. I've heard you had quite a time with it.
It was so heavy. It was a very physically heavy dress. I had to, after hours and hours and hours of wearing it, I had to have these sort of muscle relaxer shots in my shoulders.
That's so interesting, too, because it does not look heavy at all.
Yes, but it was. I think that the way that it moves on the dance floor, which is so gorgeous, but it had to do with the way it was weighted. However [costume designer George Whittaker] constructed it, it was a piece of art. It was heavy, but when I was dancing in it, I never felt more magical or beautiful.
I always loved it as a kid, especially that collar.
It was gorgeous. I guess it was supposed to be ermine.
It looks so royal. Foreshadowing?
Yes. I agree completely.
Tell me about working with Stuart Damon.
Loved him. You know, he wasn't the first Prince that was hired. That was Jack Jones. And he did the opposite of what Richard Rodgers had me do in my audition. He was a jazz singer, that was his background. So he brought a lot of jazz riffs to the music, and that is not what Richard Rodgers wanted at all. So unfortunately, he was replaced. Fortunately for me, Stuart came in, and he was the quintessential prince. He was so gorgeous. He had a glorious voice. What people didn't know about him was he was so funny. We would laugh and laugh between [takes], which was great for me, because the rest of the cast was older. I also had an incredible relationship with Pat Carroll, and went on to do Threepenny Opera together in LA. I just adored her, and she was hysterically funny as well. I love to laugh, so it was a great respite from the intensity of the rest.
So now it's finished. Did you watch it live on TV, or did you get to see it before it aired?
Oh, I don't remember. I swear to God I don't remember. I must have seen it before it was on TV, in case there were any things I had to re-record, to replace or fix. I'm sure I had to see it, but I don't remember. I've been doing this for 50-something years. The first time I see anything that I've done, I'm horrified. I'm very critical, and it takes me two or three times of viewing something to go, "Wait a minute, that's really good. It's nice. It's beautiful." So I'm sure that I was in some kind of altered state when I saw it the first time.
Do you remember the reaction to it, and what it did to your life and career as people saw it?
I didn't realize its impact until later. Right after, I went back to Broadway to do another show, Drat! The Cat!. I went right into rehearsal, and then came out to test for two Disney films, and I just kind of kept going. I was very active, and that was great. What I've thought about a lot as I've gotten older and older is that I didn't take in the glorious experience of what I had done and the wonderful response. I feel sad about that, but I was so driven to keep going. Years later, I started to realized the incredible impact of this particular show on people. It is never ending, the response and the notes I get from all ages of people, and all genders of people. And that's so meaningful to me. I'm not even sure I can fully process it. I try to take it in because it's so gorgeous, but it's huge. It leaves me speechless.
It must, now, feel almost like a home movie. It's so much footage of you at such a momentous part of your life.
I can't believe that little girl, that young girl, young woman, was able to bring to it what she did. It's hard for me to comprehend that my level of experience and sensitivity and training allowed me to portray her at such an authentic, deep level, those feelings. People have said to me that it made them feel not alone, that it resonated so acutely with them. I'm in awe of having been able to do that.
It's interesting to me, too, that this role really stands apart from much of the rest of your career. I associate so much of what you went on to do with comedy!
I think I've always been a character actress, and I've always wanted to be a character actress. I wanted the opportunity to illuminate many different women, at many different crossroads of their lives or their journeys, both comedically and dramatically. I think that was both a conscious, and subconscious yearning on my part, to do all of it.
What are the things from Cinderella that you've carried with you afterwards?
I feel like it started my career with such an enormous gift of this magical, beautiful role, but also the people that I was surrounded by, the great artists like Richard Rodgers. I've been so grateful and lucky to, at that time, chosen to be in the company of such legendary, magnificent artists. That is what I care about. I've done tons of work, I've been working my whole life. But what speaks to me most is when I'm in the company of other artists that are as committed and passionate and excited about what they are doing. When that doesn't happen, I don't have such a good time.
