Emmy contenders: Can Miss Blankenship come back to 'Mad Men'?

 
Playing Don Draper’s dotty secretary on six episodes of “Mad Men” last season, Randee Heller had only a handful of scenes and maybe 30 lines. And now she has an Emmy nomination as well, a just reward for turning the bossy Miss Ida Blankenship into an iconic comic creation that went well beyond anything “Mad Men” creator Matt Weiner had in mind.

“Randee was channeling something and came up with a character that is so far from who she is that it was amazing,” Weiner says. “I said to her in the audition, ‘You’re too young for this.’ She said, ‘You can make me look awful. I’m fine with it.’ And I replied, ‘OK, then … we will!’ ”

The Envelope caught up with the 64-year-old Heller at her Tarzana home recently and learned that though her native Brooklyn accent isn’t as thick as Miss Blankenship’s, she has the same wonderfully nutty comic brio as her character.

Did the Emmy nomination catch you off guard?

Of course, there’s always the fantasy, but I never thought it would happen. That morning, it’s 5:30 and I’m laying in bed with my iPhone because I just wanted to see and put it behind me. Then the phone rings and it’s my girlfriend of 50 years from grade school, and she’s screaming, “You got it! You got it!” Then I started screaming and my boyfriend ran in, thinking something happened to me.

Something was! And Ida didn’t even have to sleep with Don Draper to make it happen.

Not that you know, anyway. (Laughs) But between you and me, he doesn’t remember. He was very drunk that night.

He was drinking a lot at that point in the season.

And that, I think, is why Miss Blankenship worked so well. Things were getting so dark and tragic on the show, so here’s this bumbling, irritating, wisecracking woman -- the comic relief. It’s very Shakespearean. Someone had to come in and release all that emotional tension -- (Heller’s phone rings. The ring tone is the sound of a dog barking.) That’s my daughter. She loves her dog, so I chose that ring. One day I was walking across Ventura Boulevard and I’d forgotten I’d chosen that sound. My phone went off, and I thought there was a dog chasing me down the street and I started screaming. (Laughs)

I see now why Matt hands you the credit for Miss Blankenship.

He told me, “I didn’t know how funny you were.” That just naturally comes out. And it was fun to show up and say, “OK. What can I do with her? How can I make the most of this?”

Were you sorry to see her go?

I thought the arc was great. I mean, it was disappointing. I would have loved to continue. But I thought it was perfect, actually.

Did you have a hand in the way she died?

We knew she was going to die at her desk. But the manner in which I did it -- putting her head back and the tongue out -- that was me. They actually had a stunt guy come because it was painful to drop my head down on the desk like that. They put a tiny pad down where my forehead would hit. I went down like a warrior!

Could you believe the reaction?

Oh, my God! People still come up to me. “Maybe they could bring you back as a ghost. Or you could play her sister.” They’re not happy that she’s gone.

Roger Sterling did deliver that beautiful eulogy: “She died like she lived, surrounded by the people she answered phones for.”

I loved that! (Laughs) I feel so blessed. I had been acting for 41 years and I dropped out about nine years ago. You hit a certain age and you’re either too young or too old. So I said, “I’ve had it.” I went back to school, got a teaching degree and taught English as a second language to adults from all over the world. And I loved it. It was incredibly rewarding. Then I moved in with my boyfriend. We had been going together for 11 years. And because I didn’t have to worry about the rent, I decided to go back to acting a little bit. And one of the first auditions I had was “Mad Men.”

And now you’re going to the Emmys. You think anyone will recognize you?

Once I was at yoga in the morning with no makeup and someone said to me, “Oh, did you play Miss Blankenship?” I was crushed. So, I’m hoping no one will make the connection.

Maybe you could just wear the cat-eye glasses to the red carpet.

Or get all decked out in a beautiful gown … and then put on the wig! Wouldn’t that be something? (Laughs)

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--Glenn Whipp

Top photo of Randee Heller as Miss Blankenship in "Mad Men" by Michael Yarish/AMC

Portrait of Heller by Bobby Quillard

Emmys: Matthew Weiner already knows how 'Mad Men' will end

"Mad Men" has won the Emmy for outstanding drama series for the last three years and may well be on its way to a fourth with a fresh nomination Thursday morning. For series creator Matthew Weiner, the recognition is completely gratifying.

How are you feeling?

I’m so thrilled, I’m so excited, I can’t even tell you.

Where were you when you heard the good news?

I was lying in bed in the dark, turned on the TV and woke up my wife because she now knows she has to wake up and pretend she wouldn’t rather be asleep. It was great. I had no idea it was going to happen this deep into the show. It was really exciting.

What will you do to celebrate?
We’re a very superstitious bunch of people, so we try to do everything exactly the same way. We decided that no matter what happened today, we’re going to get together and drink tonight. And we will probably drink during the day here also, which will probably limit our productivity. We’re not shooting, so that helps a little bit; the writers room is open, production is clicking away, so everyone is open to that. It’s also the way the show is. There’s something extra sweet about it because, four years into it, you just don’t expect to be in it.

 You submitted “The Suitcase.”  Why did you choose that episode?

That episode is very special. It’s one of those episodes where you get to pay off a lot of tensions. People recognize their own workplaces and workplace relationships. These are two characters (Don Draper, Peggy Olson) who have spent a lot of time together, and we’ve gotten to see a lot of it, but a lot of it has still been left unsaid. In this episode, it gets said. It was a payoff that was earned, that experience is very satisfying. You have sentiment and emotion, and not shove it in people’s faces.

Elisabeth Moss also got a nomination.

She’s an incredible actress. I’ve never given her anything that didn’t sound better when she said it. Everyone is better when they are in scenes with her. She’s a very, very natural and intelligent actress. I give her credit, she doesn’t get a lot coaching or conversation. We don’t talk about motivations. We don’t really have any traditional conversations you have about acting and character. She does it from her gut, and she’s never made a wrong choice as far as I’m concerned. 

How about Jon Hamm?

Jon is always amazing. He’s had scripts where he’s only had four lines, and he dominates them. He’s such a versatile actor, and now everybody knows it from having seen him in all these different comedy parts and “The Town,” but we got to show that off, and that was very cool.

You put AMC on the map, but they’ve done a good job now of airing other quality shows — "Breaking Bad," "The Killing," "Walking Dead" — what do all these nominations mean for AMC and basic cable?

I think it really helps explain that it’s a great place to work; to me, it proves that competition in the marketplace is a really good thing. There’s a lot of shows here that network TV just can’t do; they can’t support it because they don’t deliver the mass audiences that they require. At the same time, audiences really like them and they have longevity and they succeed in all these different formats. Business models are very different than they used to be, so, for creative people, this is a golden opportunity. Cable has found a way to tap into a lot frustrated creativity and exploit it financially.

You have three seasons left. Do you have an end in mind for the show?

I do. I do. I do. I do have an ending in mind. I’m keeping it close to the vest in case I change my mind. I don’t want to share it with anyone. I kind of, well, that’s all I should say on that.

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 — Martin Miller

Photo: Matthew Weiner. Credit: Anne Cusack / Los Angeles Times.

Envelope Emmy Week: 'Mad Men' creator Matthew Weiner takes us inside the show (Video)

The "Beautiful Girls" episode of "Mad Men" is creator Matthew Weiner's tribute to women -- from little Sally Draper running off to the city all by herself, to Don Draper's relationship with Dr. Faye Miller, to his elderly secretary Miss Blankenship. Poor Miss Blankenship. She died how she lived, answering phones for the people she worked for. Yet, oddly, it was her rather comedic demise, Weiner says, and her remembrances by Bert Cooper, that made up the "emotional core" of the episode. See what else Weiner had to say at the Envelope Emmy Week screening on Tuesday night. And check back in for more clips to come.

 

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--Elena Howe

Envelope Emmy Week: 'Mad Men's' Jon Hamm offers a glimpse inside Don Draper (video)

"Mad Men" creator Matthew Weiner was joined by cast members Jon Hamm, Christina Hendricks and Kiernan Shipka in an Envelope Q&A session on Tuesday night. Asked about Don Draper's inner workings, Hamm had to admit that the advertising whiz is "fundamentally flawed." His life is based on a lie, Hamm says of his character, and while he tries to change who he is and how he operates, he fails to make much progress. Take a look at the excerpt below of the hourlong discussion and check back often for further clips.

-- Elena Howe