Did They Ever Have Ann Marie and Donald Meet Again
How That Daughter Star Marlo Thomas Constitute Success on Her Ain Terms
"I was 26 years former and i of the youngest women e'er to produce their own TV show. And let me tell you, it wasn't easy."
I accept a favorite saying that hangs near my desk-bound: "Never face the facts." Considering the truth is, if you lot do, you lot probably won't get out of bed in the forenoon. I love this quote because in life there will always exist someone who'll tell you that the odds are against y'all. People said to my father [Danny Thomas], "You tin can't build a hospital for sick children. Y'all're a comedian." And they said to me, "You can't create a television receiver series about a single working girl. No one has ever washed that." But I was raised to tune out the naysayers and follow my dreams.
Afterward I graduated from higher, all my friends were getting married. I was a bridesmaid 17 times, which was wonderful. But I remember looking effectually, saying, "I don't want that." I had other plans.
I started working on my show, That Daughter, in 1965. I was 26 years old and one of the youngest women ever to produce their own Goggle box show, following Lucy [Lucille Ball]. And let me tell y'all, information technology wasn't piece of cake. I was surrounded by men, and many didn't want to exist in a situation where a adult female had the power. They didn't desire their paychecks signed by a woman either.
It was hard to fifty-fifty get the show on the air considering the network said nobody would picket a single girl who didn't want to get married and wanted a career instead. And they also said nobody wanted to watch a show starring Marlo Thomas because, well, nobody knew who the hell I was.
Information technology all seemed pretty doomed. But and then the night we went on the air, something magical happened: We vanquish the competition. And that was considering [my character] Ann Marie wasn't that revolutionary. There were women all over America who wanted to be that girl — the 1 who didn't settle down correct out of her parents' business firm but wanted to become into the world and figure out who she was.
Credit: TAWNI BANNISTER/The New York Times/Redux
I was thrilled about the success of the bear witness, but I wasn't prepared for the criticism on the set. Instead of saying I was smart and organized, they'd say I was tough and aggressive. There was a running joke that when they couldn't find me, they'd say, "Oh, she's just in the men's room having a meeting with Lucy." The derogatory remarks virtually the fact that I was a woman with power always hit beneath the chugalug.
The first year of That Girl, everybody on staff was a man except for the costume designer, the hairdresser, and me. In that location I was, doing a testify most an independent single adult female with scripts written only past men. After reading a scene, I'd say, "Well, a woman wouldn't say that." And they'd say, "Yes, simply information technology's funny." The problem was information technology wasn't true.
By Season 2, I was hiring female writers. That time in my life taught me that there is safety in numbers. We all need to environment ourselves with other women who work the style we practice in every field. I seemed like a freak of nature for thinking that fashion, but even though there weren't many women writing one-act at the fourth dimension, we institute them.
For the concluding episode the network and Clairol, our sponsor, wanted Ann Marie and her fellow, Donald [played past Ted Bessell], to have a wedding. I said, "I can't practice information technology. These women have followed her for five years, and I can't say to them now that the merely happy ending is a wedding ceremony." Then the terminal show concluded up being Ann Marie taking Donald to a women'due south-lib coming together. The network wasn't happy, but I was. It made the audition happy too. I got tons of mail that said, "Cheers for non copping out."
At the time I never wanted to be married. That's why it didn't happen on the show. But I've learned if y'all discover the correct mate, marriage tin be the cushion of life. Somewhen, I did run across my match. And fifty-fifty though I've won Emmys and been awarded the Presidential Medal of Liberty and accomplished all sorts of things, my 39-year-spousal relationship to my husband, Phil [Donahue], is one of my proudest achievements.
In the cease, being a strong woman isn't about any one thing you do. It'southward about looking at your life and continuing to do — and go after — the things y'all believe are right for you, and realizing that you don't have to color between the lines to become them.
— As told to Jennifer Ferrise
Thomas is an actress, a producer, an writer, and an activist. She serves as director of National Outreach for St. Jude Children'due south Enquiry Hospital, founded by her male parent, Danny Thomas.
For more stories like this, selection upward the August issue ofInStyle, available on newsstands, on Amazon, and for digital download July 19.
Source: https://www.instyle.com/celebrity/marlo-thomas-that-girl
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