411 Movies Interview: Faith Ford
Posted by Tony Farinella on 04.09.2009
411's Tony Farinella sits down Faith Ford for an exclusive interview about the DVD release of Hope and Faith!
Faith Ford has had a lengthy and storied career on television, appearing on such shows as Murphy Brown, Hope and Faith, Carpoolers, The Norm Show, and thirtysomething. Recently, one of her most popular shows, Hope and Faith, was released on DVD. The show featured Kelly Ripa, Robert Wagner, Megan Fox, and many, many more. With Hope and Faith being released on DVD, I had the pleasure of interviewing Faith Ford and we talked about her career, her path to Hollywood, the state of television and a whole lot more. I hope you enjoy my interview with Faith Ford.
TONY: What has it been like reliving this show on DVD and watching all of the episodes again?
Faith Ford: Obviously, I have fond memories. It was a great experience. I loved being with Kelly and we became very close doing the show. We still have relationships. The only problem with Kelly: She's on East Coast; I'm on the West Coast. Because she does a daily show, she's pretty much just there. So the only time I get to really see her is when I get to go to New York. This weekend, I'm going to New Orleans and I'm going to see her there on the show. So that's the biggest thing: It's hard for me to watch sometimes because I really miss that kind of girlfriend relationship that we shared together. I got really close with her kids and it was like a family in New York.
TONY: The show also featured a number of memorable guest stars, including Robert Wagner. What do you remember about working with some of the guest stars on the show?
Faith Ford: Well, Robert Wagner is everything that Hollywood should be and always was before. He's the epitome of class, and he's so suave and debonair. He's just a really amazing person. We, of course, loved the way he smelled. On a side note, he is just the best smelling man. I don't know what cologne, but it is the Robert Wagner special. He would wear these cashmere sweaters that were just so soft. He's the only man that could wear lavender and pull it off. Well, he has daughters, so it's really comfortable for him to be around women. He's just good around women in general. That was definitely a fond memory. We loved the stars that we got, and the acting pool in New York, of course, is like none other. It was theater actors, so they would do Broadway plays at night and then they would come and do our show, which was really exciting. We had Pat Fields from Sex and the City. She did our clothing on the show, so it was a treat to do wardrobe fittings every week. We had really great shoes, which was a fun, little, fluff note. I think I was the first woman on television; next to Leave It to Beaver's mom that literally brought the heel back into the living room. It's become sort of OK for women to dress good and be moms.
TONY: Having done different television shows in the past, what kind of expectations did you walk into this show with?
Faith Ford: I always have my expectations pretty low. I keep a pretty humble attitude about this business in general because you just never know if people are going to want to watch what you like. I personally felt like it was unique at the time. There weren't very few many sitcoms on television. We were at the end of what that was. The ones that were on television were very well established and had very strong audiences. It was the end of Frasier, the end of Will and Grace. All of that was happening at the time we were starting our show. I think that we sort of knew going in that it was going to be a little bit of an uphill battle because the networks were kind of like, ‘Well, maybe the sitcom is dead.' But we did hold our own for three years. Kelly brought an audience that she had that was pretty solid. I had fans of Murphy Brown from the past, and I think we got new fans as a result. We got sort of young girls, which we didn't expect. That was all good. But you just never going in thinking, ‘Oh, we got it. This is going to be a hit.' You just never know.
TONY: When you were working on the show, did you follow the ratings at all and read the reviews? Or did you just block it out and focus on what you were doing?
Faith Ford: No. I would love to say that I do and that I don't read, but Kelly and I did stay pretty involved in that. One side of us is like, ‘We don't care.' The other side is you can't help it. You either have a business head or you don't. We're both bent that way, which means you know more than just what your little world is. You're either mindful of it or you're not. We would watch, but we wouldn't take it to heart necessarily. But you do watch week to week. A lot of that is promotion. It's how much the network invests in you and stuff. That's just a fact that people out there probably don't know. A network can either make a show or they can break a show. Or sometimes they try really hard to make a show and, no matter what, it just doesn't work. I think we were somewhere in the middle. They started out with a really strong push for our show. I think they did this big Friday night push for all the shows. They did a Friday night TGIF that we got thrown in with. When that didn't work, the network kind of changed helms, and when that changes, whoever was responsible for bringing you in, they leave and the new people aren't as enthusiastic maybe. It's the politics of the business. Unfortunately or fortunately, they still let us stay on the air for another two years. They moved us around on the schedule and stuff. It would have been better in the end if we stayed on Friday nights. They moved us, which was probably a little bit whatever. But I think we did get a pretty fair go of it, ultimately. It would have been nice to have gotten one or two more seasons. That's like a long-lived show these days. Sometimes going out early is better.
TONY: You've talked in previous interviews about how you were trying to make it in Hollywood at a young age and how you had six months to make it or you had to go back home. How did you deal with that pressure?
Faith Ford: For the most part, I just didn't take it that seriously. I think that was pretty much the way I handled it. I think that taking my work seriously was important but not the actual business. I was also very young. I started when I was seventeen; they're starting even younger now. If you have a good support system around you, meaning your family or your friends, and I had a group of friends out in L.A. and we were all working to do the same thing and we were in class together. I strongly encourage that. That's always the best way to do it because then you're not the only one and you don't stay in your own head and become isolated. And that's what I do right now. There are so many other actors in my age group that aren't working and it has nothing to do with their abilities. It's just that sometimes they're not in the mood for this group. And the next year, it will be the hottest thing, and the next year, it's different. It's very cyclical. How you remain resourceful and tap into other things is what makes the difference in you having resilience in this business.
TONY: Before you were able to pay the bills with acting, you had a number of random jobs. What was the worst job you've ever had?
Faith Ford: Look, I loved my jobs in the end. I did get fired from a flower shop, which wasn't the best feeling. Here's how it goes. I like to do the best that I can possibly do, no matter what I do. So sometimes quantity reigns over quality, and for me, it's all about quality first, not quantity. If someone would want to come in on Valentine's Day and buy a dozen roses, I would say, ‘Don't get a dozen. That's boring. You can either do a select few and it's a little bit less, but you're getting a more special thing.' Then I would have these long lines of people waiting. If you're pushing them out the door, it doesn't really matter if you sell one dozen roses of if you sell to a dozen people three or four special flowers. But he didn't seem to think that way. He was like, ‘Faith, sell them their dozen roses and get them out. I love you, but you gotta go.' It was a fun job for me, but in the end, it wasn't so great for the owners.
TONY: Do you ever wonder how you would have handled Hollywood if you were just starting out today? It seems like there are so many ways for celebrities to get in trouble.
Faith Ford: I don't know what I would do if I started out now. I don't know if it would have been my personality to have it endured it right now. I have such sympathy for people getting into it now. Not to discourage, because there are so many different venues. That is what's great about it. They can make their own movies and put them on the Internet and before you know it, they have their own deal. So on that level, there's so much opportunity. On the other level, if you move out here, because there's so much opportunity, there are so many people. It's nothing now for moms to come out with their kids at twelve and they're homeschooling them now. They didn't have homeschooling in my day. Now, everybody is homeschooling and they have tutors when they work. By the time they're twenty-one, they have a huge resume. I can't say that's what I would have wanted to do because I'm kind of a little bit simpler than that.
TONY: How do you feel about the state of television today, with so many unique shows out there like House and the Office?
Faith Ford: I think that variety is the spice of life, ultimately, and there's not a typical kind of show anymore. You think about comedy and you think, ‘Oh, it's this and drama is that.' Who knew that a show about vampires would be as successful as that one is? It's just gone through the roof with young people. I think I would have liked it as a young person because I was very into vampires and, also, the way they sort of have the reality/scripted programming, which is really interesting and different. I love shows like House. It's really outside the box and it's not the typical way of doing it. Ultimately, I think that the horizon is really bright. It's just a great opportunity for people out there.
TONY: Do you feel a certain sense of responsibility to tutor the young actors today and show them the ropes?
Faith Ford: I try in my life not to give too much advice because it's my instinct to want to, but just like I didn't really love to get it when I was young by a lot of people, I don't think they really want it either. I think they have to go through their process, whatever that is. When you're young, you're pretty invincible. I think that's the balance of life. You have to figure they have parents and they have people around them that are there to do that. I really resist that for the most part. There is an instinct, a motherly instinct that wants to help. If it's ever asked of me, I certainly offer it. But I would never want to offer it without being asked.
TONY: Speaking of advice, if someone asked you for advice on how to make it in Hollywood with only fifty dollars and a dream, what would you tell them?
Faith Ford: I'm hearing now that you don't have to do that anymore. So I'd say if you don't have fifty dollars, don't come out to L.A. Stay where you are and really investigate contacting casting directors on the Internet because that is really the way they are doing it now. They're seeing tapes from all over the place. I was going in on meetings for pilot season this year and the directors were saying they go through tapes of people from Australia or wherever. So you don't have to do that anymore. Good news.
