Typecast?
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jasonmreece-1 — 17 years ago(June 30, 2008 12:37 PM)
That majority of her roles have been some variation of an abrasive, deeply religious, rural Southern woman. Her natural Southern accent (she grew up in Gadsden, Alabama) and her physical appearance make her a natural for these roles. I've had the pleasure of meeting her a few times over the years at fund-raising events. She is actually a very classy-looking and attractive lady in real life.
She is part Cherokee Indian which is apparent from her facial features. All she has to do is leave off the makeup, put her hair up in a bun and slip into an ankle-length dress and she looks like an uptight Pentecostal zealot from backwoods Alabama. The accent and the look are what make her so believable in those roles.
Think of it this way- in so many of the roles she has played, despite having relatively little screen time, her character is the one you remember! Any actor can play a likable character, but it takes true talent to be the one that viewers "love to hate" across the board.
To answer your original question- She has played one starring role as a hilarious and lovable character! The movie is called "Sordid Lives" and was made in 1999 (released in 2000) but was originally limited to the Gay & Lesbian Film Festival circuit. Her co-stars in the movie included Leslie Jordan (Beverly Leslie on Will&Grace), Delta Burke, Bonnie Bedelia, Beau Bridges and Olivia Newton-John! The film's tagline is- "A black comedy about white trash". It's set in rural Texas and her character, Sissy Hickey, is genuinely very kind, loving and absolutely hilarious. The movie has become quite a cult hit.
A cable series based on the movie (actually a prequel to the movie) will be debuting in late July on the LOGO cable network. Beth Grant will once again play the role of Sissy Hickey and Leslie Jordan, Bonnie Bedelia, Beau Bridges AND Olivia Newton-John will reprise their roles from the movie as well. Delta Burke's character will be played by Caroline Rhea, however. The series will also introduce us to Sissy's sister, Peggy, whose death was the opening of the movie and the movie's main subject/plot. T111che role is Peggy is being played by none other than Golden Girl RUE McCLANAHAN. This should be great!
I strongly encourage you to see Sordid Lives. You will laugh until you hurt at parts of it and Beth gives one of her best performances ever. -
andrewpea — 17 years ago(August 02, 2008 08:33 PM)
Jasonmreece, that's a great tribute to Beth Grant and her ability to play character parts (and those "love to hate" roles). Thanks for the info on the "Sordid Lives" 1c84series. A couple of episodes have aired thus far, and she's right on the money, as always. She's perfect in the partvery, very funny!!
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HarveyManfredSinJohn — 9 years ago(September 02, 2016 07:07 AM)
She was likeable in Speed, if a bit stupid. Of course, she was killed-off early on.
However, it's true that she mainly tends to play variations on the same type of character: an uptight, Bible-bashing, interfering crank. But she's so good at it (she's kind of made that type of her character her own) it's no wonder filmmakers and TV producers always go to her to play a certain type.
Clinton/Kaine 2016