With more than a bit of trepidation, I finally watched Grace & Frankie. I love Jane Fonda and Sam Waterston, but have never been a huge Martin Sheen fan. Lily Tomlin the actress I like, the comedian... without a script from another, never found her that funny. The reviews were not great, nor was the pilot, but if you managed to get through the first few episodes, the show did find it's groove.
I ended up really enjoying it, especially some of the great one liners. It is funny to me, that it was Tomlin's character that I found far more interesting than Fonda's and Martin Sheen was rather adorable as Robert. Their kids, although not given too much air time. were half interesting. June Diane Raphael and Ethan Embry were great but Brooklyn Decker and Baron Vaughn could be written off without missing a beat. Ernie Hudson, always a fine actor, was also incredibly sexy in his brief appearances.
By far however, my favorite character was Sol played by the talented, and adorable Sam Waterston. There was something so interesting watching this 70 something gay couple that I loved. Although the gay jokes often fell flat (really flat Marta...) but although I am about half Waterston's age, I loved seeing this older, interesting couple being depicted on TV. I would love to think that when I am 75, I might have a Sol to share my final chapter with.
Sam Waterston has been acting (and modeling... see below) since the mid sixties. One of the most talented, and busiest actors in the business, Waterston is so reliable he often gets less attention than some of his more flashy co-stars. Although I have since seen many of his older movies, I think I first took notice of Waterston when I was a teenager watching the beautiful, but short lived, I'll Fly Away.
Law & Order
Waterston has worked with almost everyone in the business and his leading ladies, in addition to Fonda and Tomlin run the spectrum from Katharine Hepburn through Reese Witherspoon. Waterston's talents have shined on Television, in movies and on stage and has been nominated for pretty much every major award from the Emmy, Tony, Golden Globe and the Oscar. Waterston won a Screen Actor's Award for his role on Law & Order and an Emmy for his time on I'll Fly Away.
Sam with Jeff Bridges in Rancho Deluxe (1975)
Sam Waterston has a quality, both authentic and appealing as well as caring and kind. It comes through in almost everyone of his roles. There are only a handful of actors almost everyone, regardless of age, can connect to over a project, but Waterston is certainly one of those actors. I would think it difficult to find anyone who hasn't at one time or another, fell just a wee bit in love with Waterston.
The Killing Fields (1984)
Sam with Reese Witherspoon in Man In The Moon (1991)
Sam with Glenn Close, Mary Beth Hurt and Simon Jones in Benefactors (1985)
Leading Ladies Loretta Swit and Stockard Channing
Sam with Katharine Hepburn in The Glass Menagerie (1973)
Sweet William: (1980)
Sam Waterston: The Model
'This is Sam Waterston. He's whip-thin, flop-haired, one quick scampy grin of a guy.'
It was interesting finding some old modeling images from Waterston's time as a model in the 60's. When starting out he was a part of many editorials shown in magazines like Vogue, Cosmopolitan and Mademoiselle.
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