Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, August 13, 1993 TAG: 9308130031
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By JEFF GILES NEW YORK TIMES SYNDICATE
DATELINE: LOS ANGELES LENGTH: Medium
"I was the prom queen. I was the homecoming queen. I was class president. I was class clown. And something else ... Oh, Most School-Spirited, which comes in handy in life. You never know when you might have to do a cheer."
As it happens, everyone else is doing the cheering. O'Donnell broke through last year with "A League of Their Own," in which she played Madonna's sharp-tongued sidekick and delivered the film's most sublime line: "You think there's a man in this country who ain't seen your bosoms?"
This summer, the actress-comedienne has appeared in "Sleepless in Seattle" and "Another Stakeout."
In the former, O'Donnell, 31, is Meg Ryan's editor and closest confidante; in the latter, she's a funny, weepy assistant district attorney with a penchant for strange culinary feats: boiled eggs dressed up like penguins, a meatloaf shaped like an armadillo.
These are supporting roles, to be sure, but each has been shot through with the most endearing sort of no-nonsense nonsense. And there is more to come.
O'Donnell is just finishing work on Steven Spielberg's "The Flintstones," in which she sticks a bow in her hair, dons a blue suede dress and loves a man named Barney Rubble.
At the moment, O'Donnell is sitting in her modest San Fernando Valley home, which she shares with her extensive collection of plastic figurines from McDonald's. (She has the "Batman" line, but she also owns the "Hook" series - clear evidence that, in her estimation, all figurines are created equal.)
O'Donnell likes to describe the decor as "very Long Islandy with a little Laura Ashley." She knows whereof she speaks, having spent her formative years in Huntington, Long Island.
In conversation, O'Donnell conjures up an old-school Irish Catholic family, fond of comedy, wary of emotion. By the time she was 10, her mother had cancer, and she remembers trying to visit her in the hospital.
"At the time, you weren't allowed to go in if you were under 12," she says, "so the nurses would sneak us up in the emergency-room elevator."
O'Donnell's mother died four months after she was diagnosed: "My father told me, `Your mother passed away,' and I didn't know what that meant. And that was the end of the discussion."
O'Donnell threw herself into her school life and, before long, into comedy. At 16, she made her stand-up debut in a local club with some suspiciously good gags.
"I walked off the stage and all the comics surrounded me," she remembers. "They said, `Where'd you get those jokes?' I said, `Jerry Seinfeld from "The Merv Griffin Show."' They said, `You can't do that!'
"I was totally devastated. I went home thinking, `How am I going to do this if I have to make up my own jokes?' When you're 16, you haven't lived enough to have any observations. So I ended up doing, `Nice shirt. Where'd you get it, Kmart?"'
For years, O'Donnell made the comedy-club rounds. In 1984, she won $14,000 on "Star Search" and moved to LA: "If you want to surf, you have to go to the water."
But O'Donnell did not surf for some time. She treaded water for two years before landing a part on the NBC sitcom "Gimme a Break," then wound up at VH-1, where she created "Stand-Up Spotlight."
When plotting her movie career, O'Donnell saw herself playing exactly the kind of parts that have come her way in "League" and "Sleepless": the Eve Arden type, which she describes as "that sort of comedic best friend."
After putting the finishing touches on her Betty Rubble role, O'Donnell will prepare to make her Broadway debut as Rizzo in Tommy Tune's revival of "Grease."
She'll also start work on Garry Marshall's "Exit to Eden," based on the best-selling Anne Rice novel. The role will include a brief semi-nude scene, which has got O'Donnell slimming down.
"My weight goes up and down and up and down," she says. "If you watch `VH-1 Stand-Up Spotlight,' it's hilarious. Sometimes they show 24 hours of it, and you can watch me go from 140 to 170 in a matter of seconds."
Marshall had originally wanted Sharon Stone for "Eden," but the actress turned it down.
O'Donnell finds humor in this, as in all things: "I just want to go on shows and say, `They said, "Who can we get? Sharon Stone? No, Rosie O'Donnell.' " That's generally how all scripts go. `Sharon or Rosie? Who should we go with?"'
It's an unusual role reversal, perhaps, but O'Donnell continues to charm. You never know when you might have to do a cheer.
by CNB