I don't know how I missed this interview with Sharon Gless, but I did - it was originally posted on July 10, 2008 (the same day that season 2 of Burn Notice began). I'm sure many have already read this but it was a great read, especially her character analysis of Madeline and Michael. I'm so glad Sharon Gless learned how to use that Winchester shotgun (in season 1, when Michael sent Sam over to Madeline's to look after her) - that scene was so revealing about Madeline, I thought (how much she knew and how skilled she really is). I also liked hearing her thoughts about the abuse that she believes likely went on in the Westen household when Michael was growing up (and that in all likelihood Madeline herself was abused). I've always thought that as well. Anyway, it's an old read but an interesting one.
Gless is more on 'Burn Notice'Red Eye Chicago
Chicago Tribune
Posted at midnight Thursday, July 9 / Originally posted: July 10, 2008
Sharon Gless has put her stamp on many roles throughout her career—from Chris Cagney on “Cagney & Lacey” to Debbie Novotny on “Queer As Folk” to a short-but-memorable stint on “Nip/Tuck” as Colleen Rose.
She’s at it again in USA Network’s “Burn Notice,” playing Madeline Westen, the chain-smoking, hypochondriac mother to the series’ main character, burned spy Michael Westen, who is now stuck in Miami—too close to his mother. The series begins its second season at 9 p.m. Thursday on USA.
I recently chatted with Gless, who was taking a break during filming in Miami.
“I’m outside on a mosquito-infested porch and I’m in a mosquito suit,” she told me. “I’m glad there are no photographers.”
We talked about Madeline Westen and her other famous roles, how Gless feels about being a gay icon and the trouble with smoking.
CW: “Burn Notice” gained a following very quickly. Why do you think that is?SG: Isn’t that amazing? Do you know what the demographics for this show are? [Ages] 10 to 80.
I was joking that it has something to offend everyone. I was just amazed. Take your hat off to [series creator] Matt Nix. He’s the genius who thought this up. His first time out and he hits pay dirt. And he’s a very nice guy too.
CW: Tell me about Madeline Westen.SG: I’m really beginning to like Madeline more and more—I think just because I’m understanding her more and more. She’s obviously a pain in the side for her son. But I like her. I think she’s the most emotionally honest person on the show. Certainly whatever she’s feeling you get to hear about. She’s kind of the emotional glue.
She’s funny. She’s complicated—very manipulative. That’s fun. Obviously she has problems. She’s addicted to cigarettes, [she’s a] hypochondriac, but you still like her—at least I do—and I think the audience does.
She loves her son, despite how she behaves. She loves her son and she wants his attention. And wants his safety.
CW: How is it working with Jeffrey Donovan and the rest of the cast?SG: Well really nice. Usually my scenes are just with Michael—or Jeffrey—but this year they wrote a really beautiful scene with Gabrielle [Anwar, who plays Michael’s ex] and me. It was almost like a little “Cagney & Lacey” scene, it was that kind of quality—beautiful scene between the two of us, I thought.
And they had Bruce [Campbell, who plays Michael’s pal and an ex-spook, Sam] come and babysit me again. That’s always fun when Bruce is put in charge of me.
And this year they’re bringing back Virgil. He’s the guy from last year—Michael’s friend who hides at her house—Madeline sleeps with him.
CW: So it sounds like we’ll see a lot more of Madeline this year.SG: They seem to be using more. They’re very clear and I do agree that it’s the kind of show where you don’t want to always have to go home to Mom.
CW: It’s great that when she does call Michael up, whatever it is that’s troubling her is not really a big deal.SG: That’s what’s so funny—“It’s an emergency. You must come over!”—and it’s the [broken] coffee pot.
CW: Will we see Madeline and Michael, who start therapy this season, understand each other better?SG: I don’t know. It really does show a more human side to Michael. Obviously his life is very unusual. And I think dealing with feelings is not something he does well. I think just the fact that he’s willing on very rare occasions—I’m not supposed to talk to specifically about the story lines—I’ll just say I think that if we do this it will show that he’s trying with her.
The truth is, as much as she’s just the bane of his existence—one reason he didn’t want to be in Miami is because she is there—but I think he does love her. He just doesn’t want to be in the same town. [Laughs.]
I think more and more that—and it kills him to do it—but that he’ll be showing more tenderness toward her. And I think it enhances Michael.
There’s a great scene (shown in video at top of story) where they are talking and he tells her why he didn’t talk to her for many years, kind of to protect her.
It’s so rare that you see a moment like that from this character [Michael], which is appropriate. It does tend to tug at the heart. I love those scenes.
CW: Do you like the comedy bits more or dramatic bits with Madeline?SG: I like them both. I would hate doing just one. My husband calls, when we do a tender moment, that he calls the “treacle cutter,” you know, “sweet cutter.” Usually we’ll do something at the end [of a scene]. It gets almost tender, and then bam!
CW: When we first see you this season you’re carrying a shotgun. Are we going to get to see Madeline in some Cagney-style action?SG: I don’t know. I don’t know what they’re going to write. I guess if she had to protect her life, or her son’s life. Last year when Bruce’s character was baby-sitting me, he had a shotgun. [The script] said that Madeline picks it up. I went to the prop department and said “Guys, I want you to teach me how to use this things like I could do it with my eyes shut.” They said “Really?”
So I used it just briefly in the scene last year, where I cocked it open, looked at it, knew exactly what it was, cocked it, threw it in one hand and three it back to him. I thought it said volumes about her—that she knows how to handle that kind of machinery. She probably went hunting; maybe her husband took her hunting.
There are things about her that I think start to be revealed through just subtle activity. We don’t have to talk about it—that’s boring.
CW: Did I read that you used to smoke, you stopped and now you smoke as Madeline?SG: I used to smoke, then I didn’t and then I did for 10 years. And then I took it up again.
CW: Was it because of this role?SG: No, I mean I’m not proud of it. My husband said, “How lucky are you they’re paying you to smoke?"
CW: All those cigarettes …SG: I know. [Laughs.] It is fun, just because I know what to do with a cigarette. A lot of times you see actors just suck on the cigarette and blow it out. I want to say “Why are you bothering?” It looks fake.
CW: Is it hard to work with a prop like that?SG: I rehearse with it. I have a dialogue coach that I hire just to pound the dialogue into me. I like to do it over and over and over again, then you can when you get to know it well enough you can do independent business that has nothing to do with the dialogue.
I rehearse with the cigarette. I rehearse when to light it, when to put it down, when to put it out, when to almost light it. So I have to rehearse always outside with the coach—and the mosquitoes—because my husband doesn’t allow cigarettes in the house and I agree.
CW: So is the house you film in as Madeline’s place kind of smoke-filled by the time you’re done filming a scene?SG: Well at least I can’t tell. [Laughs.] We don’t use it that often. ... Even when I rehearse the scenes I’ll have a cigarette in my hands. Jeffrey [Donovan] and Seth [Peterson], who plays my other son, they really don’t like cigarettes, so they say, “Would you mind?” I forget I have it in my hand. I just forget because I use it constantly. So I put it out for them.
CW: Is Seth Peterson, who plays the youngest son Nate, coming back this season?SG: Oh yeah. They have a really cute picture—it’s supposed to be me—dressing the boys [when they were young] at Halloween. And then Madeline puts the photo on a table and its there the rest of the season. The girl [in the photo] looks very much like me in profile—with a cigarette hanging out of her mouth, trying to adjust one of the kid’s costumes.
CW: Compare Debbie Novotny, your character in “Queer As Folk,” to Madeline Westen in “Burn Notice”—two moms who like to get involved. Two moms, coincidentally, with sons named Michael.SG: Yeah, but I don’t think ... Debbie was never manipulative. She was just out there. Anything she felt like saying just came out of her mouth. She had Tourette’s. [Laughs.] She had the worst mouth on the show—worse than the boys.
They are just totally different people. Madeline lives a little better; Madeline doesn’t have to work. Debbie’s had to work all her life.
Madeline never buys anything; she keeps everything that’s old and says it’s perfectly fine. She’s kind of a hoarder.
Because of Debbie’s job, Debbie was in their faces every day because of the diner. All those boys were her boys. She was a much better mother than Madeline is.
I think Madeline failed as a mother. That’s sort of the tragedy that’s slightly ... there was probably abuse in the family. It’s been mentioned by Michael. I don’t know if she wasn’t able to protect her children or if she was the one being abused. But there was abuse in the family by Madeline’s husband. It’s a little darker.
With Debbie, there never was a husband. She made up that person who died in the war. Her entirely life is that boy. I don’t think she’s manipulative. She doesn’t manipulate anything—she’s just there; very honest. It’s a better relationship between Debbie and Michael [played by Hal Sparks] than there is between Madeline and Jeffrey [“Burn Notice’s” Michael].
Their backgrounds are so different. Madeline often doesn’t tell the truth, but Debbie just that one time didn’t tell the truth about her husband.
I think there is one thing they have in common, and that’s that they both love their sons. Madeline just has a different way of showing it.
CW: Right.SG: Madeline, by the way, is very, very bright. Debbie’s like all heart. Madeline’s very sharp. She wouldn’t be as manipulative as she is—and sometimes successful at it.
The father [Madeline’s husband] wasn’t very smart at all. [Series creator] Matt Nix said that that’s where Michael Weston got his moxie—from the mother [Madeline]. And the younger son is more like the dad—screwed up and can’t hold a job.
CW: You were great in the mini-series “The State Within,” which was completely different than these two roles …SG: Oh, thank you. I was so pleased to be able to play that role.
CW: … and “Nip/Tuck” too.SG: Oh yeah. That was probably the sickest thing I’ve ever done. But I was very proud of that work. It’s one thing to play someone who’s evil or twisted, but there was one scene where my husband said, “You had me in tears.” Ryan Murphy wrote a really nice arc for me.
I’ve had more reaction to that show than anything else I’ve ever done. I’ve walked into stores and had kids go, “Oh my God, oh my God, it’s the girl from ‘Nip/Tuck.’” And people yell from the streets, “Yo, saw you on ‘Nip/Tuck!’” It’s wild.
CW: Do you have any more roles like those lined up? SG: No. I was going to do a play with [“Cagney & Lacey” co-star] Tyne Daly on [London’s] West End [theater district], but my show couldn’t release me in time. We don’t know—now there may be an actor’s strike. Shooting is just up in the air on our show. We’re doing an order of 16 episodes, which is big for cable.
If the actors’ strike happens we don’t know how much that will delay [production]. And also Florida has pulled all their tax incentives [for filming]. We don’t know how much we’ll have to keep shooting before those tax incentives end.
There are rumors that if we do get a third season we may go right into filming it. One of the stars of this show is Miami. They use it beautifully. You can’t fake it ... They use the clubs; there are no clubs like the ones in Miami. There are no bodies walking around looking like that anywhere but in Miami. Even in L.A. they don’t have bodies like that.
CW: Will you and Tyne be doing anything together? SG: Tyne and I just got back two weeks ago from London. We did a talk show and had a ball. There’s this whole resurgence and newfound interest in “Cagney & Lacey” now.
CW: I think all the shows now with the lead female cops can kind of give “Cagney & Lacey” credit. SG: “Prime Suspect” was written as an homage to “Cagney & Lacey,” yes. They never did try to copy “Cagney & Lacey,” which is interesting.
Women are getting much better parts, and I’m happy to see it. Look at me, I get to play Madeline.
There was always this thing about Hollywood tossing women of a certain age to the side, but now TV seems to be embracing them.
I have this philosophy about television and ageism and motion pictures. Most women my age, the movie stars, can’t get jobs now. And they’re now flying to a medium that they would never touch called television. Television has sort of become its own snob and it’s pretty much turned its back on the big, Emmy Award-winning actresses and is taking in the movie people.
So I wake up grateful every day that I started in television and I’m happy I’m still there. But most of my peers unfortunately have not had that experience.
Peace. 
Anyhow, I bought the DVD set last Saturday and started watching some of the commentary on it and I loved how Jeffrey Donovan mentioned how considerate Sharon Gless is to her fellow actors. I loved how he mentioned she kept apologizing for bumping into him in a certain scene and how he knew that she had to stop doing that and be really inconsiderate towards him so they could show their history. That was just great!
Every episode she is in develops a new perspective of Madeline. Gless never plays it the same. I find her work fascinating. And it is double wonderful that they enjoy working together. Thank you God for helping me get my Drama major, so I can enjoy a full perspective. 
Perfect Match! lol! 
