When I was in junior high school, my ritual every day after school was simple. Park myself in front of the television and watch reruns of Three’s Company on RDTV. Even today, the shenanigans of the apartment originally housing Jack Tripper, Janet Wood and Chrissy Snow still exists in rerun form despite going off air in 1984. It is with a great deal of excitement for the show’s many fans that Joyce DeWitt, who played Janet Wood, is in Married Alive kicking off the new season of Stage West.
DeWitt has chosen to avoid the spotlight since the TV show ended, yet still has a very loyal group of fans.
“People transfer their love and affection for those characters to us. It is a great gift in life to have people open their hearts and sound massive amounts of love to you. For the show’s legs to have lasted thirty years have kept me in the public eye. The affection people have for that show and me being a part of that keeps me there because it is so joyful. Those feelings get transferred to me. She is someone that people haven’t forgotten and thus they haven’t forgotten me,” DeWitt told GayCalgary and Edmonton Magazine.
“I have had women in their 30’s come to me and say I became a lawyer because of you. I knew women could be smart and have a way in the world. I knew it was ok to be regular looking, in high school I could still be cool and hot too. I am shocked but I am also grateful. I loved playing her and I did fight hard to play her the way I wanted to play her. I never imagined that all these years later people would remember me because they remember her. But I am delighted, if I had to leave a calling card I would happily leave that character.”
Janet was a strong female character, a polar opposite from ditzy blondes Chrissy (Suzanne Somers) and Cindy (Jenilee Harrison).
“Janet was a good girl who was fighting to find her way and figure out who she was supposed to be. The blue jersey nightshirt I wore had an 88 on it. I asked to change it to zero because it is a subliminal message that Janet is just like anybody else. There are days when she feels like she is worthless and days where she thinks she can actually do something. I would spray the hair up in the back straight. We would have a temporary assistant hair person who would stop me on the way to the set to fix it. It is an obvious flaw and if you have small obvious flaws people will forgive your big ones. I just wanted to make Janet human and I think I lucked out and was able to do that. As an actor when you get the opportunity to create laughter in the world it is a great healing factor for all people. It is a great gift that actors get to do great comedy. To still have it doing that thirty years is a fantasy you can’t make up. You can’t even hope that your work might still create a giggle thirty years later.”
Now 60 (but looking in her forties) DeWitt carries Janet with her, and is often called by the characters name. While this would bother some actors, she takes it in stride.
”John (Ritter) and I always got called the characters names and figured it was because both names began with J. I have gotten so used to being called Janet that two women will be shopping in a store and one will be named Janet and I will turn and say what? and then duck down behind the racks and hide. I will have interviewers in the middle of the interview say Janet and keep on going with the interview. I recognize that they have that imprinted. I live such a private life out of the limelight that it isn’t like my name is being shoved in their face. So I have no problem with that whatsoever. For me it is always about the work. When I read a piece I ask what is the gift? What are you sending them home with? That is what is important to me, what you are taking home. If I think that is of value that is what it is about to me. The fact that I have gotten older, people seem to have made that transition very gracefully. They don’t seem to mind that the adult settled into the young girl.”
After Three’s Company ended, she walked away from Hollywood, something she has no regrets about.
”Regrets are a dangerous thing. I am very fortunate that in my life I have only twice regretted something and that was 10 or 15 years later. If I had to do it over again I couldn’t change it. I was going to take 6 months off just to chill out. I saw Hollywood and the way it behaved and it was not a moral code that was natural to me. If this was the way the game was played I wasn’t sure I wanted to play it. I took some time off and started meeting and studying with different spiritual teachers around the world. I thought it would be six months not 12 years. It evolved into this spiritual philosophy that I was seeking. In western civilization you are raised that if you are a good person, good things will happen to you, if you treat people fairly and tell them the truth they will do so in return. When you find out that you can be betrayed in those ways you can be shattered and fall to your knees. I am not a person who is willing to become jaded or bitter. So I needed to find a philosophy that encompassed everything – the good and bad things that happen in life, to walk with both of those things and keep walking. To be ok and find peace with that.”
Don’t be surprised to see DeWitt start appearing more regularly.
”I have chosen to do theatre and film and not television. I am thinking about next year maybe making an assault on Hollywood again. I would be really happy if there was a place for me. I don’t know if there will be. It was very difficult to decide to have a potentially very public life again. Being innately a hermit, that is a choice but I would really like to participate. I think it is important for people in my generation to participate, there is a balance when you have an old fogie on there again.”
As a private person she admits some nervousness about being back in the spotlight in an internet tabloid era.
“It is scary. I am aware of that concern. When I first felt that I should go back it was more of an intellectual awareness so different parts of my personality I would negotiate with. Only take work where I can work two days and fly home to New Mexico for five. If it is something worth bringing to people let’s do it. I am really attached to being at home.”
DeWitt is charming, sweet and a pleasure to speak to. The way her face lights up when she talks about the cast of Three’s Company makes you realize that despite the trials and tribulations, she loved it as much as we loved watching it.
”Norman Fell was the worst he would tell me things and I would say you’re kidding Normie! and he would say yes! I can’t tell you how many thousands of times he got me. John Ritter would do anything for a laugh. He had patience with it. We rehearsed in a hall and he would go over the coffee table if he wasn’t in the scene we were rehearsing and shove a napkin up his nose. He would just stand there until somebody saw him. Honey I worked with amazing men and women. The girls weren’t witty we were wonderful. The guys were actually funny. Richard Kline who played sleazebag Larry, what a good guy. John was the best of the best; precious to the depth of his being. The part of himself that he used to play Jack Tripper was the part that wanted to make sure everybody had a good time and was taken care of. With Don (Knotts) and John and Richard, or with Norman, … you would go home with your face sore from laughing. I think it is possible to have death by laughter.”
Look for an review of Married Alive online soon at www.gaycalgary.com
