Audra McDonald Had ‘a Really Hard Time’ Telling Off ‘Hero’ Phylicia Rashad in The Gilded Age
The actress, 55, recalled a scene she had trouble with opposite the 77-year-old television icon
Audra McDonald was scared to scold her “hero” Phylicia Rashad during an intense scene in The Gilded Age.
At a panel for the Gilded Age For Your Consideration event on April 30, McDonald, 55, said that working with Rashad, 77, was “great” except for the day “we did the scene where I had to tell her off.”
On the show, McDonald plays Dorothy Scott, whose daughter, Peggy Scott, fell for Dr. William Kirkland, the son of Rashad’s character, Elizabeth Kirkland. However, Elizabeth reveals to William that Peggy secretly welcomed a baby during one of her past relationships, seemingly creating a rift between Peggy and William’s relationship. Dorothy then confronts Elizabeth at the tailor’s ahead of a ball.
McDonald admitted that she “couldn’t keep the lines in my head” during the scene.
“I had a really hard time holding onto my lines, and I couldn’t figure out what was going on,” she said. “I think it was because in all the years that I’ve known Phylicia and the role that we played opposite each other, and just our friendship, something about stepping into that power — opposite that power that is Phylicia — I think I was scared of the little girl in me who grew up watching Phylicia and adoring her and wishing she was my mom like she was everybody’s mom, during that whole era.”
“I sort of reverted back to some sort of frightened child, like, ‘How am I gonna do this with my hero?’ So she wasn’t Phylicia in that moment. She wasn’t even Elizabeth. It was just like she was something so big to Audra that I had a hard time,” McDonald continued.
McDonald and Rashad both starred on Broadway together in a 2004 production of A Raisin in the Sun. They both won Tony Awards for their roles, with McDonald taking home the award for Best Featured Actress in a Play and Rashad taking home the award for Best Actress in a Play.
They have remained good friends in the decades since, only playing enemies onscreen.
