Interview: DONNA MURPHY on MRS. ASTOR at The Mark Twain House & Museum

Money, prestige, power, social status. These are things we can't get enough of, if only on on television. And theatre lovers can't get enough of acclaimed talents such as Audra McDonald, Kelli O'Hara, Christine Baranski, Cynthia Nixon, Donna Murphy, and others who are on the hit HBO show, The Gilded Age.

Tony, Emmy, Outer Critics Circle, and Drama Desk awards winner Donna Murphy will be in a virtual event at the Mark Twain House in Hartford, Connecticut as part of a "mannerly conversation" called "What Would Mrs. Astor Do?"

The Mark Twain House & Museum Executive Director Pieter Roos will join Murphy along with Dr. Cecelia Tichi, author of What Would Mrs. Astor Do? The Essential Guide to the Manners and Mores of The Gilded Age.

What better venue for this discussion than at the Mark Twain House & Museum? After all, it was Twain who coined the term the Gilded Age for the time of embarrassing wealth between 1870 and 1914.

And it was Caroline Schermerhorn Astor who was the era's self-proclaimed arbitrator of style, manners, food, and even who is qualified to count as high society (The Four Hundred, which preceded The Social Register). Social climbers of her day wanted to know "What would Mrs. Astor do?" Today's mere mortals as well as social climbers also want to know all the secrets of anybody who is anybody.

Murphy is, of course, known to theatregoers for her memorable theatrical roles in Passion, Into The Woods, The People in the Picture, LoveMusik, The Human Comedy, Wonderful Town, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, and The King and I. She has also appeared in films such as The Bourne Legacy, Star Trek: Insurrection, The Astronaut's Wife, Spiderman 2, Dark Horse, Anastasia: Once Upon a Time and many other movies. On television, she was on The Practice, Ally McBeal, Gossip Girl, House of Versace, The Day Lincoln was Shot, Damages, Ugly Betty, Inventing Anna, and many others. Mrs. Astor must be smiling from Heaven to have Murphy portray her in The Gilded Age.

Dr. Tichi is an award-winning author and professor at Vanderbilt University. She writes nonfiction books about American popular culture and social history as well as mysteries. Copies of What Would Mrs. Astor Do? The Essential Guide to the Manners and Mores of The Gilded Age can be ordered through the Mark Twain Store with proceeds to benefit The Mark Twain House & Museum.

The event is free, but you don't have to trek up to Connecticut for this event, but you should put it on your bucket list to see the house soon. It's well worth the trip. Here's the link to register:

https://marktwainhouse.org/event/what-would-mrs-astor-do-with-dr-cecilia-tichi-pieter-roos-and-donna-murphy-mrs-astor-on-hbos-the-gilded-age/

Follow Donna Murphy on Instagram @ officialdonnamurphy

To post a comment, you must register and login.