Lesley Ann Warren has been a Hollywood star since she was a girl. First playing the title character of the CBS television special Cinderella in 1965, Warren has devoted her life to the arts and often finds the fun in embodying characters that allow her to take on larger than life personas that are often socially unacceptable by society standards. Arguably the most outlandish is her iconic character “Miss Scarlet” from the 1985 cult classic Clue. A murder mystery comedy based on the popular board game, Clue is wrapping up its 35th anniversary this year since originally arriving in movie theaters and Warren may be surprising some by revealing that this role that ultimately changed her life, almost wasn’t hers at all.
Warren recalls the moment she learned she got the part, instead of the film’s first casting choice, a well-known “Princess Leia” at the time. “I remember that I was in Greece with my family taking a vacation. I got this call that they had originally, I believe, they were going to have Carrie Fisher do it. And Carrie had to go to rehab,” Warren tells Forbes. “It’s a famous story, so I’m not telling you anything out of school. She felt she could do it, even while she was in rehab but they disagreed. So it just somehow came to me. I didn’t audition, I didn’t meet the director, any of it. It just came to me as a straight offer, which was fabulous. I read the script and of course said yes immediately. I was glad it came my way.”
Warren’s recollection about the filming experience of Clue remain vivid in her mind more than 35 years later. “It was such a thrill and an honor to be a part of such an iconic comedy, comic actor, legendary group. We drove Johnathan Lynn, the director, crazy because we could not stop laughing at each other’s work. We were such fans of each other’s characterizations and work and delivery. I would say that it was like ‘herding cats’ because were just all over the place and laughing and having such a great time.”
Similar to the mischievous storyline of Clue, many of the inner-workings behind the scenes were also not as they appeared, including her memorable dress. Designed by Michael Kaplan, Warren says that Kaplan also designed the undergarments of the dress, so she wore a corset underneath to achieve the silhouette, hourglass look that he wanted to see on-screen. “What he found while we started shooting was that the dress was so tight, I couldn’t run up and down the stairs,” Warren recalls. “He had to stop production for like two days to make a new dress that had hidden zippers inside that I could very surreptitiously unzip, so that I could join the company and go up and down the stairs.”
Even though Clue arrived in movie theaters in 1985 to mixed reviews and only grossed about two million at the box office its opening weekend, the film has only grown in popularity as time goes on and Warren sees that firsthand. “I get fan mail from very young 9, 10, 11 year olds and then 60 year olds and everything in-between. When I go out, pre-Covid, people in restaurants would come up to me and say lines that had impact for them.” Also believing that her talented ensemble cast plays a factor in the film’s ongoing success, Warren says, “I honestly think that it was a gathering of some of the great comic actors. Not just comedy actors but comic actors. Each person’s characterization was so specific and so iconic in a way.”
Warren says her role in Clue and three years earlier in Victor/Victoria have been the high points of her career. In Victor/Victoria, Warren played the unforgettably sassy “Norma Cassidy.” She looks back on first reading that script and looking to breathe life into the character during the pre-production process. “She was a chorus girl but there was no accent, there was no blonde hair,” she says of her character presented in the script. Warren would eventually create the look of “Norma” in her own bedroom and pitch it to the film’s producers and director with approval. The filmmakers saw such promise in Warren’s look and humorous acting presence that they asked if she would sing and dance in the film, adding a musical number for her character. Warren’s performance in Victor/Victoria would garner her an Academy Award nomination for “Best Supporting Actress” in 1983.
Following more recent recurring roles on hit television shows including Desperate Housewives and Will & Grace, Warren sees how Hollywood has evolved through the years and misses some of the old ways of the industry. “I feel very lucky to have come in at the very tail end of the studio system,” Warren continues. “I was under contract at Disney, I did two movies with Walt Disney and one while he was still alive, which was an incredible experience. I loved the protection of that feeling of being a part of very safe community where I felt artistically that I was being supported and protected and directed in a way that matched my desires and sensibility. I’ve certainly watched everything change dramatically. I miss that feeling of an entire studio that is there to help you to do the very best you can do and be. In a lot of ways now, you’re on your own a lot, especially in television. You have to come fully prepared because there’s no time and the director a lot of times is more involved in getting a shot out and making sure it gets out in time. So as an actor, you’re reliant on yourself a great deal.”
When it comes to the character she has played that still touches her heart the most, Warren says it was playing “Cinderella” in 1965. As Warren reflects on her popular early role, she sees parallels in her real-life today to her character’s fate then. “When I shot it, I was 18 years old and I believed it. I think that’s also why it has had such resounding impact on people after all these years. I believe that true love would conquer all and in truth, I’m living it. It took me a long time to get here but that’s how I feel about my husband. I kissed a lot of frogs.”
Currently, Warren is developing a movie with Bobby Moresco, who is the two-time Academy Award winning co-writer of Crash and Million Dollar Baby. Warren will both co-produce and act in the film, a character she says is a role that she has never played before. “I am excited, nervous, looking forward to the day that we can start the process of filming.” Now at the age of 74, Warren has no plans of hanging up her acting cap any time soon. “I’m very willing and interested in acting until the very end, whatever that means in terms of my exploring age-appropriate characters. Whatever the opportunities are to move forward with that, I’m thrilled about that chance. It’s harder, I think, when you started so young and you see yourself then and see yourself now (laughs). I think I’ve gone through that sort of grieving period of Wow, I’m no longer that. I’m definitely settling into a whole new time for me.”
Even with the continuing success of Clue, there are talks of a remake happening with some major A-List movie stars. Warren very openly shares her thoughts on those potential plans. “I love Ryan Reynolds and I think Jason Bateman is supposed to be in it, as well. I’m insane for those guys. They’re so fantastic and so funny and they’re brilliant actors, but I feel a proprietary commitment to our Clue and I love that it’s become such a classic and I love that it is so beloved. I’m sure their take will be entirely different, I would think, maybe? But I am of the school of ‘If it’s not broken, don’t fix it.’ The last thing I do want to say is if they actually do make that movie, I want [my] ‘Miss Scarlet’ to have a cameo!”
