WrestleZone’s Dominic DeAngelo had an exclusive conversation with Jeanne Basone, aka: “Hollywood” of the original GLOW girls who is set to appear at 80s Wrestling Con in Freehold, NJ on April 27. The long-time actress, wrestler and stunt woman talked about the time she was approached by the WWF and Jim Ross, but an injury hampered that particular moment. She also talked about the her time spent on other television shows at the time, including Phil Donahue and Married…With Children. Quotes from the second part of the interview are below:
(Transcription credit should go to @DominicDeAngelo of WrestleZone):
Jeanne Basone on if she got along with the other GLOW girls and how she was approached by Jim Ross and the WWF:
I got along with all of them. All of us girls. There was at least 80 girls that came through there and I did, Dominic, I did the pilot and then I did all four seasons that we had. So I’m the only one that stayed for all of that and you know it’s because I loved it. It’s what I knew and I liked it. And then of course I continued after it ended. I worked quite a few companies.
And then WWF at the time came, and guess what? They came, I forget what year it was but I was right in the middle of a broken leg. Oh man, you should have seen it, I’m trying to hide my leg from Jim Ross so I’m wearing sweatpants. And you know, when you break a leg and you’re only a few months into it, no matter how much rehab you do, it’s not 100%. I’m still limping, the leg is atrophied so bad, I’m trying to hide it. Of course I tell the truth, “Sorry, I’m right in the middle of a broken leg!” But that doesn’t matter! It was fine, you know? If I really, really I guess wanted it, I could have just tried another time, but that was my opportunity back then and I just moved on and started the stunt work which paid much, much better, but I always kept my interest in wrestling. Always. Loved it.
On getting union pay, Phil Donahue and working with Ed O’Neill and the cast of Married…With Children:
First of all, Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling was not a union show. It was not union, but we were getting offers from different TV shows. Married…With Children was another one that I did and it was me and a different Farmer’s Daughter and Big Bad Mama, they wanted a bigger wrestler and so when we did the TV shows and the game shows those were all union related. So I was getting union pay from all of those shows. We did the [Phil] Donahue Show back in the day, and he was, wow, what a nice man. He came out, the funny thing is, back in the day, I didn’t really watch the Donahue Show but occasionally we’d turn channels just to look and he’d always be in a tie and a nice shirt and a jacket. The day that the GLOW girls got there…guess what? He was in jeans, a leather jacket and a tee shirt. So Phil was pretty hip that day.
Oh my gosh – Ed O’Neill was probably the most funniest man I’ve ever. You had to stop me from not trying to burst out laughing during a scene. He’s just amazing to work with and Katey Sagal, she’s funny. Little Bud Bundy cause he was young then (I say little) because he was young, he’s a cool cat. And Christina [Applegate] she didn’t have much in that particular scene so she was a little more quiet, but everybody was so professional and so kind to us. And of course the director Gerry Cohen and I remember him. Very kind I remember coming back like a year later, auditioning for another part and he looked at me and he goes, “Hollywood!” I was like, “Hey!” He goes “Don’t tell any of the other girls, but we’ll see you next week.” I’m like, “Thank you!” Hey, sometimes those things have their perks!
More transcriptions to come from this exclusive interview, but the entire audio of the conversation is below:
