tavis: good evening. from los angeles, i am tavis smiley. tonight our conversation with oscar and tony winning actress marcia gay harden.she can be seen this season in trophy wife. her latest film is in theaters this weekend. the movie looks at the aftermath in dallas of the jfk assassination. our conversation with marcia gay harden, coming up right now.

>> and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. tavis: marcia gay harden has an oscar, a tony, and two emmy nominations to her credit. she just wrapped an exceptional guest starring turn on "newsroom." she can be seen on "trophy wife," and her latest movie is it deals withand." the fallout in dallas of the assassination of jfk. she plays one of the emergency room nurses that had to cope with the immediate crisis.

we take a look at a clip from "parkland." >> doctor, doctor. >> who is the attending? >> dr. perry. >> it is justway. you. >> do something. >> doctor. tavis: here you go again playing a stoic, unflappable, no- nonsense character. >> nothing like me. [laughter] my kids may say that's like me, but i think of myself, you want to know how i'm feeling, just look at me.nothing is hidden. i cry like a baby. i get upset, i stamp my feet. i'm not stoic. tavis: it has been 50 years

since the assassination of jfk. i don't know how his family feels about this, but it did doesn't seem like 50 years, the story that we hear about all the time. it has like never gone away. i raise that to ask, what did you see when you saw the screenplay that made you want to do this, for something we have been hearing about almost weekly and monthly for 50 years? >> it is interesting, because i was alive when he died. so i remember my parents morning, and it is the same kind allthing when 9/11 occurred. the adults around you were in tragedy. my kids know of the story but they don't have an emotional connection to that story. these are the real peopleright t the time we were shooting, they

had that sandy hook incident. room would have been the head nurse. can you imagine, you're going there to learn how to become a doctor, and here comes the president. and three days later, lee harvey oswald was in the same hospital. that was a little bit of history that i didn't know. i thought of it as an up and running hospital where all the top surgeons were there, and it was something much rougher. people were dragging the coughing up into the airplane. it was just nothing dignified about that moment. tavis: i am certain that we

audiences will find -- i know that audiences will be entertained by this in the sense that it is a great film with a great cast. what is your sense of what the takeaway will be about these everyday people e 50 years later, what is the audience going to leave with? >> i don't know, really. i feel they will learn something about the behind-the-scenes that they didn't know. it is not an fbi story. it is about mistakes, human mistakes and common people struggling to make sense of something on a national level, but at the end of the day, it comes down to a person's stamina and fortitude. like the nurse i played, she was unflappable.she did run that room. their lives were changed forever by this incident. i think it's not about learning

new information and uncovering the plot. i think it is about taking a look behind the scenes. tavis: that is what makes movies more humanity. if you can get into the humanity of the character, that's what makes it work. >>i want people to relate to me as a character. that could have been me, i like it when they have that little clutch in their heart or in their throat. they feel like they have been there, whether it is laughter or tears. i like it when they relate to me as a character. tavis: there is something about you, i mean you have one and been nominated for all these major awards. yet there is something about you in those characters that is very relatable.

do you work with that, is that something that comes natural? is there some tricky want to share with us, some magic potion >> that is why i adore you so much. no matter what i answer, yes. [laughter] >>ll, tavis, let me tell you. you come across as so every day. >> i am. i'm just an everyday mom. i have had an amazing career, amazing blessings, but i am an everyday person. i have lived in everyday life and i drive an everyday car. i take my kids to school. tavis: my mom is thinking, what is tavis holding in his hand? she won't get any of it, she is in indiana. i will tell the story of what this is. speaking of moms, you took me

back to my mom. i grew up in a family of nine kids. we were so poor that we picked our own apples and the like, and my mother and my grandmother, god rest her soul, my mama and big mama would be in the kitchen with these old mason jars and we made our own apple preserves. we did this as a kid. every time i see a mason jar like this, i get giddy, because it takes me back to my childhood. >> this is fig jam. i have a fig tree outside my back door and i picked some fixed this morning and i made it this morning. x i know appreciate it. you have a sweet tooth because i was 500 pounds and pregnant the last time i was on your show. tavis:

in fairness to you, you were pregnant with twins. [laughter] that is what i mean, you are so relatable. i love it. i am going to be that big and a couple of days after i eat all this. i wanted to write this down, because there is a tradition i have with you. every time you come on our show, and i'm so honored to have you. we are in our 10th season, and you have been here several times. you have been so kind to come back repeatedly. i was looking at some old tapes of our conversations. every time you come on, it always seems like you have 10 jobs. >> what about it, tavis, because you are working hard, too. tavis: you just wrapped "newsroom." >> he let me use the line, you are liquid sex.you are giving me that line? i couldn't believe it.

tavis: how did you react when jeff daniels -- it was like the surprise of the night. everybody thought it was going to happen. >> i was watching with my children and they learn how to during "god of carnage." when jeff won, it was like uncle jeff. we were jumping up and down on the couch because it was fantastic. ear to ear, he was so happy. >> we mentioned "newsroom." "parkland," we have already talked about. "trophy wife," we have not >> elsa and fred is

coming. get a job ,bryan cranston, everybody loves him. you have a gig with ryan cranston, and you just wrapped a woody allen project for 2014. i'm out of breath. >> they didn't all happen this year. one of them was last year. [laughter] tavis: you are like the hardest working woman in hollywood. >> well, i'm a single mother. i've got to support those kids. i like working. this business is roller coaster, up and down. when it's down, you think he will never go back up. when i was younger and i had all these wonderful times, i don't think i appreciated them the way i do right now. this is up for me right now. i appreciate it because i have been on that low swing before. "trophy wife," and i have a new sitcom.

it is a good schedule for a mom. we work five days a week. i like to be home with my kids. this is the best schedule, and it's fun. tavis: i'm going to talk about "trophy wife" in a second. since you mention those uptimes and down times, particularly for women as they age or become more chronologically gifted, give me some sense of how you have navigated what you would call those low swings. [laughter] >> that is step one. i have faith, first of all, that i will work again. i have faith in a lot of wonderful things, the spirit world, and my kids and my family.

i try to keep busy doing things like doing readings are just staying in the business somehow. and there is some stuff you cannot control. i rented a 31 foot pop-out rv and i took my kids to yosemite and to the grand canyon and arizona and sedona. we camped out. look at your face. you are horrified. tavis: online, and you survived how did you survive it? >> it was so much fun. the kids had twinkly lights up on the bunks in the rv.

i publish called and said you are invited to go to the cirque du soleil because yoko always going to be there. we are on the campsite, how can we do that? we put on our high heels and got out of the camper and started walking across the parking lot like this. we are going to the cirque du soleil. we didn't care. [laughter] tavis: the kids had a good time, i assume. they had to have a blast. it isey loved it. beautiful. i think driving and flying on lanes are good family times with no distractions. tavis: my mom loves yosemite. as long as i have lived in california, i've never been. she gets on me all the time, i'm've got to go to yosemite. going to get there one of these days. "trophy wifeabout

." >> it is very funny. she is young and beautiful and blonde. she marries a man who i was his first wife. it's about how she tries to integrate these families. michaela might say the show is about how we make her and her it is funny, and we've got great kids. my character is across between bette davis and joan crawford and me. and my new boyfriend is going to be dennis hayesbert. tavis: what? >> i hope good hands? so. [laughter] >> we will see. tavis: i have been jealous of him for a lot of reasons, now he gets to hang out with you. >> i said i hope you are excited

to going to be my new boyfriend. he is like, yes i am. [laughter] tavis: this is obviously 2013, so this is no longer "guess what dooming to dinner." you make of the fact thatyou are about to be in a sitcom with an major network and you have a black boyfriend. >> i love it. >> like modern family, they have a gay couple. >> they have everything. >> you will hear about it from >> thatinded people. turned you on? >> the other people don't turn me on at all. you remember i was a harlem girl. for me, it is fantastic. he is an amazing person. he is an amazing man, and he is beautiful, and i have such a crush on him.

tavis: and that voice. if i were a woman, that voice would get me. >> tuesday night, abc, 9:30. tavis: we talked about parkland, newsroom, trophy wife. you have so much going on. talk about "elsa and fred." >> it is about christopher plummer falling in love. it was shot down in new orleans. christopher lemmer, both of them i am completely in love with. i remember 1 -- said to him, christopher, in hamlet, don't you think there could be three choices? to be is one choice, and not to die. one choice.or to

he started reciting hamlet. i was at his feet the whole time it is about people falling in -- toand they go to wrong. rome and dance in the fountains. tavis: shirley maclaine was just announced as a kennedy center honoree this year. >> you mention who the director >> first-lsa and fred." time director? >> he was fantastic. he wore the hat beautifully, and i said that to him.here is a very funny story. i was talking to peter right i said thissame time.

is just the same thingthe heroes are the ,ordinary people. he said, do you know who i am, marcia?i said you are the director of parkland. he said i am jude's dad. he had been over at my house before, working on a script. there is a shakespeare sonnet about that. basically, don't go to your grave without having children. but the kids come to my house. he has been typing over at my house. tavis: your kids go to the same school. >> he said it shows you didn't could i be as a favor. any more in my own bubble? he did a gorgeous job. tavis: i mentioned bryan cranston.

he has had a run on "breaking bad." you are a tv and movie person. what did you make of all the hype?this thing broke out. >> we tried to get a ticket to the graveyard showing of the finale, but there wasn't a ticket to be sold, even to the cast. it was so completely sold out. i think there is a movement, almost like a cult following. like in the hunger games and harry potter. they get their own cult audience and iten it just blows up. was pretty genius marketing. tavis: tell me about this movie "get a job was quote with bryan cranston. >> my character is an executive and she is like a cracked the whip executive.

it's about young people getting jobs and losing jobs and how they get jobs in the marketplace. tavis: getting jobs and losing jobs, or losing jobs and getting jobs these days, unfortunately. >> we are not allowed to say anything, but what i can say is, he is amazing. he is kind of a guru of information. he was very gentle and very we shot in the south of france. it was just a beautiful place to be. i got kind of lonely because my kids were with their dad back east and i got really lonely. one day he asked if i wanted to go to this place in cannes and put my feet in a fishbowl where fish eat your dead skin, and i did.

it is a fad that is happening everywhere. but you havee it? heard of it. tavis: this show is going off the rails. we are talking to bryan offstage here. >> it was so wild and fun. tavis: what does it feel like when a fish is eating your dead skin? >> you put your feet into this tank and they all start nibbling at you. at first it is in same. after a while you get used to it. i was trying to do experiments to see if i dip them in even more, do they all go to like the next area. it was crazy. tavis: is this something you would ever do again? >> no, i did it once. i don't think i would do it you could get the same

thing with a scrub brush. [laughter] tavis: i am almost out of time, and i could do this for hours. by your own admission, you have these low swings and these upswings. how do you inhale? how do you live in this moment with all this going on? >> i like that question. the way that i am inhaling these days is with no help, with the love of my kids and my family. i quit smoking, so i'm not inhaling that anymore. and it works. it is work. life can be painful. just sit still, look around you, breathe into it, enjoy it. be here with tavis on this

beautiful day and know that it is really special. tavis: i always love our conversations. whether you bring me preserves or not. i appreciate you doing this. you so glad you came by. deserve all that success.you are so sweet. "trophy wife," abc tuesday nights, 9:30. and then "parkland" coming out later. woody allen project, next summer. but for now, the show is "trophy wife." marcia gay harden, i love you. i want all your jobs. [laughter] that's our show for tonight. thanks for joining us, and as >> do youeep the faith.

want to watch a movie? >> ok, that's enough. please stop. why don't you just punish us like a normal parent? >> normal parents don't get results. are you ever going to hide anything from me again? >> do you love me the most? >> of course i love you the most. >> give mama a hug. >> for more information on today's show, visit tavis smiley at pbs.org. tavis: hi, i'm tavis smiley. join me next time for a conversation with singer gregory porter about his new cd titled " liquid spirit." that is next time. we will see you then.

>> and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> be more. pbs.