Statham is the mother and then the shame but i leave them with the hey get a shot then you. Get. A folks Dennis Miller here coming up and Dennis Miller plus one action Lynn Whitfield you know or shes on oprahs network on a show called greenlee thats about a megachurch she kills and shes the matriarch and well talk to her about that and well talk to her about her along and storied career cool day i chatted with or a little before we went on next when whitfield Dennis Miller plus one. Hey folks welcome to Dennis Miller plus one and in the age of covert you do these things by remote and nobody nobody pulls the remote together like my guest Lynn Whitfield with got the flows over her right shoulder. With the blots which crew are nates with the peaches and the ball in the beautiful painting over the other shoulder in the factually on the right its absolutely beautiful you know d. What theyll see is a Emmy Award Winner and 3 appeared in many films of the a step mom head of state that is family reunions she currently stars on her own series oprahs dynasty has some of the greenleaf and shes want to. Awards for her work over there the 5th and final season the show has pushed out a harbor already it premiered on june 23rd you can find it on w n the o. Network lynn how are you im fine how are you didnt its im group b. And i have been across your path in the last 30 years but can i tell. That are that are tucked in and joes being bigger they just are to leave that one tucked in because you absolutely and habited that lent both you killed that role. Its so much fun and you know i can still relive those moments like like yesterday actually you know mine is thats how it was then and and you know years past that yeah it was a great honor to bring that woman to life in it for people to know more about what she did she was extraordinary extraordinary folks when you hear that had invented sonar i know theres a documentary out there you got a clock Josephine Baker because this woman went from the hard streets of st louis to ill sad louis where she was the belle of the ball in the city of lights she did her liver and all the great social causes she also well she was this the song and dance darling of paris and im telling you i hope her family savor is what lynn did with it because she made or its there for good now it was always there for good shes an immortal but you killed that role good for you thank you thank you so much. You know its funny. I was there in the down time here i was watching the show the wire which i had never caught up with my son great show were sitting there watching it i go wow this is its up its here its a little darker but i said im these are you is there ever been a show like this i say well its well different because it was network but during when i was growing up hill street blues was a monster show and i think thats the 1st time i remember you didnt you were on that show for a while or i. Got to be with that great group of people it was you know actually tori and blacks girlfriend and its dealing bochco no sex or great group of people breaking new ground back then they thought might really be a tough for miley to begin my vow that you are a match you know. Are different and that but yeah it was an exciting time because this whole idea of. Of ensembles and something more rough and rugged it was afoot and which Steven Bochco is you know became famous for and it was like a. Big change in what t. V. Looks like and i got to be like a small part of that it was cool that was very cool and i think comes out of the bochco family goes on to do deadwood they birthed the real thing that when Michael Conrad would do those meetings at the beginning say stay frosty out there that in the her and her 1st time you thought well be in cops theres a whole world there were not privy to oh yeah absolutely and i also have to give it creators were going to get to the the show greenlee which is what lynns current projects in its final Season Series we have to talk to us but i also loved you as ray and so are you and danny oh my god this is that why i knew you know we had the same in south its like oh im in hack out now you know this is like a great thing to be in a cast with Kevin Costner you know jeff gold bloom and on and on just starts kept karen klein and every night after we shot. Larry would have like food or popcorn drinks and we would watch the dailies so it kind of took the edge off the reference of you know. We could all kind of be in the room together and support each other and out on that grotto in new mexico where they built that whole city of sober auto and guess what i learned my pantaloons one day my little peddling you know had all these costumes western costume we we did it right you know they built and they you know rented some things and i was putting on my pantaloons and guess whos name was in it. Video and leave me alone living yeah. Wow wow wow that is a little rich stuff and you know western costume would keep things and it didnt miss it everything i had not to steal them i want to frame them you know id never do somebody elses drawers could be that important but. You know whats amazing is that i saw a story last week a picture of a living a de havilland riding a bike in paris shes 104 years old and can you what were going back to scarlett miss melia still alive living in paris and was riding a bike as late as last week that blew my mind how inspiring is that how. That you know you know well downside of her for sure now well listen im telling you to let lynn you work for a person who probably one of the most and inspirational people of our era oprah over on her network on the show greenlee and is there any truth to the story that at the beginning oprah was going to play the character or to tell me about tell me about how you get the character on greenlee. I think that craig right you know 6 feet under great has been a great show runner for so many shows hes a marvelous writer he wrote the pilot and gave it to oprah and said oprah i think you should play a lady mae and after she read it she said i thier 2 people in this that i know should be here and thats Lynn Whitfield and keith david so go get them i know and she said she felt that i would be. That i would be good for it so yeah lovely to be invited to do something by Oprah Winfrey right. So many times in his business you got to chase it and chase it ard you end up in North Hollywood in a fluorescent let room with for money people here than you were thought. To get a balance start by saying hey i hope for is offered to you know who or what is it. Lets do it i know they said well you know you have a conversation with showrunner craig right by phone i said of course oh well i dont know why they wanted me to do this role because she was written like a real sour. Bet dress and blue shoes kind of but kind of like a lady who is like ok im a christian halle increased the life thank you to 5 you know im very judgments all and and so i said well why do you want me to please you know what i looked last i dont know that this is me he said no what we want you to put your spin on it you know it we just seeing and i thought we had the interview by phone and at the end of the conversation he said well so can i call her and tell her you do this because you have to do this because oprah want you to do this and i said well yes lets go for it and then the negotiations began but it is as an artist you know this is for someone to put confidence in you just off the bat like you dont have to fight for you know work for it somebody says i believe you can breathe life into this and its its rare and its wonderful. You know run through walls for that person because theres enough they say are there when you get the guy at the helm and he looks over at you and gives you the thumbs up or the gal at the helm is all right i can come to work each dead on have to spend an hour get my esteem together i can just dive into this and kill it die and then with authority because people believe it you and i think thats what you know more artists we need that we need or want to say you know we believe in you you dont have to go through hoops we know you we know your work go for it and you go for it with another kind of authority because youre not trying to prove anything except just do your best work you know. I always look at great actors and i think you know i read a book called the inner game of tennis maybe 30 years ago and it translated to life because the guy said if youre not going to swing at the ball and hit out all the way youre going to knock everything out of bounds and thats what great acting is at some point if youre hedging any sort of mental bad out there it puts off 5 a know it everybody senses it it looks studied halting they start to lack confidence in it when you hit out on it you get topspin read the people at home are exhilarated that youve gone for. So much fine and you know when you do that as intended goes and its terrible to the slayer but you know when you make it you see it and you see it oh my god. I hope heaven is this good were talking a little bit field were talking about the series greenleaf thats in her final season on oprahs network over there it premiered on june 23rd so were still really into it you can circle back around thats a great thing with streaming and pick this up but you want to be there as they ride it into the barn because its a great show and when we come back were going to talk about lynn start not i touched on a little with hill street silverado but i want to see who made a dent on her who taught her great shops well talk about that right after this on Dennis Miller plus one with Lynn Whitfield. And look forward to talking to you all. That technology should work for people. I really must obey the orders given to a human beings except when such orders that conflict with the 1st law show your identification we should be very careful about official intelligence and the point only a scene is to create a trance evan and shia. Areas jumping with Artificial Intelligence will. Some of the. Group must protect its own existence is existing. Problem drugs has come from unscrupulous dealers but from pharmacies to in every state in the United States we see a very sharp increase in the number of people seeking treatment for addiction to prescription opioids it invaded america under the banner of medicine he persisted with the pain but instead of trying to wean him off though she just goes after dose after dose after dose and really became his drug dealer whos to blame patients doctors manufacturers. Hi folks welcome back to Dennis Miller plus one were joined by the delightful uncomely lakota cup here to fully orchestrated the Color Palette is in the backdrop there linda with field and you know her from the Josephine Baker story and im still up shake my head folks she and habits that really its. A crazy good performance go back and watch it if you havent seen it greenleaf is the show were talking about now shes won 2 and the boy c. P. Awards for work on their in the 5th and final season started on june 23rd not too far out to harbor so jump in there and take its set in a mega church which is such a great place to set these things thats such a weird concept to me when it goes from bringing in the sheaves to bringing in the tide this i understand that these church as well or better now im is where i get a creepy. Well thats it you know thats why i wanted to do this right because i feel i owe a lot of that is cut. Off kilter and out of control you know when you go from. You know like your whole thing is to save souls and lead people and you get into all this real estate and you know is it real estate spending money making money becomes the thing what the offering is. You know pastor appreciate your appreciation and his private planes and rolls royces and and so i want to talk about that and really be a part of a conversation that says that you know hey look you were not following a man you know the pope is call. These big mega you know hello mark well they dont call telemarketing pastor you know telling. I dont get her homeland but i all i do know is that people find their way to some belief and i try not to question them but for me i want my guy to be nearer to god not because hes in his own gulfstream jet that just doesnt want my cat in sackcloth i want him really humble i want him brought to the cause by the fact of this deep love and belief he has for us whoever is crazed and i just dont get all the ancillary marketing but what i see now happened thats why it was i was so so thats part of the reason that i wanted to do this project because i wanted to you know demystify leadership of any kind really you know because at the in the day its not a man who is supposed to be following and putting on a pedestal you know men are always going to make mistakes the fallible were you know vulnerable you know and this consequence so to be able to present this family. Family business happens to be a mega church with all of its flaws and years still deep love within the family i just felt like i want to contribute to people being able to look objectively at leadership and say like is this guy cool right now or maybe he has an issue but in fact thats not what im looking at but what i need to get you know the relationship or any spiritual or less whatever your practice is its very impersonal you know and we shouldnt be looking at men to give us the answers to god or the deity or whatever the practice if its meditation if its what youre not looking to that you know doctors lawyers indian chiefs you know anything congressman senators all of that stuff is service jobs theyre all service jobs theyre there to serve the people pastors are there to save some locals so i kind of wanted to be a part in this very dynasty glamorous rate deconstruct. What this is all about so ok we get into the we now with my intellectual. Heading into the weeds you know when i read your notes i came across an interesting interview and where somebody had called you an icon in the interview and you were very polite very demure but you also will not bridle but you werent quite comfortable with the iconography of that and i study boy that makes sense to me i mean they throw that around too much in this world i think you become a National Want to because youre a pro you show up youre pro you do great work for around 40 years and all of a sudden they start applying i caught on and i would always be comfortable i know Warren Beatty and Jack Nicholson always called each other pro and i dug that i dig prose and i think for all you brighter than i can i that others are with some humility good for her yeah because you know youve been around this is a long time and one of the most i. And Creative Things you can do is to start to believe your own high and believe all of that you know because the minute i start like yes let me tell you young people ive been here on my shoulders you stand its been hard. And youve got to. Listen i didnt want the next great gig i want the next great character that i cant you know kind of slip and slide and you know what to stay with you know slaloms like let me take it out and kind of just go for trier out give it some lie read like defender like you know like a trojan horse woman the you know and that because thats the joy of the fun of it so when people say those things it just sounds like an easy and easy kind of and its an honor it is a compliment of course but what does that mean that i dont even know what it means because im only as good as the last work i do because just as easily tomorrow i could do so they could say i did you see with this she lost her chops that what next well of course i dont want to use profanity but you know what i mean. You know youre only as good as a careers are made a continuum of work its not one thing you know next you do so. When they say that what happens is that i think oh my god i cant mess up on the next gig if theyre thinking like this about me ive got to really you know live up to that and when they start with the legend thing im like ok look i know you young actresses want me to get out the way but im not going anywhere. Thats my approach to showbiz too i never saw the foreshore to me it was like a little pod and i was just looking for the next. Lily pad to stay dry for a little longer i knew if i did yes bunch led get to the shore but you missed the point that it is a gig due to the people who are humble about it and bring their toolkit to it for god sakes i was reading in your notes about Audrey Hepburn and how you dug her now i saw a documentary last night about bill hold it was called the golden boy and they had a scene of her and him from sabrina and sydney on that was talking and hes a some people just have it and bill holden had it and then they cut to the reverse and i thought well bill holden had it Audrey Hepburn had it like times 10 because she was luminescent and she was always so humble and i always listen to Audrey Hepburn as the camera coming on are you just sort of stunned at what a big star she you can see on your i certainly i kid i would do my comments actually exactly amen to that. Were tigerland woodfield and the show is obviously greenleaf and its on oprahs network its in the final season it premiered on june 23rd so like i said were not too far out to harbor it was streaming you can go around and catch up on anything you know lynn when we said you were going to be on we got some social Media Questions and i was wondering if youd field a couple from your fandom well well if. Youre a legend i absolutely adore you youre a. Its no not thats. Lynn is ready for a close up mr de mille all right matthew hello on face book. Now you know youre so young when you get the Josephine Baker its such a key choice assignment im trying to think how much progress and matthew policies how much prep was there to play josephine did you just Read Everything you could. I Read Everything i could i looked at every bit of silent foo