If you aren’t a fan of fictional works, there are certainly plenty of excellent biographies and autobiographies out there. I am currently reading ‘The Third Gilmore Girl: A Memoir’, by Kelly Bishop, who played the cold, domineering matriarch, Emily Gilmore, in ‘Gilmore Girls’. With the number of times I’ve watched the series, reading this book feels like chatting with an old friend, listening to her story. And what an interesting one it is!
In this memoir, Kelly doesn’t just tell us about her career on-camera; she recounts her years before ever getting involved in that side of acting. Before she became a television actor, Kelly was a showgirl and Broadway musical actor in different ensembles, until Kelly (born Carole, before changing to Kelly around 1975) played Shelia, a role practically written for her, in the original 1975 cast of ‘A Chorus Line’ (not just ‘Chorus Line’, because the ‘A’ put it at the front alphabetically, apparently).
Born in 1944, now 82, Kelly recounts her younger years, with a difficult, alcoholic father and her parents’ eventual divorce. When Kelly was a child, in exchange for ballet lessons, her mother played piano for the class because Kelly’s father wouldn’t pay for her to go. Thank goodness it worked out, because this kicked off Kelly’s career. Kelly danced at the San José School of Ballet in California starting in 1957, after leaving Denver with her mother and her older brother, Tony. Kelly became a chorus girl in 1962 upon moving to New York, which subsequently launched her career.
Married twice, Kelly didn’t have children. Kelly’s first husband, an electrician called Peter Miller, was a gambling addict. This led to financial issues, especially because Kelly’s acting led her to a lot of precarious work. The couple divorced in 1975, after five years. Kelly mentions having an abortion in 1978, after becoming pregnant by a man she dubs “Kevin.” In 1981, Kelly married her second husband, Lee Leonard, a television host. They didn’t share biological children, but Kelly was a stepmother to Lee’s daughter from a previous marriage. Lee passed away in 2018 at the age of 89.
Kelly moved away from Broadway and theatre work in 1978 with a small role in the film ‘An Unmarried Woman’ and then a slightly bigger part, as Baby’s mother, Marge, in ‘Dirty Dancing’ in 1987, after originally being cast in a smaller part of Vivian, one of the guests at Kellerman’s Resort. The original actress for Marge fell ill on the date for filming, and Kelly got the part instead. This part of the book gives the readers and lovers of ‘Dirty Dancing’ (like me) a look into what it was really like behind the scenes of the film. Kelly recalls the actors all being ‘buzzed’ when filming the finale. And to say the iconic ‘(I’ve Had) The Time of My Life’ really summed up Kelly’s experience is an understatement.
During the 1990s, Kelly played small parts, mainly mothers; then, in 1999, she was cast as one of the most iconic mothers of all, Emily Gilmore. After a long casting process, the creators found her. A quote from ‘Gilmore Girls’ creator Amy Sherman-Palladino in the book’s foreword describes Kelly booking the role: “Kelly was regal, with a whiskey voice and perfect comic timing. She sat down, crossed her fabulous dancer’s legs, and opened her mouth. Three words in—I knew it. This was Emily. There were no second choices.” Absolutely iconic. Kelly became incredibly fond of the cast playing her family, even Lauren Graham; rest assured, those fights were only on-camera. Kelly has another unexpected connection to Gilmore Girls; her grandmother gave birth at sixteen, like Lorelai, which encouraged Kelly to put herself forward for the audition.
I haven’t quite finished the book yet, but so far it’s been an incredible journey getting to know Kelly Bishop, The Third Gilmore Girl.