Lips Apart, Very Together

‘What is that great quote of Euripides?� Christine Baranski asks, sounding very much like Maryann Thorpe, the throaty, wit-as-dry-as-her-martinis divorcee she plays on “Cybill.� “Every beginning is lovely?�

To say the least. After two decades playing arch, brittle dames on New York stages--and winning a couple of Tonys for her efforts--Baranski has found her breakout role playing one of the archest dames ever seen on TV. That she has earned almost every award in town--including the Emmy--after a single season as Cybill Shepherd’s scene-stealing best friend belies the fact that, for most of her career, Baranski was unknown to most of the public.

“It’s as though at 42,� she has said, sounding as startled as everyone, “I’m making my debut.�

Baranski found plenty of reasons to avoid Hollywood’s siren call.

“Year after year, I just cringed at pilot season,� says the veteran of such Broadway hits as Tom Stoppard’s “The Real Thing,� Neil Simon’s “Rumors� and Terrence McNally’s “Lips Together, Teeth Apart,� a play written specifically for her. “I prayed, ‘Don’t let me be tempted by anything that would constitute a significant life change.’ �

Tempted she was not, despite overtures from several studios and producers, including Leslie Moonves, then the head of Warner Bros. TV, and James L. Brooks, who noted not only Baranski’s theater career but also her roles in such disparate films as “Reversal of Fortune� and “Addams Family Values.� It wasn’t until Carsey-Werner handed her the pilot for “Cybill� that Baranski took the plunge.

“This was a voice I hadn’t heard on TV,� she says. “Maryann wasn’t the sympathetic mom or, worse, the supportive foil to the funny guy. She was extremely sharp, acerbic, very complicated but also vulnerable. I thought this was something that would really use my talents.�

Also contributing to her decision was a New York theater scene that was becoming, as she puts it, “difficult.�

“My last paycheck at the Manhattan Theater Club was $325 a week, and I thought, ‘What the hell? This will be a first-class trip; I’ll sit by the pool, drink champagne and eat hot fudge,’ � she recalls about flying to Los Angeles to read for “Cybill.� “Look at me now,� she says with a laugh, gesturing dramatically at her dressing room cluttered with Barney’s bags, stacks of fan mail and a week’s worth of clothes hanging in the shower stall. “I don’t have a closet, although that is under negotiation for next year.�

To meet Baranski is to recognize the force behind Maryann’s asp-like charisma and the devotion she commands. Although her background is a continent apart from the bejeweled Beverly Hills divorcee--Baranski was raised in Buffalo, N.Y., the daughter of a newspaperman, and later attended Juilliard--like Maryann, she seems to have sprung full-blown from the mind of Oscar Wilde or Paul Rudnick, with a fondness for cocktails and couture and a flair for the bitchy bon mot.

“Although I have not lived a life like Maryann,� Baranski says demurely, “I definitely have her essence, her wit and her irreverence.�

This season, the actress was determined that audiences would see a fuller picture of Maryann.

“She is politically incorrect and how great--a hard-drinking lady, bitter toward her ex-husband, stalking him out of revenge--wonderful,� Baranski says. “But you have to move on; you can’t just play that one joke for 30 episodes.�

Moving on has meant more screen time for Baranski as well as a blossoming relationship between Maryann and Cybill’s daughter Zoey (Alicia Witt) and a budding romance with Cybill’s ex-husband Ira (Alan Rosenberg).

Artistically restless she may be, but Baranski has not brought the same spirit of adventure to her personal life, preferring to treat her foray into Hollywood as if it were another job down on West 42nd Street. Baranski spends her work weeks at a residence hotel in West Hollywood and drives a rented car. During the show’s hiatus, she commutes home to the 18th century farmhouse in Connecticut that she shares with her husband, actor Matthew Cowles (“All My Children�), and two daughters.

“I literally check out of my hotel and get rid of my car every two or three weeks,� she says. “I don’t even have a bank account in this town.�

Despite her growing profile--Baranski has a role in “The Birdcage� and film offers are beginning to pour in--she remains cautious about her career.

“I think Hollywood is a very Faustian bargain,� she says, sounding very unlike Maryann. “I have no doubt I will always be a working actor. But with this kind of visibility and money? I don’t think you should count on it.

“While I was determined to enjoy it while it happened, had fabulous dresses made and attended all of the award ceremonies and drank champagne, I am still the daughter of a woman raised in the Depression. I still go, ‘OK, now this will be paid off.’ In fact, by the end of next year, my kids’ college will be paid for. I mean, if I’m going to be away from home so much, at least I’m bringing home something for their future.�