Read the May 28, 2009 interview in The Desert Sun: Page 1 & Page 2 & Page 3.
Extended version:
It is an impressive feat to be the (then) youngest actress nominated for an Academy Award, and more so when dark subject matter is involved. Patty McCormack was nominated for her portrayal of Rhoda Penmark in The Bad Seed, a fastidious little girl with exceptional manners and a deadly obsession for souvenirs. Nature versus nurture is uniquely demonstrated through this evil character, who is all golden braids and smiles until she is denied what she desires.
The 1956 film finds its way back to the big screen at the Arthur Lyons' Film Noir Festival, playing on Friday with McCormack in attendance. McCormack spoke to The Desert Sun about her experience with the film.
Are you looking forward to attending the festival?
Yes, it will be fun to see a good print of The Bad Seed. And I'm going to see a lot of people I know, like Marsha Hunt (whose short film, The Grand Inquisitor, will also play on Friday). We worked together a lifetime ago on a show called "Peck's Bad Girl." She played my mother in the (1959) television series. Seemed like a world away after The Bad Seed, as I was changing into a teenager.
Are you a fan of film noir?
Growing up, no, I didn't have a specific like for it. I really wasn't educated in the study of film and really wasn't aware of how fantastic and wonderful it was. I love the style, the look and the anti-heroes.
The Bad Seed is a 1954 novel by William March, adapted into a play by Maxwell Anderson before it was adapted for film by John Lee Mahin. Much of the Broadway cast retained their roles for the big screen.
Yes, most of us were in the play, which was unusual. Nancy Kelly, myself, Henry Jones, Eileen Heckart -- who I think had the best part in the whole story (as distraught mother Hortense Daigle) -- Evelyn Varden, Joan Croydon. Almost everyone except for the grandfather, Paul Fix and the dad, William Hopper. He was (gossip columnist) Hedda Hopper's son and later on "Perry Mason"; I'm sure that (hiring) was a book.
You might notice that all of us were on the same level of acting. I don't mean to say we were hammy; we were just energized. In the adjustment (from stage to screen), we still matched. That era was such a different style: very theatrical, so you could see who we were on stage by watching the film.
(Film director) Mervyn LeRoy gave more direction in spots, especially for extra scenes such as the tea party scene in the garden with the janitor (Jones) that was written for the film. I don't feel like I did anything different. It all seemed real, and it could have been that the style was easily good for the stage and the film. The acting was always bigger.
What instruction were you given for your role?
I always say that the director was so good. Most little kids want to be well-behaved, and it is sometimes hard for adult actors to show how horrible they can be. (Broadway director) Reginald Denham gave me a sort of joy and permission to be greedy and a smarty pants. I learned how to relish that. Denham got the ball rolling; he was very gifted with that kind of story.
What did your parents think of having a child in show business?
My father would always say there were other things in life, (that I didn't) have to do this. But when you're in it and doing it, everyone's sort of on the team. Later, my mother had second thoughts on whether it's always such a wonderful idea to have children working. No one had had that experience in my family, so everything we learned was for the first time. However, it was not a negative experience.
It started out with a baby contest, though I was not that cute a kid. My Aunt Lucy dragged my mother to a hotel in New York, and the prize was a modeling contract. I was four and had a lisp, so my mother took me to a speech therapist. She talked about casting, and my mother, who knew nothing, just sort of went for a ride. At that point the agency changed my name from Russo to McCormack.
When The Bad Seed came along, I had done Touchstone on Broadway and live television shows in New York. I auditioned like everybody else in the city. I remember being so happy that I got the role. I was old enough to know that it meant something to be hired.
It's a miracle I worked at all. My mother had no knowledge of the business, no clue how to handle this career. My career could've been better. Looking back, I think I'm lucky by not working so much. One of the things I wanted was to have a really boring, normal life. Now at this late date, I'm freed up, I'm working more, and it's kind of nice.
What were the pros and cons of being a child actor?
For me personally, the pros were to get a sense of a lesson learned early, that things are not forever. That's a hard lesson but a good one and sort of Shakespearean: "All the world's a stage." The cons, I think, are the same.
You can get tied up in wanting the freedom to fail. It is really important for kids to crash and burn -- not socially, but by taking a chance and not having eyes on you. There is a self-consciousness that develops in kid actors. For me personally, that was the hardest lesson.
What was your career like after The Bad Seed? Were you typecast?
It would've been helpful if I was typecast, but the story and the film were so unique to its time that there weren't any more like that. The closest thing that happened was "Peck's Bad Girl." Sort of the way it got interpreted was that I was a cute, naughty person. I didn't go on doing that level of strangeness.
Is it true that multiple endings were shot for the film?
No, they were bound by the Hays Code (the Motion Picture Production Code that ensured that portrayed lawbreakers were punished for their crimes). The play was wonderfully scary. Rhoda survives and the mother dies, and you hear the piano playing as someone says, "Thank God you still have Rhoda."
Truth is, if it had been made today, you would've had a sequel somehow. You never actually saw (Rhoda) blow; it could've been that she recovered. They could've pieced her back together as Rhodocop.
Was Mommy (1995) a sequel to The Bad Seed?
That was written by Max Allan Collins, who suggested that Rhoda lived in Iowa and had grown up, and added similar things (from The Bad Seed) that people could hook into. It was so fun to do. I felt freed in some strange way by playing Rhoda old; you gain affection for a character.
I never wanted to play the mom. I played Mrs. Daigle for a fundraiser in New York directed by my nephew Fred. It really was fun.
How has the film industry changed since you were a girl?
In actuality, what you do is still what you do. Cut out all the extraneous stuff around it, the core of it is the same. We pretend to be other people or ourselves in situations, but the truth of it is that all of it is pretending. The only thing is maybe the attack of it has changed. As far as acting goes, I don't see how it changes.
What was it like to portray Pat Nixon in Frost/Nixon? Did you identify with Ron Howard as a fellow child actor?
He is so in present time that he doesn't have time to go backwards (to reflect on child acting). The whole Ron Howard bunch is all positive. It has been so long since I had a class "A" experience, that I couldn't compare it. It was really enjoyable.
What's next?
I'm going to do an little indie movie, The Matchmakers, by writer-director Keith Hartman and co-starring Piper Laurie as my sister. We begin filming in mid-June.