One of Stargate SG-1’s earliest villains, and a television icon in her own right, Bonnie Bartlett, sits down with Dial the Gate to discuss her iconic roles and take your questions LIVE.

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Timecodes
00:00 – Opening Credits
00:45 – Welcome and Episode Outline
02:10 – Welcoming Bonnie
09:18 – Bonnie’s mentors, acting and early life, Bonnie’s family
18:28 – Bonnie’s most rewarding roles
25:44 – seaQuest & Golden Girls, Bonnie’s book — Middle of the Rainbow
29:38 – Playing the villian and Linea, getting the role and episode descripton, return of Linea
41:29 – Fan Questions – Props, roles, and misc quick questions
48:18 – Memories filming V
50:41 – Wrapping up with Bonnie
52:59 – Post interview housekeeping
54:47 – End credits

***

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TRANSCRIPT
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David Read
Hello everyone, and welcome to Dial the Gate. My name is David Read. I am so excited to be — I’m genuinely excited — to be joined this hour by Miss Bonnie Bartlett, who was Linea in Stargate SG-1. And I know her from so much else, as do you. Before we bring her in, if you enjoy the content that we put out on this show, and you want to see more of it, please consider clicking that Like button, it makes a difference with YouTube, and will help the show continue to grow into its third season which will be starting this fall, we’re about to go on break. Please also consider sharing this video with a Stargate friend. And if you want to get notified about future episodes, click the Subscribe icon, and giving the Bell icon a click will notify you the moment a new video drops and you’ll get my notifications of any last minute guest changes. And clips from this live stream will be released over the course of the next few weeks on the Dial the Gate and GateWorld.net YouTube channels. As this is a live episode, Bonnie and I are gonna sit here and talk for a little bit. While we do that, my moderators in YouTube will be collecting questions from fans, so go ahead and get those to the moderators now, and in the second half of the show I’ll submit some of those questions over to Bonnie. So we will have a talk. Let’s go ahead and bring her in, Bonnie Bartlett, Linea of Stargate SG-1, and so much else throughout so many great decades of television. Thank you so much for being here, it is an honor to have you.

Bonnie Bartlett
Oh, thank you for asking me to be here.

David Read
How are you doing? How are things going?

Bonnie Bartlett
Pretty well, I just had a birthday this last week.

David Read
Happy 93rd!

Bonnie Bartlett
93rd birthday!

David Read
Happy birthday. Are you a cancer?

Bonnie Bartlett
What?

David Read
Are you a cancer?

Bonnie Bartlett
No, Gemini.

David Read
Gemini. Oh, I’m a Cancer. My birthday is coming up in early July. So, almost.

Bonnie Bartlett
Yeah, no, I’m a Gemini.

David Read
What do you attribute your continuing to putter along and continuing good health? What would you contribute that to?

Bonnie Bartlett
Part of it, of course, has to be genes. I mean, your genes really do help you to go. I have never been addicted to anything. I don’t drink. And never have. [I’ve] tested it once in a while, you know, but I’ve never been addicted to anything like that. I’m just like, I like to work. That’s the main thing I like to do. Some kind of project. And I love to learn. I’m a perpetual student. I could have stayed in school my whole life and been very happy. Because I love that, I loved school which is, I guess, rare for an actor. But anyway, I did love school. I exercise a lot. I did ballet until just a few years ago. I did a ballet bar until just a couple of years ago, and have done that my whole adult life. Two, three times a week. Go and do a ballet class. Never been a professional dancer, but just the ballet classes are very good. Very good thing. Dancers… go ahead… no dancers, when they are professional, sometimes are hard on their body. But taking a bar is not hard on your body. It’s good for your body.

David Read
How much would you also attribute it to William, and happy 72, 73 years of marriage, by the way.

Bonnie Bartlett
Right, right. One man. I think, when I hear about people getting married many times, I just think, “Oh, I’m exhausted!” I mean, that would just [be] exhausting. You have so much work to do just with one person, how can you have three or four or five or whatever? I mean, that appalls me, that just appalls me, because it takes a lot of work, a relationship, and I mean, you can’t give up. I mean, I had no reason to ever really give up. I had a lot of strain, at times, much strain, but never wanting to give up, either one of us.

David Read
I think it’s such a testament to your commitment to one another, when you see the typical thing in Hollywood. You know, you go to someone’s page and learn about them, and, “Oh, they were married five times over five decades,” you know, and it’s so wonderful to see two people who are just a match.

Bonnie Bartlett
We were lucky. We’ve been lucky. Very lucky. Yeah, I met Bill when I was 18. We’ve been married 71 years, but I we were together three or four years before that. Probably four years before that. [It’s] just one of those magic things that happens to people.

David Read
What is something special about him that you love?

Bonnie Bartlett
About Bill? A lot of things, but I guess his innate sense of humor, his innate humor. He makes me laugh almost every day, maybe not so much now, but he always… I’m very intense, very intense. And he can always come up with, you know, he’ll say things like… and he uses things from a play, like A Thousand Clowns, you know, he was in A Thousand Clowns the play, and the movie, and he will quote those lines, “You missed the funny part, Ma. You missed the funny part,” or a lot of things from that. And from everything, he just quotes things. Does Shakespeare just like my father sometimes, but not as much as my father.

David Read
Does he like to learn as well?

Bonnie Bartlett
He didn’t know how to learn until he… I mean, he learned, he wasn’t scholastic until he met me. And I realized… I mean, he didn’t know how to go to school. He had never, he had no education, really, basically, except for two years at music and art. He got into there and then his mother made him quit because he got a job, and they wouldn’t let him. But other than those two years, which were wonderful years for him, and he hated leaving the school, but other than that, he had no real education until he came to Northwestern. And he didn’t know how to be a student.

David Read
He had to figure it out, yeah.

Bonnie Bartlett
He had to figure it out with my help, because I was a super-student. Valedictorian and all of that. But by the time we graduated, he was the one who got the scholarship for a Master’s, he was the one who was A+, A+, A+. Higher than me even, because he was smart, he was born with it.

David Read
You can’t teach curiosity. If you are curious about the world, and want to see what’s under the hood, in any topic, you’re going to have an edge over a lot of people who just take things for granted.

Bonnie Bartlett
You’re right, you’re right. And I came from a community that mostly did take things for granted, they just wanted to stay in their little town. And because I wanted to be an actress, I wanted to get out. But Bill was forced to work as a child, but he… The New York Times is his Bible. From the time he was a little boy till today, he has to have The New York Times every day. And that was his education as a child, was The New York Times. Yeah. That was his education.

David Read
Bonnie, who, throughout the years, from little girl on up, who have been your mentors, who have been the people who have really shaped you into the person that you’ve become?

Bonnie Bartlett
Well, I had a wonderful grandma. Norwegian, and she was just a wonderful lady, non judgmental, but terribly moral, you know, but non judgmental of other people. And she was somebody that I really, really… your lights are going on and off.

David Read
Yeah, I’m switching pages, go right ahead.

Bonnie Bartlett
OK, so anyway, she was wonderful. And then I had, in high school, I had a marvelous teacher in Moline High School. Her name was Barbara Garst, and she was a great teacher. She was an English teacher, and she was the drama person, she did all the plays. She discovered me, and she was a great teacher. And she would do things like, I remember in English class, she’d say, “Look, you tell me what grades you want, and I’ll tell you what you have to do to get it.” And that’s the way she said [it]. So a lot of people that don’t want to do a lot of work would say, “I’ll take a B.” And of course, I wanted an A+, so she worked me to death. You know, very few people said “C,” but a lot of people said “B,” a lot of people said “B, a B is fine.” And I wouldn’t do that.

David Read
But that’s the point, a B is just fine. Don’t you want to be great at something? If someone sticks it in front of you and gives you the opportunity to say “Here, here is the… I’m giving you the choice, here and now, what do you want?”

Bonnie Bartlett
That’s right. That’s right. That’s what she did. Which was, I thought, great. And then she was… she loves the theater and she loved the plays, and she… you know, we did Macbeth, which we had no business doing, you know, but we did it. And we did all kinds of plays from start to finish. So I was in all of them.

David Read
Were you Lady Macbeth?

Bonnie Bartlett
Oh, yes. Yes.

David Read
Oh, what a great role.

Bonnie Bartlett
And then I played it again in college with Bill.

David Read
Wow.

Bonnie Bartlett
Bill and I did Macbeth at Northwestern.

David Read
She steals the show. She is the politician, man.

Bonnie Bartlett
Right. Anyway, good.

David Read
What… who else?

Bonnie Bartlett
Well, I have to say Lee Strasberg, because I studied with him for, actually, eight years. I was his, kind of an assistant, for a part of those years. And he meant a great deal to me, in terms of acting. Personally, he kind of hurt me, but I’m tough, and I can take that. But he gave me a different perspective on how it was to be on the stage. How it was to really be there. You know? So that, yeah, you’re pretending but you’re really there. It’s you. And I learned from him to do that, which works very much in film. Although he was helping you in the theater, basically, his work. Working with him helped me tremendously on film.

David Read
I’m curious, did the relationship in terms of molding you to become the actress you became, the pain that that you received from him, did you have to push through that to achieve what you wanted? Or did it make you stronger?

Bonnie Bartlett
Well, that’s a tough one for me because in the end, he kind of didn’t stand up for me, and it hurt me. But I was able to say, because I was starting a family… And that became the most important thing in my life, much more than acting. That gave me a tremendous strength. We had lost a baby and we adopted. And they were wonderful, and they’ve been wonderful. And that gave me such a pleasure, such enjoyment, watching these two boys grow up, you know, that it gave me… when we came to California and I started doing a lot of film work, it didn’t matter and because it didn’t matter, it mattered. Do you follow that? It didn’t matter anymore, and I knew what to do, and I looked great and I got a lot of jobs and I started working a lot and acting became secondary to my life. Because my life was with my family. My main life was with my family.

David Read
That doesn’t mean that when you were doing it, you couldn’t be excellent at it though. Because you watch a lot of performers today, they struggle with whether or not they’re going to have a family or focus on their work. And you are a testament that you can do both well.

Bonnie Bartlett
Oh you can do both. Yes, yes. But for instance, in the theater, when I was called away to work in the theater, you go someplace for several weeks. That was very hard for me to do and leaving my babies, my boys. I didn’t want to do that. I was miserable. Lanford Wilson’s play, Lemon Sky. I was with Charlie Derning, and a wonderful actor, Christopher Walker. Chris Walker.

Bonnie’s son
Walken.

Bonnie Bartlett
What?

Bonnie’s son
Christopher Walken.

Bonnie Bartlett
Chris Walken.

David Read
[You] can always count on your kids, Bonnie. Can always count on them.

Bonnie Bartlett
He was just starting and he was wonderful. He was very young. And it was Lemon Sky, Lanford Wilson. And part of me enjoyed doing it, and part of me loved watching, and watching him work. Part of it was wonderful, but there was a part of me that had to get on a bus on Sunday night and get back to my kids. And one of the children got up in bed one time they said, “Mommy, where are you? Where have you been? I call for you every night and you’re not there.”

David Read
Oh, no.

Bonnie Bartlett
Yes, he did that to me.

David Read
Oh, “The last thing I need to hear when I’m doing the job!”

Bonnie Bartlett
Yes, exactly. Exactly. I did eventually enjoy it, eventually. And it was a wonderful play and it was a wonderful success.

David Read
Do they, as adults, understand and appreciate the sacrifices that you made?

Bonnie Bartlett
I don’t think they think of it as sacrifices. I don’t think they think of it that way at all. I mean, they’re good guys, and we love each other and they help me and I help them. And, you know it’s a good family, it’s a good family, good relationships. The boys get along with each other, and they all get along with Bill. And I think they, you know what, they understand, having lived a long time, they understand how lucky Bill has been. They do understand that. Because life, they know what life is like out there, you know, and they understand that he’s very talented and so forth. But they also understand that he’s been a lucky guy. And they appreciate anything we do for them, of course. Education, they appreciate that and helping to educate their kids. They all appreciate education, let me put it that way, yeah, they do. And so they appreciate us for that.

David Read
Stage performances, film performances, television, what are one or two roles that gave you something that you didn’t expect to receive as a human being, as a person. Either the documents, the material that you were reading, or the relationships that you got from being surrounded by the players that you were at the time. What are a couple of roles that really did that for you, that have withstood the test of time in your memory and helped shape you?

Bonnie Bartlett
Strangely enough, one of the first things that did that was at Northwestern. When I was a freshman, I played Barbara Allen in Dark of the Moon. And she’s a very sexy, Southern, you know, it brought out all of that in me. I had so much fun. And I was so pleased that people liked it so much. I won the award that year. And she was just an out there girl. And I have to tell you a story about my Grandma. My Grandma, my Grandma that I was, you know… She came to see the play at Northwestern. So afterwards I said, “Grandma, what did you think? What did you think of the play? What did you like?” She says, “Well, I could tell at the very beginning that you were not playing a very nice girl. I just shut my eyes and slept.” She wouldn’t watch it, she just closed her eyes and slept through the play. And I loved that. I loved that.

David Read
But you loved that! I would have been so distressed.

Bonnie Bartlett
No, I don’t care.

David Read
OK.

Bonnie Bartlett
No, I wasn’t distressed. I thought it was funny because I thought, “Well, that’s Grandma.” And my brother came to see it, and he said, “You know, Sis, I forgot who you were. I forgot you were my sister.” And it’s the best thing he ever said to me.

David Read
You disappeared into the performance.

Bonnie Bartlett
Yeah. So that was very important for me. And the fact that it was the first time I kind of realized that I was attractive on stage, that was important. Very important, because I always played older parts and character parts and stuff like that. And this was a really sexy, full, Southern… I loved playing those parts, by the way. In the mountains, and, you know. I love those people, I love those people and I love playing those parts. So that was very important. St. Elsewhere was major in my life, because it was me, you know. It was so much me, and it was so much…

David Read
And it’s Bill.

Bonnie Bartlett
And Bill, yeah. So that character’s was very much Bill. Ellen was not really me, but a lot of it was. A lot of it was. And of course, I won two Emmys. That was nice. That was nice.

David Read
On the same night, you two guys.

Bonnie Bartlett
And I won one later, I won two for [St. Elsewhere]. Bill won two. We have four. And we have four grandchildren, so we got one for each.

David Read
One for each, absolutely. Put that in the will.

Bonnie Bartlett
Yes, exactly. Exactly.

David Read
Absolutely. It’s one of those shows that I have only recently — I’m 38 — I’ve only recently been aware of, and it’s like, this show is a predecessor for so much that came after it, in terms of ensemble television, in terms of season over season, you could have episodic TV, but we’re also moving into arcs where, the characters that we’re watching and following are growing before our eyes, they don’t reset to zero. And I’m looking forward to sitting down and going through the whole thing. It’s a marvelous cast. It’s a remarkable group of people. Denzel Washington, I mean.

Bonnie Bartlett
Denzel was young. He was beginning a movie career, but he did St. Elsewhere… he didn’t feel he was written that well, but, you know, they were great writers, Tom Fontana, [they] had in the writing group. But they didn’t somehow write for him quite right. But he stayed on, he stayed on the whole time because he wanted that — probably — that salary, that steady thing. And that kept him going, and then he would… he moved into all these wonderful movie roles. Bill always said, “Denzel is meant for the big screen.”

Bonnie Bartlett
You know, Bill always felt that. And I didn’t know, but surprisingly we liked television. Bill liked doing television. It’s not the same as the theater, but he said the power you get when you’re in the theater is amazing.

David Read
Yeah.

David Read
Oh, completely different experience. Absolutely.

Bonnie Bartlett
You don’t have that instant power. You’re doing it for yourself in a way, the small screen. And then theater, you’re doing it for everybody out there.

David Read
Not to mention out of order. You have to remember where you are and when you are in the material, and then a few months later it gets aired to an audience that you don’t get to see in front of you.

Bonnie Bartlett
I did Streetcar Named Desire and stuck. I played Blanche and that is the most intense, incredible experience, to do that play. You start in the evening and you think, “OK, I’m gonna go through this again, I’m going to experience…” You experience the whole play from beginning to end. It’s just, it’s exhausting because she is… and it’s so brilliant. The writing is so brilliant and it just takes you along. It just takes you along. Tennessee Williams. I mean, it just, it plays itself.

David Read
Right?

Bonnie Bartlett
Once you know what you’re doing, it kind of plays itself.

David Read
You just get on board.

Bonnie Bartlett
Yes, you get on board. On board the streetcar.

David Read
That’s right! Just before we get to Stargate, one of the other shows that I grew up on and adored was Seaquest, and Roy Scheider, who made that role come to life. And you, the politician in charge of the UEO, Madam Secretary General Andrea Dre. What a badass, if I do say so myself.

Bonnie Bartlett
Yes, I’m good at that!

David Read
Oh, you and [villains]…

Bonnie Bartlett
Golden Girls. How about Golden Girls?

David Read
Well, that’s true, too. That’s true too.

Bonnie Bartlett
I just did a convention, a Golden Girls.

David Read
Wow.

Bonnie Bartlett
Yeah. And they all love to hate me. Because I was so mean. I was so mean to those nice little Jewish men. I was just a terrible anti-Semite. As a matter of fact, my granddaughter designed a shirt for me that Bea Arthur said, “Go to hell.” See?

David Read
Oh, my.

Bonnie Bartlett
And my granddaughter designed this for me, and she got it on the nose. I said, “Watch the show.” And then…can you see it?

David Read
Yeah, just lift it up to your face. Little higher. Oh, that’s terrific. That’s great.

Bonnie Bartlett
Barbara Thorndyke? Yes. Yes, sir.

David Read
Oh, my.

Bonnie Bartlett
Yeah. Anyway. So anyway…

David Read
Talk about a great cast.

Bonnie Bartlett
I’ve also written a book.

David Read
Oh.

Bonnie Bartlett
It’s going to be out probably in September, it’s called Middle of the Rainbow.

David Read
Is this an autobiography?

Bonnie Bartlett
It’s… yes, it is. But it’s about — what you said in the very beginning — how we managed to do, how we managed to do this. And it’s also about how women… the changes in women’s lives. I’ve been here 93 years, and the changes, the way women have been treated, and the changes in it. And now, of course, in this country, as you know, the abortion thing, you know, with Roe versus… incredible. Because I’ve lived through all of that, you know, and now going backwards, it’s kind of amazing. It’s kind of amazing. But that’s what the book is about, the way men tell women what to do. And the way it’s changed somewhat. There’s a lot of stories in there, a lot of stories.

David Read
I can’t wait, who’s the publisher?

Bonnie Bartlett
Was it… BearManor, something like that? It was not easy to get it published.

David Read
OK. How long have you had the manuscripts done? Is this something that’s just been finished?

Bonnie Bartlett
Well, it’s never done because if you’re going to… if it hasn’t been published, you go back to it. But I’ve writing on it… some of it was written in the 70s.

David Read
Wow.

Bonnie Bartlett
Some of the stuff was written in the 70s. Actually, the stuff about my boys and the adoption and that was written in the 70s. But anyway, I finally finished and I had a guy, Loren Lester, who pushed me to finish it. And I have.

David Read
The Middle of the Rainbow.

Bonnie Bartlett
Middle of the Rainbow.

David Read
I can’t wait, Bonnie. Please tell me that there is an audio version and that you’re reading it?

Bonnie Bartlett
I think we will. Yes.

David Read
Yes! All right. I’m a big audio guy. I spend a lot of time on the road, so that’s fantastic. I can’t wait.

Bonnie Bartlett
OK, good. Good, good.

David Read
All right.

Bonnie Bartlett
All right.

David Read
I want to help promote this, so when it gets nearer, I am down. This is terrific. Good deal. What was it like playing villains? I mean, you mentioned Bea Arthur, but opposite Roy Scheider. Roy Scheider, I mean, you know, the great characters.

Bonnie Bartlett
Yeah, he was, Roy… it’s tough to be a villain. Roy himself, is so tough. He’s so strong, that you kind of have to just take over, you have to fight him, you have to… He’s very strong, as opposed to the Stargate lady who was so lovely. I love her, that [character], I loved her.

David Read
A chameleon. So let’s get into Linea. Tell us about what you remember about getting this role.

Bonnie Bartlett
Oh, I was asked to do it, and I went up to… I went to Vancouver a lot. I made a lot of movies of the week up there. There was a period of time when movies of the week were very popular. And I made a lot of movies of the week up there. So I knew Vancouver. I loved Vancouver. I really like it. And so I went up to do it. And I had, it was a technical, I had some technical stuff to do. And that’s always hard for me. Technical stuff is hard. Bill can do lawyers and doctors and spill off that.. he can’t do it now, but he used to be able to do all that. That’s tough for me. I have to really study. So I had a little problem. They came to get me once and I said, “No, no, no, no, no, I get a 12 hour break.” They said, “No, in Canada is a 10 hour break.” I said, “I need a 12 hour break.” They said, “You’re in Canada and you have to do 10.” I said, “You got to give me time to study. I have to work on it.” And we had a little altercation about that, but I had to follow their rules. I mean, and I did but I was annoyed with that, I was really annoyed. The cast was wonderful. Especially the lovely lady.

David Read
Amanda Tapping.

Bonnie Bartlett
Amanda Tapping. She was lovely. And so was the lead.

David Read
Richard Dean Anderson.

Bonnie Bartlett
Richard Dean Anderson, they were all very nice. Oh, and I remember the man with the… I talked a lot with the guy with the bald head, Dean?

David Read
Was it Teal’c? So the black gentleman, Christopher Judge?

Bonnie Bartlett
No, no.

David Read
The bald… Oh, Don S. Davis, the General.

Bonnie Bartlett
Don S. Davis. Yes.

David Read
May he rest in peace. General Hammond.

Bonnie Bartlett
He’s gone. Of course.

David Read
Yes, we lost him a few years ago, yeah, to heart attack. But what an amazing human being he was.

Bonnie Bartlett
Yes, yes. I remember.

David Read
Everyone who knew him loved him.

Bonnie Bartlett
Yes. And I remember conversations with him, you know, off set that were lovely, lovely, lovely. And the, as I say, the cast was wonderful. I just had a little technical glitch about the 10-hour turnaround as opposed to the 12-hour turnaround.

David Read
Right. We go… say again?

Bonnie Bartlett
That’s a union thing.

David Read
Understood, yeah. It’s where things get tied up in knots if you’re not careful.

Bonnie Bartlett
Yeah.

David Read
This character, Linea, is one of… Prisoners is an excellent cautionary tale of assuming that everyone is in the same position that you are. Where the team gets taken to a place where they’ve been… yes, they have broken a law, but a life sentence for trespassing somewhere? And they go to this place where they meet this marvelous chemist, who they assume has also been brought there against her will for one reason or another. But they don’t ask any questions, their only interest is getting out. And she helps them with that. She introduces us to cold fusion technology, which we’ve been trying to get forever. And once we do that, we find out what we have unleashed. What was your view of this person who was really, underneath, this awful creature with photographic memory and computers… There are people out there like that, who you you turn your back on them and they’ll get you on a dime. What was your interpretation of whoever this person was? Linea.

Bonnie Bartlett
You know, something? I don’t know.

David Read
OK.

Bonnie Bartlett
I don’t know. It was like, the material was, as I said, difficult for me. The material was difficult for me. And my mind doesn’t go in that direction. Do you know? My mind. Like, you’re a big fan of — I can tell — of all these things. I’m a big fan of people. I’m a big fan of relationships and people. I love… I can be with somebody for an hour and I can tell you so much about them. I can tell you so much about them. But when you’re talking about controls and chemistry, it’s like another world for me, you know? I’m not there. I’m not there at all as a person. So it’s all… and when they go, all this made up stuff. My husband loves it. My husband will talk about the stars, and he’ll talk about the Earth and he’ll give me statistics. And my kids both know a hell of a lot more. I’m really dumb in that area. I’m really unexplored in that area, probably to my regret. But it is not my forte. And that’s why I got in trouble about the 10-hour, 12-hour thing. I need time. I need time. I don’t understand this. I don’t even understand it like a high school kid would who took chemistry and physics and all of that. I don’t get it. You know?

David Read
Well, Bonnie, let me tell you then, from my perspective, and from many a fan’s perspective, you, with the documents, and the writers, created a mad scientist that terrified us.

Bonnie Bartlett
Really?

David Read
Yeah. Because she is the Destroyer of Worlds. This is a person who has wiped out at least two civilizations that we know of.

Bonnie Bartlett
That’s incredible! I can’t… I don’t understand that! My mind doesn’t understand that. Do you know what I mean? It’s like what’s going on in our country today, I don’t understand it. I can’t comprehend it. I don’t understand that. Because I’m really good with people one-on-one. Yeah. And I cannot believe what’s going on. I cannot believe it. And that’s because it’s…

David Read
Everything’s moving very fast now.

Bonnie Bartlett
Oh, yes. Yes. Because if I figured out the first 60 years, or 70 years of my life, at the pace they went, you know, seemed like everything was normal. Now, it’s so fast. Everything is so fast that it’s hard to comprehend it. It’s just hard to figure it out. And it’s hard to keep up.

David Read
It is.

Bonnie Bartlett
It’s hard to keep up. One of the things I can’t keep up with is the young people and all the different things they’re doing. And I’m all for it, but I don’t understand it. Do you know what I mean?

David Read
Right, yeah. Everything’s in this thing, now. Everything.

Bonnie Bartlett
And I think I’m all for it, you know, I’m all for freedom and doing what you want, but I don’t understand it.

David Read
And I think a lot of us are finding ourselves more — to our detriment — I think we’re finding ourselves more and more in escapism with media rather than communicating with each other. But one of the things I really think that Stargate has helped a lot of the people in the group that I associate with do, is find one another in the material that you and this team of people created. And the villains, the villains are so key to that, because they help us understand who we are. And they help us recognize and see where, if just a twist of fate was different, that’s us. And under the right circumstances, it will be us. And that’s, I think, what Linea and a lot of villains like her bring to the surface, is just the right amount of this and the right amount of that makes that human being possible.

Bonnie Bartlett
When I play a part, I always play it like… I look at that, and I say, “She’s a nice lady.”

David Read
Right? All intents and purposes, she is.

Bonnie Bartlett
“Look at the nice lady on the screen. Look at the nice lady.” You know, I do and I say, “Oh, don’t I look pretty there,” you know? That’s the way I respond. Oh, I’m not modern.

David Read
Were you asked to come back to the show?

Bonnie Bartlett
No.

David Read
Because she came back. I don’t know if you know this, but the character returned the next season.

Bonnie Bartlett
I know that. And I don’t think they liked me.

David Read
Aw!

Bonnie Bartlett
I think it was because of the problem with the 10-hour 12-hour thing.

David Read
OK.

Bonnie Bartlett
I don’t think they liked me. They didn’t think I was a company player, you know? I don’t think they did. I think they didn’t think I was a company [player]. They were unhappy with that.

David Read
That was a big deal, OK.

Bonnie Bartlett
It was a big deal, but we did a good show.

David Read
It was a great show.

Bonnie Bartlett
Yeah, it was a good show. But no, the character came back with another actress. I don’t know who it was.

David Read
Yes, her name is Megan Leitch. And an experiment went wrong, and she lost her memory and she was working on a fountain of youth chemical, which worked but it also took away all their memories. And Linea no longer knew who she was.

Bonnie Bartlett
Oh my God, I didn’t have to play that! I wouldn’t want to play that!

David Read
But it was remarkable to watch her performance, because she is rediscovering that she’s a monster. And so that was an interesting way to play that. Because it’s like, if you forget what you are, and what you are is pure evil, what do you do? Who do you turn to to say, “stop me,” or do you even want to?

Bonnie Bartlett
But then if you’re pure evil and you forget that, then you can be good.

David Read
And that’s how the show runs. You got it.

Bonnie Bartlett
Yeah. Exactly. Exactly.

David Read
I’m sorry you didn’t return. It would have been wonderful to have you back. Early on in those seasons, the villains — other than the main tribe of villains, the Goa’uld, they were the bad guys — we had a couple of other villains here and there and you were one of them, and you were delicious. Absolutely remarkable, though. I loved it.

Bonnie Bartlett
Oh I’m so glad. I’m so glad.

David Read
Absolutely. I have a couple of questions, if you don’t mind, from fans. What did you… Lockwatcher wanted to know, what did you think of the sets and the props on Stargate, compared to some of the other shows you’ve worked on. Seeing that big ‘Gate, that device that you had in your hand that put people… that transformed them and knocked them out and killed one of them.

Bonnie Bartlett
That I loved! That was fun. I was playing, I was like a kid, I was like a kid playing games.

David Read
Absolutely.

Bonnie Bartlett
Absolutely, like a kid playing games. You know, that would be a thing I would do when I was little.

David Read
Kenyon Moon wanted to know, did you get to contribute to the character at all in the scripts, or did you just play it as written?

Bonnie Bartlett
I played it as written. I mean, I play myself, I’m always myself. But I play what the material is given to me. No, I didn’t do any writing. No.

David Read
Got it.

Bonnie Bartlett
Absolutely. And they wanted it exact.

David Read
Yeah, those sci fi shows in particular, when so much goes into it, they have to be right on the money.

Bonnie Bartlett
That’s right. That’s why I like to study.

David Read
I see. And you needed the time for that, I understand.

Bonnie Bartlett
I needed the time to study, yeah.

David Read
General Maximus wanted to know, you have such an illustrious career with so many varied roles, is there any role or character that you would like to play and have not had the opportunity to do so, so far?

Bonnie Bartlett
No, I’ve done a lot of different — fortunately — very different [roles]. I played an alcoholic mother on a show that was very important to me, because it was for introducing Al-Anon to the young people. And I really, that I felt was very important. And we won a lot of awards for that show. It was a daytime show.

David Read
OK.

Bonnie Bartlett
Afternoon special. But I was very proud of that show. And it also gave me a chance to play an alcoholic that I knew a lot about. That I know a lot about.

David Read
Yeah, I understand. I have to say, your most recent TV appearance is in Better Call Saul.

Bonnie Bartlett
Yes, oh I loved that.

David Read
What a remarkable show. Remarkable show. And as Helen, I think we can all — it even hurts me even to talk about it — I think we can all relate to people no matter what age we are, being pushed aside and left out because of another person saying terrible things about us, or doing terrible things behind our back.

Bonnie Bartlett
Yeah, he really hurt me, he hurt me. I know how that is, yes. He hurt me.

David Read
He hurt the whole community.

Bonnie Bartlett
Yeah. But I was able to say to him, “You should be so ashamed. You should be so ashamed.” You know, and this person who didn’t get it at all.

David Read
No, no, he’s only interested in himself.

Bonnie Bartlett
I loved this guy. I loved this guy. I loved working, I loved being with him. And that he did that to us? All of us?

David Read
And Saul, in his sick way, loved everyone there, but he still came first. And at least he was good enough as as a person to let everyone know the truth, so that he could repair the relationship with the woman that every one else cast out. Because we’ve all been that woman at one point or another in our lives, at least I certainly have, you know. What a powerful show, that was a good part.

Bonnie Bartlett
And Bob Odenkirk has a wonderful way of working. He essentially was a stand up comic.

David Read
Yes.

Bonnie Bartlett
And he can do all that. He could make things very funny if he wants to. And he chooses not to. He chooses for the humor to come from us.

David Read
Correct. Correct. That’s a very gracious lead, doing that.

Bonnie Bartlett
Yeah.

David Read
And Sommer wanted to know, Bonnie, your ability to read people in the room and very presence was enough to make us terrified of Linea’s brilliance and unpredictability, and you learned early how to become the character. What is something you know now that you wish you knew as a younger actress? What are some of the lessons that you’ve learned in the later years of your life that, you know what, you could really go back and say, “Kid, this will keep you from stumbling here and there.”

Bonnie Bartlett
Yeah, when I… maybe because I’m married to somebody who’s so funny. Bill never misses a joke. He never misses. His whole thing in life is to make you laugh. If he goes into therapy, he wants to make the psychiatrist laugh. You know what I mean? That’s his motive. And I have always felt that I didn’t know how… I wasn’t good in comedy. I had had a disaster in school, where I should have been very funny, and I didn’t know how to do it. I didn’t know how to do it. And I thought it was me, I just thought it was me. And I wish that I had learned earlier that I didn’t have to do anything differently to say, “Laugh at me.” You just have to find something. I wish I knew that when I were younger and didn’t feel intimidated by comedy. I felt intimidated by comedy for a long time. But I did it, and I learned, “OK, you can do it.” It’s the material. And I wish I had known that when I was younger. Yes.

David Read
Yeah. You kind of have to just let go and trust that the material is going to carry you. You’re right, making people laugh if you’re not… like some people are good at it by default, but if you’re not, it can be intimidating. Absolutely.

Bonnie Bartlett
It can be… I mean, because you feel like you’re expected to get laughs. If you don’t get the laughs…

David Read
You failed.

Bonnie Bartlett
You failed, exactly. Exactly. And it isn’t that at all, you just have to… I wish I had known earlier on that it wasn’t… it wasn’t me, that I didn’t have a lack somewhere that I wasn’t… that I could do it in my own way. I didn’t have to go out there [over the top comedy noises], do crazy things to be funny.

David Read
Exactly. Last question from fans, Marcia Middleton wanted to know, do you have any memories from V? From working on V?

Bonnie Bartlett
Yeah, I do. I do. I liked that part, I liked the guy who was playing my husband. He was from New York, and I liked him a lot. And one of the strongest memories I have is going into shoot with one girl and going in the next day with another girl, because the original girl had been killed by her boyfriend. I’ll never forget that. That we just went on.

David Read
In real life?

Bonnie Bartlett
Oh, yeah.

David Read
Oh, my goodness. And they had to recast on the… Wow. Oh, my.

Bonnie Bartlett
They recast a totally different girl and she appeared the next day. And we… oh, I’ll never forget that.

David Read
The show must go on.

Bonnie Bartlett
Yeah.

David Read
And you, as a performer, can not let it come through in the material.

Bonnie Bartlett
No.

David Read
That’s hard.

Bonnie Bartlett
Yeah. Oh, I was horrified by that. Horrified. But you’re kind of in a daze and you kind of just go into it and you do it. You know, but it was hard. It was shocking.

David Read
Yeah.

Bonnie Bartlett
I mean, nowadays, there’s so much that shocks us.

David Read
Right, that’s true.

Bonnie Bartlett
There’s so much that shocks us now, but it was shocking, that that we did it. “Attention must be paid.” I felt like… that’s the line from [Death of a] Salesmen but, attention must be paid. It couldn’t just make a thing of this, but they did. They just went on. It upset me very much. But it was a very good series and I love it and I liked doing it and as I say, the guy — I forget his name now — but a wonderful guy that I worked with, mostly, and the young man. Very good, good series, good job. But it broke my heart, what can I tell you.

David Read
Right. It has been such a treat having you on. When I wrote [to] your agent, I was like, “Shot in the dark. Maybe she’d do the show.” And the fact that you’ve come on and shared so much of yourself and your time, not just on Stargate, but on all of these different highlights of television that have helped make up the pantheon of the TV landscape, and it’s wonderful to have you. And please tell Bill that his performance as Mr. Feeny was one that I loved coming home to, to watch, because he really felt like a surrogate Professor who cared about me as well as the cast of that crew. That role was amazing.

Bonnie Bartlett
Yes. And he does because, as I say, he came to education so late, good in life. But he really reveres it and treasures it, and he really did want to play a teacher who really made a difference and don’t laugh at him. But he can do both.

David Read
I mean, his last line is… just kills me. You know, the kids tell him, “You know you love us more.” And they walk out of the room and he says, “I love you all.”

Bonnie Bartlett
That’s right. That has really become Bill. That has really become Bill, yeah.

David Read
Bonnie, what a treat. You are a gem. And I’m so excited that your book is coming out. We’re going to help promote that.

Bonnie Bartlett
OK.

David Read
So this fall, you say?

Bonnie Bartlett
Yes, by September, I think.

David Read
Terrific. I would love to read it and then have you back on to discuss some of it, if you don’t mind?

Bonnie Bartlett
Sure. We’ll do that.

David Read
That would be terrific. It has meant so much to me to have you on. Thank you for taking up your day with me.

Bonnie Bartlett
Thank you.

David Read
And you take care of yourself, OK?

Bonnie Bartlett
I will.

David Read
I’m gonna wrap up the show. Thank you again. Take care.

Bonnie Bartlett
Thank you.

David Read
Bonnie Bartlett. Linea from Stargate SG-1. I am pinching myself, this was so, so cool to have her on. The Destroyer of Worlds, one of the original villains from the series. And thank you so much for tuning in. I really appreciate everyone who’s taking the time to stop in this afternoon and enjoy the show with us. Stargate… Excuse me, let me back up a little bit here. Dial the Gate is brought to you every week for free, and we do appreciate you watching. But if you want to support the show further, buy yourself some of our themed swag. And who’s that director there with a certain t-shirt that we have available? Peter DeLuise, everyone. Anyway, thanks to Peter for submitting that. We’re now offering t-shirts, tank tops, sweatshirts and hoodies for all ages, as well as cups and other accessories in a variety of sizes and colors at dialthegate.com from the merchandise tab. Click on the design to see what items are being offered. Checkout is fast and easy. You can use your credit card or PayPal, just visit dialthegate.com/merch and thanks so much for your support. Rainbow Sun Francks is going to be joining us at 2pm Pacific Time. It’s about an hour from now. So I’m going to run and grab a bite to eat and then we’re going to be back with Rainbow to catch up with him on what he’s been doing, to share some more memories from Stargate Atlantis. I really appreciate everyone for tuning in. And I hope you stick around for the next episode with him coming up at two o’clock Pacific Time. My name is David Read for Dial the Gate. I appreciate you tuning in, and we’ll see you on the other side.