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Les Versus Linda And The Crying Actress

SOLVED!

[The Hollywood Reporter] Linda Bloodworth Thomason, one of CBS’ biggest hitmakers, reveals the disgraced mogul kept her shows off the air for seven years: “People asked me for years, ‘What happened to you?’ Les Moonves happened to me.”

This is not the article you might be expecting about Les Moonves. It’s not going to be wise or inspiring. It’s going to be petty and punishing. In spite of my proper Southern mother’s admonition to always be gracious, I am all out of grace when it comes to Mr. Moonves. In fact, like a lot of women in Hollywood, I am happy to dance on his professional grave. And not just any dance — this will be the Macarena, the rumba, the cha-cha and the Moonwalk. You get the idea.

I was never sexually harassed or attacked by Les Moonves. My encounters were much more subtle, engendering a different kind of destruction. In 1992, I was given the largest writing and producing contract in the history of CBS. It was for $50 million, involving five new series with hefty penalties for each pilot not picked up.

Designing Women was my flagship CBS show, and Evening Shade had just been lauded as the best new comedy of the season. CBS chairman Howard Stringer and president Jeff Sagansky attended many of the Designing Women tapings, reveling in the show, quoting the lines and giving us carte blanche to tackle any subject, including sexual harassment, domestic violence and pornography. They even greenlighted an entire episode satirizing Clarence Thomas’ Supreme Court nomination. It was, to say the least, exhilarating. Little did I know that it would soon all be over.

By 1995, Mr. Stringer and Mr. Sagansky were gone and a new, unknown (to me) president named Les Moonves had taken over. By then, I was producing a new pilot, prophetically titled Fully Clothed Non-Dancing Women. I was immediately concerned when I heard that Mr. Moonves was rumored to be a big fan of topless bars. Then, someone delivered the news that he especially hated Designing Women and their loud-mouthed speeches. He showed up at the first table read and took a chair directly across from mine (actress Illeana Douglas, who later accused him of sexual harassment, sat next to me). Having been voted most popular in high school, I felt confident that I would be able to charm him. I was wrong. He sat and stared at me throughout the entire reading with eyes that were stunningly cold, as in, “You are so dead.” I had not experienced such a menacing look since Charles Manson tried to stare me down on a daily basis when I was a young reporter covering that trial. As soon as the pilot was completed, Moonves informed me that it would not be picked up. I was at the pinnacle of my career. I would not work again for seven years.

During that period, because my contract was so valuable, I continued trying to win over Moonves. And he continued turning down every pilot I wrote. Often, if he would catch me in the parking lot, he would make sure to tell me that my script was one of the best he’d read but that he had decided, in the end, not to do it. It always seemed that he enjoyed telling me this. Just enough to keep me in the game. I was told he refused to give my scripts to any of the stars he had under contract. Then, I began to hear from female CBS employees about his mercurial, misogynist behavior, with actresses being ushered in and out of his office. His mantra, I was told, was, “Why would I wanna cast ’em if I don’t wanna fuck ’em?” And he was an angry bully who enjoyed telling people, “I will tear off the top of your head and piss on your brain!”

Soon, I would hear how he had invited a famous actress to lunch in the CBS dining room. Coming off the cancellation of her iconic detective show, the star began pitching a new one. He informed her that she was too old to be on his network. She began to cry and stood up to go. He stood up too, taking her by the shoulders and telling her, “I can’t let you leave like this.” She reacted, suddenly touched. Then he shoved his tongue down her throat. I know this happened because the star is the person who told me.

Over the years, even when an actress managed to get one of my scripts through an agent, the deal would immediately be killed. It was like a personal vendetta and I will never know why. Was it because I was championing the New South? Or an admittedly aggressive, feminist agenda? Or both? When the legendary Bette Midler informed Moonves that she wanted to do a series with me, I’m told he denied her request. When the singer Huey Lewis, whom Les had become enamored with, chose me to write a pilot for him, his contract was canceled.

It would have been so easy, not to mention honorable, to simply tell me he was never going to put a show of mine on the air. That was certainly his right. But instead, he kept me hopping and hoping. When I finally realized he was never going to put a show of mine on the air, I left. It was never really about the money anyway, I just wanted to work. People asked me for years, “Where have you been? What happened to you?” Les Moonves happened to me.

Somewhere in the middle of all this, I was walking the halls one day in the original CBS building. In spite of no longer having gainful employment, I still felt proud that I had been allowed to make a creative contribution to the network I had grown up with — starting with Lucy and Ethel, who had electrified me and inspired me to write comedy. I never dreamed that I would become the first woman, along with my then-writing partner, Mary Kay Place, to write for M*A*S*H. I took pride in being part of a network that always seemed to be rife with crazy, interesting, brash women, from Mary Tyler Moore and Rhoda, to Maude, to Murphy Brown, to the Designing Women. Many of these female characters paved the way for women to be single, to pursue careers and equal pay and to lead rich, romantic lives with reproductive rights.

As I walked, I noticed that the portraits of all these iconic women were no longer adorning the walls. I don’t know why and I didn’t ask. I just know that the likes of them have rarely been seen on that network again. Thanks to Les Moonves, I can only guess they all became vaginal swabs in crime labs on CSI Amarillo.

For years, Moonves loaded up the network with highly profitable, male-dominated series, always careful to stir in and amply reward an occasional actress, like the fabulous Patti Heaton or the irresistible Kaley Cuoco. But mostly, he presided over a plethora of macho crime shows featuring a virtual genocide of dead naked hotties in morgue drawers, with sadistic female autopsy reports, ratcheted up each week (“Is that a missing breast implant, lieutenant?” “Yes sir, we also found playing cards in her uterus.”) On the day I officially parted company with CBS, the same day Mr. Moonves said he would only pay a tiny fraction of the penalties, my incredulous agent asked what he should tell me. Mr. Moonves replied, “Tell her to go fuck herself!”

I was not surprised when Moonves finally admitted on Sept. 9 that he “may have made some women uncomfortable” and that “those were mistakes.” Let’s be clear. Shoving your tongue or penis down a woman’s throat during an office meet and greet is not a “mistake.” It is an act of terror. It cannot be corrected with a special Hallmark card saying, “Sorreee! My bad!”

I had planned to make this a lofty piece about how we women in entertainment can draw strength from our shared historical DNA as we slowly dig our way out of Hollywood’s darkest places. I could have easily referenced Peg Entwistle, the young actress who jumped to her death, supposedly rejected by a number of powerful men. Bette Davis had gone to see her portrayal of Hedvig, inspiring Bette that very day to pursue a career in acting — thus giving new purpose to the dead girl, lying at the base of the Hollywood sign, who never knew she had already passed the torch to arguably the greatest actress to ever grace the silver screen.

I wanted to offer this story in stark opposition to all the women-hating, slimeball men like Harvey Weinstein, James Toback and Les Moonves to say, “This is how we, in the face of them, continue to lift and inspire one another.” But I don’t feel inspired anymore. I just feel angry.

The truth is, Les Moonves may never be punished in the way that he deserves. He will almost certainly never go to jail. And he has already made hundreds of millions of dollars during his highly successful and truly immoral, bullying, misogynist reign.

Perhaps the best we can do is thank Ronan Farrow and all the brave women who came forward to make sure a man like this is finally gone, while putting all the other sexual predators who are still in our business on notice. We are not going to stop until every last one of you is gone. We don’t care anymore if you go to jail or go to hell. Just know at some point that you are leaving.

And as for you, Mr. Moonves, in spite of the fact that I was raised to be a proper Southern female, and with your acknowledgement that I have never, in my life, spoken a single cross word to you, despite the way you treated me, may I simply say, channeling my finest Julia Sugarbaker delivery: “Go fuck yourself!”

Related: Deal Before Disaster

Related: His Victims Will Be Over The Moon

Crying Actress:

[Optional] ABC is considering a reboot of Designing Women! Would you watch?

SOLVED!

Crying Actress: Cybill Shepherd

Actress Cybill Shepherd starred in both Moonlighting (where she played a detective) and Cybill (a sitcom about a divorced mother).

Various sources are now reporting that Les Moonves made a move on her… and then ruined her career when she did not capitulate!

From Variety:

Cybill Shepherd Alleges Leslie Moonves Made Romantic Advances

Actress Cybill Shepherd, who once starred in the CBS sitcom “Cybill” alleged in a recent interview that former CBS CEO Leslie Moonves propositioned her while they were dining at a restaurant.

“His assistant and my assistant made a dinner date and we went to it and he was, well he was telling me his wife didn’t turn him on, some mistress didn’t turn him on. And I’m watching him drink alcohol and I’m going, he says, well, you know, why don’t you let me take you home?” Shepherd said during an interview on Sirius XM’s “The Michelle Collins Show.”  “I said, no, I’ve got a ride and I had my car outside with a good friend of mine who is an off duty LAPD officer.”

Moonves was ousted from CBS in September in the wake of allegations from women claiming he subjected them to unwanted sexual harassment, and would treat those who resisted him punitively. Moonves has denied engaging in any non-consensual behavior. His departure has resulted in the installation of a new board at CBS Corp. and plenty of speculation over whether Moonves will get any part of $120 million being held as a potential severance payment.

And from Fox News:

Cybill Shepherd claims Les Moonves canceled her show after she rejected a sexual advance

Actress Cybill Shepherd claims that her 1995-1998 show “Cybill” was canceled abruptly after she refused an advance from now-disgraced former CBS boss Les Moonves.

Shepherd appeared on SiriusXM’s “The Michelle Collins Show” where she discussed her previously popular series and boiled down its abrupt cancellation to one dinner she had with Moonves.

…

She claims that “quite shortly afterward” her show began getting marred by notes from Moonves about what she could and couldn’t do on it.

“We did a lot of jokes, it’s just funny to see someone who is ‘pretty’ talking with some food in their mouth. Not overdoing it, it’s just funny,” she told the host. “And then I got that note, ‘don’t do that anymore. Don’t have Cybil talk while she’s eating.’”

She continued: “Then it was, we had done one menopause episode, then we were going to do a second one and they said, ‘You can’t use menses menstruation or period,’ and I fought to save ‘period’ and that ended up in Newsweek or Time.”

When asked what she thinks would have happened if she hadn’t refused Moonves’ alleged sexual advance, Shepherd answered in no uncertain terms.

“It would have run another five years,” she said of her show, which was nominated for several Emmys and won a Golden Globe. “We had the best writers in the world, and directors and actors. Everybody was brilliant.”

It is reasonable to assume that Shepherd had multiple interactions with Moonves over the years and that she simply chose one particular story for the radio show.

Shepherd would have been approximately 40 when Moonlighting was cancelled and approximately 48 when Cybill was suddenly cancelled.

Both Shepherd and Bloodworth-Thomason worked closely with Hillary Clinton on Clinton’s Presidential campaign.

Congratulations to Ireadtoomuch for being first with the correct response!

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. deepsigh says

    Karma is *,Linda. Is Moonves a scum? Yeah,probably. But you and your husband destroyed the life,finances,reputation, and health of Billy Dale. For what? Mr. Dale had served several presidents of both parties with honor and integrity. He served at their pleasure and would have just left,but NO, You had to falsely accuse him of embezzlement and other things. ALL PROVEN TO BE LIES. You are no better than Les Moonves.

  2. Marvella says

    Well, at least we can thank Les Moonves for one thing. He saved us from many years of the insufferable Linda Bloodworth Thomason.

  5. parkland45 says

    No way it was Angela! I loved her in her mystery show but Moonves kissing her? Don’t think so. I also can’t see Sharon Gless crying. She’d be more likely to toss her water glass at the creep. I think it was Cybill Shephard.

    Not a fan of reboots. But I’ll give Murphy Brown a try. I loved the writing in Designing Women. I think every woman watching the show most likely found one episode that rang a bell. Mine was Ray Don butting in on a table of women.Julia did what I did years before.

  6. mizzavrid says

    What an f-ing pig he is. And that wife? Also rumored to be a horrible person. Think the actress was Sharon Gless.

  7. LaLaLee says

    No offense to Angela Lansbury but do you really believe ole’ Les was trying to deep-tongue a woman who was then in her 60’s?????

  8. dfwwm says

    Les Moonves is bad, but her old pal Bill Clinton is AOK?

    In other words, she is fine bashing someone who hurt her career, but hands off her friends who do the same (and worse) to other women.

    Makes me want to vomit.

  9. NoseyNana2008 says

    Crying Actress: Angela Landsbury

    [Optional] ABC is considering a reboot of Designing Women! Would you watch? Probably not. They will never be able to recreate the magic of the original; not even with the remaining living cast members. It just wouldn’t be the same without Dixie Carter or Meshach Taylor.

  10. ShockingBlue says

    The actress is obviously Cybil Shepard from Moonlighting.

    More importantly to me, I love this statement by Linda Bloodworth Thomason. So well written and humorous while at the same time expressing her anger at a * who stole a good chunk of her professional life.

    So glad she wrote this. And I’m so happy that these * are finally getting the attention for what they truly deserve.

  12. Sandy24 says

    Perfection! Bravo!!!!!
    “I can only guess they all became vaginal swabs in crime labs on CSI Amarillo”
    Television and writing was done a great disservice by Moonves by keeping your hands tied, in the end I think that is the goal of any abuser, render their victims powerless and voiceless. He didn’t have to touch you to victimize you, he killed years of your career because you portrayed women in a way he did not like: powerful. A powerful woman is a dangerous woman…to a coward.

  13. Duckyinky says

    The crying actress – I think maybe Angie Dickenson? Sharon Gless?
    I am ancient and I admit it – but I have no sympathy for Linda Bloodworth Thomason. She produced the address Bill Clinton made regarding Monica Lewinsky. She had no regard for the fact Lewinsky’s life was ruined in a day and age where #metoo wouldn’t see the light of day for 20 years.

  15. Appleton says

    I immediately thought it was Angela Lansbury but I literally just saw an article saying that it wasn’t her. So my next guess would be that this actress came from a cancelled show on another network. I can’t think of any other detective show as iconic as Murder, She Wrote but then again I only watched the show almost a decade and then some after its cancellation.

    There’s such an overflow of reboots that I’m tired. But I am interested in shows that were way before my time so maybe I’ll…

  16. GretaGuesses says

    The iconic detective show that keeps popping into my mind is ‘Cagney and Lacey’. If that’s the show to which the author is referring, then the crying actress would be Sharon Gless or Tyne Daly. I would lean more toward Sharon Gless. It could be ‘Charlie’s Angela’s, as that was definitely iconic! So Jaclyn Smith, Farrah Fawcett and Kate Jackson are contenders for crying actress.

    I LOVED ‘Designing Women’. I might watch, but I can’t imagine finding actresses to recreate the…

  18. gailpow says

    Crying Actress: the wonderful Angela Lansbury, who starred in “Murder, She Wrote.”
    Curses on Lee Moonves for treating her this way.

  19. 2BEAUCOUP says

    YET SHE LICKED, KISSED, AND STRAWED THE * OF BILL AND HILL.
    THE WAY HE LOOKED AT ARIANNA WHOUD MAKE A CANNIBAL AT A MISSIONARY CONVENTION BLUSH.
    I TRULY IT WAS BILL’S WAYS THAT DROVE DELTA OVER THE EDGE.
    LINDA IS AS BIG A HIPPOCRIT AS MERYL STREEP.
    ANYTHING TO BECOME RELEVANT.

  23. Katfever says

    Crying Actress: Sharon Gless of “Cagney and Lacey”

    [Optional] ABC is considering a reboot of Designing Women! Would you watch?

    I will now! Of all the #metoo stories, this one made me the angriest at the sheer waste of talent and lives because of pigs like Moonves.

    • deering says

      1) Yeah, I figured Gless as well.

      2) Can Thomason sue Moonves at all over trashing her career? It’s enraging as hell powerful men can still waste talent and wreck lives doing this crap.

  24. annabelle77 says

    Love her. Terrific article, funny and sharp as hell, as always. I’m guessing the actress was the ever classy Angela Lansbury. We can only hope Les Moonves develops a permanent urinary tract infection. I know I’m praying for it.

  26. JuiceBoxHero says

    Angela Lansbury, from Murder, She Wrote…though I don’t see her crying.

    I would love a Designing Women reboot, if it’s cast appropriately. Actual smart, diverse cast of strong, well-spoken actors.

  28. angelbratt says

    Dear Linda, I am so sorry to be reading this. Designing women was always my favorite tv show. I was so sad to see it go. The question I have in all of this??? Why the frack, how the hell could these women stay married too and be PROUD to carry their names? Julie Moonves, your career is dead. You are on the same level of pond scum as Harvey and les. May you finally get what you’ve got coming to you.

  29. SleuthingForFun says

    Crying Actress: unsure

    [Optional] ABC is considering a reboot of Designing Women! Would you watch? Absolutely. I always thought that Linda Bloodworth Thomason had EP rights.

  30. augustmom says

    Iconic detective female, too old? Either Angela Landsberg, Angie Dickinson, perhaps Stefanie Powers?

  32. spellbinding says

    Crying actress is Angela Lansbury pretty sure. It’s an iconic detective show on CBS (murder she wrote) and the timeline makes sense. This makes me absolutely sick to my stomach though. My heart goes out to all these abused women. 🙁

  33. itstarapagain says

    Linda is yet another talented woman who got stepped on because she refused to be bullied and harassed by a cretin. This is so disgusting. That he would stick his tongue down Cybill Shepherd’s throat in a public place says everything you need to know. I’m sure it was witnessed by many yet I’m assuming that anyone even bothered reporting it.

    The CBS board needs to be investigated top to bottom for allowing this garbage because I’m sure it reached them over the decades. Sue them all.

  34. GooglyMoogly says

    Crying star: Angela Lansbury

    As absurd as that might sound, I’ve read that she was harassed (and worse) while in Hollywood.

    I hope what I’ve read isn’t true and that this guess is silly.

    But at this point, nothing in Hollywood surprises me anymore. It just makes me angry.

  35. elfcherie says

    Sharon Gless From Cagney & Lacey.

    OR

    Victoria Rowell from Diagnosis Murder…
    (She seems real Sue-Happy Though)

  36. amagod121 says

    Crying Actress: Tyne Daly

    I would watch it IF it wasn’t filled with left wing politics, which it probably would be. Hollywood needs to get the message that we are OVER their hypocritically-pious messages. And Les Moonves is a total creep!

  38. scumby says

    Angela Landsbury
    NO WAY
    Bloodworth Thomason is a phony. Ask the people fired at the White House travel office so her husband could get the gig

    • SleuthingForFun says

      Also, whenever Dixie Carter had a script calling for her to go against her political beliefs she made them let her have a singing part on different episodes. Linda and her husband had a bad reputation for their writings on DW and their bullying ways. But I loved the show and would check out a reboot.

  40. KarmaFlower says

    I’m not even venturing to guess. I have always loved her style and am glad to see her name again. He’s a pig. Good riddance.

  42. CanaryCry says

    Crying actress: Angela Lansbury of Murder She Wrote.

    I enjoyed the original Designing Women alongside The Golden Girls. Leave them both alone – we already have too many reboots, failed or no.

  44. jenvies says

    Sharon Gless from Cagney & Lacey?

    I’m not a big fan of reboots, but I really liked Designing Women, so sure!

  47. Lindylou says

    Cybill Shepherd.
    Wow. He’s a real piece of work. Then again, it seems to be the norm in Hollywood.
    I loved Designing Women. I might watch a reboot.

  49. jonesing says

    Actress: perhaps Sharon Gless?
    I wasn’t a big fan of Designing Women but I did watch quite a few episodes.
    I would so love to see Evening Shade come back. I was heart broken when it went off the air.

  50. redstilettos says

    Don’t know the crying actress, but PLEASE! No more reboots!!! IMO, it ruins the integrity of the original.

    • cuesgirl says

      ITA about it ruining the integrity of the original. I have yet to watch any of the reboots and mostly just give them the side eye until i stop hearing about them. No idea who the actress is either.

  51. nylahou says

    I think it’s Cybil Shephard.

    I would 100% watch. I’ve seen reruns of several 90’s shows, and have wondered why we don’t see those shows anymore. It sickens me that one person can damage another person’s career due to sexism or racism. And it makes me side-eye Julie Chen for staying with this monster.

  52. Ireadtoomuch says

    I have wondered if the actress was Cybill Shepherd coming off of “Moonlighting”. It was not a CBS show, but they don’t “say” it was a CBS show, just that she was “Coming off the cancellation of her iconic detective show”. Could also be Angie Dickinson.