Peoplein the News
Rosie O'Donnelland Peter Bergman pose with their Emmy's in the press room duringthe 29th Annual Daytime Emmy Awards at Madison Square Garden inNew York on May 17, 2002. Rosie won for "Outstanding TalkShow Host" and her show won for "Outstanding Talk Show".Bergman won for "Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series".O'Donnell's final episode of her show will aired on May 22, 2002.
Rosie O'Donnell and CalistaFlockhart taking curtain calls
HOLLYWOOD, (UPI) -- Two of TV's most notablewomen stars bowed out this week with Rosie O'Donnell and CalistaFlockhart taking curtain calls on their shows. The two women,though beloved by millions, could hardly be more different individuals.
Rosie is a blue-collar version of MarthaStewart, outgoing, loud, sometimes coarse and always opinionated.She's also a comic.
On the other hand Calista is a quiet-spoken,ladylike, ephemeral and somewhat shy heroine of the "AllyMcBeal" series in which she plays an elfin attorney who alsoleads an imaginary life.
O'Donnell is a rough-hewn, heavyset Irish-Americanfrom Long Island, somewhat tough and swaggering but with a heartof gold. She is a self-confessed lesbian who lives with her loverwho is expecting a baby.
Flockhart is as slender as a rail, diminutiveand shy, a native midwesterner from Freeport, Ill. who was educatedat Rutgers University. She is unmarried but involved romanticallywith movie star Harrison Ford. Rosie is 40; Calista is 37.
Doubtless many viewers, especially women,regularly tuned in both "The Rosie O'Donnell Show" and"Ally McBeal" and will regret their departures.
O'Donnell's show reflected the host's ownrough-and-tumble, in-your-face confrontations with which manywomen could connect. She was scrappy, sarcastic, funny and alwayssure of herself.
She lost some viewers with her aggressiveattitude toward some of her guests, notably Tom Selleck who tookissue with her when she chose to discuss his politics.
Flockhart, on the other hand, crawled insideher on-screen persona, Ally McBeal, a somewhat timorous attorneywho indulged her fantasies, which would be totally foreign toO'Donnell.
Rosie has vastly more experience as a performerthan Calista, having appeared in 35 movies and TV shows.
Among her films are "A League of TheirOwn" (1992), "Harriet the Spy" (1996), "Sleeplessin Seattle" (1993) and "Beautiful Girls" (1996)-- don't ask.
Calista's half-dozen movies include "TellingLies in America (1997), "The Birdcage" (1996), "Drunks"(1995) and "Milk and Money " (1997).
Neither actress would qualify as a moviestar, but both are TV stars who have been extraordinarily publicizedas in-the-spotlight personalities.
Those intrigued by Flockhart's name shouldknow she was named for her great-grandmother and that "Calista"means "most beautiful" in Greek.
Like Rosie, she has an adopted child, ason named Liam.
O'Donnell, who says she will never havebiological children because of a family history of alcoholismand cancer, has adopted three children: Parker, Chelsea and Blake.
Much of Rosie's career is based on her strongpersonality, outspoken amiability and raucous sense of humor.She seeks the limelight and has the self-confidence to becomethe life of any party.
Contrarily, Calista is retiring and self-effacing.Although she was a high school cheerleader, she is essentiallyan introvert.
Some of Flockhart's best work has been inthe theater, including her role of Laura in Tennessee Williams'"The Glass Menagerie" on Broadway.
Rosie's on-stage background is as a stand-upcomedienne where her robust humor evoked a large fan followingand won $20,000 on the "Star Search" show.
Among her pals, and frequent guests on hertalk show: Tom Cruise, Barbra Streisand, Madonna and Bette Midlerwho share Rosie's demonstrative gift of gab.
Very much a private person, Calista conductsfew interviews and is averse to discussing her private life, asis boyfriend Ford. Flockhart inadvertently made news a year anda half ago when she collapsed on the set of her show, sufferingdehydration and exhaustion. Friends denied she was suffering fromanorexia or bulimia.
No one would ever believe that hefty Rosieever fell prey to either problem.
There is something of the waif in Calista'sappearance that would be totally out of place with the energetic,kinetic Rosie.
There also is something of the conservativeVictorian female in Calista that is utterly foreign to the effervescentRosie who feels right at home in the spotlight.
Rosie and Calista are at opposite ends ofAmerican womanhood, representing two extremities. Calista is ultrafeminine while Rosie represents the eternal tomboy.
Both women share a unique niche in the currentscene of American women in transit, post-feminine revolution.Both might appear to be extremists in that regard.
They are the yin and yang of the feministmovement, polar opposites, representative of show business bookends.
In-between these extremes fall most of Hollywood's female performers:Julia Roberts, Sharon Stone, Michelle Pfeiffer, Renee Zellweger,Ellen Degereres, Sandra Bullock, Nicole Kidman, Jennifer Anistonand all the others.
It would be interesting were Rosie and Calistato be interviewed together on a neutral show, say, Letterman orLeno, to see how these two very different entertainers feel abouttheir lost shows and the challenges and opportunities they nowface.