#340 From Pageants to Planetary Domination: Jane Badler’s Sci-Fi Legacy

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Jeff Dwoskin 0:28

all right, Anna, thank you so much for that amazing introduction. You get the show going each and every week, and this week was no exception. Welcome everybody to episode 340 of classic conversations, as always, I am your host. Jeff Dwoskin, great to have you back for what's sure to be an out of this world episode. My guest today coming to us all the way from Australia. Jane Badler, you loved her as Diana on V the mini series, the final battle the TV show. We're diving deep in the V and so much more, and that's coming up in just a few seconds. And in these few seconds, do not miss my amazing deep dive with Stanley Livingston chip from my three sons, was here last week. So much nostalgia packed into one episode could barely contain it. You're gonna love it. You know what else you're gonna love? You're gonna love my conversation with Jane Badler. She's amazing. We talk V, Falcon, crest, the mission, impossible, reboot, and so much more. And that's coming up right now. All right, everyone. I am excited to introduce my next guest actress, recording artist best known as Diana on V, my one of my favorite shows of all time. I'm so excited to have on the show. Jane Badler, hey, Jane, hello.

Jane Badler 1:49

Thank you for that beautiful introduction. I loved it V.

Jeff Dwoskin 1:53

I wanted to dive into V and kind of just kind of dive into all your career and goodness V was has a special place my heart. I just rewatched it all well, the too many series, so I it's just one of those things. It was one of those things I remember because I did with, I watched with my dad, and it was like, it was so great. It was something we did together. So it has a special place my heart. I interviewed Kenny Johnson once. We kind of dove into it a lot. And so I do want to kind of just start with before we go back in time. TV Guide, yeah, named Diana. Your character, Diana was ranked number five and TV Guide's list of the 25 greatest sci fi legends. That's pretty cool. That's

Jane Badler 2:35

just incredible. Wow, I love that so much. I forgot about that? What? When was that? When did they do that? That

Jeff Dwoskin 2:43

was the august 2004 issue. Wow, that

Jane Badler 2:46

was, like, 20 years after. Yeah, that's pretty incredible. That

Jeff Dwoskin 2:51

is incredible. I thought you might be like, Oh, I wonder who else was on that list. So I found the whole list. Well,

Jane Badler 2:57

I wouldn't, I don't need to know everyone, but I wouldn't mind knowing who was before me.

Jeff Dwoskin 3:01

They, of course, of course, you were just edged out by George Jetson.

Jane Badler 3:07

George Jetson, well,

Jeff Dwoskin 3:09

it's a very interesting list.

Jane Badler 3:11

That makes me not so happy to be number five. But anyway, let's see number one was it? Was it Joan Collins? Number

Jeff Dwoskin 3:18

one is Rod Serling from the Twilight Zone. So that's respectable. That is respectable. The Star Trek crew is number two, and Uncle Martin from My Favorite Martian, was number three. But you beat out elf, you beat out Fox Mulder, you beat out it's still fine. It's still awesome. It's just like you said, nine hours later to be popping on the list. Gosh,

Jane Badler 3:39

it still be, you know, it's just amazing. The longevity of that series, it's incredible. Yeah,

Jeff Dwoskin 3:46

it's been 40 years since I think the the final battle, came out. I think it's like, literally, literally as we're taping this. I don't know when it's a release, but like, literally, 40 years, like when it aired. My

Jane Badler 3:56

God, so crazy, isn't it? Oh, my God, I can't believe it.

Jeff Dwoskin 4:00

What's crazy is, like, I remember, like it was yesterday watching this show. I mean, it was just, it was so great. But, all right, but let's, let's build up to that. When did you know you wanted to act What's your origin story?

Jane Badler 4:12

Well, I think that, you know, for me, as a child growing up, I loved fantasy. That was, you know, I used to pretend I was Cleopatra, and I would have all these men, you know, kind of bowing to me. I don't know why I had that. That was what I love. And I just, I think, coming from a home, my parents were divorced, and I really wanted to make good in the world. I wanted to do something and really be famous. I thought I wanted to be famous, so I always acted. That was kind of a fantasy for me. And then I got into Northwestern as a theater major, one of the great schools, and so when I graduated, that was what I was going to do. And I went off to New York on my own and said, I'm going to be an actress. Yeah, at the time, it was really brave. I was I didn't know a soul there, but it was just as burning desire I had inside me. When

Jeff Dwoskin 5:00

you were in New York, did you start out in theater? I

Jane Badler 5:02

started out, that's a great question. I started out doing a lot of commercials. I became the commercial queen. I worked with OJ Simpson on hertz rent a car and Bob Hope we did a commercial together. And I did just, you know, arid, extra dry English leather Playtex bra. And then I did theater. And I would do summer stock, as you know, theater, you know, New York often starts outside of New York, and they try it out, and then bring it in. And I did the fantastics, which was one of the longest running plays off Broadway. And then I got my first soap opera, which was kind of destiny, because that pulled me out of theater into television. You

Jeff Dwoskin 5:39

were also in pageants, right? You were Miss New Hampshire, and you, you were in the Miss American pageant. Is this? Where does this fall in that timeline? Is this, you

Jane Badler 5:48

know, I think I was, I was in one of my mom said to me, Look, you know, I was getting a little rebellious. I was 17, and my mom was worrying, and she was a single mom, and we had four kids, she said, why don't you join the Miss Manchester pageant? That was the last thing on my mind. And I just moved to New Hampshire, so I didn't even know anyone. I just showed up and did the Miss Manchester and and I won. And then I went on to miss New Hampshire and won that and something, oh my God, here I am a beauty queen. It was the last thing I was thinking about, you know, and cutting ribbons and on floats and all that stuff. And it was, it was kind of a strange thing for me to be doing at that time, and I had to prepare for the Miss America Pageant, and it was very big deal for me at that time. Taught me a lot about discipline, and I got to sing. I got to hone my singing skills. Yeah, it was good. It was really good at the time. Do you remember

Jeff Dwoskin 6:37

the question they asked you? Don't they always ask a good question, how June, how would you solve world peace? That's

Jane Badler 6:44

exactly what they asked. How would you solve world peace? That's the regular question. Well, what good would you do for the world? And you practice it, of course, before you go on. But the girl that won that year, she was Miss Wisconsin, and she was anti abortion and a Christian. I mean, that's where the world was at. That was 1972 or three. Yeah, I just remember, God, they asked you the question, how would you solve world peace an 18 year old beauty queen. I love it. That's so fantastic, isn't it?

Jeff Dwoskin 7:11

That's amazing.

Jane Badler 7:12

I know it's crazy, but yeah, when I went to, when I went to Northwestern, just a little it's like everyone knew who I was. You know, here, this was a great theater school, snobby theater school. And I walked in and, Hey, Miss New Hampshire. It's like, it was pretty funny. It

Jeff Dwoskin 7:28

sort of followed me. You do all the commercials. Did you know age OJ at the time, or you were just in the same commercial? He

Jane Badler 7:35

was not notorious. Then, oh, sure, sure, sure. Yeah, he

Jeff Dwoskin 7:38

was running through airports. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. He was running

Jane Badler 7:40

through airports exactly, and super charismatic and handsome. I was very excited to work with. OJ, you know, at that time, he was a huge star. He acted, you know, he had an air about him of very much self importance, you know, I didn't really chat to him that much. I just kind of did my little thing with him. I was the girl behind the counter.

Jeff Dwoskin 7:59

That's funny. No, I mean, everyone loved OJ. I mean, OJ was the best. I mean, like, he was great in the Naked Gun movies. It's just like, that's why it was such a shock. You know, when he decided to kill people, allege, allegedly,

Jane Badler 8:12

oh, my god, exactly. But I do want to say, like, the best commercial experience I ever had was with Chevy Chase. I did a commercial with him for an insurance company, and he came out to Australia to shoot it, and we were together for a week. We got very close, not that close, but very close. And that was just, I'm always grateful that I got to work with Chevy Chase, because he was a very sensitive man who played beautiful piano. Not all how we think of him, yeah, he gets

Jeff Dwoskin 8:38

such a bad rap. Everyone says he's like, such a jerk and, like, not a nice person. It's nice to finally hear a good story.

Jane Badler 8:45

He was very nice to me. Yeah, he I mean, one night, he said, Oh, do you want to play my suite? And I did, and he was played, played. He had a big be asked for a baby grand piano in his suite. I walk in and he's playing, like, a concerto for me, or piano for me. And so I just think that's kind of like, pretty sweet. Do you know that's pretty sweet in his heyday

Jeff Dwoskin 9:05

when he was it's movie heyday, like Fletch and foul play and all those movies, like, I just love Chevy Chase. So funny. All right, so, and then you got to hang with Bob. Hope too, that you mentioned, that's pretty cool. Yeah,

Jane Badler 9:18

I don't have such a nice story about him. He wasn't very nice. I mean, he was an older man by then. I don't even know how old he would have been, whatever he was 70s, which is not to me, that's not that old, but at the time, it was old, and he kind of wouldn't, he didn't engage with me. It was just him and I, and he read off a card all of his lines. There was a card there, so he hadn't really looked at it, and I don't remember like I loved Bob, hope he was one of my Bing Crosby Bob. Hope those movies were my favorites. Growing up, I was a little star struck and little disappointed that I couldn't sort of engage with him more. Maybe

Jeff Dwoskin 9:51

he was just older. Maybe it wasn't he was just not as with it as he was. Yeah, maybe we'd give up the opportunity to hang out with Jane Badler, not. You know, it's crazy, crazy.

Jane Badler 10:01

Well, I wasn't the girl then, you know, I was just a young girl trying to make it in the Big Bad city.

Jeff Dwoskin 10:09

Is Badler your maiden name? Like, is that your real name, or is that stage name? Guys? Oh,

Jane Badler 10:14

no, no. God, who would pick that name? Sorry, I would pick a much more interesting name, like, you know, Lacey or, I don't know, battler is definitely my real name.

Jeff Dwoskin 10:23

I just asked because it's funny, because you've gone on a villainous role, yeah, just, you know, some people say you've grown grow into your name. I'm just like, I wonder if that that's her real name. That makes sense. Okay? I mean, I thought I didn't see anything. It said it wasn't so, but I figured I'd ask exactly. It's funny, right? Okay, so soap operas, yo, you're doing one life to live. Do you enjoy soap operas more than nor that's a grind, isn't it? Like you're always the day to day of a soap opera.

Jane Badler 10:50

I did. I enjoy it. I think it was just one of those kind of things that really kind of throws you into the fire as an actor, and especially young actor, when you've got to come up with the most extreme emotions very quickly and learn sometimes 2030 pages of dialog a day. I mean, you're doing an hour show a day. It's just a way of really learning your chops. You know, getting your acting chops together. I was only like 22 and I remember Judith light. I don't know if you know who she, of course, who's the boss? Transparency, one of the great actors, actresses. She was on the show. She won all the Emmys, and she was, I was in awe of her. She could cry. I've never seen anyone cry like her, like, literally, not just like a little few tears, but like the dripping tears that with the snot and the dripping and just could do it like on cue, like, off, on, off, on and I just thought, Damn, I wish that's a skill that I have always struggled with. I remember how extraordinary she was.

Jeff Dwoskin 11:50

Do you ever ask her how she does it? Is there something just so painful in her head that she can call upon to, like, be able to get to that emotional state? Do

Jane Badler 11:59

you know what I realized as I've gotten older, it's you just have different skills. Do you know how, like, some people can just do a back bend, and other people can just run? It's just like, it's not even like, anything she even had to work at. She just had that skill, that skill set, which, in the acting world, is really a great one to have. And you know, I did try to get in touch with her. Years later, I sent her. I saw her do a one woman show off Broadway, that blew my mind, and so I sent her a little DM, but she probably didn't remember me because I never got her phones, or maybe someone does her social media. I don't know,

Jeff Dwoskin 12:33

right? You never know. You never know you took a trip to Fantasy Island, one of my favorite shows. I was surprised. You've never been on The Love Boat. Yeah,

Jane Badler 12:41

I am surprised, I think, because I probably got v before that. Yeah, I think Fantasy Island was probably one of my first jobs, even before V and yeah, I was like, I was a sex slave, and I was in the dungeon with five other beautiful women. One of them was Miss Dorothy Stratton, who was Playmate of the Year, who, sadly, she was married, she fell in love with Peter Bock donovich, and her husband ended up murdering her like literally two months after that. And I became very close to her on the set, because she was, you can imagine, Miss Playmate of the Year in a bathing suit, and the way the crew behaved definitely before the metoo movement. So a lot of cat whistles, and she was very vulnerable and young, and I just took to her. She was beautiful, very beautiful.

Jeff Dwoskin 13:26

Yeah, that's a tragic story. It was it star 80, I think is that? Is that the movie?

Jane Badler 13:30

Yeah, I do have trivia. Yay. You do. You're

Jeff Dwoskin 13:34

like, nailing it. You're great. Oh, wow. And then you before v you also were in the doctors, another soap opera was Alec Baldwin in that during the same time as you Alec

Jane Badler 13:45

Baldwin and I acted together for about a year. He was very young and very charismatic, very handsome, and I had a mad crush on him. Alec, wherever you are, I know you have seven children now, but I did have a mad crush on him, so he didn't, sadly, have a mad crush on me back. But we had fun. We worked together. Yeah,

Jeff Dwoskin 14:06

the Baldwins are all very handsome crew.

Jane Badler 14:10

They are. They really were, but I think he was the most handsome. That's just my feeling. You know, yeah, he was. He was really something. I mean, we kind of, we had fun, and he remembers Me, because, guess what? Here's a bit of trivia, not trivia, but I don't know what happened. I sent him a message now he's ready to hear from him with these millions of fans, and he sent me a message back and said, Janie, is that you like? That was fantastic, that he remembered me. I thought that was great.

Jeff Dwoskin 14:37

Oh, that's awesome. Well, it's hard to forget someone if he worked together that close for a year, I

Jane Badler 14:42

know, but he said such a stellar, you know, he's just gone broom. Because

Jeff Dwoskin 14:45

I imagine the people that versus like a V or like, like, when you're working with something like an Alec Baldwin for a year, that's like, every day for a year, V might have two months shooting schedule and like, Yes, right? Or something like that. So it's like the intensity in the time that. You were with Alec, is good thing? Yeah, he should remember, we were a little bit

Jane Badler 15:03

of a side story, you know. He was like, his name, he was Billy on the soap opera, and he was very bad, and I was very bad. I did, we did terrible things together. So that was kind of the bad side story, you know. And then I had a loving husband who thought I was great in real life. He had a crush on me too. He was all been happening behind the scenes too.

Jeff Dwoskin 15:23

So you're always being cast as the evil you have that devious look, all right, so the role that kind of blew up V, Diana on V. How did that come about? How did you find out about this? How did you audition with you know, who are you up against? Like, do you mind? Like, what do you remember about just landing there the infamous role that would later land you as number five on TV guides. Top

Jane Badler 15:45

change my life that number five on TV Guide, well, they had already started shooting. I think they were a few weeks into shooting, and they still hadn't found the part. I think they'd seen hundreds of girls, and I was flown out to LA to audition. I was, at the time, doing the doctors, and I remember they put me up there. Was used to put you up in these beautiful hotels and fly you out first class. It was all very nice. And then I went, I think it was early evening, and my audition was in a hotel room, and Kenny was there, and the casting director and all sorts of people went back to my room. And then I got a little note, don't leave town. Yay. Don't lie. So the next morning, I was in prosthetics, and they were building that big head that you see, the one where I eat the rat, the guinea pig. That was what they were building. The first thing I did, they had to make that head. And then I think I started working pretty soon after that, on the on the show. And once again, that was, it was real, a real error, because tragedy had happened on that show as well,

Jeff Dwoskin 16:42

where the lead actress, right, Dominique, Don Yeah,

Jane Badler 16:45

so that had happened, I think, a few weeks earlier, and so that was just, you know, to walk into that, and everybody had already been, you know, they gotten quite close. So, yeah, I felt it was, it was, it was hard, and I felt shy, and Kenny took me under his wing, and just kind of had a real vision for the role.

Jeff Dwoskin 17:00

It's interesting Kenny's whole vision for V, which makes it even more tragic when you're like, well, I shouldn't say tragic. We just mentioned, yeah, real tragedy. But like, where he wasn't invited back for V, the final battle, and, oh, was everyone aware of this going on, that Kenny Johnson was kind of pushed out, and they were just kind of rushed this new, the second miniseries.

Jane Badler 17:22

Do you know at the time? You know, I don't know why I was unaware. I was not in on the, you know, on all the politics of it. But now looking back, it's just appalling what happened. I mean, it was really about money, that's really what it was about, which it always comes down to, it seems to a lot. But Kenny had a very strong vision, and I think they were worried that he couldn't stay in budget. So they sadly, and I hate, I don't know if I can use what bastardized it, but it was never the underlying vision that he had was, even now, is a vision that we all can look at and go, Wow, that's a visionary, the way he said, it was, it was the past and it was the future. The new one was, did not have that. It was fun, but it was more about action and telling, you know, having good, rollicking fun story, but it lost all of that deep meaning, which was just such a shame at the time,

Jeff Dwoskin 18:15

right? Because, I mean, Kenny Johnson comes in for people who don't know the name just off top of their head. Kenny Johnson was one that brought us the Incredible Hulk. TV series created the Lindsay Wagner's Bionic Woman. There's one more that I'm blanking on. Oh no, envy Yeah, and V Yeah. That's the two that I know of. Yeah, yeah. Envy would be the third one. And so V itself the mini series, and I just rewatched v. And then I hadn't watched final battle in a while, but I did rewatch it as well, back to back, and felt the same way that you just said 14 year old. Me love V the vinyl battle. It was the greatest thing ever. But, yeah, but now flash forward, I in watching v because v is, is basically a retelling. It's has. It's about retelling of like the Nazi Germany takeover, and it's extremely deep, and it's like, even relevant today, uh, turning people against science, turning people against Yeah, the news. And it was what science fiction. Great science fiction is where it's using society and telling a story, but under the guise of, oh, it's lizards, so I can it's psychological.

Jane Badler 19:20

It's actually, as people say, a wolf in sheep's clothing. So it's sort of like seeing people, they're beautiful, they say all the right things. They feed into the poltergeist at the moment, but actually, they're not there to do good for you, right?

Jeff Dwoskin 19:35

And rewatching it, it was still I like moments where I was just like, oh, because being Jewish myself and like all this, and it's like, it always meant a lot to me, and it still holds up. I mean, yeah, some of the effects are the other ships going whatever. But that was in the 80s. So you can, you can, the storytelling, though, is so great, so great. Oh, great.

Jane Badler 19:56

I feel bad that they couldn't bring it back the way it was meant to come back. Back, which we can talk about in the new one. But it's really so hard to watch when there's these opportunities to do great, greatness, and people fall into the commercial idea of kind of the money, or they don't want to put it in, they don't want to have this person doing it, because they're too expensive. But looking back, it's it really can ruin something. We all want to make greatness. That's what we're here to do as artists.

Jeff Dwoskin 20:23

Yeah, V was just so great. So great. Anne was like, well, let's talk. Since you brought it up, let's talk about it. So the the iconic moment,

Jane Badler 20:32

oh yeah, which

Jeff Dwoskin 20:33

the big reveal when you realize, oh, wait, these aliens that are like, pretending the are secretly taking over the earth. But, you know, it's like, hey, we can cure your cancer next week. We'll cure it next week. We'll promise it's always in the future. They always were pushing it off. And then when he Mike, Donovan Mark singer is in there, and you swallow the was it guinea pig or hamster? Guinea pig? Yeah. I mean, that's like, one of the most iconic moments ever, ever, yeah. I know

Jane Badler 21:02

it's like, oh my god. Suddenly this beautiful woman, this beautiful young woman, who you think is one way you realize, oh my God, nothing you thought is the way it is. It was like crazy eating a blood and they spent three days shooting that. That was huge, because in those days we didn't have special effects in green screen they had to do. I mean, I just couldn't understand why they were spending too much time on it. And of course, now, of course, I know now and why they did, you know,

Jeff Dwoskin 21:28

it was just so great, so great. It really was,

Jane Badler 21:32

what a moment, what a moment. And to be part of that moment, I didn't realize it at the time. No way I realized it more and more. You know, as time goes into the distance, what, how great that was, that moment, and how lucky I am, and still to this day, you know, people know it, which is incredible, really.

Jeff Dwoskin 21:50

So Diana is the ambitious and one of the the science leader, as in, re watching it, I realize they're like, they kind of undertone it like, oh, like you're sleeping with the leader. So that's why it's no one respect you. Everyone's trying to undermine Diana, but you won't have it. You're like, I'm not having it. And,

Jane Badler 22:11

like, so funny. It's like, I'm always shooting everybody and getting rid of people. And it's like, funny, and especially the TV series that went into high camp. Oh my god. But I look at that, I can't believe the things that I was I got married to Charles Diana and Charles and we were in lizard suits. I mean, really, who made that decision? Do you know it

Jeff Dwoskin 22:31

lost the thread along the way, but like, your hair was great? Was it great?

Jane Badler 22:38

Oh, my God,

Jeff Dwoskin 22:39

so big, so big,

Jane Badler 22:41

big hair. I had that little, curvy figure. I thought, yeah, okay, I get it

Jeff Dwoskin 22:46

kind of, it's funny. So Kenny Johnson was also the director. So being on set, I mean, we guys, you guys, were all aware that this was kind of a retelling when you're doing it right. I mean, and the overall vision, no,

Jane Badler 22:59

I think, I think certainly, like Faye and Mark, they were, they had worked with for some reason, they seemed to know Kenny better than I did. I was kind of thrust into it without doing any I didn't know what his vision was. I just kind of went on the set and he told me, like, kind of like Alfred Hitchcock kind of told me, Look, go this way now, turn this way. Like, he basically took me and formed me into the role. And so I wasn't really aware until later of what it all meant, because

Jeff Dwoskin 23:25

through V, then V, the vital battle, and then the TV series, like your role just escalated, like Diana, the main, main person, and like so I found this statistic. This is the mid 80s, early 80s, 84 8380 and then V, the final battle, 84 I think this is from a Vanity Fair article I found it said that 33 billion people watched V. 33 million people. That's 40% of everybody who had a TV is that America? That's America. America. Yeah, unbelievable. But this was even this was even more interesting. Well, that layered on for context, Yellowstone, which is today one of the more popular shows, only averages 13 million. So it was just so tremendously huge. So to have that one role where you popped and this is sweeps month, and everyone's watching it,

Jane Badler 24:18

oh my god, it's crazy, I mean, but then to think like, you know, like there's no social media. There was none of that in those days. And, you know, if I'd been a bit more savvy, you know, in those days, if you were, I was in my late 20s, I mean, you sort of are, that's your age. You're not like the way they are now. They're very people in their late 20s that are actors are very savvy about how to propel their career to the next stage. And at that time, I just didn't know how to do it, and I didn't have a big I was not with a big agency. ICM wanted to sign me, and I walked into to fire my agents, and they would not let me. They got hysterical. They slammed the door and bullied me. So, you know, it was a different time, because that role really should have propelled me into. You know, doing the big Marvel pictures

Jeff Dwoskin 25:03

or something, right? Yeah, but, I mean, not everyone gets that role that 40 years later, people are like, oh, yeah,

Jane Badler 25:09

I have to be so grateful. But the problem is, when people there's, and you can think of people who've had exactly what I've had, that one moment in time when they're propelled into super stardom, they're always trying to scramble to get that, that same role again, to get another role like that, and it just probably will never happen again, do you know?

Jeff Dwoskin 25:27

Yeah, I mean, it's, it's hard, you know? It's sometimes, yeah, it's like a catch 22 right? It is sometimes. It's, it's a blessing to get it one time. Some people never get it, yeah. So it's Lisa, you had V, and then you V, the final battle, and then, and then the TV show, and then the reboot. Now, just to get out of timeline for a second, because I know you did a lot more, but just keeping with V for a second. So was it exciting to come back and play a version of your character? Right? Because it's kind of like a version, right? It was still Diana, but now you're the mom of the mother of Anna, Morena, Oba, and Diana

Jane Badler 26:00

names Anna, but she, she was Diana, right, right? And experience that was, let me tell you, I had, that was my first American job, you know, since I had moved to Australia. So we're talking, you know, 30 years late, you know, I don't have no 2020, years after I had not worked in America, only here in Australia, which is very different industry, I can tell you, no glamor, not the glamor you find there. Yeah, I kind of, I really did get myself that role. They were not thinking of me. And I literally flew to California and pretended to be in California from Australia, not a short trip, and called the producer and said, Oh, I'm in town. I'd love to meet you. And of course, he saw me, because I was the original and we met. When they met me, they were very open to suddenly going, Oh, okay, this looks interesting. You still look great. You still and so they actually wrote the character in the following year, and I had to audition. I think I heard Angelica used to audition for it, and I got the role. And I was in Vancouver for four months shooting this season. But it wasn't really that fun. It was very hard because they kept me in the bloody dungeon. They never let my character leave the dungeon to fight Morena, who I felt was doing bad, or to give my character, they made me good, but I wanted to be bad again, like I wanted to, underneath that good, actually be just like her, and the only force that could save the world would be for me to fight her. But they just would not politically, she there was there was number one on the call sheet. I was number 10 or 11. If people out there don't know what that means, number one means you're number one, and you get the best lines, and you get the best role, and you're usually the star, so there's no way they're going to make number 11 on the call sheet. Kind of have a bigger role. So it was kind of frustrating, but then frustrating that it didn't go anywhere. And they brought Mark singer on at the very, very end, too late. They should have brought him on sooner. So they, I think they made a few mistakes in that series. But having said it, how great to have worked with the incredible what's and I can't remember it. Morena macaren, she's just, she's now in all the big Deadpool movies, and she's incredible, incredible.

Jeff Dwoskin 28:08

Yeah, she was, she was good in that role. She had, like, it was funny because she has, like, that real, real tall neck, oh,

Jane Badler 28:14

neck. And she looked alien, like, and how good was she? Oh, God. I loved how she played that role. Loved great. She was

Jeff Dwoskin 28:21

great. She was great. It was in Homeland the first season. Oh, I loved her. In homeland, yeah, loved her. Yeah. And Deadpool. Oh, yeah, rock and Deadpool. You worked with Robert, well, Robert England, I don't know if how many means you had with him. Buddy the future. Freddy Krueger played a very, very innocent and friendly, alien envy that I always thought that was funny, because you watch it and it's like he becomes like, one of, yeah,

Jane Badler 28:48

I know it's so funny. I mean, here's someone who, I mean, it wasn't like that role. I don't know if that role propelled him into the same kind of stardom, but he sure found it with Freddy Krueger, right, right, right. Yeah. Given him a fantastic career, but I don't, I don't remember having any scenes with him. I felt, in a way, the resistance, you know, all the people that played the resistance characters, and then all the people that played the visitors were quite separate, and every once a while you'd come together, but we didn't really hang out that much, right?

Jeff Dwoskin 29:18

Because you're most you're a lot of it on the ship or in very specific scenes. And like you were a lot with the amazing Richard. Heard John,

Jane Badler 29:26

yes, very close. I got very close to all of them, and Lydia, The Girl Who Played Lydia, and then then eventually Sarah Douglas and I became very close. She was in the second mini series. So yeah,

Jeff Dwoskin 29:38

close and see a shot her. I know John heard Yeah, you didn't shoot Andrew pryne. He didn't he he ended up getting, I think ham Tyler took him out Ironside. Took him out.

Jane Badler 29:52

It's right. Oh God, it was fun. Fun, fun.

Jeff Dwoskin 29:55

All right, so after v you had some stints in like, a bunch of different shows. I mean, you were on Falcon Crest for a while. Yeah, did that for a year, yeah, but 20, like, 22 episodes. I mean, so that's like, more than just, uh, in and out type thing. Like, yeah, Riptide, one, one episode. Or Jake and the fat man, or murder. She wrote, you got a murder. She wrote, Debbie, come on, got

Jane Badler 30:16

a murder. She wrote, I worked with that amazing Angela Lansbury. Oh, my God, how great is that?

Jeff Dwoskin 30:22

That is, that's better than The Love Boat, that's

Jane Badler 30:24

much that's much better than the Love Boat. But I couldn't believe when I got that one. I was very excited to work with her.

Jeff Dwoskin 30:29

Sorry to interrupt. Have to take a quick break. Do you want to thank everyone for their support of the sponsors? When you support the sponsors, you're supporting us here at Classic conversations, and that's how we keep the lights on. And now back to my fabulous conversation with Jane Badler. Is it fun just to kind of come in, do a show and then leave? I mean, I know, from an actor point of view, you're like, I'd rather be a reoccurring character. I probably have more. But is it fun just to go into one of these iconic shows, even just for a little bit, and just be a part of it? Yeah,

Jane Badler 30:58

it's super fun. I mean, I think it has its challenges. I mean, it's, it's very exciting, because you kind of don't know anyone, and you don't know what to expect, and you know, you have to be super prepared, and you don't and, you know, you kind of feeling everyone out, and there's kind of this adventure to it. Then, on the other hand, it's also hard, because everybody's worked together for a long time, and you're kind of having to be very intuitive and slot in to the way everybody works. So there's a lot to think about when you come into a show and you hope everyone's friendly. Sometimes they're not, sometimes they don't treat guest stars very well, and other times they do. So you kind of have to go with that and navigate it.

Jeff Dwoskin 31:34

How was Falcon Crest? Jane Wyman, classic?

Jane Badler 31:37

Yeah. Falcon Crest was probably one of the hardest gigs I ever had. It was incredibly clicky, and I felt like a lot of the actors were not happy about a new character coming in and taking, letting and their storyline becoming because they were all fighting for their storylines. That's what happens in soap operas. You go get your script, and you go, how many pages Am I in, you know? And you kind of look at that and, you know, it's very depressing when suddenly the writers decide that you're not the main story and you only have like, five pages. So I think there was this kind of, I could feel this kind of competition between people on the set, and that's never a good environment. So I came in as the nanny to one of the main characters, baby, and at first they had me, kind of, you know, trying to seduce him, and wearing these kind of strange little outfits with my, you know, breast showing, not showing, but, you know, in those days, you show a lot. I don't know, it wasn't really, I don't think it really went anywhere that role, but it was, you know, I think I ended up becoming bad again. Oh my gosh, another bad character, another evil character. I think I kidnapped the baby or something. But look, it was, it was an iconic show. So once again, I was so excited to get it, to get that role and be on another iconic Falcon Crest that was, it was just great, yeah, I

Jeff Dwoskin 32:50

think it was one of those shows. I caught Falcon Crest every now and then when I was, you know, I don't know why, maybe my parents watched it or something. Because, yeah, it would have been like, 1617, so it was, like, probably was always out or whatever. But like, you know, TV wasn't my focus at the time. But I remember, like, because I remember Lorenzo la as I remember he

Jane Badler 33:08

was great, the other girl. I mean, actually, I watched it too, and I thought it was quite good. It was quite riveting. I really, every week I wanted to watch it again, because the actors were fantastic. Susan Sullivan, that wonderful actress. She she was, she had long hair. She was, what was her name? I can't remember, Elise or she was fantastic. So, yeah, I mean, it was fun. And I think what that famous actor who died, actress who died tragically in a car crash, who was a sex symbol, her daughter was in it. Jane Mansfield, Jane Mansfield's daughter was in it. So anyway, it had a great cast.

Jeff Dwoskin 33:40

I think the thing that I remember the most it was, oh, Jane Wyman was married to Ronald Reagan.

Jane Badler 33:45

Oh, my God. I didn't even know that was she, I think she was his

Jeff Dwoskin 33:48

first I think so, yeah, before Nancy, yeah, I thought. I thought so not. I'll edit it out. But okay,

Jane Badler 33:56

you know, Kim Novak was on the show, and I worked a lot with her. She was just a very lovely, down to earth woman who lived out in the country and had horses and loved riding. So, yeah, that was cool to meet her. You know, she was, she was amazing.

Jeff Dwoskin 34:08

It's awesome to be able, I'm sure like to be able to meet all these awesome people along the way. Yeah, all right, so you mentioned you're in Australia, and so what brought you originally to Australia was the reboot of Mission Impossible,

Jane Badler 34:23

yeah, that was a big job. That was a really, that was a hard job to get, very competitive, to get that one and to do the reboot of Mission Impossible. Wow. You know, I, I'm really proud of that one. And I worked with Peter graves and the original, I can't remember his name. Phil Morris's father was in the original, and Phil took over in this one, and we shot in Australia, Destiny, yeah, right. Boy, did I have fun. You know? I was single, separated from my first husband, and I had so much fun. I was a bit we were all we were a bit wild, all of us. We were just having fun on the Gold Coast of Australia. We. Working hard, long hours, I got to play all different characters. It was just fantastic. Really, one of the jobs I've enjoyed the most.

Jeff Dwoskin 35:07

That's really cool. Yeah, I was, I was reading about it a little bit, and I guess it was originally, originally just supposed to be like this whole new crew, and they were going to do scripts from the original mission impossible, because it was like a writer strike or something going on. There was something, oh, right. And then they got Peter graves to beat Phelps again, and all of a sudden, okay, new idea.

Jane Badler 35:30

Oh, really, yeah, interesting. I didn't even know that because, you know, I wasn't originally cast in that role. Originally they'd cast an Australian girl in it, and she was very beautiful, but they decided to recast her after about, I don't know, five episodes, unbeknownst to her, they were going to kill her off. I don't think she knew. And they ended up hiring me in America, and I they flew me in, and didn't tell her that that was her last show. So I had to sort of creep around, and it was kind of really uncomfortable the whole thing, and that happened to me on the V, you know, the new V, the V reimagined. They also killed me at the end. And everyone knew there was going to be a death, but nobody knew who was going to die, and everyone was whispering. And in the end, they killed me off. They killed me off in that very dramatic death scene. I don't know if you saw it, when my daughter's lizard tail hit me in the back, and I and as I'm dying, I say something like, you know, daughter, you will, you will regret this, or something like that. I can't remember, something ominous. And then I go, you know, and the blood comes pouring out of my face. But I was just thinking they killed her off too, in which impossible. So you don't want to be killed off. That's just a horrible thing. Oh,

Jeff Dwoskin 36:43

man. Well, for V jokes on them, they got canceled right after that. I

Jane Badler 36:49

was so happy it did. I got no idea. No, wasn't that sounds so horrible. I

Jeff Dwoskin 36:52

know what you mean. They did you wrong and you just wrong. You weren't excited for them, but you just exactly alright. So you love being inspired. Mission Impossible is like, when, I mean, Tom Cruise, obviously keeps it going with the movies and stuff like that. But it's like, there's something about mission impossible that I think Mission Impossible is one of the shows that, like Lucille Ball, you know, she like, went during the whole Desi Lu time. Like, yeah, it's amazing. You think, like she was responsible for Star Trek. Also, like some of these things that are like major, major franchises still today, Major,

Jane Badler 37:27

wow, wow. And, you know, it's funny because we did, we did a second season, and we then we came to Melbourne to do that, which is the city I now live in. And this is a great city, Melbourne, if you ever get a chance to come to Melbourne. And yeah, that's where I met my husband. So that's a whole new chapter, alright,

Jeff Dwoskin 37:44

so, so you're working on Mission Impossible. Was your husband a fan of V did he know? He was like, Oh, I'm dating Diana.

Jane Badler 37:50

No, he actually wasn't a fan. But, I mean, I was just so glamorous. He was a Melbourne boy in business, you know, and in the in the money markets. And, you know, here I am, this glamorous, you know, actress, lead, lead in a TV series. And I think it was all very glamorous for us to meet. He was very handsome, and I think we just kind of connected,

Jeff Dwoskin 38:12

that's how, well, yeah, obviously, and like, so that's awesome. That's really cool. You never know where you're gonna find love.

Jane Badler 38:17

If you're open, if your heart's open, you never know.

Jeff Dwoskin 38:19

So you were mentioning that Australia, that acting community, or that is not as glamorous as the United States. So I imagine the Mission Impossible one was mostly like an American production, because it was an American production, just trying to save money by filming in Australia, right? I mean, that was like the thing, one of the first ones to do that. So was that a big shock for you.

Jane Badler 38:40

Oh, God, such a shock, I can't tell you. I mean, Mission Impossible was American and very glamorous. We all had our own trailers and have paid per diems and very spoiled. It was, you know, I stayed in the most wonderful, glamorous hotel that they paid for, like a suite. I lived there for, like, months, six months. I mean, it was fantastic. Oh my God, never have to do a thing, not do your laundry, not clean your towels. It's just the best. And then, when I started to work here, the first show I got was Cluedo, based on the board game Clue I played Mrs. Peacock. And when that happened, I was I could not believe it. No one had dressing rooms. We all shared, like a room that we got dressed in. Obviously, no per diems, it was hard. I mean, you just show up, you work. There's nothing. There's no special, nothing. You know, it's about it's about the work. And I had to kind of rethink whether I wanted to be an activist. I go, Okay, do I really love this? You know? Because it was really different.

Jeff Dwoskin 39:35

I tell you, I never, I'll admit I never heard of Cluedo. And I was like, Oh, this sounds amazing. Like, you think this would be a show that America would have stolen by now, or this idea, yeah, yeah. Because the clue movie was, it was kind it's kind of a cult classic in itself, yeah? So I was, like, it was funny, because I, like, when I was like, Oh, Miss Peacock, yeah, yeah, I can, I can see that

Jane Badler 39:56

he did was, it was interactive. So you do that, it's like, the board. Game you do, you act out the scenes, and then the audience has to decide who they think did it, and then you have a panel, and you all talk about the game. But the truth is, it was never done well enough, you know, it was, it was fun, but you have to really, you know, do that very well. That's not easy to put, you know, to kind of make really exceptionally good, as good as the board game. But what a great idea. Do you know it was a great idea.

Jeff Dwoskin 40:24

Netflix toyed with something similar, where, I don't know if it was how it played out, is in 1992 but in newer technology, Netflix had it, like with the Kimmy Schmidt episode, and I think there was a black mirror episode where you could, like, choose where it would go. Oh, wow.

Jane Badler 40:40

Well, they did it in the UK, and it was a lot more successful Pluto. And I think they called it clue, I don't know. Maybe they called it Pluto.

Jeff Dwoskin 40:46

Do you know how many murders you committed? I know the answer, at least, according IMDb, but God, let me say five. Mrs. Peacock, you tied for the least murders with three, and Colonel Mustard had the most with six. So you're evil, but not, not as evil as some of the other ones there.

Jane Badler 41:06

I really wanted to be the glamorous Miss Scarlet who has got to wear all the sexy clothes. And, you know, I was kind of the matronly Mrs. Peacock just because I was in my 30s now, geez, oh,

Jeff Dwoskin 41:19

you're over there in Hollywood. You were in a big show there as well, called neighbors, and end up villainous character, Diana, again.

Jane Badler 41:32

Jesus, can we be a little creative? Oh, well, it's so funny, because I auditioned for that role. I had to audition as usual. God, when will come the day when I don't have to audition, but I remember auditioning for Diana, Diana and and I got it. That was exciting. Because, you know, neighbors is an iconic that's where Margot Robbie came from. And, you know, Kylie Minogue. I mean, there's lots of very famous people who came from neighbors. So I was very excited to do that show. I did that for about five months. That was fun.

Jeff Dwoskin 41:59

Oh, you were in a movie that I just saw recently, Ricky sinicki,

Jane Badler 42:02

can you believe it? Ricky stiniky And I played Willie Macy's wife. Oh, my God. Did you see that movie?

Jeff Dwoskin 42:09

I love that movie, and I will say you were great. Willie Macy was great. But somehow John Cena has become a gift to comedy.

Jane Badler 42:18

He's gonna be fantastic. How good is he? John Cena The wrestler. He is so good. I'm going to tell you there were, there was a day, I mean, the great the great fun for me, it wasn't a big role, but the fun was observing everyone, because I got to really watch all these big stars, and the director, Peter Farrelly, who directed Dumb and Dumber, and I would sit there, and there were days when they would just say, we're going to redo this whole scene where they gave John Cena a pay a new, whole new page. He'd look at it and come on and know it perfectly. I don't know he was just, he was unbelievable.

Jeff Dwoskin 42:50

There's a scene in that movie. I don't remember what. I used to have it memorized. I would tell people, if you only watch this scene, not the one with the rabbi. Oh, that's funny, too. Jeffrey Ross is funny, but they the, no, the one where they he's doing his lounge act. It's like 17 minutes in, and he's just doing all the different vulgar versions of the song as the different people. Oh, it was nice to laugh at a movie again and have a good time at a comedy. So neat

Jane Badler 43:18

to laugh. That's I agree, comedies are so good right now, so important, so

Jeff Dwoskin 43:22

important, so And how was William H Macy,

Jane Badler 43:26

you know, I just think he is one of those consummate actors. And I'm not just saying it, you know, everybody says nice things about everyone, but honestly, when I came on the set, I had this idea of my character because I didn't have a lot of lines, so I was gonna really milk those lines. And the director came over, and he goes, No, no, no, you just love him. Just love your husband. And as soon as he said that, William Macy was always holding my hand, you know, putting his arm around me whenever we have close ups to go, come on, Jen, you're next to me. Come on. Like, so, like, I was his wife. Like he really, like, was into me, really, that's what actors have to do. They have to create these auras so you can believe you're in love with someone. And he knows how to do that. He's just a great actor.

Jeff Dwoskin 44:07

Would they have? They had some funny running joke with him where he was doing this thing with his hand when he would speak,

Jane Badler 44:12

yeah, yeah, yeah. Wasn't he fantastic? He was good. He I love, I love William Macy in it, too. I just love, I thought he was fantastic in it,

Jeff Dwoskin 44:20

you know? And it's funny, because I grew up watching with my kid Zac Efron in High School Musical,

Jane Badler 44:26

oh yeah,

Jeff Dwoskin 44:27

he's great. I mean, like, he was great in this, but then, like, the iron claw,

Jane Badler 44:31

oh yeah, he's a huge star. He's a superstar of all of them. He was the big, you know, he's a big star.

Jeff Dwoskin 44:36

Jane, talk to me about comic cons. Do you do comic cons? Do

Jane Badler 44:39

you know, if I lived closer to America, I would absolutely do them, because I get asked to do a lot of things. But you have to understand, it's, it's 20 hours, 24 hours for me to get to Europe, and it's for a weekend. They basically need you for a weekend. And I just find it very hard on my body. And you know, if they file your business class, they'll only give you one. Ticket. So I'm kind of on my own, flying into a foreign country just for two days. It's really hard, and so I usually say no to them, but if I could, the last one I did was in Atlanta, Atlanta, Georgia. I did a very big Comic Con there, and I can't remember, it was five years ago. I don't remember when I did that one, but that was really, I mean, it's hard work. Let me tell you, it's hard work. People do it for the money, I think, a lot of Act, and also they do it to kind of touch base with their fans, kind of feel their fans, and it's kind of a nice thing. So I wish I could do more. I really do. Yeah,

Jeff Dwoskin 45:35

I imagine you would be extremely popular, especially if they brought in a few of the Yes. So

Jane Badler 45:41

yeah, that's what they did for that Comic Con. They brought in Mark. Do they have Roman England there? I don't remember, but they, they had a few of us from V I don't

Jeff Dwoskin 45:48

know if you can see my background, like that one right there. That's, that's Mark singer, but it's him as Beastmaster. It's him as, yeah, oh, because Tanya Roberts was there also. And so I got them both to sign the one because it, yeah,

Jane Badler 46:02

she was amazing, yeah. I mean, she was, she didn't really have a much of a career after that, but she, I remember Tanya Roberts and she was beautiful. And yeah, I remember, yeah,

Jeff Dwoskin 46:12

I was, I remember, like, when I was talking to Kenny Johnson, I was like, Kenny, I've met Mark singer, I've met Lou Ferrigno to Comic Con. I met Lindsay Wagner like my I have the whole and now Jane Badler. So it was like I had the whole Greatest Hits, the whole Kenny Johnson Greatest Hits.

Jane Badler 46:28

I wish, I wish it was closer. I really think they're fantastic to do. I love doing them.

Jeff Dwoskin 46:33

I imagine they're exhausting, though, but I imagine there's so many people that still love V and

Jane Badler 46:38

it's fun, though, huge, you know? And people dressing like you, and all sorts of crazy costumes, you know? I mean, it's mad, it's wonderful. It

Jeff Dwoskin 46:48

is wonderful. You know? What else is wonderful? Spending this time with you. Thank you so much. You're awesome. Oh,

Jane Badler 46:53

so much, John, so are you awesome? You did a fantastic job, really. Thank

Jeff Dwoskin 46:58

you. Thank you. Thank you. Is there a place you keep in touch with your fans online, any of the socials regularly?

Jane Badler 47:06

I'm very, very pro. I'm very active on my Instagram, which is Jane Badler world, and and I, and people DM me. I was DDM them back unless it's rude, which is never rude. And, yeah, and I'm on, I've got a Facebook fan page and a normal Facebook, Twitter, I'm a bit more political, so that may not be the one for fans. I kind of speak my mind a lot more on Twitter. I

Jeff Dwoskin 47:27

did notice that. I did notice that. So it's, it's all good. All right, so that's awesome, Jane, I can't thank you. Enough.

Jane Badler 47:34

So fun. Thank you. I really enjoyed it.

Jeff Dwoskin 47:37

All right, how amazing was Jane Badler, I love V, so much. Did that show? Did it come through? I love V. She was so amazing as Diana, she's just amazing in general. Loved talking with Jane. I know you enjoyed it as well. Can't believe the interview just flew by. Another episode is now over. Can't believe it huge. Thanks again to Jane Badler and another huge thank you to all of you for coming back week after week. It means the world to me, and I'll see you next time.

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