If Mimi Kennedy had been a little more desperate a couple of years ago, she might be playing her namesake on "The Drew Carey Show" right now.
But she's actually pretty happy where she ended up - as Dharma's mom on "Dharma & Greg."A couple of years ago, Kennedy got a call from her friend Bruce Helford, the co-creator and executive producer of "Drew Carey." He wanted her to audition for the part of the nightmarish Mimi Bobeck.
"Mimi had horrible make-up on and couldn't get this job, and she was calling men pigs and everything," Kennedy said. "And I hadn't worked in so long, I said, `Bruce, if people see this pilot and come on like this harridan who's too unattractive to get a job . . . this is too close to how I feel. I can't do this.' "
He said, "Oh, I understand how you feel. But I know you'd be funny. And I've named it Mimi.' "
Kennedy isn't absolutely convinced that Helford named the character of Mimi after her. (Although in a separate interview, Helford went along with that version of the story.)
"He probably put the name Mimi on the role because he had a poodle or something," Kennedy said. "It might have had nothing to do with me, and he was being very nice to me at the time when I really needed a job. And he made me feel as if I was really the one.
"When I realize what Mimi has become, I feel so proud that she bears my name. And I never, ever, ever in a million years could have done that. I mean, Bruce was saved by the grace of God that he got (Kathy Kinney) in that role. Because I don't know what in heaven's name I could have done with it that would have been anywhere near as wonderful as what she's doing."
Kennedy, a charming and talented woman with a self-deprecating sense of humor, admits her motivations for shying away from the part of Mimi Bobeck weren't altogether altruistic. It had a lot to do with the fact that she was in the middle of writing her life story - the very readable and enjoyable autobiography "Taken to the Stage: The Education of an Actress." (It was published last year by Smith and Kraus.)
"It was my own vanity that kept me from even auditioning for the role," she said. "And I just didn't have that much anger. Here I was going back, doing my autobiography, remembering myself as a sweet child and I was filled with this. And I had another year of work on the writing. I couldn't go to the rage place and go, `Oh, you pig!' every week. I couldn't go there."
Instead, she took a small part in the pilot of another Helford sitcom, "Bless This House." And she ended up working on "Savannah" for more than a season.
Between "Savannah" and her two-year run on the award-winning "Homefront," Kennedy was becoming identified with the rich, snobby, society matrons she was portraying. But "Dharma & Greg" marks a return to her TV comedy roots. Her credits include the acclaimed (if short-lived) "3 Girls 3" in 1977, "Stockard Channing in Just Friends" in 1979, and "The Two of Us" (with Peter Cook) in 1981-82.
As a matter of fact, Kennedy actually auditioned for the other mother on "Dharma & Greg," a sitcom about a free-spirited young woman (Jenna Elfman) raised by hippies (Kennedy and Alan Rachins) who marries an assistant U.S. attorney (Thomas Gibson), who is the son of an uppercrust society couple (Susan Sullivan and Mitchell Ryan).
"I said to Susan, `You're playing the part that I've done,' " Kennedy said. Done so often that she was "tired of that part."
So, at the suggestion of executive producers Chuck Lorre and Dottie Dartland, Kennedy switched sides and become Abby the hippie mom.
"I love it," she said. "Hippies! Let's face it - this country needs a little opening up right now. I mean, we've been blessed with this thing about responsibility. I've been raising my kids that way, and it's hard.
"You also have to remember to have joy and to celebrate. And sometimes we get embarrassed about that."
And she's also a fan of Elfman's - adding that the wacky young woman you see on TV is the same wacky young woman she works with every week.
"She's a hoot like that all the time and a wonderful actress," Kennedy said. "Because that's the kind of self-possession you need to really be fun. I feel so glad to be on the set with her."
"Dharma & Greg" also marks a reunion of sorts for Kennedy and Rachins, who's best known for his years on "L.A. Law." They first met when their children attended the same co-op kindergarten, and they know a bit about the hippies they're portraying.
"The last time I went to see any kind of a guru . . . I was taken by his wife, Joanna (Frank), and it was a very rich and fruitful experience," Kennedy said.
"So we have one foot in this world that we're very comfortable in," Rachins said before the show premiered. "Maybe not both feet. . . . And, if I'm not speaking out of turn, Mimi's son is spending some time this summer in an Indian sweat lodge. And my son right now is on his way to an ashram in upstate New York."
The friendship between Kennedy and Rachins is just one of many that weaves the television community together. For example, Kennedy was hired as a story editor on "Knots Landing" a few years back after she became acquainted with the writer/producers of that show because their children attended the same school. That led to the parts on both "Homefront" and "Savannah."
"That happens a lot," Kennedy said. "I think especially older people, and I count myself one, in the business - people get to know who you really are. So there comes a time when you can't just go in and audition without everybody knowing exactly how you've brought up your kids, what you said at the meeting, what kind of food you cook.
"So, eventually, if they like you and there's a role that's written that's anything like you or that might have even been inspired by you in some way, you might end up doing that role. Because you write what you know and eventually we know this community."
Not that that means she has to play every Mimi that comes along.
"Oh no," Kennedy said with a laugh. "I'm happy for all of us that I didn't go after that one."