Randy Rainbow (Re)Reads Patti LuPone's Autobiography- Patti Meets the President!

Sang my first show tune when I was just three

My mother knew I'd go far. I've been a show queen since way before Glee

Now I'm a Broadway star. Well, not exactly, but my friend has a friend who knows Idina Menzel

You know, I mean, sort of. So things are happening, you'll see. But till my chef comes in, I've got a lot to tell her

Let's start chewing the scenery with you. Welcome to Chew in the Scenery with you

Me. Turn off your cell phones. Then they flew the director, Rick Rosenthal, to New York

and had me tape about three scenes with a guy named Bill Smitrovich

So began my time as Libby Thatcher, the mom on Life Goes On

This is a f***ing disaster, I thought. We finished shooting the pilot and I chose not to return to Anything Goes

In April 1989 I left the production after 15 months on stage and waited for the fate of the pilot While I was in L however I also met with Richard Zanuck and Lily Feeney the producers of Driving Miss Daisy At first I had no idea why I

was there. There was no audition, but right after I met Dick and Lily, I was told I would be playing

Florine Worthen, Bully's Wife, a part written specifically for the screen. you mean that's it i got the part i couldn't believe the role was handed to me like that

so i called my friend alfred yuri who had written both the play and the screenplay for miss daisy

did you think of me for this role i asked him yes he responded because nobody wears costumes like you

do my character florine was based on a relative of alfred's she was a clothes horse so in this

context, Alfred was paying me a compliment. What a great way to get a part. You look good in clothes

Shooting for me was brief. I was sad to leave this experience. I returned to Connecticut to learn that

the pilot had been picked up and I would now be living in L It common knowledge that Life Goes On was a problematic set at Warner Brothers Studios We were the first ones back after hiatus and the last one to leave before hiatus

Our executive producers would fire our best and most efficient directors, and the writers would then write, produce, and direct

If only they did one thing well and stuck to it. Monique Lanier played my stepdaughter Paige, but she was only with the show for a year

She left the cast when she got pregnant. To give her a proper send-off, the girls took her out to Gladstones in Malibu

She abstained from drinking. Not me. I was throwing back tequilas like crazy

But I should have stuck to water as well, since it wasn't long before I realized that Matt and I were expecting a baby of our own

I know exactly when I got pregnant. It was when Matt and I went to Washington, D.C. in February 1990 so that I could sing in a PBS President's Day special called In Performance at the White House

In April 1991 I was invited to sing at the White House once again this time as part of Points of Light a national celebration of community service After the performance Matt my mother and I worked our way down the receiving line to

shake hands with George and Barbara Bush. When President Bush told me that it was good to see

me again, I blurted out, the last time we were here, we got pregnant

well he said with a big grin come back anytime meanwhile back in la on the set of life goes on

my relationship with bill smithrovich continued to deteriorate by the end of the fourth season we were no longer on speaking terms

can you imagine we played love scenes we played parenting scenes we kissed we hugged and when the

director yelled, cut. We never even looked at each other. That's acting. On my part, he just stunk