Sherry Lansing | "Why Can't You Run the Studio?"
The first psychiatrist Sherry Lansing saw told her that when he was finished with her, she wouldn't want to work anymore — she'd want to bake pies. She was 24, newly divorced, substitute teaching, and broke enough that it took her a year and a half to work up the strength to leave. Years later a date who happened to be a psychiatrist heard the story, picked up the phone in her tiny kitchen, and started the chain that led her to Joshua Hoffs. She knew inside the first hour it was different. He wasn't critical. He wasn't judgmental. She worked three or four jobs to pay for it, and went three days a week for five years.
The moment that changed her career came when the head of Columbia left and she told Hoffs she was worried about who she'd have to report to. He asked why she couldn't do it. She told him there would never be a woman running a studio in her lifetime. She didn't get that job. She went on to run two of them.
In this conversation with David Begnaud, she talks about her mother, who fled Nazi Germany, was widowed at 32, told two men who offered to take over her husband's business that they would teach her to run it instead — and then told her daughter that a career would make her unmarriageable. She talks about Glenn Close arriving in a black dress and wild hair to read for a part everyone had already decided she was wrong for. About Fatal Attraction, turned down by every studio twice. About the one phone call in her whole career where she didn't have to beg. And about Billy Friedkin, whom she married at 47, who never once asked her to be anything other than what she was.
Get more stories that remind you the world is still good. Sign up for our free newsletter: www.thedogoodcrew.com
Thank you to Canva for believing in the power of storytelling and helping us bring this podcast to life: https://canva.com
Chapters ☀️
ABOUT THIS PODCAST:
The Person Who Believed In Me is hosted by David Begnaud, founder and CEO of Do Good Crew and often called "America's storyteller." In each episode, David sits down with world-class guests to ask one simple question: Who believed in you before the world did? Big names. Honest stories. Relatable takeaways. Different paths — same question.
David is also a CBS News contributor and host of the weekly segment Beg Knows America, which airs every Monday morning.
Host: David Begnaud
Guest: Sherry Lansing
Executive Producers: Ellen Rocamora, Olivier Delfosse
Associate Producer: Griffin Hamilton
Booker: Sully Bloch
Director of Photography: Foster Parks
Director of Social: Mariah Maull
Live Production Technician: Joseph Gabay & Will Whitley (Statik Creative)
Theme Music: Slipstream
Post-Production: Longwave Digital
CONNECT WITH US:
The Person Who Believed In Me:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/believedpodcast
More description
The first psychiatrist Sherry Lansing saw told her that when he was finished with her, she wouldn't want to work anymore — she'd want to bake pies. She was 24, newly divorced, substitute teaching, and broke enough that it took her a year and a half to work up the strength to leave. Years later a date who happened to be a psychiatrist heard the story, picked up the phone in her tiny kitchen, and started the chain that led her to Joshua Hoffs. She knew inside the first hour it was different. He wasn't critical. He wasn't judgmental. She worked three or four jobs to pay for it, and went three days a week for five years.
The moment that changed her career came when the head of Columbia left and she told Hoffs she was worried about who she'd have to report to. He asked why she couldn't do it. She told him there would never be a woman running a studio in her lifetime. She didn't get that job. She went on to run two of them.
In this conversation with David Begnaud, she talks about her mother, who fled Nazi Germany, was widowed at 32, told two men who offered to take over her husband's business that they would teach her to run it instead — and then told her daughter that a career would make her unmarriageable. She talks about Glenn Close arriving in a black dress and wild hair to read for a part everyone had already decided she was wrong for. About Fatal Attraction, turned down by every studio twice. About the one phone call in her whole career where she didn't have to beg. And about Billy Friedkin, whom she married at 47, who never once asked her to be anything other than what she was.
Get more stories that remind you the world is still good. Sign up for our free newsletter: www.thedogoodcrew.com
Thank you to Canva for believing in the power of storytelling and helping us bring this podcast to life: https://canva.com
Chapters ☀️
ABOUT THIS PODCAST:
The Person Who Believed In Me is hosted by David Begnaud, founder and CEO of Do Good Crew and often called "America's storyteller." In each episode, David sits down with world-class guests to ask one simple question: Who believed in you before the world did? Big names. Honest stories. Relatable takeaways. Different paths — same question.
David is also a CBS News contributor and host of the weekly segment Beg Knows America, which airs every Monday morning.
Host: David Begnaud
Guest: Sherry Lansing
Executive Producers: Ellen Rocamora, Olivier Delfosse
Associate Producer: Griffin Hamilton
Booker: Sully Bloch
Director of Photography: Foster Parks
Director of Social: Mariah Maull
Live Production Technician: Joseph Gabay & Will Whitley (Statik Creative)
Theme Music: Slipstream
Post-Production: Longwave Digital
CONNECT WITH US:
The Person Who Believed In Me:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/believedpodcast
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