That changed when the Golden Globe Award-winning actress took part in the Los Angeles LGBT Center’s OUT Under the Stars screening of the 1985 cult classic Clue. Held outdoors at the iconic Hollywood Forever, the following was a preview article for the event published in August 2017.
“I’m very excited about it,” says Warren who plays Miss Scarlet in the film.
The murder comedy, based on the board game of the same name, is being screened as part of the Los Angeles LGBT Center’s OUT Under the Stars summer film series.
The series kicked off in June with Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? and is hosted by the Center’s Los Angeles Women’s Network (LAWN) and Young Professionals Council (YPC).
Warren will make an appearance before the Clue screening.
The role in Clue was offered to the actress just a few years after she was nominated for an Academy Award for her performance in Victor/Victoria. She was originally set for the role of Mrs. White, a role that eventually went to Madeline Kahn.
“Carrie Fisher was supposed to be Miss Scarlett but she dropped out,” Warren explains. “I felt like I was more suited to Miss Scarlett anyway. She’s out of that 1940s period that’s in my wheelhouse. I kind of get it. It was great to play a tough, sardonic, sexy gun moll – and a madam.”
The whodunit has an impressive all-star cast.
“It was a really incredible group of comedic actors at the top of their games, priceless comedic actors. Martin Mull, Tim Curry, Eileen Brennan, Madeline Kahn, Christopher Lloyd. We drove the director insane, it was like herding cats. We were all laughing hysterically at each other’s stuff – we couldn’t be contained.
“I loved it. Loved it.”
Warren also loved her wardrobe created by Michael Kaplan.
“That dress! Oh my God, Michael created a dress that looked like it was always falling off. There were several of them and one had a hidden zipper so I could do all that running around the house.”
Clue was not a box office hit when it was released but it has since become a cult classic.
“It’s so taken off,” Warren says. “Wherever I go, someone usually in their 20s or 30s recites lines from Clue. It’s extremely popular and has taken on this new life.”
The movie famously has three different endings and Warren’s favorite, of course, is the one where her character of Miss Scarlet is revealed to be the killer.
“I hope they show that one at the cemetery,” she says.
Long-time LGBT connections
Warren has long supported the work of the Center and attended many productions at the organization’s Renberg Theatre through the years.
Her connection to LGBT people began more than 50 years ago when she first appeared on Broadway.
“It’s really been a connecting thread throughout my life,” she says. “I was 17 when I did my first show, surrounded by dancers and many of them gay. I was brought up in New York, I was a part of that world.”
Of her 121 television and movie credits, it turns out the strongest and most lasting connection has come from her starring role in the widely-seen 1965 television production of Cinderella that aired on CBS.
“Cinderella has had a huge gay male following. I’ve been told a lot of people related to the pain and feelings of abandonment and isolation that she experienced. They felt akin to the feelings and when they were little they’d watch it then go into a private room and sing the songs.”
