Gwen Verdon: A Life on Stage and Screen (34 page)

After Fosse’s death it was reported that Verdon went back to the hotel where she was sedated. Fosse’s body was held at a Washington funeral home where there was a brief viewing. She refused permission for it to be flown back to New York with her. The couple had had a longstanding agreement that they would never travel together to protect their daughter Nicole, in case something happened to the both of them. Although this now seemed ridiculous given that Fosse was already dead, Verdon insisted. A hearse was arranged to drive him back, and she followed in a limousine. Fosse’s body was cremated on September 24, 1987, at the Trinity Church Crematory in New York. That night the lights were dimmed on Broadway for one minute as a tribute to him. Verdon was apparently specifically irked by a quote from Bernard B. Jacobs in the
New York Times
article on Fosse by Jeremy Gerard published on September 25, 1987. While he had said some complimentary things about Fosse, Jacobs also stated that he was not a very nice man and that he could be nasty to other people. She blamed Jacobs for aggravating her late husband’s ill health in the way he produced
Big Deal
.

Sources differ as to the size of Fosse’s estate. Some give it as $1 million, others $4 million, which included the Quogue house and over a million in cash. The bulk of it was divided between Verdon and Nicole. Verdon wrote a letter to New York Hospital, expressing her appreciation to the surgeon who had performed the bypass on Fosse. She said that he had given her husband a great seven years and that he had lived them fully and never suffered another pain. Verdon wrote that it was true that Fosse had died because he would not change his behaviour; however, his attitude was that these were his bonus years.

She and Nicole took the urn with his ashes to Quogue and scattered the ashes along the beach. Verdon then went to Fosse’s house where she found Phoebe Ungerer. Despite the four years of friendliness she had shown the girl, Verdon apparently now gave her notice to vacate. Verdon gave away a few items that she knew Fosse would have wanted specific friends to have. An example was his box of Havana cigars which she gave to Budd Schulberg. He said that when she did so, Verdon reminisced about Fosse, their marriage and the wonderful life they had together. She talked about family fun and barbecues at the house, as if they had a conventional marriage, which it certainly was not. Although Verdon had never lived in the Quogue house, she decided to keep it and sell the places she owned in Bridgehampton and East Hampton because she felt she had too many. It was to be kept exactly as it was, with the same furniture and dance studio which Nicole would use. Verdon was Fosse’s widow and acted like it, wiping away the reality of Ungerer’s relationship as her husband’s last.

On September 29, 1987, she bumped into Donna McKechnie after the memorial service held for Michael Bennet at the Shubert Alley Theatre. The last time the women had seen each other was the day Fosse had died. McKechnie said that Verdon hadn’t wanted anyone to call her because she wanted to be alone for a while. They fell into each other’s arms and McKechnie wept. Verdon worked to keep herself together and told her friend that she was just barely okay. McKechnie thought it was obvious that she did not want to talk about it in the street and that she seemed very upset. The women then had what McKechnie likened to a Pinter exchange. Verdon said, “He lives inside you” and McKechnie told her, “Yes I know.” Another report had Verdon saying that they “keep them alive inside.” Then she disappeared.

Verdon’s third appearance on
Magnum, P.I.
, “Infinity and Jelly Doughnuts” (October 7, 1987), was directed by John C. Flinn III and had a teleplay by Chris Abbott. It sees Magnum (Tom Selleck) in a coma after being shot and having out-of-body memories of what led to the shooting. After he comes out of the coma he continues to have memories which eventually lead to his discovery that his shooting was done as revenge by Father Timothy (Richard Narita), one of the people by Magnum’s bed in the hospital. Verdon is another visitor as Magnum’s mother Kathleen Peterson; she has little of consequence to do. It is ironic then that she received an Emmy Award nomination for the show as Outstanding Guest Performer in a Drama Series.

The star wore three different outfits: a pink suit with white blouse, a pink blouse with beige pants and a colored scarf, and a brown and white patterned dress. Verdon gulps nervously upon meeting Higgins (John Hillerman) at Magnum’s bedside and gets teary-eyed when speaking to her son. She gets a funny line when she asks Magnum after he has regained consciousness, “Did you miss me? Well, of course you did. Why did I even ask.” A hilltop scenes between her and Selleck reveals their difference in show status. The wind that blows in the scene is behind Verdon, dishevelling her hair, but it blows in front of him in a more flattering way.

On October 30, 1987, a memorial took place for Fosse at the Palace Theatre. Verdon is said to have stood at the entrance and personally greeted the mourners as the bereaved widow, dressed in black. Verdon reportedly did the same at the end of the service, stationed at the rear of the theater and thanking those who came. She wore a smile and behaved convivially to keep the event as “up” as possible. Verdon was not one of the speakers at the event but she is said to have compiled a film retrospective of Fosse’s work for the occasion. Another source claims that the film was prepared by Stanley Donen and she asked that it be altered. What Verdon supposedly wanted out was a scene from
Give a Girl a Break
, the 1953 MGM musical that Donen had directed Fosse in. However other sources say that the film
was
featured in the retrospective. She also supposedly used her prerogative to veto the idea that dancers from
Sweet Charity
perform the Fosse Combination. Verdon only wanted men to speak for Fosse, and the only actor to be Roy Scheider.

That night a wake was held at the Crystal Ballroom of New York’s Tavern on the Green. Over 200 people attended, including Verdon. Fosse had bequeathed $25,000 to 66 friends in his will so that they could have dinner on him but stipulated that they had to donate the money back to the party budget. The division of funds came out to $378.79 to each friend. He did this so that they would feel more like investors and therefore be more likely to show up. Once again Verdon presided over the evening, asking that the restaurant owner keep the press out, though some made their way in. Again she stood at the doorway greeting the guests, shaking hands and kissing people. Another source said that she was in the restaurant foyer to greet people and, with the help of a few servers, also passed out champagne flutes to the guests. Phoebe Ungerer attended; one wonders what Verdon’s greeting to her would have been. Especially after she had just evicted the younger woman from what was formerly her home. Kathryn Doby reported that Verdon would not talk to Ungerer the whole night, which made Ungerer cry. But Verdon continued to be gracious to Kim St. Leon, whom she had greeted at the memorial and then at the restaurant. St. Leon apparently thanked Verdon for interceding in the battle with Ann Reinking at the hospital when Fosse had his heart attacks, something she had not been able to do previously. Reportedly in response to the whispered thanks, she smiled and closed her eyes for a moment, as if she had just heard a touching reminiscence.

During the evening Verdon and Nicole got up on stage and did a dance. They were later joined by Ann Reinking, who performed an Irish jig. After dinner Ben Vereen called for people to dance, and Verdon and Fosse’s girlfriends joined him. Another source claims that this occurred at midnight. They all supposedly formed a circle around Verdon, who urged Fosse’s writer friends onto the floor to enter the circle of women. She wanted them to demonstrate the steps they had learned from him. After they did so, Verdon, Reinking and Nicole were left in the circle to dance together. Their eyes were closed, their hips rolled, and their arms snaked upward. John Rubenstein said that they hugged each other and were “being hot performers and hot with each other.” He described the dynamic being expressed by the wife and a girlfriend and daughter as a “complex, almost demented relationship.” In the
E! True Hollywood
Story
episode on Fosse, Daniel Melnick stated that the dance was begun by Reinking and Nicole, who were joined by Verdon. Some found the celebration of Fosse’s death in this manner to be inappropriate and they left. Other Fosse dancers joined the women on the floor and did a ritual dance to the beat of the disco music. Eventually the rest of the crowd joined in. It was said that such a scene could only have been created by Fosse.

Verdon played the supporting role of Edith Cooper in the CBS-TV movie
Best Friends for Life
, on January 18, 1988. Filmed in Waxhaw, North Carolina, it was directed by Michael Switzer from a teleplay by Cynthia Whitcomb based on the novel by Shelby Hearon. The film centered on the friendship between Harriet Cahill (Gena Rowlands) and Sarah “Coop” Cooper (Linda Lavin) which began when the women were children. Their relationship is tested by their different social circles, the deaths of their husbands, new romance and serious illness. Edith was presumably a relative of Sarah, perhaps her mother. On January 26, 1988, Verdon was one of the guests at the opening night of
The Phantom of the Opera
at the Majestic Theatre.

She made her fourth
Magnum, P.I.
guest appearance in the two-part episode “Resolutions” (May 1988). Written by Stephen A. Miller and Chris Abbott and directed by Burt Brinckerhoff it was the finale of the series where Magnum (Tom Selleck) rejoins the navy. Magnum returns to Virginia for his forty-first birthday, then goes back to Hawaii to reunite with his former girlfriend Linda Lee Ellison (Patrice Martinez), is the best man at the wedding of Rick (Larry Manetti), and finds Lily Catherine (Kristen Carreira), the daughter he believed to be dead. Katherine Peterson (Verdon) appears in five scenes, and she wears three different outfits. They are a purple suit with white blouse, a striped blue and white jacket with blue skirt, and a white sweater with black blouse and black skirt. Verdon’s best moment is when Katherine tells Magnum how after her husband had died she would sit in his dark clothes closet to talk to him. She is not in any new scenes in the second part of the episode.

On June 6, 1988, it was reported in the
Times
that Verdon was working on a PBS documentary on Fosse’s career and said she was contractually obligated not to release the rights to his dances for a proposed tribute until that program was broadcast. On September 9 she attended the Center Theatre Group and the Ahmanson Theatre Evening Tribute to Neil Simon and Bobby Fryer at Century Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles. Verdon wore a black dress with horizontal stripes and black choker.

She returned to
Webster
for her third and final guest appearance in the episode “Take My Cousin, Please” (November 4, 1988), written by Simon Muntner and directed by Lee Bernhardi. Verdon’s Aunt Charlotte makes another surprise visit, this time accompanied by orphan Bobby (Jonathan Brandis). The regulars Katherine (Susan Clark) and George (Alex Karras) do not appear in the episode since we are told that they have gone to the mountains. However they have left Webster (Emmanuel Lewis) behind with Papa (Jack Kruschen). Charlotte tells how she plans to adopt Bobby when she returns to New York. Webster helps Bobby to admit that he is not the good kid she thinks he is: He is shown to be an opportunist who is using Charlotte for her money, and then a thief when he steals money from her purse. Webster can’t bring himself to tell Charlotte after he oversees her telling Papa that Bobby is a good kid and her whole life. She walks in on Webster when he attempts to return the money Bobby has stolen, so it appears that
he
has taken it. A rationalization is provided for Bobby’s behavior since he believes that Charlotte will be like the previous parents he has had and also “cut out on him.” Webster asks Bobby to test her and she passes the test, after he confesses. She tells him that it must have been hard to admit and she forgives him. Bobby has learned his life lesson and gives Webster a community center raffle ticket prize he has won, before leaving for New York with Charlotte.

Verdon wears three different outfits in the episode to suggest Charlotte staying three days, including boldly colored purple and dark green suits, with furs that again show that she is wealthy. Like the prior episode she employs the same over-gesturing as the other actors, and although she has nothing remarkable to do, she is still a likable presence. Verdon only gets one good laugh line in reference to Charlotte imagining being a mother who wears a bathrobe and great big fuzzy slippers and watches TV all day. This is when she asks Papa, “Can Mr. Ed still dial a telephone with a pencil in his teeth?”

Verdon came back to play Bess Selwyn in the
Cocoon
sequel
Cocoon: The Return
(1988) which was filmed on location in Miami, Florida, and San Rafael, California. Ron Howard had declined to direct the film, and Daniel Petrie took the reins. The film has the geezers from the original returning to Earth five years later as the alien Antareans want to retrieve the cocoons they have left in the sea. A complication arises when the St. Petersburg Oceanographic Institute take one of the cocoons they have found at sea, opens it, keeps the alien that is inside and names him Phil (Wendy Cooke). The Antareans and their human friends retrieve Phil so that they can return him and the other cocoons to their planet. Some of the geezers don’t go back, but Bess (Verdon) is one who does. The screenplay by Stephen McPherson was based on a story by McPherson and Elizabeth Bradley. The narrative now has Bess learn she is pregnant, and her decision to go back to the alien planet is made since only there can she live to raise her child. Verdon is shown briefly dancing with Art (Don Ameche) in a nightclub, but her best scene is when Bess tries on cocktail dresses when the women go shopping. She looks fetching in a black dress with colored ruffles, black scarf and black hat. Verdon also has a dialogue scene with Art where Bess explains her rationale for returning to the alien planet, giving her more to say than she had in the original film.