ELLIE HARVIE: UNCOVERED by Edwin J Bernard
Playing Morticia Addams, one of TV's most glamorous and sexually-satisfied mothers in the TV sitcom, 'The New Addams Family', has been an eye-opener on wedded bliss for Canadian-born actress, Ellie Harvie.
"If I'd have known marriage could be as much fun as this, I might have stuck it out," laughs the vivacious Harvie, who divorced four years ago and is currently single. "I think it's nice to see a married couple that really like each other, that still really enjoy sex."
Harvie and her co-stars - including Glenn Taranto as her beloved hubby, Gomez - toiled "14 hour days, five days a week for 15 months straight" on the show's 65 episodes, something of a record in TV production.
"With Glenn, it became like a marriage," recalls Harvie, who slyly reveals her age as 'thirtyish-ish'. "We were like an old married couple."
There was no on-set romance, however.
"We were all so tired and worked so much that all of us were single the entire time," she says. "I'd come home and just sleep."
Harvie, who has vague recollections of the original show as a child, based her Morticia on Carolyn Jones' original.
"When I auditioned I was doing my version of what I remembered her sounding like," says Harvie. "And then when I actually saw the show again, she didn't sound like that at all."
And whilst she loves Anjelica Huston's version of Morticia in the big-screen version of 'The Addams Family', Harvie didn't want to emulate her at all.
"She was fabulous," she says, "but I don't think taking it that dark is good for a sitcom. The kids have to like the mum, so that's why my Morticia is lighter.
"I felt a little apprehensive taking on a role originated by one actress and claimed by another actress," she adds. "But then I thought about Shakespeare's Ophelia or Juliet, who have been played by many actresses.
"So now I'm just doing my Morticia. And there'll be another down the road doing hers. This is my take on it."
To transform herself into Morticia, Harvie needed 90 minutes with the hair, make-up and costume department each morning
"I think she's a babe," Harvie says of the end result. "She's a way bigger babe than I am. It's so funny. When I'd taken off my makeup and was going home, the cameramen kind of looked at me and I'd have to go, 'It's me. Hi.' And their little faces would drop a bit."
Indeed, a quick perusal of the guest book on Harvie's web site (ellieharvie.com) shows that fans from as far flung places as Mexico and Turkey as well as the US, UK and Canada are struck by Harvie's tantalising take on Morticia.
"She's kind of got that goth thing going," laughs Harvie. "All the little guys who like Marilyn Manson are probably looking twice at Morticia."
Although the show is seen in more than 25 countries around the world, there will be no more episodes; filming ended in May 1999.
Admitting that most of the filming was one big blur, she does recall one particular highlight, when John Astin, who played the original Gomez, guest-starred as Great-Grandpa Addams.
"The fact that he came on the show really told us we were legitimate," says Harvie. "It raised us a notch.
"There was one scene where I was speaking French and he runs in and says, 'Tish, that's French!' and starts kissing my arm and then Gomez walks in and says, 'Grandpapa, what are you doing?'"
"There was a moment there when he was kissing my arm and I was like, 'This is too weird. I'm Mor-tic-ia.'"
Born in Ontario, the daughter of an airforce pilot, Harvie is the youngest of five siblings, one of whom is a bona fide rocket scientist.
"My parents are very happy people," she laughs. "Rocket scientist, teacher, lawyer, restaurateur... I was like, no pressure on me!"
A politics student, Harvie was planning to become a lawyer when she won an acting contest in drama class that sparked the realisation that her dreams lay elsewhere.
"I'd always wanted to be an actor, from being little and watching TV. I even used to tell people so as a kid. But as you get older you feel its unrealistic or vain and you start feeling silly about it."
After studying at the prestigious Vancouver Playhouse Acting School, Harvie joined a local improv company, where she spent six years honing her acting and comedy skills. Her fellow improv-ers included Colin Mochrie and Ryan Stiles of 'Whose Line Is It Anyway' fame.
"They're both from Vancouver, actually," says Harvie. "Well, Ryan's actually from the States, but he kind of came through Vancouver."
She even did improv in London.
"I was lost," she admits with a smile. "Words like 'shag' and 'snog', I didn't know what any of them were. And I got this big laugh when I said, 'I was tossing all night'. Everyone was aghast. I just meant that my bed wasn't comfortable. So, I got a lot of laughs and I didn't know how I was getting them."
Harvie went on to win Canadian improv awards, including top honours at the renowned 'Just for Laughs' Improv Tournament and a gold medal in the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's 'Improv Olympics.'
Four years ago, when Harvie tried her hand at stand-up, it was love at first sight.
"I always had a hidden dream of performing stand-up, but never had the heart for it until I went through a divorce. In fact that's where I got my most successful material!"
Harvie had wed an aspiring rock musician, a fellow student at the University of Winnipeg when both were 23.
"We were really young," she admits. "We grew up together, but we went down different paths. I think it's difficult when you're both in the arts. I was pretty dedicated and I think he was letting it go and that was really hard on him. I don't think he should have, he was really talented.
"I knew I had married the wrong person," adds Harvie. "And when I was liberated from that, I started to come into my own."
As well as stand-up, Harvie began getting roles in films and TV series filmed in Vancouver, including appearing in two episodes of 'The X Files'.
Although 'The New Addams Family' is the highest profile job she's done so far, she's set her sights on Hollywood, and plans to move there full-time in the New Year.
"I'd love to do a sitcom there," she says.
And perhaps look for her ideal mate?
"I am a very competitive person so I would probably need to find someone who is able to deal with that," she says. "I'm not looking for anything serious yet. If it happens fine. Right now, I enjoy being on my own."
If she was inspired by the Addam's loving relationship, having kids like Wednesday and Pugsley Addams hasn't made Harvie want to rush into motherhood, however.
"If it happens, fine," she shrugs. "Either way, I've got a pretty good life. I don't have any aspirations of having a child on my own. Some people can do it, I don't think I could.
"But who knows?" she says, suddenly brightening. "Down the road maybe I'll pull a Mia Farrow."
MORTICIA A LA MODE
For Ellie Harvie, one of the hardest things about playing Morticia for 15 months straight was the limited wardrobe - black, black and more black - not to mention the pancake makeup. "After the show wrapped, I went to Hawaii for two weeks to get the makeup out of my pores," laughs Harvie. Out of costume, the 5’6", brown-haired, brown-eyed Harvie looks nothing like Morticia. Here, in her own words, is what makes up her personal style.
CLOTHES: I love clothes. I'm big right now on Betsey Johnson. And I love Dolce & Gabanna and Bebe. Clothes shopping is like visiting an art gallery to me, to see how they're made. But I don't go crazy, I'm a little frugal. I'm not going to rival Imelda in the shoe department. I've got five pairs of Birkenstocks. They're my weakness.
MAKEUP: I keep up on the trends, it's part of my job. But I do have a problem getting rid of the Chrissie Hynde eyes from the Eighties. I just love to put on eyeliner.
EXERCISE: I've always been pretty sporty. I was a gymnast as a kid. I go to a gym now. I used to play volleyball quite a bit. If I could, I'd play more tennis.
HEALTH: I got into Dr. Andrew Weil's '8 Weeks To Optimum Health' to get clear on my vitamins. I'm pretty good at that now. I know to take Vitamin E and Folic Acid during my reproductive years, even if I'm not reproducing. Bone mass density is a really important thing to build in your thirties, and the central nervous system, too.
DIET: I'm not a vegetarian. I would probably kill a cow with my bare hands to get a steak, so I figured I'm really not a vegetarian. Where's that cow!?
