It’s too easy to say her name fits: that Elizabeth Marvel is exactly that. She may be most readily recognized for her television work: having played Presidents, solicitor generals, detectives and more. “I love her. She’s the best,” says Lesli Linka Glatter, the force behind Homeland, on which the actress eventually ran the White House.
In truth, Marvel’s theatrical experience is even more remarkable. Just check out the Playbill at Lincoln Center’s Claire Tow venue, where she currently stars in Five Models In Ruins, 1981. This is an odd comedy of sorts, in which Marvel plays a complicated and demanding fashion photographer, dealing with a chaotic cast of young women on location in the English countryside
While the show may not be for everyone, seeing Marvel up close in a tiny venue is a pleasure. We met outside the famous venue, gazing at all the young wannabes after their day at Julliard. “I sat right here chain smoking at their age,” she laughs. Yes, Marvel attended that prestigious school as well. (“Michael Stuhlberg was in my class” she notes, “and he came to see me in this.”)
What attracted her to “this,” a tale of five models? “I was not looking to do a play at this time,” she says. “It’s a lot of work. But I strongly responded to this one. And of course, I love working for Lincoln Center. Not to mention that all the theaters here are named for women. I rolled the dice on this show, and it turned out to be a wonderful group of people.”
The Claire Tow venue tends to focus on new works and female-oriented material. “This show is an all-female team and company,” says Marvel. “Morgan Green is an up-and-coming director. We only had a quick three-week rehearsal, but on day one we started with the last scene, which turned out to be brilliant. Morgan wanted everyone to move past inhibitions. Very few directors are confident enough to do that.”
Her own character is not easy to define. So, who did she “model” her after? “On my mirror I have pictures of Joan Didion and Buster Keaton,” she laughs. “But I have based her largely on Deborah Turbeville. She was more of an art photographer who did fashion for money. This takes place at a time when it was all about the male gaze. Yet, she had a distinctly feminine anti-glam gaze. It was all-natural light and insane locations and she often used locals and dancers, not just models. That was the frame for me.”
Speaking of the male gaze, Marvel, 55, has been married forever to the wonderful actor, Bill Camp. (They met at an arts high school.) He’s one of those whose names you might not immediately recognize, but once you watch him work, you realize, ah yes, love that guy. Among many other times, they performed together—as a married couple—in the recent series Presumed Innocent. They reside in Red Hook and have a son who just finished his first year of college.
Theater was—and remains—a huge part of Marvel’s career. Well, until she hit that point when she realized, “Now I want to make money.” Her first TV show was The District. (“I spent four years playing a cop.”)
Many viewers may even think she was their leader at one time! “Yes, I’ve played a lot of politicians,” she says. “I recently played secretary of treasury for President Viola Davis. [On G20, soon airing on Amazon.] In Homeland I was president. In House of Cards, I was attorney general who ran for president. But I also went through the ‘mentally unstable killers’ and ‘sad moms’ periods. Hey, I’m a gun for hire!”
She does have her favorites. “I can say whenever David Kelly calls, I will go. He’s a great writer and person. Lesli Linka Glatter is another. She’s a huge mentor for me. I shadowed her on Zero Day.” Next up creatively: she is off to Georgia and Oklahoma for a film that Tim Blake Nelson wrote and directed about a death penalty case.
Marvel is a true lover of all the arts, starting every morning with a passage from Shakespeare. She paints and does pottery. She goes to museums regularly and is heading, after this current show, to Rome. “My favorite artist is Caravaggio, so we are going to see his work,” she says. “He didn’t sketch—he’d just paint, it just moved through him. He was a conduit and you feel that.”
The visual arts and the stage have always been connected in Marvel’s career and life. And if you believe in full circles? “It’s funny,” she notes, “My first production in New York was at the Public, playing photographer Diane Arbus. And now I’m playing one again.”
Michele Willens’ “Stage Right Or Not” airs weekly on an NPR affiliate.
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