'TWO AND A HALF MEN' Taylor says her characters are different from her real-life style, personality

She first starred in the 1980s sitcom 'Bosom Buddies.'
ASSOCIATED PRESS
BURBANK, Calif. -- On the set of "Two and a Half Men," Holland Taylor as Evelyn Harper is cooing her thanks for "the lovely birthday card" to everyone but her son Charlie, who appears to have forgotten the occasion.
Evelyn keeps pushing Charlie's buttons and he starts to rant about her faults, including her "astounding narcissism."
It's a typical emotional skirmish on the popular CBS sitcom, starring Charlie Sheen as Charlie, Jon Cryer as his brother Alan, and 10-year-old Angus B. Jones as Jake, Alan's son.
With script in hand, cast members rehearse the scene on a Warner Bros. sound stage, plotting their moves around the living room couch as they hone the laughs for this new episode. Currently in reruns, the show (9:30 p.m. Mondays) begins its second season Sept. 20.
In real life
"I've often played very strong, flashy, kind of inadvertently mean women. I am not that way in my real life," Taylor says during a break.
That's instantly apparent. Her appearance is not as flamboyant as Evelyn's high-toned style. She's simply dressed in T-shirt and red and white striped pants. Her pale auburn hair is unfussed. Her conversation calm and philosophical.
"Holland has an innate sweetness, which enables her to make a character who could be very toxic, alluring," says Chuck Lorre, the series' co-creator.
When Taylor looks at the script, Lorre says, she often teases the writers about the issues they must have with their mothers, and then executes the role with all "the grace notes" that make it both palatable and funny.
Says Taylor: "I think the dreadful mother is a very rich source in comedy writers' bag of tricks, but by the same token the deck can get stacked. If that happens then Charlie and Alan become more like victims and she becomes more monstrous, so I try to fully justify her."
Roles
She is aware that as a series develops, it's inevitable "actors have to bring elements of themselves to the part or you just don't have enough juice. So I guess I do try to let myself seep into it. I suppose that brings out the odd reading or the odd point of view and if the writers like that, then they pick up on that flavor and start writing to it ... so it becomes very collaborative."
Taylor first starred in the 1980 sitcom "Bosom Buddies," playing Ruth Dunbar, the ad agency boss of the cross-dressing Tom Hanks and Peter Scolari.
Before that, the 61-year-old Philadelphia-born actress had worked almost exclusively on the New York stage. She starred in numerous plays, only once having to take a temp job when no roles were forthcoming.
She's played "a bunch of mothers" on-screen, including Jim Carrey's in "The Truman Show" and Nicole Kidman's in "To Die For." In 1982 she was Princess Diana's mother Frances Shand Kydd in the made-for-TV film "The Royal Romance of Charles and Diana." Upcoming, she's Debra Messing's mom in the romantic comedy "Something Borrowed."
Now she's also able to play grandmothers, including Jake's in "Two and a Half Men" and in the "Spy Kids" sequels.