Blythe’s Spirit

Blythe Danner, who stars in the miniseries “Cruel Doubt” this week, remembers exactly when she decided not to make acting the foremost thing in her life.

It was the day after she received a Tony Award 22 years ago for her performance as free-spirited Jill Tanner in the hit comedy “Butterflies Are Free.”

“I remember going on the night after the Tony and getting huge applause,” Danner said, relaxing on a park bench near the University of Southern California library, where “Cruel Doubt” was filming that day.

“I just thought this was the worst thing in the world because it ruined my entire entrance. I remember thinking, ‘Why are they applauding tonight? I am giving the same performance I gave the night before.’ I had a very cynical reaction.”

At that moment Danner decided: “I am going to make my real life the main thrust of my life because this was all too ephemeral. One day you’re hot and the next day you’re cold. I just remember in that split second, truly and sincerely, having that reaction.”

So Danner gave up plenty of roles in order to be with her husband of 22 years, producer-writer-director Bruce Paltrow (“The White Shadow,” “St. Elsewhere”), and their two children, Gwyneth, 19, and Jake, 16.

“I would never go away on location for a long time,” she said. “If I couldn’t nurse them on the sets, I wouldn’t take the film. I am surprised I have a career at all, considering I tried to fit things in here and there. There was no career planning or anything. I have tremendous admiration for the women who can do it all. I am somebody who is not very focused. I couldn’t do it all.”

But over the years, she has managed to do a lot, including Broadway (“Betrayal,” “Blithe Spirit”), film features (“The Great Santini,” “The Prince of Tides,” “Mr. and Mrs. Bridge”), TV movies (“Inside the Third Reich,” “F. Scott Fitzgerald and the Last of the Belles”) and series (“Adam’s Rib,” “Tattinger’s”). And almost every summer she has performed at the Williamstown Theatre Festival in Massachusetts.

NBC’s “Cruel Doubt” is based on Joe (“Fatal Vision”) McGinniss’ best-selling account of the true story of Bonnie Von Stein, a North Carolina matriarch who survives a brutal attack that leaves her husband dead. Von Stein’s life takes an even more tragic turn when a family member is implicated in the crime. In her first major role, Danner’s daughter plays Von Stein’s daughter, Angela. If this plotline sounds familiar, CBS recently aired its own version of the story, “Honor Thy Mother,” three weeks ago.

Initially, Danner wasn’t interested in doing the miniseries. “I am squeamish,” she said. “I don’t go to horror films or frightening things.”

When she first read the script, her reaction was ‘ “Ecccch. How am I going to be able to work on this?’ Then I read the book and I was absolutely seduced by it. They were this ordinary family, which just fascinated me.”

She also was drawn to the project because she relishes playing real people. “But I didn’t impose myself on Bonnie a lot. I spoke with her briefly, but I thought it would be very intrusive, and maybe painful, for me to ask her to go back and pull the story out of herself.”

The real fascination for Danner was the chance to work with her daughter. Danner pointed out that nepotism had nothing to do with the fact Paltrow was cast in “Cruel Doubt.” In fact, Danner said, her daughter was hired first. The two had worked together last summer in a production of William Inge’s “Picnic” at Williamstown.

“She just stole the show,” Danner said, bursting with maternal pride. “She is so smart; I wanted her to be Margaret Mead or something like that. I would say, ‘Gwyneth, get your education.’ Then I realized she had it and she would really be wonderful. Now I am completely behind her.”

Paltrow jokes that she got her first taste of acting while a fetus. Her mother, she said, performed several times while she was pregnant with her. “I made a few movies in the belly there,” Paltrow said. “So I am already famous.”

Paltrow admitted that, although their relationship is back to normal now, she and her mother drifted apart doing the production.

“The characters are sort of estranged and removed and cold people,” she said. “I think it affected our personal relationship. We usually have a pretty warm relationship and (the miniseries) sort of bled over into our personal life.”

She said the secret to her mother’s success as an actress is the fact she can take “the most simple line or the most simple scene, or even the most complicated scene, and make them so natural and just intriguing. She has this wonderful grace about her and her eyes are so alive. She really tells the story with her eyes, which is something not many actors can do. Of course, she has no confidence in what she does.”

A production assistant approached Danner, informing her it was time for her next scene. Gathering her belongings, Danner said she hoped to work more now that her children are older. “I am very ready to work and looking forward to not being torn (between career and family). But with my perverted sense of timing, I probably won’t get anything.”

“Cruel Doubt” airs Sunday and Tuesday at 9 p.m. on NBC.