EDGE Interview: With Vintage Albums Released, Lainie Kazan Looks Back... And Forward with New Gigs

Lainie Kazan

Lainie Kazan became a legend the old-fashioned way: a little luck, a lot of talent, persistence, tenacity and time. With more than 60 years in the business it'd be hard to find anyone she hasn't worked with. The Brooklyn-born actress freely admits, "I've done so much television that I can't even remember them all." But if you've watched "Desperate Housewives," "Modern Family," "Grey's Anatomy," "Will and Grace," "Touched by an Angel," "The Nanny," "Ugly Betty," "St. Elsewhere," (Emmy nomination), and many more, there's a real good chance you've seen her.

She's also got impressive film credits that include "My Favorite Year," (Golden Globe nomination), Steven Spielberg's "Harry and the Hendersons," "Beaches," "Delta Force," Adam Sandler's "You Don't Mess with the Zohan," the Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez flop "Gigli," and one of her biggest features "My Big Fat Greek Wedding 1-3," in which she play's the mom of star Nia Vardalos. She also appeared in two cult classics: opposite Divine and Tab Hunter in "Lust in the Dust;" and in Francis Ford Coppola's much-maligned musical, "One From the Heart,"(1982. It was recently re-released in a restored version.

When Kazan repeated her film role in "My Favorite Year" in its musical version in 1992, she received a Tony Award nomination. She studied theater at Manhattan's prestigious HB Studio, before appearing in several Broadway musicals in the early 1960s. She famously understudied Barbra Streisand in "Funny Girl" (1964), which ended when she went on for two performances and left the show. Later she went onto appear in regional theater productions of "A Little Night Music," "Man of La Mancha," "Gypsy," "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?," "Hello, Dolly!," and "Fiddler on the Roof." But her biggest regret about her theater career, which she expresses in the interview below, was being replaced in the torturous out-of-town tryout of "Seesaw" in 1973.

This month she treats her fans (and new fans) with the four landmark albums she released for MGM Records in the 1960s: "Right Now!" (1966), "Lainie Kazan" (1966), "The Love Album" (1967), and "Love Is Lainie" (1968). None were released on CD, which has made these original vinyl releases collector items. The four albums have been remastered ed from the original tapes, and are available via Universal Music Group's Republic Records to be discovered by a new generation of music lovers. A deluxe CD set is being planned for next year. For now, listeners can stream and download the albums – "Right Now!","Lainie Kazan", "The Love Album", and "Love Is Lainie" – on Spotify, Apple Music and other digital platforms.

Nor has she stopped singing. She has an upcoming club date at Herb Alpert's LA club Vibrato on Tuesday, May 7. For more information, follow this link.

EDGE had the opportunity to chat with the famed Vegas headliner about her career, her life, running a club with Hugh Hefner, and, yes, that time she was Barbra Streisand's understudy.

EDGE: You really have done it all. Take me back to the beginning.

Lainie Kazan: I have done it all. I don't know how I've had time for everything and everyone, plus raising a family. I started as a child performer. My mother took me to a museum to learn about Chinese theater. She also took me to voice lessons. It was a very nice beginning. I did a few shows like "The Horn and Hardart Children's Show" with Connie Stevens and a couple of others I don't remember, but I wasn't interested in doing anything else.

When I got to Hoffstra University, where I studied acting, I met a lot of people. Francis Ford Coppola and James Caan were classmates. (Coppola) actually convinced me to change my name. I was born Lainie Levine, but I switched to my mother's maiden name, Kazan. The first time I went to an audition with my new name they were calling me and calling me, and I had forgotten that was my name. But eventually I remembered it, did the audition, and I got the job. It was "The Student Prince" with Paul Sorvino.

EDGE: Did you work with Francis Ford Coppola?

Lainie Kazan: Oh I worked with him a lot. I was his leading lady. We did a lot back then. I still see him. He invited me to his screening of "Megalopolis." We got to catch up.

EDGE: How did you get to "Funny Girl?"

Lainie Kazan: After "The Student Prince" and "South Pacific" at the Westbury Music Fair, I was in the road company of "The Sound of Music" with Florence Henderson. When that ended, I did some industrials. I then auditioned for "Funny Girl" and that's where everything broke out. Carol Haney had choreographed a number of my industrials and she then did "Funny Girl." She brought me on board, not as an understudy, but in a role in the show. I played a Ziegfeld girl. About a week into rehearsals, Ray Stark (producer) asked me if I wanted to understudy Barbra (Streisand). I was very young. I told him I don't like what understudies do, there's no creativity. You're doing someone else's role. But he offered me $50 more a week so I took the job.

EDGE: And how did that go?

Lainie Kazan: I only went on twice – in one day. She was going to be out with strep on a Tuesday night. Meanwhile, I had been collecting names and numbers of people who wanted to see me in the show. We called them all. When I got there Barbra was in the wing. So, I didn't go on. The next day they called and said I was to go on for the matinee and the evening, but I couldn't tell anyone. I asked if I could at least call my mother. What they didn't know was that she had a duplicate copy of the list and she called everyone on it. So, I did two performances and soon after gave my two weeks notice.

EDGE: Were you disappointed?

Lainie Kazan: No. It was such an important role in my life. But I guess it didn't mean much to her (Streisand). She didn't even mention me in her book. Oh well. I did a lot with her. I gained a lot of knowledge and a lot of experience. Not knowing it then, she taught me a lot. But it wasn't perfect. She was always late to rehearsals. Always late. But I went on and I really knew my work and knew my lines. They wrote me up in all the newspapers and in Time Magazine. I was on a lot of tv shows that year: Mike Douglas, Merv Griffin, Ed Sullivan. Then I got a record contract with MGM and my whole career and life opened up.

EDGE: You were a headliner in Vegas long before they had what they call a residency. What was it like back then in the days of supper clubs and nightclubs?

Lainie Kazan: It was different back then. It was wonderful. I sang in the most beautiful hotels in the world. It was very exciting. I sang in the Persian Room at the Plaza, the Fairmont in San Francisco. I met all these wonderful showbiz people. I remember my first nightclub performance was in the Virgin Islands. I was so nervous. It didn't take long to get over that. Once the music starts, I come alive. I love to sing. I always did. I miss it so much.

EDGE: What was it like to see your name in lights in Vegas?

Lainie Kazan: My name was on the building and my picture was on one entire side of the building. I didn't really think about it back then. It didn't do anything for me. It was such a busy, hectic time. It was so intense; you didn't really have time to get it.

EDGE: How did you end up running a club for Hugh Heffner?

Lainie Kazan: I got a job in this beautiful place on a lake in Wisconsin. I can't remember the name now, but it was a Playboy Club. I asked if I could come spend a weekend there. I was aching to lie down in a comfortable place – some of the places you stay in on the road are real toilets. There was a band named Shaggy Gorilla Minus One Buffalo Fish there - playing rock and roll! And I said to my host, My God they should have jazz in here. Jazz, jazz, jazz. Jazz and Playboy are synonymous. Next day he asked me if I wanted to go meet with Heff and tell him my idea. They gave me a club in LA, Lainie's Room, that was hugely successful. I had them in the black in no time. In '76 I opened the New York Club on Valentine's Day. I was an entrepreneur. I knew what I wanted when I played, so I knew how to make the artists happy. I used to say 'Hef, please don't make these girls wear bunny tails and ears.' It was so repulsive to me, but it was their job. I kept the clubs going for 4-1/2 years.

EDGE: You're like the Energizer Bunny of showbiz. We haven't even touched on your movie career yet.

Lainie Kazan: I did so many films. I think the most exciting one was "My Favorite Year" (Golden Globe nomination) with Peter O'Toole. And I did "Beaches," "Pixels," "You Don't Mess with the Zohan," and of course "My Big Fat Greek Wedding."

EDGE: Before we get to that, what was it like filming "Gigli?"

Lainie Kazan: I loved it. I loved the film. I was there from the beginning when Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez got together. They fell in love. It was beautiful. I think it was kismet. It was lovely to be a part of it.

EDGE: Let's get back to "My Big Fat Greek Wedding." You were so perfectly cast that if I didn't know better, I'd swear you were Greek.

Lainie Kazan: Laughs. When I went to do the third movie in Greece, people would talk to me in Greek and I laugh and say it's all Greek to me. What a beautiful experience. We're all like a real family.

EDGE: How did you get involved in this little film that nobody saw coming?

Lainie Kazan: My manager, Ben Levine, called and said they want you to go to Tom Hanks' office and read this script. It's a Greek tale. I think you'll be very excited about it. It was Tom Hanks, so I was ready to go. Plus, they served breakfast. I didn't hear from them for another year then I got a call that they were going to Toronto and offered me scale plus ten (agent's fee). I knew it wasn't a lot of money, but I wanted to do it anyway. I had a good feel about it. It was the hit of the year. We didn't make a lot of money, but I was paid quite well on the second one and the third.

EDGE: When you look back at your career is there anything you would do differently?

Lainie Kazan: I would've fought for my part in "Seesaw." (She was the original leading lady in the musical but was fired along with the director and choreographer during the pre-Broadway run.) I just couldn't bear what happened to me. Michael Bennett came in to direct it. It was his first big job and I felt like a guinea pig. I felt like I was in his way, fighting for my position. I was doing really good stuff. I think he was afraid of me. I wish I had fought harder.

EDGE: What's next for you?

Lainie Kazan: I did this little film called "The Italians" and it's made me want to work some more. I'm singing at Herb Alpert's Vibrato Grill & Jazz in Beverly Glenn, CA on May 7th. It's a beautiful nightclub owned by Herb Alpert. We'll see what happens after that.

EDGE: Any chance you'll be playing New York?

Lainie Kazan: I'm always a New Yorker through and through. I miss it so much. If I do sing there, I hope to see you.

Lainie Kazan appears at Herb Alpert's Vibrato Grill & Jazz in Beverly Glenn, CA on May 7th. For more information, For more information, follow this link.

For more on Lainie Kazan, visit her website.