Kelly Bishop Reveals the Secrets Behind ‘Gilmore Girls’
Kelly Bishop is “having fun,” she tells The Daily Beast’s Obsessed on an August phone call. “Because I’m talking, and I’m famous for talking,” she quips. Bishop talks at the pace of a Gilmore Girl and has danced from stage to screen with grace.
On the seven-season WB drama—and its Netflix revival—Lorelai, Rory, and Emily Gilmore tell an intergenerational story fans return to for comfort autumn after autumn. The title of Bishop’s memoir was inspired by a teenage boy calling her “the third Gilmore girl” at a gas station. Naturally, her book includes recollections from those precious Gilmore Girls years–she still has the robe from Emily and Lorelai’s spa day!
In collaboration with writer Lindsay Harrison, the candid actor opens her story with turning 30 and approaching divorce. Bishop was on the threshold of a unique Broadway show at the time; with a group of fellow dancers, she recorded raw memories, hopes, and dreams on reel-to-reel tapes, forming the basis for A Chorus Line. She originated the role of Sheila in 1975 and won a Tony Award for her performance. Readers see the inspiration for Sheila unfold: Bishop’s real childhood, where “everything was beautiful at the ballet.”