They actually let her go for Shelley Hack! Either way, how come the network and the producers didn't have her at the very least, "guest appearances" like they pressured Farrah Fawcett to do?
shareIf you read "Charlie's Angels casebook," all the people involved with the show said Kate was a nightmare to work with. Condescending, rude, insulting and all around difficult. She treated Cheryl Ladd horrible! The show actually terminated her contract.
shareWell, that's a shame. She was my fave.
shareKate Jackson signed a seven-year contract with Spelling-Goldberg to do The Rookies. She was committed to do another series with them if The Rookies got canceled before then, which it did.
That's why she was in on Charlie's Angels from the creation. She did four seasons of The Rookies and three of Charlie's Angels. So she honored her contract. But after Spelling/Goldberg wouldn't let her do "Kramer vs. Kramer" Kate wanted out. She finished season 3 but she was certainly not coming back after they had done her dirty.
Little known fact: Kate is also the co-creator of Charlie's Angels. The name and concept were her ideas but she was never paid a cent for it!
Without Kate Jackson there would never have been a show called Charlie's Angels. And none of the other women would have ever been heard of.
I never heard she was in the running for Kramer Vs. Kramer. What role was she up for? The role that eventually went to Jane Alexander?
No, Kate was up for the role that eventually went to Meryl Streep!!! Imagine that!! Kate was choice No. 1!
Here's what director Robert Benton said: "In the spring of 1978, we had meetings with Kate Jackson [to play Joanna Kramer]. She was terrific, but the network began throwing up obstacles because of their scheduling for Charlie's Angels. We said, "Sooner or later, they are going to make it impossible.“
Which is exactly what Spelling and Goldberg did. What the „Kramer“ team wanted and had found in Kate was quote: "somebody who has an enormous presence and skill“.
The Kramer vs. Kramer people were very willing to be accommodating to Kate's Charlie’s Angels schedule. And Kate was willing to fly to NYC on weekends to do the movie and work on CA during the week! There were negotiations and just when things seemed to work out Spelling/Goldberg made it impossible. That's how Meryl Streep got the role. No wonder Kate was devastated. This was her chance as a TV actress to get into feature films. But Goldberg/Spelling harpooned her career. Shame on them!
Very informative! Thank you! I always liked Kate because not only was she sexy, she also seemed to have a sense of humor. Could she have played the role of Joanna Kramer? I'm thinking she would have been great for the role. Meryl won her Oscar but Kate could have done equally as well if not better.
shareYou are welcome! And I totally agree with you!! I feel the same about Kate :)
shareHard to say about this. Had KJ been given the chance, she might have knocked it out of the park, but Meryl is pretty much the apex of female acting. And it's not because of her sex appeal. In most ways, depending on your taste, Kate is prettier than Meryl, but goodness gracious, Streep has had a prodigious career.
shareBtw, yes, Farrah was pressured to do 6 guest appearances. She got paid 150k for each episode. So much for pressure. Of course I know Farrah didn't want to be there and I understand. But just saying, 150k. She was not allowed to talk about how much she got for I think 15 years. It was in her contract.
shareDo you know what the regulars on the show were on at that point? Was Farrah getting paid more?
shareKate was paid 10k, Farrah and Jaclyn 5k each. When Cheryl replaced Farrah she also got 5k. The reason why Kate got paid 10 grand while Farrah and Jaclyn got 5 grand is, Kate had graduated from the „American Academy of Dramatic Arts“ in NYC in 1970, then she worked on the series „Dark Shadows“. After that she was on „The Rookies“ for four years, a very successful Spelling/Goldberg show. Plus through all that time she did quite a number of films. So she was an experienced actress already and loved by the audience, while Farrah and Jaclyn were not known yet. What’s more, as I mentioned above, Kate had co-created Charlie’s Angels together with the producers and she had the crucial idea to call them Angels and for them to have a mysterious boss. So Kate got paid more because she was an experiened and well known actress and it showed! But she never got credited or paid a cent for creating the winning concept!!
Then Kate left after season 3. I think in season 4 all angels got 40k for each episode and Farrah got 150k for each guest appearance!
You mean to tell me that Kate Jackson could have made 40k an episode if she stuck around for season 4???!!!!!
shareI suppose so. But I believe Kate didn't know they were going to raise the salaries. And at this point she was done with the show anyway. She always wanted to give it her best shot as an actress. But with scripts like the ones in season 3 there's only so much she could do as an actress. There were still a few decent episodes but other than that. Some really bad scripts there. And the executives were not going to improve the scripts but instead thought T&A would do the trick.
Now with Kate Jackson, the second original angel (and the best actress on board) leaving, I guess they were afraid to lose original angel No. 3, Jaclyn Smith, as well. So they raised the salaries.
I assume it's bc she was the 'brainy' one. And there were not people trying to get 'Sabrina' hair. Well maybe there were but it was not a nationwide craze like with Farah. Spelling etc probably did not believe she was a hot commodity and did believe she could be easily replaced.
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