THE flashback interview: deedee rescher

Johnny Caps returns to interviews after a year-long hiatus with a conversation with DeeDee Rescher, the versatile actress remembered for her scene-stealing role as the bus driver in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. Rescher shares memories of working with John Ritter, Fran Drescher, and John Hughes, as well as the joys and challenges of stage acting, her unique voiceover career, and her fierce recovery from cancer. She discusses how theater grounds her, how kindness shapes sets, and why her Beyoncé-inspired short Senior Moment stands as a victory dance. Now starring in NBC’s St. Denis Medical, she reflects on a career built on resilience, humor, and empathy.

Hello, everybody. It’s Johnny Caps here. Before I introduce you to my newest interview subject, DeeDee Rescher, I want to address why it’s been over a year since I last published an interview, and over half-a-year since I last wrote anything for Pop Geeks.

First, I took a break from doing interviews when the SAG-AFTRA strike went into effect. As my interviews cover the whole of a talent’s career, past, present and future, and none of those could be discussed, I stopped doing interviews in solidarity with the strike.

The SAG-AFTRA strike was resolved shortly after I attended the Chiller Theatre convention in October of 2023, the subject of my most recent Pop Geeks article. Unfortunately, just as I was about to resume sending out interview requests, and indeed had a few interviews in the works, my health took a bad turn in November of 2023, and kept getting worse until I had to go to the hospital near the beginning of January 2024, near septic with a diagnosis of diverticulitis that led me to be on a leave of absence from work for half-a-year and fully focused on healing.

I resumed doing interviews in July of 2024, first with Oscar-winning sound designer Karen Baker-Landers in an interview that will be published soon, and then with the subject of today’s interview, DeeDee Rescher. My first exposure to DeeDee’s work came when I saw Ferris Bueller’s Day Off in my school days. She was the bus driver at the end of the movie who gives Principal Rooney a ride, much to his chagrin.

It was a small part, but as with all the parts of the movie, DeeDee made it memorable

As my 80s fandom progressed through the decades, I would see DeeDee in movies like Summer School and Skin Deep, her distinct voice making herself known in each role. I would become Facebook friends with her in 2020, and over the course of the next few years, we worked on trying to set up an interview, but life kept on happening in both good and bad ways. Thankfully, we were finally able to do an interview on July 30th, and this is the end result of that.

I hope you all enjoy getting to know this versatile and courageous actress.

Say hello to DeeDee Rescher!

Johnny Caps: Hello, DeeDee.

DeeDee Rescher: Hey, Johnny. Finally! (DeeDee and Johnny laugh)

Johnny Caps: How are you?

DeeDee Rescher: I’m good. How are you doing?

Johnny Caps: I’m doing well. First of all, thank you for taking the time out of your schedule to speak to me.

DeeDee Rescher: Of course. Sorry it took me so long.

Johnny Caps: No, no. It’s okay. I understand.

I mean, you’ve had your health issues. I’ve had mine. It’s been…a rollercoaster.

DeeDee Rescher: It sure has. I’m ready for it to end.

Johnny Caps: Yeah, me too.

DeeDee Rescher: As they say in Disneyland, it’s a real E-ticket.

Johnny Caps: Absolutely. Well, I have my questions here, and I’m ready to go, so let’s start with this: Your family’s entertainment industry roots go back to the silent era of film, so was being an entertainer in your blood, or did you initially have a different career goal in mind as a child?

DeeDee Rescher: It was never any questions about the fact that I was going to be in the entertainment industry in some manner. I was four years old was when I had my first performance onstage as a ballerina, and it just went on from there.

There was one time, when I was 12 or 13 years old, and I was a Candy Striper with some girlfriends of mine. We worked at a free hospital in The Bronx. It was a devastating experience, and that was the only time in my life that I questioned my career choice because I thought I wanted to help people, but I soon realized that I was entertaining the children at the hospital, and that was really what I was better at.

There was no question what I was supposed to do.

Johnny Caps: Alright. Your screen debut, playing Renee in the short film Could This Be Love, was also an early film for director Abel Ferrara. What are your favorite memories of this film?

DeeDee Rescher: Well, that was the first film I ever did. I moved from New York City to New Jersey. I was having breakfast with my boyfriend, and this guy came up to me and said, “Hey, would you like to be in a movie?”.

(Laughing) It’s like one of those dreams come true for any actor. “Oh, my God! I just got noticed at my breakfast table, and now I’m going to do a film!” It was a lot of fun.

It was pretty risqué for those days because there were semi-nude scenes, and there was kissing of the same sex. It was one of those things where, in 1973, it was all really taboo, and I couldn’t tell anybody about it, but I had a blast. It was a lot of fun, and I learned a lot of things, and Abel was a cool guy, so it was all fun.

I was really surprised to see it show up on my IMDB site years and years later. I was like, “How did anybody find that film?” I don’t think I ever saw it, but at any rate, any experience is a good experience because every experience brings you closer to understanding the craft.

Johnny Caps: I can see that. To go to TV, you shared scenes with the late Freddie Prinze in the Chico And The Man episode Chico Packs His Bag, where you played the character of Nurse Patty Villa. What do you recall the most about working with Freddie?

DeeDee Rescher: Well, it was just one week, one week a very long time ago. My memories are that he was absolutely lovely, as was Jack Albertson. My biggest memory was that I was slated to become Freddie Prinze’s next girlfriend, which would have changed my career dramatically, but two weeks after we filmed that episode, he killed himself.

That kind of stands out in my mind as my memory of Chico and The Man. The world sadly lost a talented comedian and actor to depression, and on a much lesser scale of importance… I lost a career opportunity.

Johnny Caps: Well, I’m glad working on the show was a good memory.

DeeDee Rescher: He was lovely. It was a really lovely experience, and I was surprised to know he was suffering from depression because I would never have guessed it.

Johnny Caps: Well, on a lighter note, on your IMDB page, there are pictures of you with a troupe called the L.A Knockers. How did that group come together?

DeeDee Rescher: Well, that was one of my favorite experiences ever. The group was formed and founded by Jennifer Stace. Jennifer was the daughter of Walter Stace, who was a very famous philosopher, and best friends with Albert Einstein.

As a matter of fact, Jennifer has an autobiography out called The Philosopher’s Daughter.

The philosopher, Walter, married a beautiful princess from Sri Lanka, and they had a baby, Jennifer, who happened to be a very rebellious young child. Being The Philosopher’s Daughter, and growing up in Princeton, living next door to Albert Einstein, it was very taboo, and Jennifer was a free spirit.

She was in love with dance, and through all of her training in jazz, she came up with her very own inimitable style, which was very much like the L.A Lockers, and that became the theme of this dance troupe. “You’ve heard of the group they call the Lockers. Well, we’re the girls, and we’ve got Knockers!” (DeeDee and Johnny laugh) That was the L.A Knockers, and I first saw them at The Comedy Store on Sunset Boulevard. They were opening for Jay Leno, and I remember seeing them and saying, “Oh, my god! I would give ANYTHING to be in that group”.

Well, lo and behold, not long after that, I was at DuPree Dance Academy, just signing up for a regular jazz class, which was something I’d always done, and I saw the sign-up sheet next to it, and it said Jennifer Stace, The L.A Knockers. I quickly erased my name from the jazz class, and added it to the L.A Knockers sign up. Oh, my god!

So exciting! I started out in the back row, and within a couple of weeks, I slowly moved my way up to the front row, and it was soon after that she asked if I would be interested in dancing with the LA Knockers. I just about flipped.

That was my beginning with the L.A Knockers. We were crazy, we were sexy. We were comedic.

I only danced with them for about five years because I had my other career, which was television and stage work which was really popping then. I didn’t get to do a whole bunch with them, but what I did was so memorable in my life, and I became very dear friends with Jennifer. She unfortunately just died last year, but she was a remarkable woman, and the L.A Knockers are just legendary.

That was a highpoint of my career.

Johnny Caps: Definitely, and as we’ll discuss later in the interview, you’re still quite a dancer to this day, but for now, going back to screen work, you played Fatima in the Madame’s Place episode Barbra Streisand’s Nose. Madame’s Place was a very unique show, so what was it like to work on it?

DeeDee Rescher: The only memory I have is that I completely enjoyed myself. I forgot this question was on there (laughing). It was exciting to work on, and a lot of fun, and that’s my memory.

Johnny Caps: Alright. Jumping back to the big screen, you were the Bus Driver in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. You’re the second cast member, after Stephanie Blake, from that movie that I’ve interviewed.

As John Hughes tended to film hours of scenes that didn’t make it into the final cuts of his films, was your role initially bigger?

DeeDee Rescher: No. (Laughing) It was always the same size. That was also a lot of fun, and I’ll tell you a story about that.

When I first landed the role, I almost didn’t take it because, in the first place, there was very little pay, and in the second place, it was a very small part. At that time in my career, I was kind of turning down smaller roles, but I really needed the money for my medical insurance, so I thought, “Nobody is ever going to see this film”. Nobody knew who Matthew Broderick was.

Nobody knew who John Hughes was. It was like, “Eh, I’ll just do this and no one will ever know”.

I remember it was in Long Beach. I actually live in Long Beach now, but at that time, I lived in L.A. I thought, “Oh, god, I’ve got to schlep to Long Beach”, so I schlepped to Long Beach, and not only did I have a fun day, but I learned to drive a bus.

At the end of the day, I went up to John Hughes and said, “You know, John, if nothing ever comes of my career, I give you huge thanks because now I have a backup skill”. (DeeDee and Johnny laugh)

At any rate, of course, as it would turn out, it would become one of the biggest cult films of all time, and I am now known as the Bus Driver of Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, so you never know what’s going to happen, folks! (Laughing)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eV16l9-E2NY

Johnny Caps: Indeed. So it sounds like you had good memories of John Hughes. I’ve interviewed several talents who have worked with him, talents like Liane Curtis and Larry Hankin, and opinions on him are mixed, so I’m glad you had a good experience.

DeeDee Rescher: Well, we didn’t have much to do together. I think the only question I asked him during my filming was, “Am I chewing my gum too much?”. (Laughing) He said, “No. No, you’re fine”, so I didn’t have much to do with him, but he seemed fine to me.

Johnny Caps: Alright. Well, staying with cult classic Paramount comedies, you also appeared in Summer School. After the film’s ADR coordinator Leigh French, you’re the second talent from that film I’ve done an interview with…Technically, the third, actually, but the recorder didn’t pick up the audio when I interviewed Dean Cameron a few years back.

Anyway, returning to you, what was your experience like working on Summer School?

DeeDee Rescher: Oh, it was a ton of fun. I mean, I got to spend, like, 14 hours at Chippendales, Oogling hot young men! It was fabulous (laughing).

I had a good time. Mark Harmon and I have done a few things together, and I’ve done a few things with his wife, Pam Dawber, It was a really fun day. We got to ad-lib stuff.

It wasn’t totally scripted for us so it was, all in all, a lot of perks and a lot of fun. To this day, I think it’s one of my sillier roles.

Johnny Caps: But even sillier roles are important because, I guess, comedy is just important, especially in the times we’re in now.

DeeDee Rescher: Oh, yes. That’s for sure.

Johnny Caps: In 1989, you played Bernice is Skin Deep, an underrated comedy-drama from an underrated decade for film. What stood out the most to you about working on it?

DeeDee Rescher: Well, working with John Ritter was one of the great experiences of my life. I’m tearing up just talking about him. He was considerate, sensitive, real, and intelligent.

The minute you met him, you felt you’d been friends with him all your life, so that was my greatest story, even though I have tons of stories from that movie. Also, working with Joel Brooks as my husband was a wonderful experience, and we became lifelong friends from that experience.

Also, being on that film was an amazing experience because of Blake Edwards and Julie Andrews. They invited us a few times to their mansion in Malibu where they screened films, and had dinners in their glass gazebo overlooking the sea. Julie was just a trip and a half in the very best sense.

She had always been one of my icons, so to be able to have that experience was pretty remarkable. I also loved my character on that movie, so all in all, it was definitely a highlight in my career.

Johnny Caps: Yeah, it was definitely a very enjoyable movie, as were all your 80s works. I’ll always go to bat for the cinema of the 80s. A lot of people tend to trash the decade in comparison to what came before and after, but I’ll always go to bat for 80s movies because of how they helped me through dark times, and have continued to do so.

DeeDee Rescher: Yeah, I agree.

Johnny Caps: But now, going into the 90s, you played Karen Hudson in the Roseanne episode One For The Road. Whether it’s the 80s, the 90s, or today, no matter what she’s believed in or who she’s supported, I’ve always sensed something of a cruelty to the actress Roseanne herself, so did she treat you well while filming?

DeeDee Rescher: No (laughing). It was a very memorable week. At the time, it was before she and Tom Arnold got married.

They were planning their wedding, I think, and they were having some difficulties on my first day of shooting. I remember George Clooney was also around that day. He must have been doing a different episode.

I remember that Roseanne wasn’t coming in until the afternoon. We had all been called in to go to work early that morning, so I had nothing to do but sit around my dressing room, and that’s why I remember George Clooney because we ended up outside talking for quite a while.

I ended up going back to my dressing room and falling asleep, and all of a sudden, I got a knock on the door. It was the 2nd A.D saying, “They need you on the set”. Well, here I am.

I’ve been completely out asleep. I’m sleepy-eyed and walking onto the set, and I hadn’t met Roseanne yet.

They just said, “Places!”. I didn’t have my script with me. I was bleary-eyed.

I thought I knew the lines (laughing). I knock on the door, she opens the door, and I go blank. I can’t remember anything, except that it was one of the most horrific experiences of my life because I just didn’t know what to say.

I looked at her, and I was already on the defensive because she had such a reputation.

I said, “Well, if you had come in this morning when you were supposed to come in, I was ready to do this “. (Laughing) I think I completely shocked Roseanne because I came at her before we even got to know each other, and I think it might have sparked just a tiny bit of respect on her part because after that, she was okay with me.

However later on, when I watched at the scene, they are shooting from her point of view, where she knew the camera was behind her, and for my whole speech, she is upstaging me by scratching her back (laughing). When I saw the scene, I thought, “Oh, my god, what a clever woman”.

Anyway, so it was not a pleasant week. Let’s put it that way. She really wasn’t very considerate to her fellow actors.

Sorry about that, Roseanne, if you read this, but that’s the way I remember it.

Johnny Caps: Well, that’s quite a story (DeeDee laughs). Jumping back to the big screen, you played a receptionist in the movie Midnight Ride. That movie was a Cannon film, albeit one made around the time Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus left.

I’ve interviewed many Cannon Films veterans, and opinions on the studio have been mixed to negative, so what did you think of working for Cannon?

DeeDee Rescher: Oh Gosh! I remember doing that film…I think it was all a night shoot…Yikes…I wish I could remember exactly what it was I did in it! I’ll have to go and re watch it!

Johnny Caps: Let’s go to a question that I know you’ll definitely have some good answers for…Pardon me. I tend to stumble over my words, part and parcel of being on the autism spectrum.

DeeDee Rescher: No worries.

Johnny Caps: Oh, thank you. In the 90s, you started doing voiceover work. What led you to that field?

DeeDee Rescher: The pursuit of funds led to that work, and it’s just kind of mandatory for any actor to try and subsidize their income with something that is also creative and related to the business. I never made a big pile with my voiceover work, but it did help me through the lean times.

When you’re signed up to an agency, usually that agency is broken into three categories, Commercial, Voiceover and Theatrical. When you’re with an agency that covers all three of those divisions, you’re likely to be signed to all three of them. It doesn’t automatically happen that you become a voiceover contender.

If you start getting work, then you become a voiceover talent, and you’re in the “pool” as they say… and one thing leads to another.

That’s how I started. I was with the William Morris Agency for all of their divisions, and then after moving on from there. I had a reputation as a voiceover actor, so it wasn’t difficult to keep myself in the game.

Johnny Caps: Alright. You have a very distinctive voice, and I mean that in the best way possible, so how has your voice helped you?

DeeDee Rescher: Well, it’s helped me and it’s hindered me. It has helped me in the way it makes me recognizable. I have a lot of people saying to me, “I saw you on television the other night. I heard your voice, and I ran into the room”.

I’ve always had this voice, so I don’t know. I don’t even think about it. It puts me in a very character-y category, and so it cuts me off from a lot of the softer roles I’d love to play, but now that I’m grandmother age, I’ve kind of grown into my voice, so maybe things will open up in a different way for me now.

Every once in a while, you’ll go online, and there are lots of platforms that host people that say things about you. I can’t remember what forum it was that I went to, but I remember reading, “DeeDee Rescher has the most annoying voice in Hollywood”, and I remember just being absolutely shattered by that. I thought, “I’m not going to read this stuff anymore” (laughing).

Johnny Caps: Well, like Andrew “Dice” Clay says, people are pricks.

DeeDee Rescher: (Laughing) Amen!

Johnny Caps: A decent amount of your early voiceover credits were in Paramount projects, ranging from USA’s Duckman to Nickelodeon‘s Aaahh! Real Monsters, Kablam!, and Oh Yeah! Cartoons.

Was that a coincidence, or would you say Paramount was something of a home studio for your voice work in the 90s?

DeeDee Rescher: All of that was Paramount? Who knew? I think, though, that when you work for a company, like Disney, for example, which I work for a lot in television, once you have a good experience with them, and a good reputation, they will tend to use people over again.

You become, in a sense, family with these companies.

Johnny Caps: Okay. Going back to live-action work, throughout the 90s, you appeared on several episodes of The Nanny, using playing the character of Dotty, but occasionally playing other characters as well. What are your favorite memories of working on The Nanny, and what do you recall the most about Fran Drescher?

DeeDee Rescher: Well, working on The Nanny was always fun, and talk about a big family. They were just a big, happy, loving family, and I also thought the show was adorable. Fran Drescher?

I love her!

It’s funny. Her last name is Drescher, and my last name is Rescher. She has this high, nasally voice.

I’ve got this low, gravelly voice. When I first got cast in it, I think that’s what they were thinking about, “Oh, how funny it would be for Fran to have a friend who’s voice is the polar opposite.”

I did the pilot so I was in it from the beginning. I remember it was so wonderful seeing Fran and Peter embarking on what was their legacy. and I took pleasure to watch two wonderful people develop what had been their baby, their dream, and see it come true for them.

I remember one day in particular. I was with Fran, and we were sitting around the script table Fran had just brought this new gorgeous dress, and it was kind of rolled up in a ball in her purse. I thought, “Oh, my god! That’s got to be, like, a thousand-dollar dress, rolled up in a ball in her purse”.

I looked at it and said, “Wow, Fran, that’s beautiful”. She said, (imitating Fran’s voice)   “Well, I guess I’ll have to be wearing things like this now”. (Back to DeeDee’s voice) I thought, “How fun is that?”, you know?

You have this whole success story ahead of you. I don’t know if she’d remember the dress if I told her the story, but I remember it as being just a very sweet, happy moment.

Johnny Caps: That’s wonderful to hear. Bridging the 90s and 00s, having previously played The Record Producer in the Friends episode The One Where Eddie Moves In, did Lisa Kudrow remembering you from that episode lead to your appearance as Donna Franklin in the Comeback episode Valerie Relaxes In Palm Springs?

DeeDee Rescher: No. I had to audition for The Comeback, and as a matter of fact, when I did The Comeback, I had to remind Lisa who I was. It didn’t lead to that, but oh, my gosh, I had fun on both projects.

I will say this, too, The Comeback is always a huge memory because …this is sad, my beautiful mother died while I was filming The Comeback, so for me, it was, as you can imagine an unforgettable experience.

Johnny Caps: I see. To lighten the mood, pardon the turn of phrase…

DeeDee Rescher: Perfect.

Johnny Caps: Just as you’ve done a decent amount of animation work with Paramount, as mentioned, you’ve done a decent amount of live-action work with Disney on sitcoms like Shake It Up, I Didn’t Do It, and Bunk’d. What’s the difference between working on a sitcom for kids, and a sitcom for adult audiences?

DeeDee Rescher: Well, it’s a big difference, but it depends on what shows. I’ve had some really good experiences on kid shows, and I’ve had some not real pleasant experiences on kid shows.

I think that some of what I’ve experienced that has not been pleasant has been on some of the shows where I come in a guest star, and the kids have never been coached in the practice of hospitality, if you will. They neglect to welcome you to their show and introduce themselves properly. It’s not that way with all the kids’ shows, but it’s happened to me more than once.

I was always taught that you make a concerted effort to welcome all guests to your show and even tell them how much you enjoy their work…even if you’ve never seen anything they have done! (laughing) It’s an etiquette thing!

Now, on the other hand, there are shows like Bunk’d, which is completely opposite, and the kids are just fabulous and amazing. You feel like you belong the second you walk in, and they’re respectful. I do have one bad experience to share with you, although it’s not a kid kid show.

More like young adult show. I’ll say some names, but not all names.

It was a show that was called Famous in Love, and I had a small part in it with an actress I shall not name. I was playing her dresser, and the scene took place in her dressing room. She was playing an actor who went in to be fitted for a fat costume.

There’s the funny part that this beautiful actress is being fitted into a fat costume, and the fat costume was very hard to put on. She never introduced herself so we really had no relationship other than playing this scene.

I had a lot of lines, and I had to be putting this fat costume onto this woman’s body at the same time. Well, as I was doing the zipper, and this happened numerous times, I kept getting her hair caught in the zipper, so she kept yelling, “CUT! She’s catching my hair in the zipper!” I was mortified, “I’m so sorry! I’m so sorry!”, but it kept happening, so I tried timidly suggesting she pull her hair to the side so I could get the zipper up, but the whole thing was very upsetting for her. For us both!

The scene called for her to be in bare feet so every time she said “Cut”, she sat down so people could come and wash her feet. I’m thinking …really? The floor is that dirty?

(Laughing) I don’t know. I was kind of nonplussed, and it was an uncomfortable experience, and I couldn’t wait to get out of there, so finally, when it was over, I high- tailed it to my trailer and got dressed.

I was about to leave when there was a knock on the door. I opened the door, and there was a lovely man standing there. He was a director.

He said, “My name is Roger Kumble. I just wanted to come and introduce myself. I am normally the director of this show, but I’m not on this week, but when I was on the set and I saw your name on the cast list, I knew I had to come see you.”

He said, “You did wonderful work in there, and I just wanted to tell you that I know who you are. You’re Hollywood royalty. Your grandfather was one of my favorite actors in the world. Your grandmother’s work as a silent screen star is legendary. Your other grandfather started the Photographer’s Local Union in New York City. Your father was a three-time Emmy-award winning cinematographer! I just wanted to tell you how much I enjoyed your work today, and to welcome you to our show”.

It was like oh, my God. It erased the whole bad experience. You know, it was so beautiful.

Just when I was feeling so low and so unwelcomed in Hollywood, somebody came to me and knew everything about my family, all about my background, and they had the decency and the loveliness to come in and tell me.

Johnny Caps: That’s wonderful. It’s amazing how much a kind word can turn around a bad day.

DeeDee Rescher: Yes (laughing). Very true.

Johnny Caps: To go to a different aspect of your work, you played the title role in the shoort film Monique’s, a film that holds a particular place of pride for you as it’s one of the demos featured on your website. What made that short so special for you?

DeeDee Rescher: Well, I’m a fan of Francesca Panzani’s work. She’s a very talented indie director. When I found out she was doing this film, and I saw there was possibly a part for me, I quickly signed up to audition for it, and that was really the reason I went in.

I also wanted to have some record of my time as a dancer because that’s how I started in this business. I worked for many years as a dancer, and there was no actual footage of me dancing. I don’t think there’s even anything with the Knockers, so I wanted to have some sort of legacy of the fact that I did at one time dance, so I got to do that in Monique’s.

It was a sweet little film. It won a couple of awards, and it was a lot of fun to work on, and Francesca and I became good friends as a result of it, so it was a win-win.

Johnny Caps: That’s wonderful to hear. Staying in that vein, one of your most inspiring recent projects is the short Senior Moment, where you do some excellent dancing to Beyonce’s Texas Hold ‘Em. Knowing your recent battle with esophageal cancer, was that short a way of saying “Fuck you!” to illness?

DeeDee Rescher: (Laughing) Oh, yes. Everything I do now is saying “Fuck you!” to illness.

It’s funny. It was inspired by my best friend that I grew up with since I was 10 years old. She called me one day and said, “DeeDee, have you seen this Beyonce Texas Hold ‘Em craze that’s going on? It’s a dance routine. Everybody’s doing it’. She said, “DeeDee, you have to do it”. I said, ” Vicky, you’ve got to be crazy.

I can’t do this! I’m 70 years old! I don’t even know if I can dance anymore!”. She said, “DeeDee, you can do it.

You can do it!”.

I called an age appropriate friend of mine, Cameron Smith, who was a hoofer on Broadway. He played God in Godspell on Broadway for years and years. I said, “Cameron, can you still dance?”, and he said, “I don’t know”, (laughing) so I said, “Let’s just try it”.

We rented a dance studio, I found the choreography online, we started going, and I realized we could do it.

I then thought, “You know what? We need to find a way to make this different than all the others”. I decided to pay homage to seniors, and then it turned into a little film that kind of had a story to it. Senior Moment is my homage to Beyonce’s Texas Hold ‘Em, and it was a lot of fun to do.

My husband, by the way, is the elderly gentleman at the end of the film who catches the hat (laughing).

Johnny Caps: That’s wonderful. It’s really quite a cheer-inspiring piece, and it’s great fun to watch.

DeeDee Rescher: Thank you for saying that. It gives me pride. Thank you.

Johnny Caps: You’re very welcome. Continuing along those lines for a question, you conquered cancer. You defeated it, so what has that meant for you?

DeeDee Rescher: I would say this was definitely the most valiant fight of my life. It is amazing, when you are diagnosed, the fear is huge and the future is unthinkable, but when you take everything moment to moment, you do realize the old adage that God will never give you more than you can handle. I went from day to day handling things by the moment, and I just knew that somehow, inside, I was going to make it.

And I had the best support team anyone could ever imagine.

There were a lot of moments when nobody else thought I was going to make it, but I knew I would. It has given me a lot of strength, and it has also given me a lot to ponder! There are many reasons why I’m still here, and I’m not sure of all of them yet, but I intend to uncover each and every one of them, and live every day as if there’s not a tomorrow because I’ve been there.

I’ve been close to no tomorrows, and I don’t plan to go there again, and the good news is I’m cured.

Johnny Caps: That’s wonderful. I do think of cancer as a demon. I lost my mom to a form of it, and several of my previous interview subjects have also passed away from various forms of it.

It’s something that every time I come across someone who’s taken it on and beat it, I”m glad for them because it’s definitely a hard thing to do, and once you’ve knockd the bastard out, it’s definitely something.

DeeDee Rescher: Yeah, I agree.

Johnny Caps: On a lighter note, you’re also an accomplished stage actress, so what has stage acting provided for you that screen acting has not?

DeeDee Rescher: Stage is my favorite genre. I love the stage.

It’s the immediacy of it. Even though it’s rehearsed and repeated over and over again, it’s new each and every time. You’ve got a relationship with an audience, and they’re right there and very much alive right in front of you, you have a relationship with your fellow actors who are with you living truthfully under imaginary circumstances.

Everything is more moment to moment with wonderful and sometimes even scary surprises, and through those surprises are borne organic reactions, and then the authentic real emotions are so much easier for me to capture.

That aliveness happening all around me is an energy that is almost inexplicable and joyous, and of course there’s the immediate satisfaction of making someone laugh or making somebody cry.. Eliciting emotions from people, you see it right there. Stage…I hope to be doing that as long as I can stand up straight.

Johnny Caps: Wonderful. When performing on stage, what are your favorite kind of works to do, comedies, dramas or musicals? Or do you like performing them all?

DeeDee Rescher: I like performing them all, but I’m not much of a singer. I used to be, but it’s not happening anymore, (laughing) unless you need Elaine Stritch. I’m your girl.

I like both. I mostly do comedies, but sometimes the comedies are mixed with emotional, wonderful moments as well. I like all of it.

Johnny Caps: Alright. Along those lines, a personal favorite play of yours’ is Shirley Valentine, a role you’ve played onstage several times. What do you think the original play has that the movie adaptation lacked?

DeeDee Rescher: Well, the biggest difference with the movie adaptation was that all the characters were played by other actors. In the play, Shirley plays all the characters. She plays her husband.

She plays her daughter. She plays her son. She plays her lover.

She plays the waiter at the restaurant. She plays the Greek lover. She embodies her family, and it’s really something to be able to do all that, and it’s something for the audience to be able to behold…One woman playing 38 characters in one show.

It’s pretty amazing, but I have to tell you I loved the movie. I think Pauline Collins was brilliant. I think the movie was wonderful, and my biggest shout-out goes to Willy Russell, the playwright who, it’s amazing to me, wrote this script, but he did grow up in his mother’s beauty salon.

He was surrounded by women, and women’s stories for all of his childhood, and this is what came out of it, and it’s a brilliant, brilliant piece of work.

Johnny Caps: Well, I’m glad that the play has worked out so well for you, and I’m glad that you’ve gotten such praise for it.

DeeDee Rescher: Thank you.

Johnny Caps: To go to another iconic stage character, you’ve played Sally Bowles in stage productions of Cabaret. What was the easiest part and the hardest part, respectively, of playing that character?

DeeDee Rescher: Well, the easiest part was the fact that my personality is very much along the same lines as Sally Bowles. I live a kind of joyfully wild, carefree existence, and so I related to the character without question. The hardest part was probably vocally for me, but I used to get reviews, and one of them distinctively said that I could “act a song better than it might be sung”, so I’ll go with that, and I also always had the oboe in the orchestra who could always play the high notes for me (laughing).

I would just open my mouth and let that oboe sing it, baby!

Johnny Caps: To go to my next question, if I may be so bold, whether it’s your dance moves in Senior Moment, the topless scenes you’ve done, or just the pictures you take, you don’t look your age, so what’s the secret to your youthful appearance?

DeeDee Rescher: Aaah, if I told you, I’d have to kill you! (DeeDee and Johnny laugh)

Johnny Caps: Fair enough. One of my dearest friends is actress Kimmy Robertson. When I told her I was going to be interviewing you, she mentioned working with you on a commercial, and she spoke very highly of you, so what are your favorite memories of working with Kimmy Robertson?

DeeDee Rescher: Oh Please send my love to Kimmy! I think we did more than just that commercial together…I seem to remember working with her on a sit- com as well…can’t remember which one. All I have to say it how can one possibly not love Kimmy Robertson?

Such a special talent, beautiful, funny and smart! A winning trifecta!!!! Did I mention she and I hit it off? haha…. from day one!

Johnny Caps: I’ve asked about some of your most favorite career moments so, conversely, what have been some of your least favorite career moments?

DeeDee Rescher: Well, I expressed some earlier. Let me see. I had kind of a bad day with Faye Dunaway once.

I was doing a show with Robert Urich and Faye Dunaway, and it was called It Had To Be You. Faye Dunaway was quite the prima donna, and it was one day when I had just arrived on set. I was at craft services, and I went over into the fridge and got a Diet Coke.

There was only one in there, and I got it and started drinking it.

Suddenly, Faye Dunaway came around, opened the fridge, (laughing) and she started screaming, “WHERE’S MY DIET COKE?!?”. I was standing next to her with the Coke in my hand. I quickly put it behind my back, and people were trying to cover me and get me out of the way because god knows what was going to start, and everybody was running around looking for Diet Cokes.

I literally just ran off the stage and hid in the bathroom until the whole mess was over with.

Johnny Caps: Somehow I have this feeling that perhaps “WHERE’S MY DIET COKE?!?” could become the new “NO WIRE HANGERS EVER!”. (Johnny and DeeDee laugh)

DeeDee Rescher: Yeah, that’s a good one.

Johnny Caps: So to go to a more general question, what advice would you give to someone looking to enter the entertainment industry?

DeeDee Rescher: If you simply cannot exist without it, by all means come on in! Otherwise, re think things… because you’re probably going to live an existence filled with rejection, disappointments, ridiculous competition and never ending pounding of the pavement all for no money.

I mean, yeah, some people get lucky, but most of us don’t, and unless you cannot breathe without performing this craft, then you really shouldn’t try. Go find something else to do that’s going to give you a more stable existence (laughing).

I think that’s what I would say, but if you have to do it, do it and understand what’s going to go with it, and know that it’s a lot of hard work. It’s not an easy path.

Johnny Caps: Alright. I now come to my final question, and it’s this: What’s next for you?

DeeDee Rescher: Well, I actually just finished filming a show that is premiering on November 12th on NBC. It’s called St. Denis Medical, and it’s starring Wendi McLendon-Covey, Alison Tolman, and David Alan Grier. Wendi was a star of The Goldbergs.

I don’t know if you remember that show.

Johnny Caps: I interviewed Adam F. Goldberg for another website about a decade or so ago.

DeeDee Rescher: Aaah, okay. Well, she’s now the star of St. Denis Medical along with Alison, star of the TV series Fargo, and David who has done, you know, a million things. It’s being highly anticipated and I just finished doing one episode.

Hopefully I’ll do more. I play a homeless woman named Ruth, and she’s a regular at the hospital. She goes there a lot to hope to find a place to sleep.

Johnny Caps: I see. Yeah, hospitals. I’ve definitely had my share of experiences with them this year, and I know you have, too.

DeeDee Rescher: Yeah, (laughing) but this one was a nice experience.

Johnny Caps: Well, I’m glad to hear that, and that does it for my questions. I again thank you for taking the time to do this interview. I know we’ve been talking about this for several years, and I have to say it was worth the wait.

You have great stories, and it’s an honor to talk to you.

DeeDee Rescher: Thank you, Johnny, and I’m sorry it took so long to get around to it, but it certainly was a pleasure meeting you and talking to you, and thank you for the great questions.

Johnny Caps: Oh, not a problem.

DeeDee Rescher: Alright, darlin’. You have a good rest of your day.

Johnny Caps: I hope you have a wonderful rest of your day, too.

DeeDee Rescher: Thank you so much. Good to talk to you.

Johnny Caps: Be well.

DeeDee Rescher: You, too. Bye bye.

Johnny Caps: Bye.

——————-

I again thank DeeDee Rescher for taking the time out of her schedule to speak to me. It’s good to be back doing interviews after all I’ve been through since 2023, and I’m glad to be writing for you. As I mentioned earlier, soon I’ll be publishing an interview with two-time Oscar-winning sound designer Karen Baker-Landers, and from there, the sky’s the limit.

Be well, and keep in good health, everyone.

Next: The FLASHBACK interview: Tyffany Million or discuss on our Film and TV forums

Key Takeaways

• DeeDee Rescher’s career spans film (Ferris Bueller, Skin Deep), TV (The Nanny, Roseanne), voiceover (Duckman, Aaahh! Real Monsters), and celebrated stage roles (Shirley Valentine, Cabaret).
• She learned bus-driving on Ferris Bueller, danced with the legendary L.A. Knockers, and treasures her time with John Ritter, Blake Edwards, and Julie Andrews.
• She beat cancer, returned to dancing with the viral short Senior Moment, and remains devoted to the immediacy of live theater.
• Advice to actors: only pursue this life if you can’t live without it, and lead with kindness on set.