Word: broderick
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Such wide-eyed enthusiasm has prompted one of Broderick's colleagues to remark, "Matthew is really 21 going on 15." Or perhaps 50: he is a fascinating combination of young and old, innocent and wise. "From the minute he was born, he was almost the most grownup member of my family," says his mother Patsy. "He's very commonsensical, and he's got a very strong ear for what is going on in a room. He can read people just right. He started off savvy...
...father was the late James Broderick, a fine actor and the star of the long-running TV series Family. Patsy is a playwright turned artist, and there was almost always someone interesting for Matthew and his two older sisters to talk to in their big four-bedroom apartment, overlooking Washington Square in Greenwich Village. Shy when he was growing up, Matthew for a time gave up his dream of acting, but the role of Snout in a high school production of A Midsummer Night's Dream hooked him. Before that, both parents said not a word about acting; after...
Matthew's first professional stage part was in Harvey Fierstein's Torch Song Trilogy, in which he played the adopted homosexual son of a former drag queen. Slightly built (5 ft. 8 in.), Broderick looks no more than 17. Fierstein, who was the star as well as the author, kept telling him to hurry his lines. Broderick resisted, and the two yelled and fought. "Harvey used to push me against the wall - he's strong as a bull - but it freed me up a lot as an actor to play against him. He has a nice freedom...
Other people, including Film Director Herb Ross, saw his star quality in Torch Song. Ross put him in Max Dugan Returns; the same day Broderick read for Brighton Beach Memoirs as well. Suddenly the young actor, who had been desperate for any work, was trying to find time for everything...
...while, like a terrible, tragic counterpoint, Matthew's father, whom he adored, was dying of cancer. James Broderick learned of his illness the day Matthew opened in Torch Song. Later, during the filming of Max Dugan and WarGames, Matthew would fly to New York City from California every weekend to be at his father's bedside. The elder Broderick died last November, a few hours after Brighton Beach went into rehearsal."It was important to Jimmy that Matthew get a good start," says Patsy. " 'What matters is the play,' he said." She adds, "Matthew has grown...