When Bradley Whitford comes to campus, arriving thirty minutes early to hear him speak will barely earn you a seat at the very back of the lecture hall. Whitford’s credits include roles in The Good Boys, The Mentalist, Billy Madison and The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. However, Whitford is most famous for his Emmy-award winning role as Josh Lyman on the political television drama The West Wing, for which he was nominated for two additional Emmys and three Golden Globes. Thanks to the efforts of West Wing Weekly, students, faculty and New Haven residents alike crowded into LC 102 Thursday evening, united by West Wing mania.
Whitford, whose shifting in his seat added an unguarded candor to all he said, touched on everything from his hatred of the audition process to the dangers of one-track ambition. “If you’re an actor, a musician, a writer, keep yourself at a place like this,” he urged, referring to Yale, “[a place] that allows you to learn about a lot of things before you specialize prematurely.”
Whitford, while undoubtedly in love with the art of his profession, was deeply skeptical of the industry itself. “I fell in love with acting when it hit me that it was the only integrated thing I’d done.” He explained, “When I read, my body was dead. When I did sports, my heart and my mind were dead. There’s nothing better for you emotionally and spiritually than getting the chance to act. But man, the business? It’s horrific.”
Despite Whitford’s dissatisfaction with Hollywood and corporate entertainment in general, he found a uniquely poignant and beautiful opportunity in his role on The West Wing. When asked about life post-West Wing, he described it as “extremely painful” having to leave what he viewed as the kind of creative experience that one always hopes for but should never expect. “Everything you do after it feels like a labor of like,” Whitford said of his post-West Wing career.
A large part of Whitford’s love of The West Wing stemmed from his intense respect for Aaron Sorkin, its writer and creator. Whitford describes Sorkin as “viciously talented,” a man whose incredible writing talent turned what Whitford depicted as a “creative career always swimming upstream” into “surfing.” Whitford did, however, recognize the particular mania that came with Sorkin’s touch of genius. According to Whitford, Sorkin was rather overbearing and uncollaborative. Whitford would often amicably tell Sorkin, “You wrote a great show about democracy, but you ran it like Kim Jong Il.”
Whitford’s most moving comments came when he spoke about his relationship with his art. “Part of what’s interesting to me about acting is that you’ve gotta be really, really, ready so that you can just be innocent to the moment,” he revealed. Whitford seems to have succeeded in creating a character truly entwined with his own. After attending dinner with Bradley, Anne O’Brien ‘16 said she “could definitely see the Bradley in Josh and the Josh in Bradley.” Jon Esty ‘17 agreed: “It turns out the line between Lyman and Bradley is very thin indeed.”
Whitford concluded with a testament to the cast’s enduring love of The West Wing. “You know, we all knew that this was the first line of our obituaries. And we were happy about that.”
Whitford Trivia:
Favorite scene? “Waking up hung-over in fishing waders.”
Favorite joke? How do you ask Rahm Emanuel what time it is? “Excuse me, Rahm. Do you know what time it is or should I just go fuck myself?” (Josh Lyman was based in part on Emanuel during his time in the Clinton White House.
Most absurd or inappropriate thing that happened off-set or among the cast members?
“Josh Malina would sneak into my trailer and leave post-it notes on my mirror that said things like, ‘I’m not that talented.’… Just perverse!”