Abby Wilde

Abby Wilde Instagram – I met Brian in 2013 when my exodus to New York was interrupted by a swift return to Los Angeles to perform as his daughter in Sebastian Barry’s THE STEWARD OF CHRISTENDOM at the Mark Taper Forum (about which nothing better can be said than the judgement of the playwright himself who saw a video of our production and, upon finally meeting me over a year later, informed me “you know, the girl who played your role in Ireland was fantastic.” The Irish are a truly poetic people). We remained close a short while after, and I have a couple of stories I could tell about Brian, but the most illustrative would probably be from when he came to NYC the following fall to do LOVE LETTERS with Mia Farrow and Carol Burnett. He was simultaneously preparing a role in a pilot of an Irish mafia miniseries, and he reached out to me to ask if I was free to help him learn his lines in the afternoons. He knew, I think, that casting in New York hadn’t been kind to me, although I don’t think he could have fully guessed the depth of my poverty and depression at the time, so he probably didn’t know exactly how insanely generous and well-timed he was in offering me $100/hr to run lines with him — particularly as, for the most part, Brian didn’t use that time to run lines. He spent hours telling me stories, talking about jazz, ordering me to give up my foolish NYC dreams and move to Chicago (he was probably right), ordering room service (the most delicious and expensive bacon in NY), criticizing the script, and rewriting his part. In the end, I think he paid me about $800 for two hours of actual work, which allowed me to pay my rent, which mattered, and feel like a valuable and successful theater professional again, which mattered more.
Brian was complicated, and I think it’s fair to say he wasn’t an entirely easy person. But throughout it all, he was motivated by a deep generosity, and was incredibly kind to me during a time that I had a lot of difficulty being kind to myself. I’m sorry we lost touch, and I’m sorry he’s gone. | Posted on 17/Apr/2020 00:06:46