Though Marlo Thomas has just been nominated for an Emmy for her guest stints as
Rachel's mom on NBC's hottest show, Friends, most fans still
think of her as that girl from That Girl (1966-71).
"There isn't anywhere I go that people don't say, "Please say, "Oh, Donald" to me,'" she says, referring to the way her character, aspiring actress Ann Marie, used to chide her eager boyfriend, played by Ted Bessell. Thomas isn't surprised by That Girl's lasting appeal, in part because the show was so ahead of its time. "I knew it was groundbreaking from the beginning, because people didn't want to put it on," she says. "[Network executives] thought America wasn't interested in a single girl who didn't have a family unit. In fact, they wanted me to have a maiden aunt come live with me. I said to them, "In The Fugitive, that guy doesn't even have a city, let alone a family. Why can't a female at least have a city and not a family?" Thomas, of course, had her way, and That Girl, which can now be seen on Nick at Nite and TVLand, was an instant hit. "I just didn't realize it would have this long a life," says the actress, who's planning more dramatic roles and spending more time with recently retired husband, Phil Donahue. If Bessell, now a director who's working on the movie version of TV's Bewitched, has his way, That Girl's life will be even longer. He wants to revisit the series on the big screen and "see what happened to the characters." Though the show ended with Donald and Ann engaged to be married, Bessell doesn't believe the two made it down the aisle. "They would have remained friends," says Bessell, "and I think they would have gotten back together again. He probably would have married, and she might have done well as an actress." What does Thomas think? "Marlo's feeling is that she wants to leave it the way it was," explains Bessell. "I'm not so sure she's right about that. As long as we're still alive and kicking, I think it's a mistake not to do it."
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