Chased by a "Blade Runner," the actress hides in the past with the only man who knows "Who Framed Roger Rabbit."
"I knew, going in, that Roger Rabbit wouldn't be a Joanna Cassidy vehicle," the 44-year-old actress notes. "That has been the story of my career. I've been pitching myself for all these years, telling people, 'Please try to understand me. I'm serious, I'm funny, I'm sophisticated, I'm clumsy.' I run through this list, but they say, 'I don't believe her.' Maybe I'm a schmuck, to hang around long enough to get beat on so often. Sometimes, I feel like I've really been through the wringer."
If talent, beauty and intelligence were the only requirements for Hollywood stardom, then Joanna Cassidy would be a household name. Instead, she remains one of the most underrated actresses in motion pictures.
Consigned to a succession of supporting parts in such films as Blade Runner, Club Paradise and The Fourth Protocol, Cassidy has enlivened the least promising assignments with her genuine personal warmth, infectious sense of humor and self-assured sexuality. With the exception of a rare starring role in Under Fire, however, her best acting opportunities have been on the small screen, in TV movies like A Father's Revenge and Reunion, and the acerbic situation comedy Buffalo Bill, for which she won a Golden Globe Award.
Even her latest feature relegates her to secondary status once again. In Who Framed Roger Rabbit, her part is primarily functional, merely providing a sympathetic sounding board for male lead Bob Hoskins.
Nestling her pet terrier "Polyester" in her lap as she relaxes in her Los Angeles home the day before seeing the finished version of Roger Rabbit, Cassidy punctuates her pungent opinions with a distinctive, full-bodied laugh. A veteran of 16 years of show business dues-paying, she finds wry amusement in the pragmatism which compelled her to accept yet another role which didn't fully utilize her abilities.
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