Maureen Stapleton On the Hard, Fast Rules of Friendship

Interview with Maureen Stapleton

Conducted by James Grissom

Lenox, Massachusetts

1991

I lost patience with him [Tennessee Williams] all the time. Constantly! People you love can drive you crazy. In fact, it may be a definition of love that they can, that they do, that you let them. And then you forgive. You know, I'm not a big believer in hard, fast rules most of the time, but there are hard, fast rules for friendship, and Tennessee and I followed those all the way to the end: You show up; you listen; you do whatever you can; you do not judge, but you heal, you comfort; you laugh and cry when it's time. And then you shove the experience into some closet or inventory of friendship, but you give the appearance of forgetting about it. And you go on. And you repeat the process whenever you have to. Life pisses on you all the time from the time they slap you on the ass at birth. You do not piss on friendship. That's the real and true hard, fast rule.

©  2014  James Grissom