Judith Light 'almost didn’t go in to audition' for 'Who's the Boss'

close

Video

Judith Light almost wasn't 'The Boss'

Actress says most famous role almost didn't happen

NEW YORK – Actress Judith Light is returning to Broadway in a new play “Therese Raquin,” and she’s also back for the second season of the Golden Globe winning Amazon.com series “Transparent.” But most people still know Light, 66, from the classic sitcom "Who's the Boss." here's the thing -- Light told FOX411 she wasn't even going to audition for “Who’s the Boss?” and was completely unaware her role as Angela would impact a generation of women.

FOX411: “Transparent” is nominated for 11 Emmy’s. Why do you think society is ready for a show as progressive as this one now?

Judith Light: I think what’s happened with the story is it’s not just a story of about a transgendered person, but about a person who is living an authentic, brave and courageous life, telling people "This is who I am, and this is who I’m going to be" and then asking the question, “Who will you be?” So, it really is a family story and that’s what I think is so compelling to people. Everybody has a situation in their family, in one way or another, where somebody says, “I’m not the person you thought I was.” So, how do you react to that? It is a family story.  It’s really the time that we’re talking about the transgendered community and how inspiring they really are.

FOX411: What do you think of Caitlyn Jenner’s reality show, “I Am Cait?”

Light: I think it’s terrific. I think what she’s doing quite remarkable. I think the way the entire thing has been handled has been extremely profound and poignant and truthful and very real to the entire process of what she has been going through. And to let yourself be somebody else for so long and then finally be your real self is such a relief to her I know, because I know her a little bit, and I adore her.

FOX411: Some actresses say that Hollywood is an ageist town, but at 66 years old, you continue to work steadily. Do you think it’s less about ageism and more about having actual talent?

Light: I wouldn’t say it’s about any of that really in relation to me. I know that those things are there and I know that people have to deal with that all the time to one degree or another, and I’ve dealt with that in certain aspects, but I have really good management that I have been with for 35 years. I have great guidance. I have people that I listen to, and I have wonderful agents and I have people that are really there to support me. What’s one’s mindset is about their age is the age they are.

FOX411: I grew up watching “Who’s The Boss?” You may not know this but your show inspired a great deal of millennial women. You were the breadwinner supporting a family. It was really the first time a woman was seen as an executive. Did you know that Angela would change how people saw traditional gender roles?

Light: I didn’t realize it at the time. I almost didn’t go in to audition for it because I was too afraid, and that’s what I mean by having good management. I was told by management that I’d better get my act together and get myself in there but the truth of it is that I have found out later from many, many women who have said to me actually Angela was my role model so you see you never know how you’re going to impact people. You don’t know how you’re going to impact on the world. I thought I had to do it in a particular way because I was only going to do feature films and theater, that’s all I was going to do and then these other opportunities came to me, and when they came to me and even though I thought these were opportunities I would never want to do or would do, and then I did them, and they changed my life and I see now that it transformed a lot of other people’s lives.

FOX411: You're also working on a new flu vaccine campaign for people over 65.

Judith Light: I joined with the Flu & You campaign and the National Council of Aging because I really knew because of my advocacy work for many years ago with HIV and AIDS that when you are educated you can actually can do something about it. We are finding that when you are 65 years and up like me that there is a flu vaccine that is a higher dose and people don’t know about it. You can get the standard one the CDC recommends that from the time a child is 6 months old until…until you should be getting a flu shot but when you’re 65 and up you really want to ask your pharmacist or healthcare professional about getting this higher dosed vaccine.