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Tavis: Pleased to welcome Mary Steenburgen to this program. The latest project from the Oscar-winning actress is the David Mamet play "Boston Marriage." The production runs here in L.A. at the Geffen Playhouse through March 12, if you are in the area. You can also catch her in the upcoming film, "Marilyn Hodgekiss' Ballroom Dancing And Charm School,' can't wait to talk about that, Mary, which opens in New York and Los Angeles next month. It's nice to have you on the program.

Mary Steenburgen: Thank you, nice to be here.

Tavis: You doing all right?

Steenburgen: Yeah.

Tavis: How is that husband of yours, Mr. Danson?

Steenburgen: He's very well, thank you.

Tavis: He was here not long ago, promoting...

Steenburgen: Yeah, he, he loved talking to you. He had a great time.

Tavis: Well, we had a great time talking. He said something off camera that I really can't repeat since this is a family show. But we have a book out now. I'm gonna ask you the same question, once we clear the air here. But for each of our guests, when we come off camera, we ask our guests what's the best advice you've ever received.

So we compile all this advice, and put it out in a small little motivational book that raises money to keep this show on the air on public television. And so I remember asking Ted (laugh) what the best advice you ever received was. And he said, listen to your f'ing wife.

Steenburgen: Oh. (laugh)

Tavis: That's all I can say. (laugh)

Steenburgen: But that was not me that gave it to him. Just in case you think it was me that said it.

Tavis: That's what I was about to ask. Did you tell him that?

Steenburgen: I've thought it a few times, but that wasn't me. (laugh)

Tavis: Well, he said that to me, and it's in the book, I'm certain. So, anyway, give Mr. Danson our regards. So this play, I get the sense that you go back to the theater as often as there's something good that gives you an opportunity to work.

Steenburgen: You know what? If you don't do it, you get scared of doing it. Because it really, it's ridiculously scary. For me it is, anyway. It's like getting in a racecar and just flooring it, and going as fast...

Tavis: Even after all of these years?

Steenburgen: Oh, sure. Oh, sure.

Tavis: What makes it...

Steenburgen: It's absolutely terrifying.

Tavis: What makes it such a terrifying proposition for you?

Steenburgen: Well, just that you're out there, and it's live, and if you drift off or you get distracted by somebody unwrapping a candy wrapper in the front row or whatever, (laugh) you can just be gone. Your terror is that you will forget every single line. And in this case, I don't stop talking, nonstop, for it's just under two hours. And I think I stop talking for about 30 seconds of the (word?) .

Tavis: So it's nonstop dialogue.

Steenburgen: Yeah.

Tavis: Give me the story line on the play.

Steenburgen: Well, it's David Mamet's version of a sort of drawing room comedy, and Rebecca Pigeon and I play two women of fashion, which was a euphuism for lesbians. And she's been away, and she's just come back. And I found a sort of sugar daddy who's going to kind of pay for our lovely existence. And she comes back, and I assume she's done the same thing.

But in fact, she's fallen in love with someone else, with another woman. And so, I take up pretty much all of my anger at her on the hapless maid, who is brilliantly played by Alicia Silverstone. And she plays my Scottish maid. So, it's a farce, and it's David Mamet. It's a celebration of language and of manners. And it's a comedy of manners.

Tavis: Now, back to what you said a moment ago that got my attention. So when you're on stage, is it possible that you could, in fact, be distracted by my opening of a Reese's Cup on the front row?

Steenburgen: (laugh) In the back row. I can be districted. I'm easily distractible.

Tavis: I'm glad you told me that, 'cause next time I go to play, I gotta take...

Steenburgen: You behave yourself.

Tavis: I gotta behave myself, yeah. I did not know that something like that could actually distract you all. All right, so you got the play. And have we this movie coming out.

Steenburgen: Right.

Tavis: Tell me about the movie. You're staying busy.

Steenburgen: Yeah, this movie is, gosh, so many great actors in this film. It's called, it's a long title, "Marilyn Hodgekiss' Ballroom Dancing And Charm School." And it's really about a group of people who all have encountered some kind of loss in their life. That this place, they're drawn to it like a magnet, this funny old dancehall where I am the teacher. And I teach them how to do ballroom dancing and also it's sort of manners and how to behave yourself. A sort of, it's a charm school.

Tavis: When I saw the title, and I've not seen your project yet. When I saw the title, and you're not a producer on this project, are you?

Steenburgen: No, no.

Tavis: What got my attention, though, Mary, was whether or not a project like that, how you make it resonate with the audience when the title is so - simple things like the title is so long, as easy as you being distracted by a wrapper being opened in a play, I wonder whether or not people get distracted by a title of a project so long they can't even remember what it was.

Steenburgen: Well, they might not remember what it is, but they'll remember oh, that movie with the long title, with the ballroom. (laugh) And actually, very few people have seen this movie. It premiered at Sundance this past year, and then it's just now coming out. But I've had several people come up to me and say, when is that wonderful movie with the long title coming out? And I say, oh, good. So in its own way, it's effective.

Tavis: So you are the instructor in this dance school that your mother founded. So you get to dance in this thing.

Steenburgen: I am. Right, I had a full week to do learn to do - these people on TV on these dance shows talk about how hard it is to learn this one dance in a week. I had to learn three dances in a week, and look like an instructor. (laugh) And I saw an interview with Jennifer Lopez talking about how in a dance movie she did with Richard Gere, it took three weeks to shoot this one dance sequence.

And this incredibly complex Lindy Hop that Donny Wahlberg and I do together, we had an hour and a half to shoot it. So, that's an independent film for you. That's the different in a studio and an independent film right there.

Tavis: No Richard Gere-J. Lo budget on this project.

Steenburgen: No, no.

Tavis: You were a dancer, I read, back in the day?

Steenburgen: Well, way back in the day. When I was a little girl, I was a tap dancer and in north Little Rock, Arkansas, where I'm from. But wouldn't call myself a great dancer by any stretch of the imagination. But I'm someone who does love to dance. I think it's very exciting and freeing. And I loved being part of this project. I think everybody that worked on it did.

Tavis: So are you dancing by yourself, or does Ted dance with you?

Steenburgen: Ted loves to dance. He's a great dancer.

Tavis: So why don't you guys do "Dancing With The Stars" or something?

Steenburgen: Well, I don't think so. (laugh) I think it's more fun to watch.

Tavis: So you can't talk to you or Ted and have the word Arkansas come out of your mouth without that other name coming out of the mouth, which is the Clintons, who hail from Arkansas. So what's your sense of all this talk about your friend Hillary, who people think, at least, is setting herself up to run for President in '08?

Steenburgen: Well, first of all, I don't know any more than anybody else knows about that. And I studiously avoid going there with her. Because one of the things that happened when Bill was in office before is that people that could never kind of get to them, or didn't interview them or talk to them would ask me what was going on. (laugh)

Tavis: Hey, that's not why I'm asking you. I've talked to both of them.

Steenburgen: No, I know, I know.

Tavis: All right, all right.

Steenburgen: But the thing is, what I always wanted to be is what I am, which is their friend. And there's been so many people who have been so public about different things. So for me, our relationship remains very much this friendship that's about all of the things people need friends for. Which is to talk about your children, to talk about your life, to talk about your sadnesses and your joys and all that.

So I never ask her, are you running? I don't want to know. And if she does, I will drop everything and fight to the death for her, because I think she's extraordinary, and I think she'd be an amazing leader. But in the meantime, I am her friend, and there in every other way. But I don't know any more about it than you do.

Tavis: You want a new friend? I need friends like you.

Steenburgen: Yeah, I know. Everybody needs a friend.

Tavis: I'm looking for friends like you, who know how to shut up.

Steenburgen: (laugh) Exactly.

Tavis: Why did you say that? What are you talking about? I need friends like you. So if you want to be friends.

Steenburgen: All right.

Tavis: I'm happy to be friends. (laugh)

Steenburgen: Hey, that's fine with me.

Tavis: Speaking of friends, I was in New Orleans, sadly, right after Hurricane Katrina hit. And literally bumped into an old friend who I hadn't seen in a while, Sanjay Gupta, who is on CNN. 'Paging Dr. Gupta' on CNN. Sanjay's a good friend of mine. And we used to work together when I was at CNN some years ago. And you, I discovered later on, were on the White House - he was a White House fellow at one point. And you were on the committee.

Steenburgen: Yeah, I actually had, during the eight years of the Clinton administration, and I didn't talk about this a lot then, because I didn't want it to somehow come back and be criticized or something. But I served on a Presidential commission. I was very honored to have been asked to be on the selection commission for the White House fellows.

And basically, it's an incredible program that started during the Johnson administration that brings young people of excellence into the inner circle of the White House, and they learn about policy and take that information back out. Anyway, one of the young people that we chose to be a White House Fellows was a young doctor named Sanjay Gupta. And I'm so proud of him. I think he's fantastic.

Tavis: You should be, yeah.

Steenburgen: And I now serve on the advisory board for the Clinton School Of Service. We have, in Little Rock, in connection with a library program, that it's the only Masters degree in public service that can you get in this country. And it's to really promote global equality and justice, and it's an extraordinary program. And I encourage people to check it out at the Clinton Library.

Tavis: Well, you're doing great work in front of the camera, behind the camera, on the stage, through your service, and I'm glad to have you on the program.

Steenburgen: It's an honor to be here.

Tavis: And I can't way to clear this camera, so I can ask you what the best advice was you ever received. (laugh) That's our show for tonight. You can catch me on the weekends on PRI, Public Radio International, check your local listings. See you back here next time on PBS. Until then, good night from L.A. Thanks for watching, and as always, keep the faith. Thank you for watching. As always, keep the faith.