(upbeat trumpet music) ♪ ♪ Yeah, the simple things in life.

♪ - [Lillian] My guest is writer, producer, director, and award-winning actor Joe Mantegna.

Thank you so much for joining us!

- [Joe] My pleasure.

Thank you.

- You've been in this business for a few years now.

Well, you're kinda one of those actors that seems to me to be steady, meaning you're always working.

Many will know you from your role as David Rossi from the popular TV series "Criminal Minds."

I first came to know you in the 1987 movie "Suspect" with Cher and Dennis Quaid.

So, it's been a while!

Before we talk about one of your more recent projects, let me dive into your past a bit.

Tell me, were you that young kid growing up in Chicago that always wanted to be an actor, or were you the kid that stumbled into a drama class and stayed?

- Definitely the latter.

There was nothing pointing me toward being an actor or being in this business.

What really happened, ultimately happened is that-- there was nobody in my family involved in show business.

There was no indication I would go that way.

What happened was the movie "West Wide Story" came out.

I saw the movie, loved the movie.

Then at my high school, they had auditions for the play.

I didn't even know there was a play "West Side Story"!

I saw signs up in the school and I thought, what are they talking about?

It's a movie.

And they said, "No, no, no.

It's based on a play."

So, I tried out along with everybody else just 'cause they needed so many kids.

And to make a long story short, I tried out.

I didn't get cast.

I was actually very small for my age.

That's a whole other story because my parents changed my birth certificate when I was born and I didn't realize it; So, they could put me in school a year earlier, So, my mother could go back to work!

So, I was always in a class kind of younger-- or older than I should have been in.

I should have been like a sophomore when I was a junior.

That type of thing.

Anyway!

I didn't get cast in the play, but the whole audition process just excited me so much I thought to myself, "I really wanna pursue this."

From the second I was on that stage at that audition and I heard a little applause after I finished the song.

I'd never been-- had applause for anything I'd done in my life at that point!

Here I was 16 and they're saying, "Oh, yeah!

Very good.

You're not gonna get the part but that was a good job!"

(Lillian laughs) Ultimately, I joined the drama department of the high school and really never looked back.

So, I mean, that started it.

I mean, ironically, I just got an email today from one of my teachers, letting me know that one of the other teachers is now in a retirement home and got to look him up which I will.

So, but I owe so much to those people 'cause it was Cicero, Illinois, it was not the-- you know?

The art center of the United States.

Let's put it that way!

So, for me to be introduced to theater in that way as I was, and like I said, I haven't looked back, and that started my career, and I really - [Joe] it's been that journey ever since.

- Yeah.

So, as an actor, especially when you're first starting out, audition becomes kinda like your middle name.

Will you share your audition for the role in the musical "Hair" in 1969?

- Wow, yeah!

Well, that started my professional career.

At that point, I had already gone to junior college.

I did two years at a junior college because they were attached to the high school I had been into, and it was the same drama department.

So, it was an extension.

So, I enjoyed that.

Then, I went on to two years at the Goodman School of Drama.

Luckily, there was this wonderful acting school which is now part of DePaul University in Chicago.

And, I took a government loan 'cause my parents were very financially kinda strapped.

That's why my mother had to go back to work when I was born.

So, I took a government loan to pay for my tuition to go to school at the Goodman.

But then, they held auditions that summer of 1969 for the play "Hair" that was coming to Chicago, the Broadway musical.

And I thought, "well, I'll give that shot" because I had done musicals at high school and junior college.

And as it turned out, I got cast in the show as did a girl.

I went to Morton East High School in Cicero, Illinois.

There was a sister school called Morton West High School in Berwyn, Illinois.

And one of the people from the drama department from that school, which was all the same drama department, was this young girl at the time, Arlene Vrhel.

She auditioned for "Hair", as well.

She got cast, as well.

And so, we're both there on that final callback, looking at each other like, "hey, how you doing?"

We had done plays together in high school, junior college.

Well, what ended up happening, we both got cast in "Hair."

We became a couple, we got married.

She's in the next room!

And, we've been together now over 50 years.

So, that's been quite a journey with her.

And, that started my career: doing the play "Hair."

And, from then on-- I did a lot of musicals, actually.

I did "Godspell" after that for about a year in Chicago.

On Broadway I did Studs Terkel's musical "Working."

I thought musicals, in fact, were gonna be my ticket to show business.

My career took another turn due to-- you know, you play the cards you're dealt.

I started getting dramatic roles and things, and off I went in another direction.

- So, were you naturally able to sing?

Did you just have that ability to sing that you would go into musicals?

- Well, you know?

I kinda-- I guess I kinda did.

I was in a band for five years too, in the '60s and it was a very successful band.

Well?

In the Midwest, anyway.

In fact, I'm very dear friends with the band, Chicago.

In fact, I presented them with their Lifetime Grammy Award a few years ago.

- [Lillian] Nice!

- And also, I narrated a documentary on their life, because we used to tour with them back in the '60s.

And our band, we were a good opening act, band.

We opened for Neil Diamond.

We opened for...uh?

Paul Revere & the Raiders.

- [Lillian] Oh , my goodness!

- For Sam the Sham & The Pharaohs.

I mean, we were opening act for a lot of different groups sometimes.

So, we were pretty fairly successful, but not enough for me to go and to become a rock and roll person.

In fact, when I got cast in "Hair," that's when I had to make the decision 'cause I know I'm gonna be doing eight shows a week.

What do I do?

I realized I really have to leave the band; that this is where my heart was really more going toward musical theater, 'cause the band-- - And, what was the name?

What was the name of your band?

- The band was called The Apocryphals.

I think if you get the spelling right, (Joe chuckles) it is a word: apocryphal!

You look up apocryphals.

I think if you Google it, things will come up.

There'll probably be some little history of the band and my participation in it.

So, yeah.

I was the lead singer in the band and did pretty well in musicals.

In "Hair," I was one of the leads.

I played Berger.

In "Godspell," I played Judas.

I have two songs on the "Working" album, the Studs Terkel play.

And in fact, who else is in-- that's where I met Patti LuPone, who's arguably one of the biggest stars ever on Broadway.

- [Lillian] Evita!

- Yeah, and she's like a sister to me.

And so, she did that play with me.

And to this day, her and her husband and my wife and I, our families, our kids are all the closest of friends.

And that's why I meant that, yeah, musicals were kind of a big thing in my life.

And I was a singer then, but my career took another turn, and now I only sing in the shower!

That's it, that's fine!

(Lillian laughs) - Wow, Patti LuPone!

How wonderful.

That's kind of ironic that when you joined "Criminal Minds," you took the place of Mandy Patinkin, and again another-- - Oh, yeah.

Absolutely.

- Big theater person.

- One of Patti's closest friends, exactly.

- Yeah.

So, that's really interesting.

So, you did take a turn and would you say drama became more and serious pieces became your thing?

- Well, I mean it just-- what happened was basically I'd worked with a lot with this writer/director David Mamet, in Chicago.

- Yes!

- Ultimately, it led to him-- I was here; I moved out to California after-- actually, after "Working" closed on Broadway.

My wife and I moved out here.

And Mamet called me up and said, "I have this "new play called 'Glengarry Glen Ross.'

"Would you be interested in doing it?"

"Well, sure.

We've got nothing, "I mean, we're just banging around here in L.A.

I'll come do that.

Let's see what happens."

Well, what happened is the show was successful in Chicago.

We moved it to Broadway.

The show won the Pulitzer Prize, and I won the Tony Award that year!

So, that changed my life and it being a dramatic play.

I mean, there was humor in it but basically it's a drama.

That changed my life in terms of my career.

So, my career pretty much started going in that direction.

In other words, I was not thought of necessarily as a musical/comedy guy, but more as a dramatic actor.

But I started getting movie roles and I did some comedy roles.

I mean, I did "Airheads."

I did "Baby's Day Out", which were wonderful kind of comic movies.

So, I was still able to do some of the comedy.

I actually even had an offer to do a musical again on Broadway which was a show called "Nick & Nora" that was based on the old movies, the Thin Man movies.

But as it turned out, I was shooting "Godfather III" at the time and a Woody Allen picture.

It just didn't work out.

So, I wound up-- as it turned out, the play wasn't successful anyway.

I mean, they did wind up doing it on Broadway, but it never-- I think it ran a week!

That happens!

(laughs) So, I guess I dodged that bullet.

- That's part of the business!

- But that was the last time, part of the business, but that's the last time I really seriously kind of got involved with a musical, which is fine.

Like I say, Patti, God bless her, she's on Broadway right now doing "Company."

- She did "Gypsy" not too long ago.

Didn't she do "Gypsy"?

- Yeah!

Oh, sure.

She did Gypsy.

- Oh, my gosh!

She killed it!

Ahh!

- Oh, she killed it.

And she's on Broadway right now, the star of the revival of "Company."

- "Company", right.

- Which is gonna run, she'll be on that probably through the summer.

So, we'll probably go see her in May, but anyway.

- So, you think you can get tickets to that?

- Oh, I think-?

I think yeah.

I think I can get house seats for that, yeah!

(Lillian laughs) - Okay.

Being from Chicago, I have to ask, and as a baseball fan, I'm a huge baseball fan; trying to get to every ball park.

I have four more to go and then I will have been to every one.

- Great.

- So, from Chicago, and I'm gonna ask it: is it Cubs or White Sox?

And have you sang the national anthem at either of them?

- Well, I've not sung the national anthem at either of them.

I'm a huge Cubs fan.

And in fact, I've also conceived and cowrote the play "Bleacher Bums," which is all about the people who sit in the bleachers, at the Cubs.

So, yeah.

Though I like the White Sox, and I became good friends with people like Ozzie Guillen and Robin Ventura over the years.

And as you get older-- when you're a kid and you live in Chicago, you gotta be one or the other.

You're either a Cub fan or Sox fan.

There's no in-between.

As you get older, and we even had a Chicago-themed restaurant here out in Burbank, California called Taste Chicago, my wife had.

So, you have to embrace them all and I'm glad we did.

I'm a Chicago fan, but in my heart I'm a Cubs fan.

And though I'd never sang the national anthem, I've sang the seventh-inning stretch probably 12, 13-- - [Lillian] Take Me Out to the Ball Game"!

- Oh, yeah!

Every year, I wind up doing that.

I've probably done it 12, maybe 13, 14 times.

In fact, they already asked me, "Hey Joe, when are you coming this year?"

So, I'm hoping to get there maybe in June.

But, yeah, and I do.

Yes, I do love baseball.

I even have some ex- former players, who are good friends of mine.

Lee Mazzilli, who used to play for the Mets and the Yankees; David Wells, who also played for San Diego and the Yankees.

Anyway-- but, yeah.

I'm a big Cubs fan.

And in fact, I'm supposed to do a movie based on Ernie Banks coming up this year where I'll be playing P.K.

Wrigley who was the owner of the Cubs.

- Yes!

- So, if that all happens, I should be doing that in the next few months.

- Well, very good.

So, no Angels or Dodgers?

I mean, you are in Southern California.

- OHHH!

Yeah!

No, I love the Angels and Dodgers.

In fact, one of my close-- a dear friend is the president of the Angels, John Carpino.

And I know Arte Moreno very well, the owner of the Angels.

I've played in a golf tournament or charity tournaments.

So, I like the Angels very much.

And I like the Dodgers very much because I got to be very good friends with Tommy Lasorda, back in the day.

In fact, I did a movie for HBO called "Comrades of Summer," where I played a baseball manager.

And, Tommy was my technical advisor.

I spent a whole weekend with him at the Dodgers Stadium and learned all what I could about being a baseball manager.

And we became dear friends.

And I mean, being Italian, for Tommy Lasorda, that's half the battle!

(Lillian laughs) He, he was a real Italian in his heart.

And so, we got to be very, very good friends.

- He loved his Italian food, for sure.

- He really loved his Italian food, his Italian heritage.

Everything about it.

- Everything!

- So-- - And, he loved his Dodgers.

- Yeah, no-- He loved his Dodgers.

I interviewed him once-- - He loved them, of course.

- many years ago.

He was just fun, and just had so many quick funny quips that were just-- and good stories.

He's a great storyteller.

He was a great storyteller.

- Oh, great storyteller!

Oh, yeah!

And, he always used to beat me up that I liked the Cubs!

He says, "Why do you like the Cubs when they never win?"

I said, "Tommy, what can I tell you?

"I was just a kid."

He understood.

- Of course!

- But, absolutely.

The Dodgers and Angels are both-- actually I've lived in California more years now than I lived in Chicago.

But, as you know, your childhood kind of heroes, they don't die away, so.

But, yeah.

I love the local teams, as well.

- So, I was a Dodger fan until I met my husband, and because he's an Angel fan, I switched sides and went over to the Angels' side, but I still watch the Dodgers.

- We can like both.

- Yeah, I can.

- Well, that's American League and National League.

There's no conflict here!

- Yeah, there you go!

- You can like one in each one!

- Maybe in the World-- - Maybe in the World Series, they're playing together, then you gotta pick, you know?

- Yeah, that's right.

Alright.

As an actor, you are supportive of many causes, public television being one of them in that you have hosted for many years the Memorial Concert with your fellow actor, Gary Sinise.

You also support the military and their families, and autism.

Before we dive into the subject of autism, I want you to share a little bit about the causes that you support and why you support them.

- Well, you know?

My feeling is this.

I'm in a very public profession.

There's no denying that.

And that's why it always kills me, like, whenever we see about actors who are like saying, "Stay away", if a photographer comes by or people come up and ask for your autograph.

They go, "arrrgh!"

And I think to myself, "well, you know what?

"Maybe you've picked the wrong line of work if you're gonna be that negative toward your public, because these are the people who pay your salary."

You know?

And, there's no avoiding that.

So, in other words, if you wanna be a shrinking violet and all that, then-- and it really bothers you to have that public persona, then maybe you should think of another line of work, because it's gonna happen.

And 99.9% of the time when these people come up to you it's because they're like-- I mean, I know what I was like when I was a kid when I saw, when there was a baseball player, an actor.

I was like, "oh God, how nice to meet you."

So, my feeling is there's a power that's inherent with that, that comes with that, whether you like it or not.

So, your choice is how are you gonna use that power?

Are you gonna use it in a positive way or are you gonna negate it, or use it in a negative way?

There's a lot of options you have.

My feeling is this, if my mere presence can help somebody out, why wouldn't I do that?

It was a blessing for me to be in the position I'm in.

So, why wouldn't I share that blessing in a way with people that can use that, little piece of that?

So, that's really all it is.

So, whenever I'm being kind of-- and it's happened.

I'll be involved with like as you say, maybe whether it's autism groups, stuff with the military.

They wanna like give me some sort of recognition or an award.

What I'll often say or almost always say when I'm being presented with something like that, I'll say, "look, I accept this.

Thank you.

"But I accept this on behalf of all of you "who do this stuff 24 hours a day, "seven days a week, 365 days a year.

"You are the advocate.

"All I am is a face.

"And if my face brings attention to your cause, "then great, I'm happy to do it.

"And if you wanna give me this thing "as a kind of a significant of doing that, "great, but that's not what's important.

"It's what you're doing that's important, "So, you should be getting this award, "or your rewards.

Maybe your reward will come later.

"In heaven, they're gonna treat you a lot better (chuckles) "for what you do than for what I did or to say, 'Yeah-yeah, yeah-yeah.

Go support this thing.'

Bup-bup-bup-bup... Y'know what I mean?

So, that's all.

That's why.

So, whatever my causes are, you can go to my website, they'll tell you the things that I support.

And like I say, if it's beneficial and it's something I believe in, I'm gonna support it, why not?

- Wow, how wonderful.

Not everyone as just you described in your business feel that way, but it's nice to hear it when you do feel that way.

Alright.

Let's talk about April being National Autism Awareness Month.

Your oldest daughter Mia is autistic.

Will you first share kinda the ups and downs that you and your wife have experienced?

And maybe that, I know she's a grown young lady now, but that first time you got that diagnosis for families that are just getting that diagnosis today.

- Right, right.

Well, there's no getting around that.

I mean, yeah, my daughter's 35 years old now.

So, I mean, it was 1990 when we got the diagnosis.

And it's because we knew she was about 2 1/2 years old and we saw her language wasn't the same as kids her age, and then you start picking up on her eye contact.

I said "something is going on here."

And I remember we were in New York at the time.

I was actually filming "Godfather III" at the time and we were on our way to Italy to resume filming there.

And so, we took her to a neurologist, a doctor in New York that had been suggested.

And I remember, I'll never forget the two of us walking into his office after his examination of her and sitting us down and saying, "Well, I would say she's got about "seven out of the ten indications of having autism."

Now this is 1990 which it wasn't as prevalent as it is today and there wasn't as much stuff going on about it and support groups; this, that, or the other.

So, it hit us like a ton of bricks, as you can imagine.

I mean, my heart dropped into my stomach as did my wife's.

But quickly you recover and then you say, "okay.

Well, if that's the case, now what?

Where do we go from here?"

And, of course, that opened the doors to the rest of our life, basically.

So, we looked into, 'okay, where could we go?'

There was a support group in New York at the time called CAN, Cure Autism Now.

- [Lillian] Yeah, with Portia.

- Well, actually that was the one in Los Angeles.

I'm sorry.

The one in New York was called NAAR, the National Alliance for Autistic Research.

So, that?

We got involved with them.

But then as soon as we got back to L.A., which was our home, after the movie was over and stuff 'cause I was also doing a Woody Allen picture in New York at the time.

We got back to L.A., got involved with CAN, Cure Autism Now, Portia's.

Exactly, and Jon Shestack's organization.

And then, got involved with all kinds of groups.

I mean, we kinda explored everything we can do.

You know, we-- (clears throat) A lot of it was-- (coughs) One thing we decided, we weren't gonna let it, um-- disrupt our family life.

So, like in my line of work, there's a lot of travel involved, (coughs) a lot of going of other cities, other states, other countries.

And, we thought-- I thought, "well, I can't leave this," and also while we were in New York, my second daughter was born at that same exact time.

So, here our newest daughter was born literally within a week or two of getting the diagnosis that our older daughter had autism.

So now, I have these two babies, basically.

And we made the decision, "well, "we're not gonna change our lives over this.

We're gonna just do this together", and we did.

We traveled the world.

We traveled-- I would be on location, places like, different states in the union, all over Canada, Europe, Australia, Russia.

I mean, we went everywhere.

And the benefits of it was besides that we were always together, it helped open our eyes to different kinds of therapies and things, and education overall.

Like in Canada, we learned that their educational system, they were more in a way advanced than we were about special needs children.

Because rather than having like those special classes, they would basically say, "No, no, no.

The way we do it," 'cause we enrolled our daughter classes in Canada, they said, "What does your daughter need?"

"Well, she probably needs an aid because her language is such and she needs."

"Oh, we'll provide that but she's gonna be in a class with the regular kids."

- So, mainstream.

- We don't have-- - She was mainstreamed.

- Mainstreamed, exactly!

They were doing mainstreaming at a level much earlier than we were in the States.

So, once we experienced that, and we had a similar experience in Chicago where we put my daughter Mia in this one school 'cause I know I was gonna be there filming that movie "Baby's Day Out", over a long period time.

Luckily, one of the teachers there had a brother with autism.

So, she said, "No problem here."

She took her right into the class and told the rest of the class, and these were like six-year-olds: "This is Mia.

She has autism.

She may start talking; she may start walking around the room.

She may do this, that, and the other.

We're all gonna help her.

We're all gonna support her."

And, this is the first time we saw a teacher basically take the reins and say, "No, no, no, no.

She's gonna fit in.

We're gonna make this happen."

And of course, we were like, "oh my God!"

My wife and I were, like, in tears.

We realized now we can never settle for less than this.

And that's why when we got back to California, with all the schooling situations that Mia was involved in, we did our best to make sure there was a degree of mainstreaming going on, which there was.

Every once in a while you'd need a little, you know, maybe she would need to go over to the special needs, special educational-- - [Lillian] A track.

- aspect of it.

Right.

You know what I mean.

But everybody benefited from it because all the kids benefited from it as well, because they came to the realization, "hey, not everybody's the same."

And so, "that kid next to me may have autism.

"The other kid might be blind.

This kid might be deaf.

This kid might be--" You know what I mean?

"This kid has the wheelchair."

So, it was a real education.

So, I mean-- that's a long answer to your question, but bottom line is-- I guess the best way to put it is when people have asked me, "What's it like to have a child with autism?"

I say "I don't know what it's like not to."

So, that's what that's about.

- So, the younger sister, Gia.

Is that correct, Gia?

- [Joe] Mm-hm.

Correct.

- Came along, and-- - [Joe] Right.

- Probably surpassed her in the development skills and pretty soon, I'm guessing, that Mia was trying to-- was starting to understand that she was different than her sister and maybe took over as a little teacher, mother, leader, and probably grew up just a little bit faster than she might have had not been.

And, how did she embrace her sister?

- Well, you hit that really absolutely correct.

I mean, she quickly, Gia became the older sister to her older sister, in that sense.

And there was that period, I mean, and I'm talking about early on, maybe when Gia was five years old maybe and would be frustrated with what was going on with her sister who was at that point maybe almost eight years old.

And so, she might come out with a statement like, "Oh, I wish my sister wasn't autistic" type of thing, which of course breaks your heart, initially.

But... (snaps fingers) it was just-- just a five-year-old expressing how she feels.

That quickly turned into: "oh, wait a minute.

This is my sister and I love my sister and she needs my help."

And my wife's been great about that too, because-- especially 'cause they're girls.

I mean, I-I... because they are girls, there are gonna be aspects of their lives, an aspect of their growing up, and their maturity that a dad can reach on some levels, but on other levels, I can't!

Or-- you know, I'm not this-- not, you know?

And so, in a way had they been boys, I'd have maybe different kind of responsibilities.

So in a way, my wife was involved on other aspects of it that kind of escaped me.

I didn't even have sisters growing up!

I had a brother.

So, that kinda thing.

But, Gia has been tremendous to this day.

I mean, Gia's 31 to Mia's 35.

But Gia is now and has been and always will be, while she's the younger sister, she will always be the big sister, and always be the one that's-- she knows-- You know?

We've been careful.

Or, it's been important to us to not make Gia feel like, "look, we're not the.

youngest people in the room "So, we're not gonna be here forever, "and that because of that, you have to be totally responsible for your sister."

She knows in some ways that's true, but yet in the other hand, we're not telling her, "hey, good luck.

- Yeah!

- "Here's what we're gonna leave you with.

We hope this all works out."

- Right.

- We're doing our best to make sure that Mia will be taken care of or be on the right track and all that.

And Gia, of course, accepts and is grateful and welcomes the responsibility of being an advocate for her sister.

But, yet, also knows it's our job to try to get Mia as independent as possible, and hopefully they'll both have long happy lives.

- Well, that clearly means you and your wife, and probably your wife a little bit more since you're working outside the home, instilling that love in both her daughters so that they-- because sometimes there are resentment between siblings.

I wanna talk about Mia.

I know she was involved in Inclusion Films, which is a wonderful organization with Joey Travolta.

- [Joe] Right!

- And as part of that, she got to do-- she was like a reporter when her time there.

And, she got to interview you!

- Receiving a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame is one of the highest honors given to an entertainer in show business.

Joe Mantegna will be honored with one later this week.

Inclusion Films was able to catch up with the actor and talk about something very personal and dear to his heart: helping people with autism.

When did you learn I had autism?

- We were living in New York City.

This was in 1990.

We were just about to have your little sister.

We started to notice that your speech patterns were a little different than a lot of the kids that were your age.

You were about 2 1/2 at that time.

We thought we should probably look into this.

- How much did you know about autism before learning I had autism?

- Well, I have to say I probably didn't know very much about autism.

I certainly got to know quite a bit about it from that point on.

- Can you tell us a little bit about your PSA for the families and children with autism?

- Well, I recently did some public service announcements for a group called Act Today, which helps families, military families.

- Would you ask your dad to do something?

He will do it for anybody!

He is just one of the most giving people I've ever known.

- What is your proudest achievement in dealing with autism?

- Today is certainly one of them.

I mean, this one's gonna come right up there!

I mean, the fact that I could sit here and be interviewed by you and be part of this Inclusion News interview is a very proud moment for me.

- Joe Mantegna is more than just a movie and television actor.

He is a special person helping special people with autism.

And I'm the luckiest reporter on earth because...he's my dad!

This is Mia Mantegna reporting from Inclusion News.

- I know you've been interviewed by so many people over your career.

I'm gonna guess that maybe that was probably your favorite interview?

I don't know.

Tell me about it!

- Yeah, it really was.

I mean they kinda surprised me with it too, because they said, "We'd like to have your daughter "interview you for this."

And I was thinking, "oh, okay?

That never crossed my mind!

And, yes, it was very, very special obviously.

And it is a wonderful organization, Inclusion Films.

Mia was with them even above and beyond when kids would normally kind of stay involved, because she liked it so much, and Joey was a terrific person.

And, Mia got interested in makeup.

That's one thing to this day she's very interested in it.

So, we enrolled her.

It was called the MUDD Makeup School.

Like M-U-D-D, which is very well-known in Hollywood, one of the premier makeup schools.

And they had never had a student with autism before, but they were game.

And so, we had Mia do it, and insisted Gia took the course too to kinda act as her-- In fact, we put two of our nieces involved just to make sure everybody was gonna-- - Oh, nice!

- We get'em all in there!

We got the whole family.

(laughs) I'm Italian; we get everybody in there!

(laughs) - Family affair!

- So, we basically had-- yeah!

We had four students at one time in there: the two nieces and my two daughters.

And, they all took the course.

And Mia did tremendously.

And the school benefited from it 'cause they were like, "wow, this worked out!

"A child with autism took our course and excelled in it.

So, Mia got very involved in makeup.

And then, so when she got involved with Inclusion Films with Joey, and since they do make movies using these kids on the spectrum, Mia started a thing called Mia's Makeup Corner.

So, she would be the one that would do the makeup for all the actors and get involved with that.

And to this day, like now, I mean-- as I believe you know, I'm on a series called "As We See It" on Amazon Prime, which deals with three young adults on the autism spectrum and they really are.

And, we had 12 people on the crew on the spectrum.

And, Mia-- they offered Mia, actually-- you know, she's welcome any time to come in and work in the makeup trailer.

- Oh, how wonderful.

- Help out.

So, just that kind of-- That's how the world in a way has changed in the 30-plus years she's been around in the sense that the awareness, the different kind of-- - Acceptance?

- Organizations that have, acceptance.

It's obviously grown.

So, things are much better in 2022 at least for that than they were even in 1990.

- Sure.

Well?

Since you brought it up, let's talk about the newest Amazon project.

It's Amazon Prime Video, "As We See It."

What a great cast.

- Right.

- I've been watching it since I knew I was gonna do this interview.

I've been binging it!

You play Lou, the father, of one of the young individuals with autism, Jack, played by actor Rick Glassman.

Tell me about the project and obviously why you took the role.

- Well, you know?

I'd done "Criminal Minds" for 13 years and it just ended.

And so, I was for first time in 13 years, I was kind of-- - Unemployed?!

- Available.

Unemployed!

(laughs) And, I get this-- my agent sends me a script and said, "They're interested in you for this show."

And, I read this pilot script.

And when I read it, it knocked me out!

I mean, it was so beautiful, So well-written, so on the money.

And they told me it was created by Jason Katims who had created "Parenthood", and "Friday Night Lights," So, I knew this guy had great credits already.

And they mentioned to me that he had a child on the spectrum himself.

And when I read the script, I thought "of course, he does."

I could just tell by the way this is written, this is somebody who's, you know-- has a fount of research to base it on.

So, I read the script and what they told me is they said, "Here's the script, but they're-- just letting you know "they're gonna shoot the whole series in Chicago.

It's eight episodes.

They're gonna shoot it in Chicago."

And I'm from Chicago, but...

I thought to myself, "I know what it takes to shoot a TV series.

"And the idea of relocating back to Chicago "with my whole family, it's just not in the cards."

We've established our life here.

We have a lot thing-- you know, that continuity was important.

I said, "you know what?

"I'm not going to Chicago", I said.

But I wanna meet this guy, because this script, it reminded me when I read the script of "Searching for Bobby Fischer," years ago, by Steve Zaillian.

When I read that script, I thought, "well, this is one of the best scripts I've read in my life."

And ultimately, I think it became just a tremendous movie based on that wonderful script.

So, I took the meeting, and I remember walking into the meeting and Jason was there with his assistants and stuff.

And the first thing I said was, I said, "I just wanna tell you something, "this is one of the greatest scripts "I've ever read in my career, "but I'm not going to Chicago."

[Lillian chuckles] I said, "So, I'm just laying that out.

"I'm not trying to force you to do anything.

"But I'm just saying if for any reason this moves location, "I'm in!

I'll do the show.

"But otherwise, good luck, and I'm glad you're doing this.

"And God bless you, because you've written "the best possible script I could ever imagine "about this topic.

"And the fact that I'd heard "that the three young adults "were all gonna be really on the spectrum "and that they really were gonna hire crew on the spectrum, I thought makes it even so much more impactful."

So, I left the meeting; we shook hands.

He said, "Well, I hope maybe something will work out."

Well?

Within a month or two, I get a phone call.

And it did, for whatever reason.

And I'm not saying that it was me, alone.

Maybe I think Jason, probably in the best of all worlds, would rather have shot it locally too, 'cause there was no reason to be in Chicago outside maybe they were getting a tax break, or something.

It wasn't like it was set in Chicago.

They probably just had financially, it was just more advantageous.

But I think Amazon hopefully, I'd like to think in their wisdom, thought, "You know what?

This is good enough.

"We'll spend a little more money to do it in L.A." So, when they called me and said we would do it in L.A., I said, "I'm in."

And, we did.

And for me it was, we're still waiting to hear now if they're gonna pick up another season, which is fine.

I mean, Amazon takes its time because they got a lot-- they got plenty of things to keep them busy.

But, I feel-- we all feel optimistic about it 'cause the reviews couldn't have been any better, the response couldn't have been any better.

And for me, one thing I gotta say.

In my over 50 years in show business, when I would go to work, usually work was not, I don't wanna say that it was an escape for me, because what I do for a living is pretend, anyway.

So, everything I do is kind of an escape.

It's going to a fantasy world, whatever it may be.

But this was the first time that when I would go to work, it was like, "well, I'm just extending kind of what my life is, anyway."

I'm playing a father of a child on the spectrum.

That's what I am in life.

This is what I'm also now doing for 12 hours a day for a living!

(chuckles) So, it was kind of-- a little bizarre for me.

And, I even-- at first when I got the job, I even thought to myself, "God, am I ready to do this?

"Am I ready to kinda--?"

'Cause usually you don't like to bring your work home.

(chuckles) This was unavoidable!

But, no.

I'm so glad I did.

I loved the way all eight episodes came out, and I encourage anybody, whether you have a child or whether a friend or relative or anything on the spectrum.

'Cause what's great about the show is it's not doom and gloom.

It's just reality, and it's funny and it's shocking.

It's, It's touching.

It'll make you laugh, make you cry.

It does all those things.

And being streaming as opposed to network television, we're able to do things we couldn't even normally do on network television which it makes it even more realistic.

- Yeah!

Th e F-bomb is flying around pretty good with Violet.

She likes that word!

- [Joe] Yeah, yeah!

Exactly!

(laughs) And, you get that!

There's gonna be some individuals where they don't have that filter, but at least here you understand there's a reasoning behind it.

- Jack of clubs from the table.

Six of spades, the rest are good.

Bid four, made six, double vulnerable.

- [Woman] Whew!

Well-played Jack.

- Thank you, but I didn't play well.

You played poorly.

If you came back a heart, you could've run the suit and I would have gone down, too.

You're very old.

So, perhaps you have Alzheimer's and you didn't remember about the hearts.

- I'm sorry, it's the Asperger's.

He doesn't mean it.

- I mean it.

She tanked that hand.

- Your son's a hoot.

You oughta bring him around more often.

- So authentic!

(laughs) - Yeah, that's... one word for it.

- (laughs) It's...it's refreshing!

- Make sure you shuffle them this time.

- Yes.

- I think anyone who lives in this world, the autism world, will love this series because the writing is so good.

The characters are playing the individuals so well.

And, you kinda get to see the idea of an individual with autism wanting to kiss somebody and wanting to have sex, and wanting to be-- have friends, and wanting to work and wanting to do what typical people do, and just trying to figure out how to do that in the most realistic way that gets through society.

- Mark?

You're missing a big meeting at work and you're on probation.

- You gave me inexact and incomplete information about your cancer.

- Cancer?

- It's nothing.

- It's not nothing!

It's small cell carcinoma.

It's extremely serious.

- Oh, my God!

How bad is it?

- He has somewhere between a 30% and 50% chance of survival.

- Jesus!

- It's 50%.

- Not necessarily.

When they did your workup, did they find any mutations in your third or sixth chromosome?

- I don't know, Jack.

- Or loss of function on your RB1 gene?

- I don't know!

- How do you not know this?

- Look, look.

I have an appointment with my oncologist tomorrow.

Why don't you come along?

- Okay, good.

I have a ton of questions for this guy.

- Well, how about we start at three.

Okay?

If you come along, that's the rule: three questions.

He's a big time doctor.

His time is valuable.

We are just there to listen, all right?

- Okay.

[soft music] ♪ - I think it's a great awareness.

Like, could things really be like this?

Uh, yeah!

They really can be that way.

And even Violet's birthday party, right?

And she wanted one person to get there, to be there, but because-- and all the other people were there, but that didn't matter 'cause she was fixating on the one person that wasn't.

And just these small things that people that don't live in this world can't understand: "well, why is that such a big thing?"

Because they take everything to the nth degree, and coping with it just seems like, it should be something so easy and it's not.

And, it also shows the impact on the families, right?

On the brother, and-- on the father.

- Right.

- And, the parents.

It's really a good show.

I'm only on Episode Five, but tonight I'll be watching the last three!

(chuckles) - Oh great, great!

Yeah.

It's a... yeah!

I am-- As I told Jason Katims, I said I've been doing-- as I said, I've been in this business over 50 years.

I'm very grateful and feel, feel wonderful about much of what I've done in my career.

But, this is the thing I am most proud of in the sense of having real pride in what it's trying to say and what it accomplishes, and that's special.

- And, did I hear you say that all three lead characters are on the spectrum?

- Absolutely.

- Ah!

- They all three of them are.

I mean, they're portraying characters-- I mean, they're still playing characters as they were written.

So in other words, they are not necessarily portraying themselves exactly as the way they really are on the spectrum.

- Right.

So, meaning they may not have those same characteristics, but they still have issues going on!

- Exactly.

They all have issues.

And if you spend any time with them off-camera, you get it.

And especially, if you're sensitive to it as I would be and anybody who has autism in their family.

You'd say, "oh yeah, okay.

This person--" For that matter, I mean, the fact that Elon Musk, with the Teslas, admits it, and yet he seems to be-- you can kinda get those little hints of like, yeah!

That quirkiness almost sometimes comes off as that.

And sometimes, it comes off in a positive, even very positive way.

But, yeah.

No, all three of them are absolutely-- you know, it's not pretend, there.

They've all been diagnosed and live with it, some more than others.

But, yeah.

And, that's what's so beautiful about it.

And, I think it was important for Jason for that to be.

In other words, they went through a lot of auditioning process to make sure that it wasn't just gonna be a pretend version of it.

- [Lillian] Right.

- Like you take something like, yeah!

I was gonna say.

Like, "The Good Doctor," which is a wonderful show.

I mean, I have dear friends on it.

And I think the actors are doing a tremendous job.

But they don't all become doctors, first of all.

They don't all become brilliant surgeons.

And then, on the other hand, this young man does a wonderful job as an actor, but it's nice to be able to take that next step and actually have actors who can-- - [Lillian] Do it.

Right.

- Relate to it personally.

- Yeah.

I just think, and I'm a big fan of "The Good Doctor" for sure, but this show really, really paints what a life can be and was for both the families and the individual living with it, and the frustrations.

I mean, the one character wanting to befriend with a little boy, and the mother not understanding.

Boy, I'm really not liking that woman!

She's gonna-- I'll be glad when she wakes up and says, "Oh, what have I missed?

Why was I being so judgmental?"

So, I'm waiting for that!

In our last few minutes together, I wanna ask, at this point in your career, you can pick and choose the roles that you wanna play.

But when you first started out, were there roles that you picked because you had to put-- you were supporting a family and had to pay the bills?

Or, were you always kind of selective about what-- the roles you played?

- Well, when you're nobody, and I often tell this to young people when they ask for advice in the business and stuff.

I say, when you got nothing else going, unless it's something that's gonna embarrass you or it's gonna be illegal, or you know what I mean?

There are parameters a person personally should have.

But beyond that, when you really have no-- when I say "nobody", meaning you have no public persona, not much can hurt you.

So in other words, you do what you can do just for the experience, if nothing else, sometimes.

And sometimes, we used to make jokes: "there's some things you do for the bucks, some things you do for the yuks!"

(laughs) Also, at some point even when you start being successful in your career where you can almost gauge that the more money they offer you usually means the project is not as good!

They're like throwing money at it to try to make up for-- - To make it-- - It's not really a quality project!

(dry) So, you have to make those decisions.

But, I would say this.

Early on, you kinda did anything and everything and you're just investing your time and energy, and maybe there's benefit that comes from it.

That experience, you know what I mean?

It's-- It's a workplace, just like anyplace else.

And in a way, you use that as in a way kind of like your training.

It's like-- I'll put it this way.

I banged around for 15 years from the time I did "Hair" in 1969 till the time I did "Glengarry Glen Ross" in 1984 when I won that Tony Award.

And, I remember-- and I'd done all kinds of things: theater, very little film, but some television guest spots, this-that, but little of everything.

And so, when I won that Tony Award, I remember being interviewed by the press at the dinner that they have afterwards, the after-Tony party.

And one of the press people said, "Well, what's it like?

"What's that feeling like to win a Tony?"

I said, "Well?"

I said, "It's kinda like winning the lottery, but I've been buying tickets for 15 years!"

(both laugh) And, it's kinda like that!

In other words, I felt I paid a good amount of dues in the sense that I've been in the game and just kept at it, kept at it, and enjoyed it and loved it.

And so, now I've got this great opportunity that really took me to another level.

But, it wasn't like I was just sitting around the telephone waiting for the call that was gonna give me a Tony Award.

- Right, exactly.

- I put in the time.

And so, that's all.

So, in other words, you do what you do.

It gets harder when you're su ccessful to make the choices.

- [Lillian] Oh , I bet.

- Because when you're not successful, you do anything and everything, and it's okay.

Nobody's gonna care one way or another.

When you're really successful, man, you gotta be careful!

'Cause if you get-- let's say, you get offered three different things, and maybe one of them could be something that could really take you to another level, while another one actually could be the disaster or something in between.

- [Lillian] Th e tank.

- Yeah!

Not that it could-- You know?

It gives you more pause to like, "wow, it's not a no-brainer.

"I kinda have to decide on this based on "is the money more important?

Is the quality of the work more important?"

And, only that person can answer that question.

- So, what's next on your plate?

What projects are you working on?

You mentioned something a little earlier.

- [Lillian] What do you wanna get off the ground?

- Well, first of all, I'm hoping that "As We See It" gets renewed for more episodes, which would be great.

But even when I went into that, I went in with the caveat, and they knew about it, that "Criminal Minds" might come back, and I'm happy to say it is.

- [Lillian] Ohhh!

- 'Cause we just got that news.

So, "Criminal Minds" is gonna be coming back.

We're gonna be filming it for Paramount Plus, which is gonna be kind of like CBS' streaming platform.

So, we're gonna start filming new episodes of that probably late summer into the winter.

And so, I don't think they'll air till early next year.

And, it'll be a little different in the sense that rather than-- as you know, these streaming shows, you can watch them all in one night -- - [Lillian] Al l in one shot, yeah!

- If you're so moved to!

Yeah.

So, rather when we were on regular network television, we had to wait every Wednesday to see the new episode.

We'll have shot-- I think we're gonna initially do 10.

We'll shoot 10 episodes, 10 hours of "Criminal Minds".

We'll release them all early, whenever they're ready; probably 2023.

And-- - [Lillian] All the sa me crew and cast?

- Well, I mean-- - [Lillian] So me of them?

- I mean, yeah.

I mean, it's been a couple years since we've done the show.

There might be some differences and changes.

I think cast-wise, we're pretty intact.

Crew-wise, definitely a lot of the people will be coming back.

Some of the people may have moved on to other shows and things.

And so, but bottom line, it's the same show runner.

It's the same-- The six-- There were eight of us that wound up in the final cast.

I would say at least six, seven of us will all be there.

And maybe even all eight in the sense that, maybe not all eight of us will be in every single show of the 10, but I think at one time or another, the cast we wound up with will be the cast that people will see Certainly at least six, seven of us.

Yeah.

- Well, that's exciting.

Okay.

- Yeah.

So, I've got that and then, we'll see.

- Okay.

I have never watched a full episode of The Simpsons, but I'm certain our audience has.

So, tell me about Fat Tony.

- [Joe] Yeah !

- [Lillian] His longevity on The Simpsons.

- Yeah, ohhh!

That's my long-- Yeah, you can see the license plate behind me!

My assistant gave me that.

Yeah, I-- that's my longest running role.

I've been doing The Simpsons now for...30 years?

'Cause it was-- again, that was 1990, I believe when...or 1991 when they approached me about playing this character, Fat-- I think it's because the movie "The Godfather" had come out that Christmas of 1990.

So, it was.

It was February of '91.

So, 31 years I've been doing the role.

And, I thought it was gonna be a one-shot deal.

Like, I saw the script; I thought it was funny.

Simpsons had only been on for two years.

And, I saw some of the episodes.

Well, now!

"This is fun.

It's smart.

"It's well-written, and it's funny.

I get to play this character."

And, I didn't want him to sound like the character in "The Godfather", because that movie was just out, and I didn't wanna pick Joey Zasa as Fat Tony.

So, I thought "what can I sound like?"

Now, I had this Uncle Willie (Fat Tony voice) who talked like this.

[Lillian laughs] This is just the way his voice was.

[Lillian laughs] So, I thought to myself, "you know what?

"I'm gonna try to use my Uncle Willie's voice.

"And unless they tell me, don't do that, we'll see what happens."

So, when I did that first run-through of the script with the cast and we're shooting in the basement of Fox.

Simpsons wasn't a big deal, then.

It was like this new show on Fox that they were hoping would run.

So, I started doing the character.

The first lines as we were doing the reading.

(Fat Tony voice) "And I started doing it and sounding like this.

I don't get mad; I get stabby!"

Stuff like that.

Nobody said anything!

So, I said, "okay, I guess I'll keep doing it."

And again, I thought, "well, we did the episode.

(slap-slap) "That was fun.

My Uncle Willie will get a kick out of it."

Little did I know they called me back a few months later.

"Hey, you wanna do another one?

We like the character."

"Oh sure, I'll do another one."

Well, that was 31 years ago!

- [Lillian] Wow.

- I still do a couple every year.

They tell me it's the most-- I've done the most guest shot episodes.

- Appearances on it!

(laughs) - Appearances outside of the core cast doing the most of the voices.

And, it's great.

I have some fans around the world who are all they care about is the fact that I'm Fat Tony!

I mean, it's like I don't have a career beyond Fat Tony which is fine.

- I might have to watch it now just so I can see who Fat Tony is, but-- - Well, yeah.

I mean, even in the movie, I got one little bit.

In the one Simpsons movie they made, I think Tom Hanks and I are the only two that are not from the original cast who were in that.

- So, you mentioned early in this interview that you had auditioned for "West Side Story" as a young kid and didn't get it.

You thought it was a movie and you didn't know it was originally a play.

But I have to ask you-- - Correct.

- Just your opinion.

From the first version of "West Side Story", which was fabulous, to the new version, Steven Spielberg's new version of "West Side Story", where do you fall?

- You know what?

I still haven't seen the new one!

I haven't!

And, you know?

And part of the reason is-- - Oh, you should!

- Oh, I will and I'm sure I'll love it!

And first of all, Spielberg is a genius, we know that, and everybody who's seen it tells me.

But, I have to say this.

It'll be like when you have your first child and your wife's pregnant with the second one, and you say to yourself, "how can I possibly love this other kid as much as I do this other one?"

You just worry about it.

And then, of course, when that child is born, you're like 'oh my God!"

And you realize, "no, there's no picking and choosing.

You love them both equally."

And, it's that same thing.

The movie "West Side Story" has had such an impact on my life.

And, I got to know some of the actors very well.

I mean, when I did the series "Joan of Arcadia", Amber Tamblyn, - I coproduced that show.

- [Lillian] Yes!

- I was responsible in hiring her!

- [Lillian] Her dad!

So, meeting her father was one of the most exciting things in my life!

And, I have a photo of me standing between them.

Amber surprised me at the Christmas party that year by inviting George Chakiris to the Christmas party.

So, I'm at the Christmas party for "Joan of Arcadia", and here's George Chakiris, and her father.

So, here's Riff and Bernardo from this movie that changed my life!

So, I got a picture of me standing between the two of them.

So, here's a movie that had such impact on my life, because in a way it guided me toward my career, that in a way-- I will see the new "West Side Story," but my wife is still "pregnant" with that one!

(chuckles) In other words, I got to wait till the baby's delivered!

In other words, so when I see the movie, then that will have been, "oh!

And there it is, the new baby, and I love this one, too!"

You know?

So, that'll be the thing.

So, I'm sure it'll be-- it's great and the music is spectacular, the whole endeavor.

- [Lillian] Just spectacular, right.

And obviously, Spielberg feels like I do!

That's why he made it.

He would've had to have loved the movie like I do.

- Well, I have to say: I love the movie, the original.

Right?

And I said, "there's no way!

"Why are they even touching something "that was as brilliant as it was?

Just leave it alone and let it be."

The same way I felt about "Mary Poppins".

But I went to see it and I have to say, when I took my 87-year-old father who loved "West Side Story"!

And so, we're watching it in the theater, and I'm watching it and I keep comparing it back-and-forth, and back-and-forth and back-and-forth.

And then, I finally stopped and I just enjoyed it for what it was.

And so, when my father and I left, we had this discussion about it, and he said, "Mija, I couldn't let the other one go."

He goes, "I wanna go back and see it again, "where I can just enjoy it for what it is," because it is fabulous!

Especially if you're a fan of "West Side Story"; it really is fabulous.

The storyline is a little different, but it works for today's time.

And, Rita Moreno was wonderful in it.

So, I highly recommend-- - [Joe] Oh, that's great.

- Your wife and you go this year!

- [Joe] No, no.

Yeah, we'll see it.

I definitely will and it's exactly what you said.

I mean, we'll see it and I'll take it for what it is and realize that Steven approached it because of his passion.

And in fact, I hosted along with-- um?

Ohh, God.

I'm spacing on his name now.

He was the choreographer for Michael Jackson for many years.

Uh?

Um?

(hesitates) I'm spacing on his name.

Anyway, he and I hosted at Grauman's Chinese Theater, we hosted the 50th anniversary of "West Side Story" the movie, which was great 'cause many of the cast members were there and they had a big party.

And I mean, that's how much-- - I wish I would have known!

- One time I saw-- - Yeah.

- At one of the theaters in downtown in L.A., and George who played-- - George Chakiris?

- Bernardo.

Yeah, he played Bernardo.

- George Chakiris.

- And he was there speaking, and I'm just like, oh!

I was just in awe just to be-- And, it's funny because you're watching the movie and then they have an intermission like back in the old days when we used to watch a movie-- - Right.

- And they had an intermission.

- Right!

And then, he spoke afterwards.

It was just wonderful!

- Oh, George is wonderful.

He's become a dear friend.

I mean, I'd see him on occasion 'cause we have a mutual friend.

And, I worked with Richard Beymer who played the original Tony.

- Yes!

Yes; was Tony.

- I did a movie with him called "State of Emergency" years ago.

And of course, I worked with Russ Tamblyn, on "Joan of Arcadia" 'cause he also played one of the roles on an occasion.

So anyway, yeah!

That movie is big in my life, and I'm sure the new one will be.

I'll enjoy it for you know?

Not exactly the same-- but in it's own for what it is, and it'll be great.

I'll look forward to it.

- Well, very good.

Thank you so much for your time.

I truly appreciated talking all about this.

Joe Mantegna is an advocate for autism and on his current series is "As We See It", which we hope will get picked up for another season.

You can see it on Prime Video.

Thank you so much, Joe.

- Thank you.

I've enjoyed this.

Thank you for your interest.

That's wonderful.

Nice to see you again.

- [Lillian] This program was originally produced for 91.9 KVCR-Radio.

(upbeat music) ♪ Yeah, the simple things in life.

♪