New York, N.Y.
Tammy Griems, Donald Moffat and Geraldine Fitzgerald star Wednesday at 8 p.m. when Moliere's "Tartuffe" is aired on "Great Performances" series on Public Broadcasting Services. (Twin Cities Ch. 2)

Grimes was delighted to repeat her starring role of Elmire ("Tartuffe" had just concluded its run at Manhattan's Circle in the Square.) She was equally delighted with Moffat as TV's Tartuffe, with whom she has more than one close encounter during the play. "He is an exciting talent, an extremely fine actor," she said, "and I would like to work with him again."

Known as both musical comedy star and dramatic actress, Grimes, when queried as to which role she prefers, simply answered: "I love to sing." She added, "Among the many classic roles I'd love to do is 'The Madwoman of Chaillot.' There is such a richness of parts in plays by Anouilh, Chekhov, O'Neill, Wilde. There's Shakespeare, Noel Coward, the list is endless. And, in each fine play, the writing has its own definite rhythm. However, whatever the part or the play, an actor or an actress learns something every time he or she walks on stage."

High on the list of favorite occupations is baking bread. "I don't cook very often, though I love to read cookbooks," Grimes said. "But I do love to bake. Baking bread is great therapy, especially when you get home late from a theater performance. Kneading the dough makes you work and relaxes you physically. Then comes the miracle of the dough rising, the marvelous smell of the bread baking, and its wonderful taste. "You can be as creative at home as well as anywhere else," she said. "Cooking, reading, writing letters, arranging furniture in an imaginative fashion, even choosing what clothes to put on your back are all creative. I spent a year doing oil painting and now I would like to take the time to seriously study drawing. I've been into needlepoint, which I began while flying coast to coast on acting commitments. At this point I have some 20 pillows stashed in my closet," she said.

Grimes major love is her young daughter Amanda, by her first husband, Christopher Plummer. Amanda, following in her famous parents' stage steps, is acting in school plays at Middlebury College, Connecticut. Her mother commented, "As long as it makes her happy, it's fine with me."

Costar Moffat had never read Moliere's "Tartuffe" until he was summoned to New York from his California home to play the title role. However, cloaked in black, wearing a flamboyant red wig and beard to match, the tall actor slipped quickly into the role of the 17th-century con artist. "It was a joy to join members of the distinguished Circle in the Square cast of the play," he said. "They were so supportive and cooperative that my first try at Tartuffe proved a real romp." The British-born Moffat has been active in theater, films and television since his 1956 arrival in the United States. Moffat is married to actress Gwen Arner, who is currently directing TV programs (she directed the second of '"The Waltons" two-parter featuring Richard Thomas's return to the series). They have four children. "At the moment, there's not one potential actor among them," Moffat said.

Moffat's immediate future includes starring in a motion picture, "Rosa's Park," written and directed by Ralph Waite. It's a funny, sad script about the Skid Row denizens of Los Angeles," he said. "It's a tragi-comedy in which I play the leading role of Sam, who's now sober and off Skid Row. The character is based on Sundance, a real Skid Row graduate who filed a class action suit against the city of Los Angeles to the effect that drunks should be put in detoxification centers rather than jail."

Doing double duty as Madame Perneille during the TV taping of "Tartuffe" and as Nora Melody in a stage play, "A Touch of the Poet," was duck soup for Fitzgerald. "I grew up in repertory at Dublin's Gate Theatre," she said, "then I came to America and joined Orson Welles's Mercury Theatre repertory, so playing two different parts concurrently is a lifetime habit." Fitzgerald, nun-like in full-skirted black dress and veil in Orgpn's mother in "Tartuffe," gives no indication that beneath the period costume lurked a swinging night club singer. Recently acclaimedfor her newly displayed singing talent, Fitzgerald has performed her "Songs of the Stree," a medley of international songs, at Reno Sweeney, Lincoln Center and Hollywood's Studio One. She has also sung excerpts of her program on PBS's "Dick Cavett Show."

"Great Performances" has special meaning for the actress since her son Michael Lindsay-Hoff, directed the series' dramatic segment, "Professional Foul," Tom Stoppard's first full-length TV play. "I love to talk about my son, " she said. "I'm particularly proud of the pressing cutting from London which stated that Tom Stoppard, when accepting the Writer's Award of the Year from the British Academy of Film and TV Arts, thanked the producer for giving him Michael as director."

The article is accompanied by a quarter page black and white photo of Donald Moffat as Tartuffe, wooing Tammy Grimes as Elmire, both dressed in period costumes.