Holland Taylor Explains Why She Turned Down a New Two and a Half Men Contract.
She is being underpaid, according to Holland Taylor. The actress who portrayed Evelyn Harper, the mother of Charlie (Charlie Sheen) and Alan (Jon Cryer) on the CBS series Two and a Half Men, explained why she chose to occasionally return as a guest star rather than extend her contract after six years.
“I stopped being under contract. So, in other words, they would say, ‘Can you do a guest appearance at the end of March?’ And I would say, ‘No, I cannot,'” Taylor stated on the episode of Alchemy with Anthony Mason that aired on October 21. "I only did it if I wanted to do it."
The 83-year-old said the producers were surprised by her decision, but she valued the flexible schedule. She also felt the pay was lower than she had hoped.
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"They never paid me very well on that show. I was paid on that show what I had made on a series like eight years before or something," she added. “And I got four Emmy nominations, and they never gave me a raise. They usually do.”
“I loved a lot about that show, but they were not full of courtesies,” Taylor went on. “In any case, when the six years was up, I said, ‘I don’t want to be on a contract anymore, but I will visit the show occasionally if you want.’ I mean, I did play the boys’ mother.”
The star of Legally Blonde clarified that the Two and a Half Men crew believed she was haggling and told her, "We can't pay you any more money."
"I said, 'You could actually pay me the cost of this building, but don't bother because I don't want to continue on under contract,'" she shot back. "And they said, 'But we can't afford to give you more.' I said, 'I'm cool with it. I just will come back as a guest from time to time.'"
The cast saw another major change in 2011, when Charlie Sheen left after public struggles with substance abuse. Ashton Kutcher joined in the later seasons as Walden Schmidt, a billionaire.
