Tavis Smiley | PBS

Tavis: Pleased to welcome Patricia Heaton to this program. The Emmy-winning actress, of course, starred for nine seasons on "Everybody Loves Raymond." Her latest project, though, is a documentary called "The Bituminous Coal Queens of Pennsylvania." Had to look that up. (Laughs) We'll talk about that in just a moment.

Patricia Heaton: You and me both.

Tavis: "The Bituminous Coal Queens." (Laughs) The film is being distributed by Netflix. Here now, a scene from "The Bituminous Coal Queens of Pennsylvania."

[Clip]

Tavis: (Laughs) Patricia, nice to see you.

Heaton: (Laughs) Thank you. That's my friend, Sarah Rush. We like to describe her as Sally Field on ecstasy.

Tavis: Oh yeah? (Laughs)

Heaton: Yeah. (Laughs)

Tavis: Quite a definition.

Heaton: (Laughs) Yeah.

Tavis: So how much smarter are you than I am? 'Cause I had to look up – I'm always looking for a good Scrabble word.

Heaton: Oh, there you go.

Tavis: So I had to go look up bituminous, and it means, like, containing of bitumen, or something like that.

Heaton: Yeah.

Tavis: What is?

Heaton: It's soft coal…

Tavis: Soft coal.

Heaton: …as opposed to anthracite, which is hard coal.

Tavis: Okay.

Heaton: So there in southwestern Pennsylvania, they have soft, bituminous coal - is what they mine.

Tavis: Okay.

Heaton: Yeah.

Tavis: And the have, like, Coal Queens?

Heaton: (Laughs) And they have a lot of Coal Queens there. And I've known Sarah Rush for quite a few years, but I was unaware that she was the 1972 Bituminous Coal Queen. (Laughs) And she told me all about it. She's a direct descendent of Benjamin Rush, who was a signer of the Declaration of Independence. And her family has been in Pennsylvania for generations. And she is related to many people in that town, and knows everybody.

And it's quite a slice of Americana. And that's one of the things that attracted myself and David Hunt, my husband, to doing this project. It's sort of a time capsule of a way of life in America that's changed. I won't say disappearing, but it's changing. And that small community that's all involved in this kind of one industry, they're really terrific people. And I just felt like at a time in our country when there's a lot of struggles going on, the way people around the world look at us as Americans is not always favorable. And I really think the people in this documentary are so funny, but they're warm, and I think they are really typical of what makes this country as great as it is.

Tavis: When you get into a project like this, to your point, what's your sense of what we are missing or lacking by losing that kind of, for lack of a better word, innocence? Or to your phrase, being removed from that time period?

Heaton: Well, and I think a lot of people, what you see in the media, either through reality shows, which kind of is invested in showing the worst side of people, or in the news media, where there's a lot of doubt and despair about everything that's going on, what we see in this community is real hopefulness, and sort of an ability to soldier on. It's really like our town. People just are so genuine and so sweet, and have real faith in sort of the goodness of their community and the people in it, and our country.

Tavis: So what did you find most fascinating about these Bituminous Coal Queens?

Heaton: They are so sweet to each other. (Laughs) As I said, you're waiting for them to be catty and to be, it's a beauty pageant. It's a contest. And you're kind of used to seeing reality shows, where everyone's out to get each other. And these women are really very supportive of each other, and sweet. People who have watched it, first of all, said where did you find these actors?

And we said no, it's a documentary, they're not actors. (Laughs) People couldn't believe that these were real people. They're very sweet. And something I think because it's very middle-of-the-country. You don't see it so much. We have this view from L.A., and there's a view from New York, but this is really what's going on in most of the country.

Tavis: You grew up in Cleveland.

Heaton: Yeah, in Cleveland, yeah, yeah.

Tavis: Any of this remind you of growing up in the Midwest?

Heaton: Yeah. Well, I went to Ohio State, and I was second runner-up in the Fiji Queen of Hearts contest. (Laughs)

Tavis: Ooh.

Heaton: Yeah, I know.

Tavis: You go, Patricia. (Laughs) Second runner-up.

Heaton: (Laughs) I know. That's right. So, and I'm really familiar with this kind of hometown thing. When I go home to Cleveland, which, of course, I call it destination of the stars.

Tavis: Yeah. (Laughs)

Heaton: (Laughs) I'll get a call from Kitty, who's the head grocer at the grocery store, saying I heard you're in town, we have one fresh turkey left. If you want me to put it aside for you, give me a call. That kind of…

Tavis: Even now?

Heaton: Oh yeah, now, yeah.

Tavis: Wow.

Heaton: Yeah, when I go home. So, she and I went to school together, and so a lot of my friends that I grew up with are still there, and work at the schools there, or have families there, and it's really nice, actually, to go back.

Tavis: So your dad, I read, was, like, the big sports writer.

Heaton: He was. He was…

Tavis: In Cleveland. For the "Plain Dealer."

Heaton: He's in the Football Hall of Fame, actually.

Tavis: Yeah. Your daddy is?

Heaton: Yes.

Tavis: Wow.

Heaton: Yeah, he was voted the number one football writer in the country of 1982.

Tavis: Wow.

Heaton: Yeah. I grew up with the Browns and the Indians.

Tavis: Cleveland's a great sports town.

Heaton: Cleveland's a great sports town.

Tavis: It's a great sports town, yeah.

Heaton: Yeah. It's a great town all around. But now the Browns and the Indians, it's like a kind of thing where they just make it and then, yeah, they can't quite bring it home.

Tavis: So growing up as a sports fan in a place like Cleveland, and being a female, that, over the long haul, turned you off to sports? Or are you a still a big, huge, sports enthusiast?

Heaton: (Laughs) I was always doing community theater. Although I'm kind of athletic. I like playing tennis, I've taken up golf. I've been surfing, and that kind of stuff. So, I'm pretty athletic. But I always was a performer. And I was a journalism major in college, 'cause that's what my dad did, and that's what my brother does. He works at the "Cleveland Plain Dealer." But I've really always needed to be in front of the camera.

Tavis: You just had to be out front.

Heaton: Well, I always just (laughs) thought I was much more interesting than anyone I was interviewing.

Tavis: Yeah. (Laughs) I suspect part of being athletic has to do with having four boys.

Heaton: Yes.

Tavis: That you have to keep up with.

Heaton: That's right.

Tavis: And I just noticed, looking at this, and I'm going out on a limb here, I would assume that since you and your husband produced this, Four Boys Films…

Heaton: That would be our company.

Tavis: …would be your company.

Heaton: Yeah, that would be named for Sam, John, Joe, and Dan.

Tavis: So what happens if you have another boy?

Heaton: Yeah, well, what if another girl? That would really screw everything up. (Laughs)

Tavis: What would you do then? You gotta change the name of the company.

Heaton: Yeah, we'd have the changing of the stationery would be prohibitive, yeah.

Tavis: So I know you've been asked this a thousand times, but how do you keep up – my mother is, like, oh, Patricia, please, I had eight boys and two girls.

Heaton: Seriously?

Tavis: My mom's watching. She's not impressed. But there are a lot of folk who are trying to figure out how you did nine seasons, and documentaries, and, and, and. And four boys?

Heaton: Well, the first, check this out. The first year of "Raymond," I had a three year old who was in a half a body cast, 'cause he broke his leg. Then I had the one year old in the baby carrier, and I was pregnant with my third. And so I'm rolling in a wheelchair with a baby in the front, and a baby in the wheelchair, and a baby inside me, trying to rehearse.

The first year of the show. It was brutal. When I think back on it now, I don't know how I did it. The only thing I can say is that sitcoms, multi-camera sitcoms only work from, like, 10:00 till 4:00.

Tavis: Right.

Heaton: Easy-peasy. And you're off one week every month. So, that afforded me the time to be there full time for the kids, and be there for breakfast, take them to school, pick them up from school, and that kind of thing. But it was tiring, when you have little ones. They were all very small at the time. That was really exhausting.

Tavis: Well, I guess I ain't gotta ask what's it like with your husband. I see. You get pregnant every minute.

Heaton: Yeah. (Laughs)

Tavis: (Laughs) Every other month.

Heaton: Yeah. You should have heard our producer talk about that on "Raymond." Every time I'd call him up and say, guess what? Yeah. Mazeltov, he'd go.

Tavis: Yeah.

Heaton: Yeah, we get along pretty well. We produced a movie with Walden Media that's coming out called "Amazing Grace."

Tavis: Next year.

Heaton: Next year.

Tavis: Yeah, mm hmm.

Heaton: That's about William Wilberforce, a British abolitionist. We did a movie which we produced and acted in for TNT called "The Engagement Ring." That was a little more difficult, because…


Tavis: So you guys didn't get along so well, huh?


Heaton: Oh, well, the first day, the director called us out of the scene and said, "Do you wanna go work out your problems before we come back and (laughs) continue shooting?" I was so embarrassed. I felt I was, like, in high school or something. So yeah, we had to kind of figure out what our – we're both actors, we're both opinionated. We're very bossy, and we butted heads. And we had all four kids with us, too. So, it was a lot on our plate. But we're still together. We worked it out.

Tavis: Am I getting the sense that…

Heaton: Barely. (Laughs) Oy, it was touch and go there for a few hours, yeah.

Tavis: Am I getting the sense that you're at a point in your career now where you wanna do more of the producing stuff?

Heaton: I do love producing, and I love developing scripts. I love finding stories, finding books that would make good TV series, or movies. And I did a pilot for ABC, we're not sure if that's gonna happen or not. So we're just kind of in a holding thing now, where I'm just looking at other projects, and seeing what I wanna do.

Tavis: Do you miss the "Raymond" stuff now? We still see you every day, as if you're still…

Heaton: Yeah. Like, three times a day. (Laughs)

Tavis: Three times (unintelligible)

Heaton: Sorry. (Laughs)

Tavis: Yeah.

Heaton: Surprised you had me on the show. It's like, (laughs) enough already with the commercials of the show. But I miss seeing everybody, although I just talked to Doris, and I talk to Ray, emailing everybody. I think the show - I think it was a good time to go off. I was ready to be done with it. I think we felt at the end some of the themes were starting to feel a little repetitive. So that was a good time. And it takes a lot of courage. There was a lot of money that could have been made, to go on one or two more years.

Tavis: To your point, how do you decide to walk away from that? When, nine years, you got a good paycheck. You ain't gotta work again if you don't want to.

Heaton: Right.

Tavis: But you got, like, another year or two, and you're thinking, another million dollars an episode. (Laughs) Twenty-six episodes, that's another 26 million. Times two more seasons.

Heaton: Well, that was Ray, making that much.

Tavis: Yeah, well, you guys weren't too far behind.

Heaton: We were a little (unintelligible).

Tavis: But how do you, like – it's still time to go. How do you say that so easily? I'd be, like, asking for, I'd be begging for another season.

Heaton: I know. It is a strange thing, because for so long, as an actor, you're going along just begging to get a gig that lasts more than one week.

Tavis: And your ship comes in, and you're like oh, it's time to go off the air.

Heaton: Well, I guess you do, after nine years, as an actor, part of the reason we're in this business, I think, is we like change. And we like to try new things. And so, I think it just can kind of eat at you a little bit if you're coming in and you're feeling like you're not doing as well as you could, because the thrill isn't there, or you're not finding anything new in the process.

Tavis: Well, anybody watching right now that's got a nine-year gig for me, I will take it. (Laughs) And unlike Patricia, I will not be an ingrate at the end of nine seasons, and say oh, it's time to go.

Heaton: By the way, Ray made the decision. (Laughs) So I (unintelligible) we have to do another two years, I would say, all right, I could find a way to spend the money.

Tavis: Bam. "The Bituminous Coal Queens of Pennsylvania." Patricia Heaton, nice to have you here.

Heaton: Thank you.

Tavis: Netflix. I love this.

Heaton: Thanks.

Tavis: Nice to have you on.

Heaton: Thanks for having me.

Tavis: (Laughs) That's our show for tonight. 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.