From the USAWeekend blog:

Jean Smart (in yellow, at left) is walking and talking. She’s on the streets of her native Seattle on what she describes as a “perfect Seattle fall day” as she chats via cell phone with our Gayle Carter. On the day of the chat, Smart is planning to head back to Los Angeles to start work on the second season of Samantha Who? and, of course, to attend next week’s Emmy Awards. Smart is nominated for her sixth Emmy, for her role as Christina Applegate’s mom on the ABC sitcom. She’s not so much worrying about winning (she’s got two trophies at home) but she is worried about how she’ll get into the dress she picked out. “I have a childish attitude about summer,” she explains. “I’m not supposed to do anything. I’m not supposed to diet.”

Win or lose, fit in the dress or not, Smart says she already has the best prize – getting to have a daughter. “I feel very motherly towards Christina,” says Smart, 57, who in real life has one son. “My character kind of treats her like a child, not an adult, and that’s probably what I do now.” Of course, we wanted to know how Applegate (also at left) — who was diagnosed with breast cancer and underwent a double mastectomy in July — is doing and Smart says, “She’s doing great. She’s a really strong girl, incredibly healthy. It’s astonishing.”

Because Smart has two feature films coming, we asked how she manages to find interesting projects when we typically hear that Hollywood is not so kind to women of a certain age. “Look, it’s not as if they wanted me to do Out of Africa 2. Now that would be impressive,” says Smart. “I think the secret to longevity in this business is just sticking it out, somehow managing to be happy with what you have, to go about your life, pursue your business, and not let the business make you crazy and ruin or intrude on your private life too much.”
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