Holland Taylor explains why she didn’t renew her contract on ‘Two and a Half Men.’
The actress spent six years playing Evelyn Harper, the mother of Charlie (Charlie Sheen) and Alan (Jon Cryer), on the CBS sitcom. She recently revealed that part of the reason she left the show was due to the small salary.
“They never paid me very well for that show. I got paid for that show what I did on a show eight years before or something like that,” Taylor said on the “Alchemy with Anthony Mason” podcast. “And I had four Emmy nominations, and they never gave me a raise. They usually do.”
Taylor was nominated four times for supporting actress during her time on the sitcom. After the sixth season, she declined to renew her contract and returned occasionally as a guest star.
“I stopped being under contract. So in other words, they were like, ‘Can you make an appearance at the end of March?’ And I was like, ‘No, I can’t,'” she said. “I only did it if I wanted to.”
Taylor said producers were “astonished” by her decision, but that she appreciated having flexibility in scheduling.
“I really liked that show, but it wasn’t gracious,” Taylor added. “Anyway, once the six years were up, I said, ‘I don’t want to be under contract anymore, but I’ll come to the salon from time to time if you want.’ I mean, I played the boys’ mother.
The actress said the team thought she was negotiating and told her they couldn’t afford to pay her more. “I said, ‘You could pay me the cost of this building, but don’t bother because I don’t want to continue under contract,'” she said. “And they said, ‘But we can’t afford to give you more.’ I said, “I agree with that. I’ll just come back as a guest from time to time.
“Two and a Half Men” ran for 12 seasons from 2003 to 2015. In 2011, Sheen left the series after public struggles with drug addiction.
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