Christine Baranski

But otherwise, I had to internalize it.

Fortunately, I had been raised very much, you know, daily mass and going to church, and I had a relationship with God, and I did a lot of praying.

Right.

I prayed enormously helpful.

I prayed that, of course, my mother wouldn't die.

Otherwise, I'd be a total orphan.

And I prayed for my mother.

And then suddenly money became an enormous issue because my mother didn't, you know, she was prepared to be a housewife.

She didn't even know how to drive.

Hmm.

So most of the rest of my youth was spent with a woman raised in the Depression whose mantra was, we can't afford it, we can't afford it.

But she did manage to raise two actually wonderful kids.

It was a success, and my brother was a successful... He wound up working in the theater in Buffalo, and she did get a job there.

working, ordering parts or something.

So she had a skill set that she was then able to get a job at a place called Houdai.

She worked at Houdai during the war and then worked at the Buffalo Forge Company.

She had a mathematical mind and she...

She worked for years until she retired at the age of 70, ordering parts for air conditioners.

Can you imagine how dreary that job was?

And she had a terribly mean female boss she'd complained bitterly about.