Girl Talk: Tyne Daly and Sharon Gless

Tyne Daly, left, and Sharon Gless in action. — Illustration by Sean McCabe

Tyne Daly was at home in New York. Sharon Gless was in Miami. When we reunited the two stars of the pioneering TV cop show Cagney & Lacey by phone recently, you'd have thought you were listening in on a chat between two of the world's dearest friends.

And you'd be right. From the time they were first teamed up in 1981, Daly (who played Mary Beth Lacey) and Gless (Christine Cagney) have together faced challenges both professional and personal. Today they are, if anything, closer than ever.

Sharon: Hey, Tyne-O!

Tyne: Hi, Darlin', how are ya?

Sharon: Well I haven't talked to you in a hundred years.

Tyne: I know!

(AARP: I apologize for setting up this joint interview on a Sunday afternoon.)

Tyne: We're furious at you, Bill! (Laughter)

(AARP: As the complete series is being released on DVD, do you ever take the time to go back and look at the old shows?)

Sharon and Tyne: NO!

Sharon: I occasionally run into people who have not seen Cagney & Lacey, and I thoroughly embarrass them. (But) I never watched the show. Tyne was much better about it. Right, Tyne?

Tyne: Me? (laughs)

Sharon: Yeah, you used to go home and watch the show!

Tyne: I didn't go home and watch the show! I went home and stopped at the cleaners and stopped at the grocery store and made dinner. I tried to watch it. We had this big plan to watch it together …

Sharon: We did!

Tyne: … and have a graceful dinner and watch the show together. That happened once.

Sharon: Tyne is much more emotionally healthy than I am about watching herself.

(AARP: You played such down-to-earth people, did that make it more possible to live real lives — like going shopping?)

Sharon: No! We did shopping by catalog, right, Tyne?

Tyne: Yeah. That's how we used to go shopping for birthdays or holidays.

Sharon: Or Tyne would knit your gift!

Tyne: (Laughing) That's true! At the end of the first season, Sharon gave me two pounds of caviar. Two pounds! Of really good caviar (Sharon giggles). All this beautiful packaging. I gave her a hand-knit scarf! (Both laugh hysterically)

Sharon: With a hat to match!

Tyne: Was there a hat? I forgot that part.

Sharon: (Proudly) Yes, indeed!

Tyne: I thought it was only that nine-foot scarf.

Sharon: In my color!

Tyne: It went on forever.

Next page: Who was the first to play Cagney? »