Billy Crudup on "The Morning Show"
Billy Crudup has found his sweet spot playing slithery network executive Cory Ellison on the Apple TV+ series "The Morning Show," but the 57-year-old actor says the role came as a complete surprise this late in his career.
"To have a part in a show that is quite complicated and asks a lot of me as an actor and is popular are things I was not expecting at all," Crudup told CBS News' Anthony Mason.
The two-time Emmy winner is back for the show's fourth season, though this time his character finds himself in unfamiliar territory—out of work and out of ideas.
Crudup's path to "The Morning Show" began decades earlier when his mother took him to Broadway shows as a child, making New York feel like "kind of Shangri-La." He went to NYU in fall 1991 thinking he would become a teacher because "nobody makes a living as an actor," he said with a laugh. Crudup earned his master's degree in acting there.
After landing his first movie role in 1996's "Sleepers" alongside Brad Pitt, Crudup remained wary of leading man roles, aware that his looks would eventually fade. Instead, he sought challenging parts like the lead guitarist Russell Hammond in Cameron Crowe's 2000 film "Almost Famous."
"I didn't play guitar," Crudup said. "And not only that, I was supposed to be a prodigal talent. So, I was well aware that this was not gonna work for some group of the audience."
During filming, he constantly broke guitar strings until rock star Peter Frampton, who had a small part in the movie, came to his rescue. Crudup had previously parked Frampton's car as a high school valet at a Fort Lauderdale restaurant.
"He'd come in, change the guitar string right away. 'No, keep after it, Billy. Wonderful. Keep it up,'" Crudup said.
But it was Crudup's work at the Vineyard Theatre that ultimately led to his "Morning Show" role. After making his off-Broadway debut there in 1994 in a play about Japanese internment camps where he appeared nude and earned "hundreds of dollars a week," he returned for perhaps his greatest stage challenge: playing 19 different characters in the one-man show "Harry Clarke."
"My first response was no because who would want to do that? That seems like a terrible idea," he said.
The grueling performance, which included forgetting lines and breaking into "flop sweat," gave him the confidence he needed. More importantly, it caught the attention of Jennifer Aniston, who plays anchor Alex Levy and serves as an executive producer on "The Morning Show."
"She said, 'Is there anybody that is interesting to you?' And I said, 'I like the weird guy,'" Crudup said.
When asked why audiences have been so drawn to his manipulative character, Crudup was characteristically self-deprecating.
"I mean if I did, I think I would have done really well early in my career. Or maybe it's his hair. Did we ever think about that?" he said.
Analisa Novak is a content producer for CBS News and the Emmy Award-winning "CBS Mornings." She specializes in covering live events and exclusive interviews for the show. Analisa is a United States Army veteran and holds a master's degree in strategic communication from Quinnipiac University.
