This is Fresh Air. I'm Dave Davies and for Terry Gross. Our guest Christine

Baranski is co-starring in the new HBO series The Gilded Age, which is set in the

1880s in New York City. She plays Ada, a society matron who despises the newly

wealthy people moving into her Fifth Avenue neighborhood. In this scene she and

her sister Agnes, played by Cynthia Nixon, receive a letter from their niece

who's recently discovered she's panellists after her father died. What did she say? She

thanks you for the letter that you did not show me and for the tickets that you

purchased without my knowledge. She means to join us here just as soon as she

has closed the house and sold her furniture. What a relief! A relief! And who is to

support her? Exactly. Me with the Van Rijn money which was not achieved at no

post to myself. You will allow the pure and tranquil life of the spinster. I was not.

I'm very grateful. So you should be. Well I'm glad she's coming. And if my letter

played a part in her decision then I'm glad I sent it. I doubt it was your

letter. More likely she has discovered her father left her without a penny to her

name. Henry couldn't provide for a dog in a ditch. He never kept a dollar in his

pocket if there were women or drink within 500 miles. Agnes, our brother has died.

Our brother with whom we have had no connection these many years. We should have

gone for the funeral anyway. Wasn't worth an uncomfortable day of travel to make

sure Henry was dead. Christine Burransky started her career in theater and went

on to co-star in the TV series Cible and the Big Bang Theory and films including

reversal of fortune and the bird cage. She's been in several stage and film

musicals including Chicago, Mame and several by Stephen Sondheim including

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