‘Awards Chatter’ Pod: Calista Flockhart on TV Return in ‘Feud,’ ‘Ally McBeal’ Era and Urging Harrison Ford to Do ‘Shrinking’

Calista Flockhart, our guest on this episode of The Hollywood Reporter’s Awards Chatter podcast, is a TV legend. The actress shot to fame 27 years ago playing a Harvard Law graduate who goes to work in a Boston firm on David E. Kelley’s groundbreaking Fox comedy series Ally McBeal (1997-2002), for which she garnered three Emmy noms and won a Golden Globe. She subsequently starred on other notable shows including ABC’s Brothers & Sisters (2006-2011) and CBS/The CW’s Supergirl (2015-2018). Most recently, on the 2024 FX limited series Feud: Capote vs. The Swans, she played Lee Radziwill, the socialite sister of Jackie Kennedy and, for a time, close friend of Truman Capote — and now finds herself back in the Emmys race.

Over the course of this episode, the 59-year-old reflects on the sequence of unlikely events that led to her being pulled out of relative obscurity and landing the role of Ally McBeal; the degree to which sudden fame and paparazzi scrutiny jolted her life and affected her psyche; what it was about Capote vs. the Swans that lured her out of semi-retirement at home with her husband of 14 years, Harrison Ford (who she, in turn, helped to convince to do AppleTV+’s Shrinking); plus much more.

More from The Hollywood Reporter

• 'Big Mouth' Star Nick Kroll Voices 79 Characters in Netflix's Longest-Running Show. Where's His Emmy?

• Hollywood Flashback: How the 1980 'Shogun' Was Pretty True to Japan

• 'Palm Royale' Director on "Iconic Moment" Laura Dern Shared the Screen With Father Bruce Dern for the First Time Ever

Best of The Hollywood Reporter

• From 'Full House' to 'The Simpsons': Best and Worst TV Dads

• A 'Star Wars' Timeline: All the Movies and TV Shows in the Franchise

• 10 of the Most Memorable Moms on Television