The Lip Reader

S05E06 The Lip ReaderretroJan 27, 2003, 5:13 PM ET9 years later12 posts by 10 posters

❓ Question

Fans discuss actress Marlee Matlin's appearance in The Lip Reader episode and confirm she is genuinely deaf, having won an Oscar.

12 posts

Tomas DukeJan 27, 2003, 5:13 PM ET

Recently I saw The Lip Reader. Second time only, and it was years since the first time.

Is that by chance the same woman who is the deaf "poll maker" in "The West Wing"? There is quite a resemblance.

If so, is she really deaf?

Tomas Stockholm

ByronJan 27, 2003, 5:30 PM ET↩ Tomas Duke

Yes it is her, and it looks like she is deaf.

Byron

ByronJan 27, 2003, 5:30 PM ET↩ Tomas Duke

Forgot the url

http://us.imdb.com/Bio?Matlin,%20Marlee

Byron

sussmanbernFeb 21, 2003, 1:26 PM ET↩ Byron

Yes, it's Marlee Matlin, who appeared as a recurring character on The West Wing, and starred for a couple of years on Reasonable Doubts. By the way, on Seinfeld's The Lip Reader, Matlin correctly signs what she can lipread as "sweep with me" ... but Kramer is the one who makes the mistake of misreading her sign as "sleep with me"; the two signs are Very different and no Signer would confuse them but Kramer does the impossible.

With reference to changing Signs, the network broadcast version of Children of a Lesser God cleaned up some of the Signs used in the film. When Hurt promises to whisper her name, she original (on the big screen and in the play script) signed the equivalent of the F word but on the TV version she signed "brillliant" - makes you wonder why Hurt says it was the first sign he ever learned. Further on, in their conversation in the library, Matlin describes her dates with her sister's boyfriends by using the same sign (for the F word) ... but the TV version substitutes for this two signs "necking" and "lie down together".

Matlin has been profoundly deaf since about 18 months of age, but she has some very slight hearing and wears (off screen) a hearing aid (at least in her left ear), and is or was partial to Billy Joel records.

mtamezFeb 21, 2003, 3:47 PM ET↩ sussmanbern

You forgot to mention she is HOT!!

"sussmanbern" wrote in message news:[email]...

Tomas DukeFeb 23, 2003, 5:46 AM ET↩ mtamez

On Fri, 21 Feb 2003 20:47:53 GMT, "mtamez" wrote:

Yes, she is a BL!

Tomas Stockholm

pjazzJan 27, 2003, 5:39 PM ET↩ Tomas Duke

The actress is Marlee Maitlan. She's really deaf. I believe she won an oscar a while ago.

"Tomas Duke" wrote in message news:[email]...

Ian F.Jan 27, 2003, 6:20 PM ET↩ pjazz

pjazz wrote:

oscar

Marlee Matlin won her Oscar for "Children Of A Lesser God".

Ian

MickJan 28, 2003, 1:47 AM ET↩ Ian F.

I think she was the mayor or the judge in 'Picket fences'

"Ian F." wrote in message news:[email]...

DeepakJan 28, 2003, 4:25 PM ET↩ Mick

Bingo!

daveJan 28, 2003, 9:26 PM ET↩ Mick

"Mick" wrote in message news:[email]...

Yup. Mayor. http://www.tvtome.com/tvtome/servlet/PersonDetail/personid-12158

dave

Daniel VesmaMar 18, 2003, 8:20 AM ET↩ pjazz

oscar

And she got married in the Fonz's garden! Yay.