Peggy, for instance, is bright, talented, ambitious and initially naive when she comes to work. With Claudette Colbert-inspired "bumper bangs" she can't trade on her looks the way Joan and Betty do, and to be taken seriously she has to learn to play the game as the men do. "Every step she takes, every meeting, every idea, every account is a new step for her," Moss said. "Not only her, but the men around her. She takes her hard knocks, but she's definitely not one to make the same mistake twice."
It's important for her to play Peggy as she is, not what she represents, said Moss, who played the president's daughter on "The West Wing" and has appeared in several independent films, including "Virgin." "One of the great things about the show and the characters, why people love them and identify with them, is that they're just people, like you and me, in specific situations and in this time period."
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Thursday, July 24, 2008 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 1 inches; 28 words Type of Material: Correction
'Mad Men': The caption with a photograph in Sunday's Calendar section of cast members of the TV show "Mad Men" incorrectly identified actor Mark Kelly as Rich Sommer.
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Thursday, July 22, 2008 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 1 inches; 23 words Type of Material: Correction
"Mad Men": An article about the series "Mad Men" in Sunday's Calendar section said that cast member January Jones would appear this summer on NBC's series "Fear Itself." It will be fellow cast member Elizabeth Moss on that show. Also, the article said that "Mad Men" creator Matt Weiner wrote that series' pilot while he was a writer on "The Sopranos." He wrote the pilot before he worked on "The Sopranos."
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Wednesday, July 23, 2008 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 1 inches; 23 words Type of Material: Correction
"Mad Men": A correction that appeared Tuesday about the TV series "Mad Men" misspelled the first name of actress Elisabeth Moss as Elizabeth.
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Sunday, July 27, 2008 Home Edition Sunday Calendar Part E Page 2 Calendar Desk 2 inches; 86 words Type of Material: Correction
"Mad Men": Last Sunday's article about the series "Mad Men" said that cast member January Jones would appear this summer on NBC's series "Fear Itself." Cast member Elisabeth Moss will be on that show. Also, the article said that "Mad Men" creator Matt Weiner wrote the series' pilot while he was a writer on "The Sopranos." He wrote the pilot before he worked on "The Sopranos." Finally, the caption with a photograph showing cast members of the show incorrectly identified actor Mark Kelly as Rich Sommer.
Peggy, written to be 20 in 1960, was "in an extreme state of denial for seven or eight episodes last season," Moss said. After Peggy had sex with Pete Campbell (Vincent Kartheiser), a manipulative young exec, she ignored her subsequent pregnancy and gave birth unexpectedly.
Despite her talent and brains, it's clear she's as unaware as the others, "completely capable of compartmentalizing, especially when it could destroy you," Weiner said.
Maintaining the facade of perfect wife and mother is important to Betty, but she's "not a Stepford wife," said Jones ("We Are Marshall," "The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada"). Betty, who is 28 in 1960, has a college education and a former career as a model. She knows she has the life the others envy, but strange behavior sends her to a psychiatrist. In Season 1, she was seen slapping a woman in the grocery store and shooting a gun. Betty also formed an odd bond with a neighbor child (played by Weiner's son Marten).
"She has the ultimate realization of luxury," Weiner said. "She was in that world, but she's younger than [Draper] and she knows something now." The question is, is she his child or his wife? And is that up to her?
It's rare in television, even now, to find rounded characters for women, said Hendricks, who plays Joan, the head secretary with a voluptuous Marilyn Monroe body and persona. Wise in a "Sex and the Single Girl" way, Joan claims to want a husband but stays in a hopeless, long-term affair with the married Sterling.
