And he ended up being a disappointment and a ne'er-do-well. I think she had fabulous dreams about his success and what was going to happen with them. I just think up what she went through to get to where she is in that scene I mean her whole life and what she's experienced. I make it up myself if it's not given to me. Q: Are you the type of actress who needs to know everything about your character before you can play them? Gless: Well, I do like to have a back story. It'll end the scene with Jeffrey and it'll say, 'She leaves the room and he's still there, wondering why she's the only person who can get to him.' So it gives me courage to match it, but obviously in a more devious way. I love it when they write the directorial suggestions in the script. But you have to be smart to be that manipulative. As screwed up as she is and she's got her own thing going and is manipulative – they didn't take that away. And that's where he gets his stuff, is really from her. We like what she's doing, but we want more of who she is.' And so then it was discussed that – and happily – that she's very, very smart. Anyway, the wig is no longer with us! But anyway, they did let me wear it in the pilot and then the network saw it and they said, 'We really like it. So I talked them into letting me wear a wig. I didn't want to play down the age - I wanted to play a woman that age trying to look younger. I wanted to make her also someone who wanted to look younger than she was. I wanted to wear a wig because I said, if she's a hypochondriac, she's obviously needy and I read the script and she hasn't seen her son in ten years.

Q: What did they tell you about the character of Madeline, besides being a chain-smoking hypochondriac? Gless: Well, Madeline's gone through some changes from the pilot. Let's just do it.' And it's working! He keeps me on my toes. You know them, don't you?' I said, 'Yeah.' He said, 'I know 'em.

Just, 'Anything happens, man!' Just, 'Let's just see what happens!' And I'm going, 'Well… Don't you want to run the lines?' He said, 'No. I've learned a tremendous amount from Jeffrey, because Jeffrey and I work differently. You have to be very loosey goosey on this show. That was my very first scene, was riding around in this car. He's just a wonderful actor and it just worked. So I think you have to be prepared as an actor know what you're going to do be flexible enough that the director can manipulate it and manipulate you if he wants and I just lucked out. We got in a car and did our first scene together. We do really respect and like each other very, very much, but no… I met him, 'Hi, nice to meet you! Wow, you really bit off a lot, didn't you?' He said, 'Yeah, be careful what you ask for.' That was our conversation. I took him and Gabrielle - Bruce couldn't come - but I took them on a boat the other weekend for stone crabs. Question: How did you and Jeffrey develop your relationship? Did you guys hang out off set or…. Sharon Gless (far left) with Bruce Campbell, Jeffrey Donovan and Gabrielle Anwar in Burn Notice So I guess the credit goes to the producers and the network – whoever you, you know? And there's a chemistry between the actors that's really, really important. My husband said, 'How happy are you they're paying you to smoke?' So I thought, 'This sounds fun! I'd like to do it!' It was like two days work and I thought, 'Well, it sounds really, really fun.' And it was in Miami and I just happen to live in Miami! I never know anymore when you read scripts or you do things, what the audience is going to want. Everything he's saying has nothing to do with what he's really doing on film.' And the fact that they described the character as a chain-smoking hypochondriac. It just made me laugh, and I thought, 'This is so interesting. That's sort of a key to me… I loved the voice over stuff. Q: When you first read the part in Burn Notice, did you quickly respond to it and know it was something you wanted to do? Gless: I was just sitting alone and I laughed out loud.

You just have to be able to give stuff to other people and just focus on your work.' He's so amazing. So last year, sort of the only advise he would ask me was, 'How did you do it?' I said, 'You have to get an assistant. I think this year they're giving him a little break, because you can't kill the golden goose. There was never a scene we weren't in, and that's how this show's been devised. Question: Do your fellow cast members look up to you and come to you for career advice? Gless: Um, well, I don't know if they look up to me, but Jeffrey when we first started just wanted to know, 'How did you do it?' Just the stamina that it takes to be, as he is, in every single scene, which Tyne and I were in Cagney & Lacey.

Burn notice cast pilot