Holland Taylor is opening up about why she walked away from her contract on Two and a Half Men. The actress, who played Evelyn Harper, mother to Charlie Sheen's Charlie and Jon Cryer's Alan, said on the Alchemy with Anthony Mason podcast that low pay was part of the reason, Variety reported.
"And I got four Emmy nominations, and they never gave me a raise," Taylor said, adding that shows usually do. She said she was paid roughly what she had earned on a series years earlier.
Guest star on her own terms
Taylor earned four supporting actress nominations for the CBS sitcom. After its sixth season, she declined to renew her contract and returned only occasionally as a guest star, which she said gave her the freedom to turn down dates that did not suit her and appear only when she wanted to.
She said producers were astonished by the decision and assumed she was negotiating, telling her they could not afford to pay her more. Taylor said she replied that they could offer her the cost of the building and it would not matter, because she simply did not want to stay under contract. She added that while she loved a lot about the show, the production was not full of courtesies, though she was glad to keep visiting, since she did play the boys' mother.
Two and a Half Men ran for 12 seasons, from 2003 to 2015. Sheen left in 2011 following public struggles with substance abuse.
Reporting sources: Variety, “Holland Taylor Says She Was ‘Never Paid Very Well’ on ‘Two and a Half Men’: ‘I Got Four Emmy Nominations, and They Never Gave Me a Raise’”.