“Could you come back tomorrow as a heroin addict?”
That was the question a director posed to Dale Dickey during one of her first auditions after arriving in Los Angeles in 1995, setting the course for a career spent bringing depth and dignity to society’s outsiders.
Over the next three decades, Dickey became one of Hollywood’s most indispensable character actors, leaving indelible impressions in everything from The X-Files and Winter’s Bone to Breaking Bad, Hell or High Water and Love Lies Bleeding.
The veteran actress is now celebrating her first Emmy nomination for Apple TV+‘s Widow’s Bay, in which she plays Rosemary, the sharp-tongued town gossip whose unforgettable genealogy monologue has become one of the breakout moments of the series.
But before she walks her first Emmy red carpet, Dickey is facing a very different challenge.
“I need a dress,” Dickey tells The Hollywood Reporter, revealing that despite her first Emmy nomination, no designer has yet offered to dress her. “Somebody design me!”
Dickey, 64, spoke with THR about the recognition, the audition that changed her life, and why she’s always been drawn to characters living on the margins.
You’ve been doing remarkable work for a long time. What did this Emmy nomination mean to you?
It was so very unexpected. I was really in shock when I saw my name. I still am. It’s lovely to be recognized by my peers.
I’ve been around for so long, it was never about awards. But I’m thrilled for the show, and especially for Katie Dippold and how long and hard she fought to get Widow’s Bay made. I’m excited to be invited to the party.
Widow’s Bay feels genuinely original, and everyone keeps talking about Rosemary’s genealogy speech. Do you think that’s the scene that got you nominated?
I almost think it has to be. Rosemary’s part of the ensemble, then all of a sudden I had 11 pages of dialogue.
It was terrifying. I came from theater, so I’ve learned huge amounts of dialogue before, but on camera this was probably the biggest chunk I’d ever had. There were charts and slides and all these moving parts. They even offered me a teleprompter, but I’d never used one.
So I just went back to my theater training. I repeated it over and over until it stuck. I knew everybody had my back, and when we finished I was fricking relieved.
It’s an extraordinary scene. I think it’s become part of your legacy.
I hope so. Somebody asked what it feels like to have “Emmy nominee” in front of my name. I said, “Well, it’s better than ‘inmate’ or ‘fugitive’ Dale Dickey or ‘skank’ Dale Dickey.”
For years people have recognized me from Breaking Bad. “You’re the skank. You’re the prisoner. You’re the murderer.” Maybe now it’ll be, “You’re the town gossip with the monologue.” That’s a little better.
In a way, I don’t think this nomination is just for this performance. It feels like recognition for a body of work. I have the highest admiration for you because you don’t usually play the starring role, but even if you’re playing “the skank” or a murderer, you play those characters with such realness and compassion that you force the audience to contend with them as human beings. You do that in everything, and I think it’s incredibly inspiring.
That means a lot. Thank you.
I still love what I do. It’s been a struggle for many years, but I’ve been given tremendous opportunities and wonderful roles to sink my teeth into.
I actually love being the supporting player. I like to hang in the background and come in and out.
I did feel a little like an imposter when the nomination came because Rosemary is such a supporting character compared to some of the other women in the category. But she is a supporting actress, so there you go. I’ll gladly take it.
You’ve been working steadily since The X-Files. Looking at your career, it doesn’t seem like there were many gaps.
I’ve been a lucky chick, especially with COVID and the strikes. Work just kept coming, and my agents would remind me, “Nobody’s working right now.” That isn’t lost on me. I’m very grateful.
What is it about you that filmmakers respond to?
I spent 11 years in New York pursuing theater before I ever made the jump to film and television. I couldn’t secure representation. I wasn’t pretty enough this way. I wasn’t odd enough looking that way. I always fell between the cracks.
One of my very first auditions after I came to Los Angeles was for a crime show called High Incident. I was going in to play the neighbor who bakes pies and joins the welcome wagon. I walked into the room and the director, Charlie Haid, looked at me before I even read a line and said, “Could you come back tomorrow as a heroin addict?”
Then I was off and running. Prisoners. Prostitutes. Drug addicts. That’s what they saw me as.
Were you thrilled to be asked to play the heroin addict, or was your first reaction, “What do you mean?”
No, I was thrilled. I loved those roles. Put some dirt on my face and grease in my hair.
I remember another role where somebody told me several actresses had turned it down because they didn’t want to play a homeless woman screaming in an emergency room and dropping her pants to get attention. I thought, “I’ll do it.”
There’s no vanity in it for me. I love playing those people.
When I first moved to New York from Tennessee, there was a homeless woman I saw on the subway almost every day. She was about my age, with these piercing blue eyes, and she looked like she’d never stopped crying in her life. She affected me deeply.
I always thought, “There but for the grace of God go I.”
I’ve always had a huge sensitivity toward people who are less fortunate. I want to play them with dignity and respect and hope.
Has there ever been a role you turned down because you thought, “That’s not for me?”
For many, many years, no. I couldn’t afford to. I needed the money. I needed the health insurance.
But recently I realized I didn’t really want to do any more horror movies, at least not the gratuitous kind. There was one script where I’d have been naked in prosthetic makeup, standing in a ring of fire, screaming really obscene things at the devil.
I thought, “No. I don’t need to put that out into the world.”
It was strange to pass on something because I’m not used to that.
Well, you’re an Emmy nominee now. I think you’ve earned the right.
(Laughs.) Maybe. I’m a Libra. I can’t make a decision to save my life. I still want to read everything. I love working with young directors. If it’s a good script and I’m getting to work with good people, I don’t care if it pays nothing. I still haven’t lost that hunger.
Have you figured out what you’re wearing to the Emmys yet?
Well, nobody’s really reached out yet. I’ve been working with a stylist for interviews, but I usually shop at Target and Goodwill. I’m not a clothes horse. I’m a flip-flops, T-shirts and shorts kind of girl. No makeup.
I got all glammed up for a panel at Spago with Michelle Pfeiffer, Elle Fanning and Rhea Seehorn, and it felt a little strange. But it’s fun. Why not?
You’re having a huge moment and this Emmy thing is big. Some major designer needs to seize the moment and dress you.
Thank you. I hope so too. I’m just waiting. It’s getting close. I need a dress. Somebody design me!
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