Brenda Strong remembers the exact moment she realized Desperate Housewives was a hit. “One day I was standing at my local Starbucks on my way to work and someone near me who wasn’t paying attention heard me order a tea,” Strong tells PEOPLE. “Immediately they turned around and said, ‘Mary Alice.’ It was like he recognized my voice before he saw me.” After that experience, Strong (64) realized another thing. “I realized I had to start being careful,” Strong says. “When you’re talking to a telemarketer or someone on the phone, or paying a bill, if you’re not very nice to them if they recognize your voice, you’re going to be in big trouble. ” She adds, “I realized that now I have to be very careful [because] people will recognize — just by my voice — that it’s me.”
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On Desperate HousewivesStrong played Mary Alice Young — one of the housekeepers of Wisteria Lane. In the October 2004 pilot episode, Young takes his own life. After her death, Young’s friends Gabrielle Solis (Eva Longoria), Lynette Scavo (Felicity Huffman), Bree Weston (Marcia Cross) and Susan Mayer (Teri Hatcher) set out to uncover the secrets and events that led to her suicide. Strong served as the series’ narrator until the end of the series, often appearing in flashbacks.
Brenda Strong (center) with her Desperate Housewives co-stars.
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“When we launched, the response was pretty positive,” Strong says. “I think we all kind of knew we had something at that time.” Although Strong’s voice eventually became synonymous with Young, she almost didn’t get the part. When the studio filmed the initial pilot, Strong was filming a second series, so a different actress was cast in the role. The second series did not last a single season, so an opportunity opened up for a new actress.
Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.“By the time they finished the pilot and the network had a chance look, they decided they wanted someone to play Mary Alice, who really had a special quality to her voice,” explains Strong. “So I was very fortunate to finally be available to audition for it.”
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At the time, Strong was performing Shakespeare in Montana, but conveniently flew to Los Angeles to work on the film. She made the most of her trip and met with Desperate Housewives creator Marc Cherry for an audition. “When I came in, he said, ‘Don’t worry, don’t be nervous. We won’t even look at you. We will all close our eyes. And just tell us the story,’ Strong recounts. “And so I did, and he opened his eyes and said, ‘Can you get out of this commitment in Montana?’ And I said, ‘I asked for a replacement.’ So I thought that was a good sign.”
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Brenda Strong 2016
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However, Young’s voice did not come naturally. “It’s definitely not my usual voice. I don’t speak with this rhythm,” she says. “Marc writes very musically, there’s height and there’s rhythm to the way he writes — what we call MAVO — Mary Alice’s voice. So something is inherently already written in it.” Strong recalls one piece of advice she received from producer Michael Edelstein that helped formulate a clear voice.
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“He said, ‘Why don’t you try to lower your voice down into your heart?’ ” Strong remembers. “As soon as I did that, what came out was not that I was commenting or kicking my neighbors, but that I had an empathetic view of the humanity of each of them and spoke to what was in their hearts and what they were struggling with.” According to Strong, the relatability of the characters is what keeps the show’s legacy alive. “Women identify very, very strongly with these archetypes,” she says. “And I think that’s because Marc took so much care to create these really different characters. And Mary Alice is the kind of soul that allows the truth to come to us, the kind of universal truth about how we all struggle.” Desperate Housewives now streaming in its entirety on Hulu.
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