Many Desperate Housewives fans are still mourning the death of Mike Delfino, 12 years later. But for actor James Denton, filming “was a lot of fun.”
In a recent interview with PEOPLE, the actor, 61, shares his favorite episodes from the ABC comedy drama in which he played Mike, Susan Mayer’s (Teri Hatcher) partner on the show.
“The one where they shot me,” he immediately shouts as the climax of the episode. “It’s always fun to get goosebumps in front of the camera.”
The actor also recalls behind-the-scenes filming of a beloved character’s death in Season 8, Episode 16 via a car shot outside his fictional home on Wisteria Lane. Crucial for the death scene were the special effects and the tube to simulate blood.
“You have a tube on one leg of your pants that brings blood to your chest, and you have a wire down the other leg. This guy’s out in the bushes with a detonator to set off the explosion,” Denton explains. “And you can only do it two or three times and that’s all day.”
Enter James Denton and Teri Hatcher Desperate Housewives.
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There were, of course, a lot of emotions that accompanied the filming of Delfin’s last moments with his colleague, Hatcher. In the scene, Mike pushes Susan out of the way, taking a loan shark bullet and saving her life.
“Teri was so brilliant in that scene,” Denton told PEOPLE. “I was laying in her lap, you know, bleeding from the big crane that shot up. This was before there were drones, obviously. She just sobs uncontrollably. And she did it all day. And it was so hard for me not to break down and cry because it was so heartbreaking.”
Mike’s survival through the show’s final season was quite a feat, especially considering countless characters were killed off during the show’s run. “It was a lot of death,” Denton says.
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“The guys were joking throughout the race, ‘Who’s going to die,’ you know, because despite all the talk of Housewives because he was so rude, there wasn’t as much sex — but there was a lot of murder,” Denton tells PEOPLE. “We killed 56 characters.”
Although the actors did not get the full script towards the end Desperate Housewives‘ final season to avoid spoilers, Denton says the drama’s producer, Marc Cherry, still consulted him about Mike’s murder.
“[We] they always joked about who was going to be the last man standing,” Denton says. “‘Can we make it through another season?’ [Then] they actually invited me to talk about killing Delfin – which I thought was very respectful of them – and said, ‘We want to do something big before the finale that doesn’t involve women.’ ”
‘Desperate Housewives’ alums James Denton and Teri Hatcher reunite for Hallmark Christmas movie
Mike’s ending felt like “a great send-off,” Denton tells PEOPLE, and he was “very happy about it.”
To this day, Denton says fans still come up to him to express their sadness at his character’s sudden death.
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“I love that people are really sweet, almost everyone I talk to comments on the fact that they cried when Delfino got shot, but that was brilliantly set up by writer Matt Berry and Marc,” he says, laughing. “[They] it really sets people up emotionally, which isn’t really fair.”
Desperate Housewives now streaming in its entirety on Hulu.
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Source: HIS Education