The Opposite of Rex
Entertainment Weekly
May 27, 2005.
Why death is good news for ''Desperate Housewives''' Rex --
Steven Culp talks about his departure from ABC's breakout hit.
By Jeff Jensen.
REX LIFE Culp discusses the possibility of his character's death being a hoax.
Before Desperate Housewives, Steven Culp was famous for being one of those
''that guy'' actors. You know: ''Look, honey, there's that guy from...[fill in
the blank].'' In Culp's case, that blank could be JAG, The West Wing, Star
Trek: Enterprise — three shows among dozens the journeyman character actor has
passed through over the past decade. His résumé also contains its share of
Important Roles, most notably turns as Robert Kennedy in both HBO's Norma Jean
and Marilyn and the big screen's Thirteen Days in 2000. ''It's the face,'' says
the 49-year-old Culp, pointing to his clean-shaven Everyman's mug. ''I'm a one
man rep company.''
But with the death of his sad-sack sex fetishist Dr. Rex Van De Kamp in the May
22 season finale of Desperate Housewives (presumably the victim of a vengeful
pharmacist's pill switcheroo), Culp's fuzzy kind of fame has solidified. And so
begins a new chapter — there's that S&M guy from Desperate Housewives.
Culp says he wasn't shocked to learn Rex would end up making Bree (Marcia
Cross) a widow. ''I had a sneaking suspicion someone was going to go,'' says
the actor during a hushed-voiced interview at an L.A. coffee shop 10 days
before Rex's televised demise. ''I was laying bets with the other guys in the
cast it was going to be me. After I found out it was, I stopped doing that.''
Culp got the news in early April after the show's staff had decided that the
arc of the Van De Kamps' tumultuous marriage had run its course. ''As we neared
the end of season 1, our plan was that each woman would enter a new life
chapter,'' says coexecutive producer Kevin Murphy. ''Gabrielle would learn to
function without Carlos, Susan and Mike would build their relationship, Lynette
would go back to work, and Bree would become a single woman. We either had to
have Rex divorce her or die, and we already did the coma with Mama Solis.''
Culp says he understood. ''The show's about the housewives,'' he says. ''You
got to keep them desperate.''
Nonetheless, Culp felt the sting. He even uses the getting-dumped-by-a-
girlfriend analogy. And yet, he broke the news of his unemployment to his wife
(Barbara Ayers, with whom he has two children) and father that night by opening
some wine and toasting a fine year. ''Here's the worst-case scenario: I've been
on this phenomenal success. Done work I'm proud of. Made money to provide for
my family. And I'm free again. That's not a bad situation,'' says Culp, who
qualifies the sentiment by adding that he may not have been so circumspect when
his career was just starting.
The path to such perspective began when the Virginia-bred Culp (no relation to
Robert) arrived in Hollywood in the early '90s after years of steady work on
the New York stage. He thought parts in film and TV would come easy. Wrong. ''I
would audition for something and they would smell it on me. Neediness. Anger,''
he says. ''I didn't work for three years.''
When he adjusted his attitude and embraced the working actor's life, Culp's
''that guy'' career took off. Bolstered by his first Bobby Kennedy portrayal,
he developed a cottage industry of ''agenda-driven men'' — Speaker of the House
on The West Wing, a special agent on JAG. In fact, because Rex was the total
opposite of his usual take-charge guys, Culp found playing him a challenge.
''Rex was confused and lost, and it was disconcerting,'' says Culp. ''I've come
out the other end feeling I'm a better actor.''
Culp is optimistic about the push Housewives can give his career — but within
reason. He'd like to do more movies, would love to save himself for choice
roles (nothing in the works yet), but knows he can't afford to be choosy for
long. ''If millions of people call in and say, 'How can you kill Rex?' maybe
they'll make it all a hoax,'' he says, laughing. ''Then I'll hit 'em for tons
of money.''