As Fran Liddy, Judy Greer Stands By Her Man in ‘White House Plumbers’

Phil Caruso/HBO

We are now 50 years removed from the infamous Watergate break-in of 1972 and the ensuing 1973 hearings that ultimately led to President Richard Nixon’s resignation in August 1974. While many people may know the names of the people involved, and have a general idea of what went on, there are some lesser-known details — some almost too incredible and at times humorous to believe — that may not be as well known.

HBO’s five-part series White House Plumbers (Mondays beginning May 1 at 9pm ET/PT, streaming on HBO Max) delves into those details. It follows Nixon’s political saboteurs, the “White House plumbers” of the title — E. Howard Hunt and G. Gordon Liddy, who are portrayed, respectively, by sure-to-be Emmy nominees Woody Harrelson and Justin Theroux in fantastic performances — as they accidentally topple the presidency they were zealously trying to protect, and their families along with it, through a combination of bad luck and, mostly, their own clumsiness.

The series is directed and executive produced by David Mandel, with Alex Gregory and Peter Huyck on hand as creators, writers and EPs. Those three men were all involved behind the scenes with HBO’s acclaimed political comedy series Veep, and they bring a similar sensibility to this satirical drama.

Since White House Plumbers is based on a real story that represented a very serious moment in our nation’s history despite how humorous some of the incidents surrounding it may have been, this creative team expertly keeps the series balancing a fine line between drama and wit throughout, while never becoming an outright comedy, as Veep did on occasion.

“Any great producer will tell you the trickiest thing is maintaining tone,” agrees Judy Greer, who costars as Fran Liddy, Gordon’s wife. “It’s really hard with five hourlong episodes. It’s like a five-hour movie.”

Greer’s role in this sort-of “movie” is not particularly large, but it’s one of those supporting roles that she has seemed to specialize in and become most renowned for: a character who may not be a big part of the overall story, but who you also can’t look away from when she’s onscreen, thanks to Greer’s portrayal.

And Fran is a fascinating character creation, despite having been a real person. She features in some of the series’ wildest scenes, as when the Liddys invite Howard and his wife, Dorothy (Lena Headey), over for dinner. At one point, Fran’s off-the-wall husband drops the needle on a record album of Hitler speeches as casually as if he were simply playing some after-dinner music, shocking the Hunts while Fran simply continues the conversation and keeps the cocktails flowing.

As great a character actress as Greer is, portraying Fran Liddy, even in limited scenes, sounds like it could have been challenging given the lack of details known about the woman, but Greer found a way to successfully inhabit this person.

“I was playing someone that there wasn’t much information on,” she says. “There wasn’t a ton about her that I could find, so I kind of decided to just create this character and play off Justin in my own way.”

It works quite well. As over-the-top and often belligerent as Theroux’s Gordon can get, Greer’s Fran tends to balance the couple out.

In forming the character, Greer says that after first reading the scripts for all five episodes in order, she then started from the end to “create” Fran.

“[I] saw at the end when Gordon’s in jail, she stays by him, and she supports him. … She’s committed to him, and raising their kids, and keeping their family together. I wanted Fran to not be stupid; I wanted her to have made a choice to be a devoted wife and mother.

“I think she kind of knows the drill. She’s probably more streetwise than book smart … and that’s what I found just from the scenes that were written that I think is an interesting way in. Because I didn’t want her to be rolling her eyes at her husband. … I just think it’s more interesting if she kind of knows her husband’s a bit dopey, but she doesn’t care, because she loves him.”