What ever happened to Fay from 'Wings'? Rebecca Schull is 90 and starring in 'The Last'

Character actress Rebecca Schull became a familiar face to TV viewers during a long run on the ‘90s ensemble comedy “Wings.” She played Fay, an endearingly quirky widow who runs an airline-ticket counter.  

Schull has worked steadily since that show ended 22 years ago in a variety of projects, but her latest role is about as far as you can get from a cheerful network sitcom. In the big-screen drama “The Last,” she plays Claire, a beloved 92-year-old Jewish matriarch who shocks her family with a startling revelation: She was a member of the Nazi party during World War II, working as a nurse in Auschwitz.

Needless to say, it’s not the kind of role the actress gets a script for every day.

REVIEW: In 'The Last,' imagine learning that your great-grandmother is a Nazi

“I had some very mixed feelings at the beginning,” says Schull, calling from Venice, California, before a promotional event. “She’s a very bizarre character in some sense, but I think that Jeff Lipsky has written a very believable story, and it’s very shocking as it’s portrayed.”

There were some issues to consider with the film. Most importantly, Schull herself is Jewish, so the role stirred up some difficult emotions.

“In order to make it credible for anybody listening to her, you have to believe in her and accept her,” she says. “That doesn’t mean from the outside that I accept the things she says. Some of them are really horrific. But I have to look at it from her vantage point and consider all that she went through.”

In Lipsky’s film (he also directs), Claire was abandoned for the first part of her life and relied on a Nazi doctor who became her protector. He brings her to Auschwitz, then she eventually leaves for the United States, disguised as a Jewish refugee.

Even though her family has been raised in the Jewish faith, Claire remains a virulent anti-Semite. "There are two sides to every battle," the character explains.  

“The hardest thing about what she says is not her history, but that for all these years, she has lived as a Jewish woman with a loving Jewish family, and she’s still very anti-Semitic,” Schull says. 

Making Claire real

It is obviously a demanding role, and Schull’s delicately layered performance makes you buy into a premise that can seem a bit far-fetched. But you believe her, so you believe the film.

Her skills are on display in a remarkable monologue that lasts about 45 minutes. She is enjoying a day at the beach with her great-grandson and his wife when she decides to spill all her secrets — and her Nazi past is just the beginning of what she has kept under wraps.  

“I guess I approached it in the way I would approach any other role,” Schull says. “There was a lot to learn. I had to learn that huge monologue. There’s something about the acting process when you get to repeat to yourself over and over what a character is saying that in some way it kind of infiltrates into your own being. For you to feel comfortable saying those things, you have to find a way that resonates, that seems real and natural and spontaneous.

“While you do that, while you’re learning, a kind of osmosis happens. I wouldn’t say I took on her character – God forbid! – but you find a way to make that character become part of yourself, or vice versa.”

Claire speaks with a convincing European accent, a touch that was Schull’s idea.

“Jeff didn’t want an accent, but I felt it would help me,” she says. “The more you can sort of define a character in idiosyncratic ways ... if you can develop some sort of texture, it helps create them. It was very helpful to have the accent; it helped me. And it was fun to do.”

Schull's history with her director

She’s worked with Lipsky before on such films as “Molly’s Theory of Relativity” and “Twelve Thirty,” though Claire is biggest showcase she’s had in one of his projects.

“I don’t think it was written for me,” she says. “I know that I was the first and only person that Jeff asked to do it, but I don’t know whether he had me in mind when he wrote it.”

She enjoys working with the filmmaker, who shot the movie over 12 days. His films all boast a very singular style.

“He says his main theme is really working families and the generations in families and the conflicts that are from that. But as far as working with him, his enterprises are always very low-budget. You work very quickly but very efficiently. It all runs quite smoothly.”

She loves talking about 'Wings'

Schull didn't begin acting until she was in her 40s. She moved with her husband to Dublin and began studying the Stanislavsky method. She made her Broadway debut in 1976 in "Herzl." Later came work in film and TV before "Wings" began an eight-season run in 1990 on NBC. 

“It’s kind of amazing that we finished that show over 20 years ago, and people still recognize me,” she says.

She never felt typecast as Fay, perhaps one reason she looks back on the show so fondly. 

“It was a marvelous experience,” she says. “The producers were wonderful, the cast was wonderful, everyone got on very well. The whole atmosphere on the set was marvelous. Nobody complained; there were no tantrums. It all went very smoothly, very pleasantly.

"The great thing about doing a show like that is you laugh a lot. You go to work and you laugh a lot, and not a lot of people can say that.”

A 90-year-old working actress

At 90, the New York-based actress is two years younger than the woman she plays in "The Last." She acknowledges that roles as meaty as Claire don't come around very often at her age. 

“Parts are few and far between at this stage,” she says. “I accept that and I have no complaints about my career. Having started as late as I did, and then to have the success with something like ‘Wings’ and to do other things that were really interesting – I can't complain."

Now is certainly a sweet time. She's been receiving amazing reviews for "The Last" (the New York Times calls her "spectacular"), and she enjoys the acclaim. 

"It's lovely," she says with a laugh. "It's much better than a kick in the pants." 

Reach the reporter at randy.cordova@arizonarepublic.com or 602-444-8849. Twitter.com/randy_cordova. Subscribe to azcentral.com today.

'The Last' 

Starts Friday, May 3, at Harkins Shea, 7354 E. Shea Blvd., Scottsdale. From May 3-5, writer-director Jeff Lipsky will conduct Q&As with audiences. These will follow the 12:50, 4:10 and 7:40 p.m. screenings on Friday and Saturday. On Sunday, it will follow the 12:50 and 4:10 p.m. screenings.