Here again you will find excellent coverage of Marlee Matlin's performance on Dancing with the Stars, complete with video and transcript.
Marlee Matlin and Fabian Sanchez, Dancing with the Stars
In her quiet rehearsal studio, Marlee Matlin rolls her hips, moving to a sort of internal metronome. "My husband is the one who told me I needed to do this show," says Matlin, unstrapping her ballroom heels to relieve her aching feet. "He thought it was a great opportunity for people to see my lighter side."
That lighter side, full of sass and wit, has been overshadowed by a fierce determination to overcome the odds. At 21, Matlin stunned Hollywood by winning an Oscar for her powerful performance in Children of a Lesser God. She was the fabulous newcomer but had barely finished her acceptance speech when the ugly whispers started: It was a sympathy vote because she's deaf. She'd never work again.
"You don't say that to Marlee," says close friend Henry Winkler, who hosted Matlin's 1993 wedding to L.A. police detective Kevin Grandalski. "If anyone was destined to be in this business, it's her."
Fabian Sanchez, Matlin's partner on Dancing with the Stars (Mondays, 8 pm/ET, and Tuesdays, 9 pm/ET, on ABC), couldn't agree more. "There's no sympathy here," he says. "I treated Marlee pretty much the same way I treat all my new students." That is, he's not cutting her any slack.
