Jean Smart was seen struggling as she walked with a cane in New York City on Tuesday morning.
The 73-year-old Hacks actress had on a white-and-black striped blazer with a cream-colored camisole and white slacks with blue sneakers.
There was a long blue ombre scarf over her yellow curlers as she added prescription glasses while wearing minimal makeup. Two handlers were with her to guide the acting stalwart to the sidewalk.
This comes just a week after she revealed that she suffered a painful knee injury that kept her from her stage play for two weeks.
Smart hurt herself on the 4th of July while walking around New York City with her sons.
The Designing Woman star told People she ‘went down like a ton of bricks’ when she tripped over a ‘hockey-puck-sized’ base of a barrier on the ground, which she said, ‘keep cars from cutting the corners too close, I think.’
Jean Smart was seen struggling as she walked with a cane in New York City on Tuesday morning. The 73-year-old Hacks actress had on a white-and-black striped blazer with a cream-colored camisole and white slacks with blue sneakers
There was a blue ombre scarf over her yellow curlers as she added prescription glasses with minimal makeup. Two handlers were with her
It is an apparently common occurrence in New York City.
Smart explained, ‘As I was sitting there in the street waiting for the ambulance, a guy came along and tripped over the same thing.’
When she arrived at the small hospital which first treated her, Smart’s assumption was conferred with the health worker told her, ‘Oh, I, I know exactly what you’re talking about. We get one a day.’
The actress, who has been nominated for another Emmy for her role as comedienne Debra Vance in Hacks, has been wowing audiences in her one-woman show Call Me Izzy on Broadway.
‘And that’s in a tiny little hospital. I said, “Well, how come nobody’s screaming bloody murder about it?”‘
Her conclusion was ‘People in New York, they put up with a lot. They just kinda shrug and go, “Eh, what are you gonna do?”‘
The Big Mouth actress was later transferred to another hospital where a ‘really wonderful surgeon’ operated on her knee July 8, the same day the Call Me Izzy Instagram page announced her absence.
The production joyfully announced Smart’s return in its Instagram Stories on Tuesday. ‘Tonight! Welcome Back Jean’ was written over a promotional video for the show.
This comes just a week after she revealed that she suffered a painful knee injury that kept her from her stage play for two weeks. Smart hurt herself on the 4th of July while walking around New York City with her sons. Seen in 2024
The plan was for Smart to return to the stage wearing a leg brace.
‘I won’t be doing as much as I was physically, although it’s a one-person show — it’s not like I was doing big tap numbers and somersaulting across the stage,’ she told the outlet.
‘Some one-person shows they just sort of sit and talk. So hopefully the audience won’t be disappointed. I don’t think they will be. It’s such an amazing story.’
The plot follows Isabell, a Louisiana woman trapped in an abusive marriage. She hopes her gift for writing poetry might be her way out.
Tony winner Johanna Day stepped in to cover for Smart during her medical leave.
Smart and Hannah Einbinder in Hacks
From left: Carl Clemons-Hopkins, Mark Indelicato, Rose Abdoo, Smart, Einbinder, Paul W. Downs and Christopher McDonald of Hacks
The actress will have to wear her knee-brace on stage, but hopes the audience will ‘see it for two seconds, they won’t notice it, and they’ll just enjoy the story.’
During a run-through ahead of Tuesday’s performance Smart revealed having the brace added something new to her performance. ‘It added an interesting element to the feeling of the character feeling trapped,’ she explained.
‘So that was kind of an interesting thing to notice,’ Smart said of the experience.
‘And because I can’t really act from my head to my toes like I usually do, I almost felt like — because I’m now acting mostly from the waist up — it actually seemed to energize me vocally.’
As she works to recover from her injury she admitted, ‘I’m not sure what kind of strength I’ll have in that leg, and bending will be a slow process, but hopefully by the time we close, I’ll be skipping around.’
Call Me Izzy was scheduled to run through August 24.
