Blythe Danner: Ruth Madoff Was a Clueless Victim

Bernie Madoff may have ripped off millions of dollars from many innocent victims, but if you ask actors Richard Dreyfuss and Blythe Danner, who play Bernie and his wife Ruth in ABC’s miniseries “Madoff,” Ruth might have been one of the biggest casualties of the massive Ponzi scheme.

“I don’t think that she knew. She’d been with this man and in love with him since she was 16 -- her entire life. And incrementally, she saw this climb to the top financially where they were. If there were any suspicions at all, it was just her life was so full and so I didn’t think she questioned it,” said Danner during an interview with the FOX Business Network’s Maria Bartiromo.

Danner also shared her experience with Ruth.

“How do you talk to someone who has lost both of her children and have insight into that -- the wounded. I found her to be a wonderful person… it was extraordinary that she was even able to talk to me,” she said.

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For Richard Dreyfuss, who was also part of the interview, playing Bernie Madoff wasn’t just another role, it was important for him politically.

“Actors rarely get a chance to play someone so vivid and complex and simple and straightforward and so impactful. You know, it’s like who is the guy that changed the world? Bernie Madoff,” said Dreyfuss.

Unlike Danner, Dreyfuss said he turned down the opportunity to speak with Bernie.

“What was he going to do? Tell me the truth,” snarled Dreyfuss. “I didn’t want to reward him with another hour and a half that he could put into the prison paper,” he added.