Rosemary Harris is "a pistol"

Rosemary Harris recounts how she got the part of Aunt May through Jennifer Ehle's connection with Cate Blanchett.

She admits nabbing the role of Peter Parker’s aunt was fate.

“My daughter (Jennifer Ehle) is a great friend of Cate Blanchett. Cate was filming the movie The Gift in Georgia and wanted me to play her grandmother in one tiny scene. I was on Broadway at the time (opposite Lauren Bacall) in Waiting in the Wings and only had Mondays off.

“It seemed that year that every Monday had an awards show or something so I kept saying no.”

Blanchett persisted, waiting until Harris had a free Monday.

“When that happened, I flew down right after my Sunday matinee … and flew back in time to start my Tuesday performance.”

She then concludes her story slyly: “The gift of movie was all mine because the director was this wonderful young man named Sam Raimi. When it came time to cast Aunt May he called and asked if I’d do it.