Interview: Molly Ephraim on Playing a Real-Life Female Baseball Star in Prime Video’s ‘A League of Their Own’

The story of women recruited to play baseball during World War II while the regular male players were off fighting for America gets a very worthwhile and enjoyable update in Prime Video’s new series. Among the fantastic cast of A League of Their Own is Molly Ephraim, who gets to play Maybelle Fox, modeled on Maybelle Blair, who is ninety-five years old and came out as a lesbian earlier this year.

Awards Radar had the chance to speak with Ephraim about getting to be a part of this exciting show. Discussing her relationship with the original film, she explained:

“I was one of those kids that sort of missed out on all of the iconic 80s and 90s films, so I have revisited them, or been introduced to them as an adult. I’m not sure exactly when I saw the film. I did work with Eddie Mekka at the Bucks County Playhouse in a production of Fiddler on the Roof when I was probably seven or eight, and he is the guy who dances with Madonna in the swing dancing scene. I, from a young age, was like, wow, that is the pinnacle of fame. To dance with Madonna, and now I’m in the remake!”

On drawing inspiration for her character from Blair, Ephraim shared:

“The character description said Maybelle is the spunkiest person you’ll ever meet, and that is her. I think we bring that out in each other when we’re hanging out. I saw her over the weekend, and it was a hundred bazillion degrees out, and she was wearing a turtleneck, the whole deal, she was done up. I said, girl, why you got this turtle neck on? She said, oh, I don’t want them to see my turkey neck. She’s just plain cool. I’d like to think that I brought a little bit of her sass and no-nonsense-isms, but she’s also everyone’s friend. She doesn’t seem like she’s going to pick a fight with anybody unless you get in her way on the field.”

Watch the full conversation below:

All eight episodes of A League of Their Own premiere Friday, August 12th on Prime Video.