Marsha Warfield: Roz 'could not have been gay' in original 'Night Court'

Note: This episode contains spoilers for the Night Court Season 2 premiere.

LOS ANGELES, Jan. 2 (UPI) -- Marsha Warfield's return to Night Court on Tuesday had her character, Roz, engaged to a woman. Warfield, 69, who came out in 2017, thinks the original series, which ran until 1992, could not have gone there.

"Roz could not have been gay then," Warfield told UPI in a recent Zoom interview. "We never even considered such a thing."

Warfield waited until her mother died before coming out, at her mother's request. Still, Warfield said the television climate in the '80s and '90s probably would not have allowed Roz to be openly gay.

Night Court concluded four years before Ellen Degeneres got her own sitcom. Degeneres came out in her show's fourth season.

"It would've been a bold thing," Warfield said. "Ask Ellen."

Warfield said she might not have been comfortable playing Roz as gay before she came out in real life.

"I could have played her, but I don't know if I could've come out then," Warfield said. "My mother had asked me not to while she was alive and she was still alive."

The Season 1 finale of Night Court introduced Roz as a surprise cameo. Warfield said she was only hired for the cameo at first. It became a two part episode, with Roz involved in part two, later.

"I had no expectations whatsoever," Warfield told UPI in a recent Zoom interview. "They could have resolved it without me."

Dan Fielding (John Larroquette) took a job as a judge. He was shocked to see Roz come before his court, since she was the bailiff when he was the prosecutor.

The season premiere finds Roz working as a private investigator after her bailiff career. Roz enlists Dan in a P.I. scheme for the episode.

When Roz and Dan reunited, it was just like old times, Warfield said. When it comes to comedy, Warfield said she still plays "straight woman" to Larroquette's comic shenanigans.

Revisiting Roz after 30 years was natural, Warfield said, adding that the new Night Court writers captured her character and made her return easy.

"It's like riding a bike without the danger," Warfield said. "This was getting back on the bike, but it's a stationary bike and I was safe."

Warfield said she was also pleased to see Night Court's new bailiff, Donna Gurganous (Lacretta). Though Lacretta also is a Black woman, Warfield said she is paving her own way with a brand new character.

"She deserves to take that role and do with it what she will," Warfield said. "I hope if there's anything I can pass it's a torch, a flashlight, but she's got big enough feet to make her own steps."

At the end of the '90s, Warfield took nearly 20 years off away from Hollywood. She returned to the standup stage in 2015, but did not consider her career to be back until 2017.

"I had terrible stage rust and no material," Warfield said. "It was a period of getting acclimated, reacclimated again, back on the bike."

Now, Warfield has regular standup tour dates. She has also returned to acting in TV movies and series like 9-1-1 and The Upshaws.

After Night Court, in the '90s Warfield guest-starred on Larroquette and co-star Harry Anderson's subsequent sitcoms. She also did episodes of Mad About You, Living Single, Veronica's Closet and more.

However, personal family matters called her away from Hollywood. Warfield said she does not discuss those matters out of respect for her family's privacy.

Warfield called her hiatus from Hollywood a return "to sanity." However, Warfield said those family issues have been resolved and she "could come back and do what I always felt I was called to do."