Actress Carla Gugino opens DutchFest with warmth, humor, and deep affection — a tribute to Elmore Leonard that feels both personal and full circle.
She reflects on the rare joy of playing Karen Sisco, a role she says she was “completely connected to” from the start. “There’s just so much life in that character — and in Dutch’s words,” she says. “His dialogue reads like it’s spoken, not written.” Gugino recalls the thrill of working with Robert Forster (“he was family”), and how the series’ spirit lived on when she returned years later as Karen Goodall in Justified. “There’s this beautiful golden thread that ties all of us together,” she says. “And it all comes from him.
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One of the video’s best moments comes near the end, when Gugino reads from Chick Killer, the 2012 short story Leonard wrote about Karen Sisco’s last day as a U.S. Marshal — a story Dutch wrote especially for her character. Gugino’s reading becomes both performance and homage, a final reunion between actor and author.
She closes the opening tribute with gratitude and grace:
“I’ve been changed in all the great ways by that man. I just feel so thankful that we have him — and that we get to celebrate him today.”
