Julie Halston Auditioned for ‘Sex and the City’ More Than Once Before Landing the Part of Bitsy Von Mufling
Julie Halston is known to Sex and the City fans as Bitsy Von Muffling. Halston appeared in a few episodes of the original series. She has since reprised the role in And Just Like That…, most recently in season 2 of the series. As Bitsy’s character comes into sharper focus in season 2 of the Max reboot, we can’t help but look back at her original casting. Halston seems perfect in the role, but apparently, it’s not the first role she auditioned for. In a recent interview, Halston revealed that she auditioned for Sex and the City a few times before Bitsy came along.
Julie Halston auditioned for ‘Sex and the City’ before being cast as Bitsy Von Muffling
Halston has had a long and storied career, but she hadn’t made a lasting impression on the casting department for Sex and the City until 2001. In a recent interview with the New York Times, Halston revealed exactly how she became Bitsy Von Muffling on Sex and the City. She told the publication that Michael Patrick King approached her after seeing her in a production with Cynthia Nixon. He told the actor he would create a part just for her. She brushed it off, thinking it would never happen.
Halston’s skepticism was understandable. She told the Times that she had auditioned for Sex and the City multiple times before Bitsy. She said she didn’t get those parts because she was never the right fit. First, she said she auditioned for the role of a therapist, then later for the role of a healer. Both roles went to other actors, and she largely gave up the dream of appearing on the show. King, however, made good on his promise and did create the character of Bitsy Von Muffling specifically with her in mind.
The timing worked out, and Halston appeared in the series. While the role was initially small, Bitsy, a woman in her 50s who was marrying Bobby Fine, an entertainer that Carrie Bradshaw and her pals all assumed was gay. Nathan Lane played Bobby Fine. He did not reprise his role in the Max reboot. The character was killed off, making Bitsy a widow like Carrie.
Exactly who did she audition to play?
While Halston didn’t share exactly what parts she auditioned for by name, we can wager a guess as to the role she mentioned if we look back at the series. Halston first said she auditioned to play a therapist. Sex and the City only featured a few therapy storylines. Miranda discusses feeling sexually left out by her friends in a season 1 episode, but her therapist was a man. A female therapist was included in season 2 of Sex and the City, though. We think it’s the role that Halston auditioned for initially.
In the season 2 episode, “Games People Play,” Carrie makes an appointment with an acclaimed therapist known as Dr. G to get to the root of her love troubles. She meets a man named Seth, played by Jon Bon Jovi, while in the waiting room. After hooking up, Carrie learns that he sees Dr. G because he loses interest in women as soon as he beds them. She stopped seeing the therapist, and Dr. G only appeared in one episode. Anne Lange portrayed the character. She also appeared in a season 1 episode as a different character.
The second character Halston referred to was likely Dr. Grayson, a self-help guru, who appeared in season 5 of Sex and the City. Charlotte finds the doctor’s seminars following her divorce from Trey MacDougal and asks Carrie to join her. Carrie does and ends up standing up for Charlotte. The character of Dr. Grayson, portrayed by Cheryl Bicker, only appeared in a single episode.
While we are sad that we didn’t see Julie Halston on Sex and the City earlier in its run, we can’t imagine her as anyone but Bitsy Von Muffling. In fact, we hope to see more of the eccentric character as season 2 of And Just Like That… progresses.
