NEED TO KNOW
J. Smith-Cameron portrays Marian Proctor, the late Maggie Murdaugh’s sister, on Murdaugh: Death in the Family
The Hulu true-crime series follows the real-life Southern murder scandal
The actress tells PEOPLE the survivors have “one of the roughest” stories
J. Smith-Cameron is getting candid about her role on Murdaugh: Death in the Family.
The Succession alum, 68, caught up with PEOPLE at the Center at West Park’s staged reading of All About Eve on Monday, Nov. 17, and shared insights into her portrayal of Marian Proctor, the late Maggie Murdaugh’s sister.
The survivors have “one of the roughest” stories, she says. “Those poor people, the survivors — my heart’s with them.”
Disney/Daniel Delgado Jr.
J. Smith-Cameron on Hulu’s ‘Murdaugh: Death in the Family’
The Hulu true-crime series, which concludes its 8-episode run on Wednesday, Nov. 19, unravels a real-life murder plot involving Alex Murdaugh and members of his family.
In March 2023, Alex was found guilty of the murders of his wife, Maggie, and their son, Paul. He was sentenced to two consecutive life terms and then received 40 more years in prison after pleading guilty to 22 financial crimes.
Given the recency of this scandal, the survivors are still living.
Grace Beahm Alford/The Post And Courier via AP ; Disney/Daniel Delgado Jr
From Left: Marian Proctor in court on February 14, 2023; and J. Smith-Cameron on ‘Murdaugh: Death in the Family’
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Despite that, Smith-Cameron reveals to PEOPLE that none of them — including her real-life counterpart — reached out to her about the portrayal. Though, she “didn’t expect” to hear anything from them.
“We tried to do a faithful job of our characters when we were playing,” the actress continues. “Most of us were playing real people, and that was kind of unusual — a little bit different acting challenge.”
Of course, Smith-Cameron is no stranger to dramatic roles. She played the mother of a wrongfully-convicted death row inmate in Rectify and a strategic businesswoman in Succession.
On Death in the Family, she was tasked with portraying Alex Murdaugh’s sister-in-law.
Disney/Daniel Delgado Jr.
J. Smith-Cameron as Marian Proctor on ‘Murdaugh: Death in the Family’
Although Proctor mostly stays out of the public eye, her testimony against Alex at his February 2023 trial proved instrumental. Additionally, Proctor has not commented on the scripted series — but Alex has.
His defense attorneys, Dick Harpootlian and Jim Griffin, sent PEOPLE a statement on Nov. 4 “on behalf of Alex after receiving reports about the recent Hulu program,” noting that Alex was “deeply disappointed and disturbed.”
“The program contains numerous inaccuracies and misleading portrayals that distort the truth of their lives,” the statement continued.
Murdaugh: Death in the Family is now streaming on Hulu and Hulu on Disney+.
Read the original article on People
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source nz.news.yahoo.com ’
