Actresses Holly Robinson Peete and Lacey Chabert were named in a lawsuit filed against Hallmark studio by a casting director who said the network discriminated against her and them due to their age.
The October 9 legal complaint from casting director Penny Perry, 79, was filed in Los Angeles Superior Court and named Lisa Hamilton Daly, who works as the network’s executive VP of programming, in docs reviewed by Variety Wednesday.
Lawyers for Perry said Hamilton Daly called Robinson Peete, 60, and Chabert, 42, ‘old talent’ producers needed to find replacements for in future projects as both have appeared in holiday-themed films and shows on the Hallmark Channel.
Attorneys for the casting director said that Hamilton Daly told underlings she was against putting ‘old people’ in roles.
Court docs quoted Hamilton Daly saying of Robinson Peete: ‘No one wants her because she’s too expensive and getting too old. She can’t play leading roles anymore.’
Actresses Holly Robinson Peete, 60, and Lacey Chabert, 42, were named in a lawsuit filed against Hallmark Media by a casting director who said the network discriminated against her due to her ageÂ
Of Chabert, Hamilton Daly said, ‘Lacey’s getting older and we have to find someone like her to replace her as she gets older,’ the lawsuit stated.
Hallmark issued a statement to Variety in response to the lawsuit that read, ‘We do not generally comment on pending litigation. And while we deny these outrageous allegations, we are not going to discuss an employment relationship in the media.’
Perry filed the lawsuit after she said her nine-year stint with the network ended ‘unceremoniously’ this past April, when Hamilton Daly informed her she was ‘too long in the tooth,’ as the company was in search of ‘new talent.’
Perry’s legal team claims Hamilton Daly told the casting director the network needed ‘to bring in someone who knows more young talent’ and that their ‘leading ladies are aging out.’
The October 9 legal complaint from casting director Penny Perry was filed in Los Angeles Superior Court and named Lisa Hamilton Daly (pictured last week in Tarrytown, New York), who works as the network’s executive VP of programming
Attorneys for the casting director said that Hamilton Daly told underlings she was against putting ‘old people’ in rolesÂ
Perry said in her suit that Hallmark did not make efforts to accommodate disabilities she has – including multiple sclerosis and partial blindness – the outlet reported.
Perry said in legal docs that company officials had given her high marks in performance evaluations every year, with the most recent coming in the two months before she was let go.
Perry, a Los Angeles native, has worked on a number of notable projects, with credits on motion pictures such as 1979’s The Jerk, 1984’s The NeverEnding Story, 1985’s Cocoon, 1987’s Summer School, 1987’s *batteries not included, 1988’s Young Guns and 1997’s Double Team, according to iMDb.Â
