JamesG
01-20-2026, 02:08 AM
Melora Hardin Reveals the Most Frustrating Part of Starring in "Dirty Dancing" TV Series
by Ryan Coleman
January 19, 2026
Melora Hardin, the star of "The Office", "Transparent", 27 Dresses, The Bold Type, and, more recently, "Dancing With the Stars" sat down with Entertainment Weekly for a career-spanning interview in which she touched on her time leading the cast of "Dirty Dancing".
Not the beloved, 1987 romantic classic starring Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey, but the series adaptation that followed the year after, in which Hardin stepped into Grey's dancing shoes as Frances "Baby" Kellerman.
"It was so exciting," Hardin recalls. "I mean, Kenny Ortega was not Kenny Ortega back then. He wasn't the star that he is now, or the filmmaker that he'd become," she says of the High School Musical director who in 1988 was coming off a prolific run choreographing films like Xanadu, St. Elmo's Fire, and Pretty in Pink in the 1980s.
Ortega also choreographed the Dirty Dancing film and was brought on to sketch out the moves for the series and ultimately directed two episodes.
"He was really a choreographer then, and he was just wonderful, so warm and so likable. So that was something amazing about the show, and we had a lot of fun," Hardin continues, but, asking if she can be honest, the star notes that there was something about the production experience that "was actually frustrating for me."
"I wasn't allowed to dance," Hardin reveals. Laughing, she elaborates, "Oh, yeah. I had to pretend I couldn't dance!"
Paul Feig, who would go on to direct Bridesmaids and The Housemaid, played Norman Bryant on the series.
"Paul was one of my favorite actors on Dirty Dancing," Hardin recalls. "He was so much fun, just a great actor and a nice guy. We really liked each other, and they kind of built that into the show, because we just had such a nice rapport."
Feig also went on to direct Hardin in the infamous "The Office" episode 'Dinner Party'.
https://ew.com/melora-hardin-reveals-most-frustrating-part-of-dirty-dancing-tv-series-11881302
by Ryan Coleman
January 19, 2026
Melora Hardin, the star of "The Office", "Transparent", 27 Dresses, The Bold Type, and, more recently, "Dancing With the Stars" sat down with Entertainment Weekly for a career-spanning interview in which she touched on her time leading the cast of "Dirty Dancing".
Not the beloved, 1987 romantic classic starring Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey, but the series adaptation that followed the year after, in which Hardin stepped into Grey's dancing shoes as Frances "Baby" Kellerman.
"It was so exciting," Hardin recalls. "I mean, Kenny Ortega was not Kenny Ortega back then. He wasn't the star that he is now, or the filmmaker that he'd become," she says of the High School Musical director who in 1988 was coming off a prolific run choreographing films like Xanadu, St. Elmo's Fire, and Pretty in Pink in the 1980s.
Ortega also choreographed the Dirty Dancing film and was brought on to sketch out the moves for the series and ultimately directed two episodes.
"He was really a choreographer then, and he was just wonderful, so warm and so likable. So that was something amazing about the show, and we had a lot of fun," Hardin continues, but, asking if she can be honest, the star notes that there was something about the production experience that "was actually frustrating for me."
"I wasn't allowed to dance," Hardin reveals. Laughing, she elaborates, "Oh, yeah. I had to pretend I couldn't dance!"
Paul Feig, who would go on to direct Bridesmaids and The Housemaid, played Norman Bryant on the series.
"Paul was one of my favorite actors on Dirty Dancing," Hardin recalls. "He was so much fun, just a great actor and a nice guy. We really liked each other, and they kind of built that into the show, because we just had such a nice rapport."
Feig also went on to direct Hardin in the infamous "The Office" episode 'Dinner Party'.
https://ew.com/melora-hardin-reveals-most-frustrating-part-of-dirty-dancing-tv-series-11881302