Rob Lowe's 'Love Life' tidbits, Kyle Chandler: Lowe's rival in 'The Lyons Den'

“There’s this unbelievable bias and prejudice against quote-unquote good-looking people, that they can’t be in pain or they can’t have rough lives or be deep or interesting.” —Rob Lowe on the Problems With Being Pretty Source: www.nytimes.com

Rob Lowe’s second memoir, 'Love Life,' is more notable for what isn’t there than what is. For instance, there’s no mention in the just-published book of the infamous sex tape he filmed with an underage teen, the nanny lawsuits, or if he ever got anything in return for sending a nude photo of himself wrapped in a toy snake to Andy Warhol.

What Rob Lowe, now 50, does want you to know, however, is that he’s older and wiser and loves his family — especially his wife, Sheryl — very, very much. At times, he seems a little bit like his character Chris Traeger from 'Parks and Recreation': buoyantly optimistic with a belief that hard work and dedication are the ultimate determinants for success. Still, there are plenty of anecdotes from the 259-page memoir that Lowe fans will enjoy, including why he turned down 'Grey's Anatomy' and behind-the-scenes tales from the set of the short-lived 'Lyons Den'.

1. In order to fit in with the other kids, a teenage Rob Lowe bought a pipe and pretended to smoke pot. It was his first real attempt at acting.

2. He learned that a “young, successful actress” he was dating was also sleeping with Warren Beatty ... from Warren Beatty.

Lowe, who was about to break out with 'The Outsiders,' was being cuckolded by someone far more famous than he was at the time. This unnamed young love interest apparently reminded Beatty of his onetime sweetheart Natalie Wood ... who had been cuckolding a pre–Splendor in the Grass–fame Beatty by simultaneously sleeping with Frank Sinatra. Oh, the parallels!

3. Being a regular at Lakers games informed Lowe’s “transgendered Bee Gee” look in Behind the Candelabra. Lowe based his look on shiny, plastic-looking guys he used to see courtside. It was such a success that, during the shoot, Matt Damon couldn’t look at him without busting a gut.

4. After Jewel filmed a kissing scene with Rob in The Lyons’ Den, she wiped the back of her hands across her lips in disgust. After seeing Jewel’s performance in Ang Lee’s Ride With the Devil, he convinced the studio to hire her as a love interest for a four-episode arc in The Lyons’ Den, his flailing NBC legal drama. However, when shooting a climactic make-out scene, Jewel brought her boyfriend, an iconic rodeo champ, to the set, and kept trying to get out of macking with Lowe. She eventually acquiesced, but not without a public display of discomfort.

5. Ryan Murphy wanted Lowe to star in Nip/Tuck. Over lunch after the fact, Murphy told Lowe that he’d written the part of Dr. Christian Troy with Lowe in mind. But since Ryan Murphy wasn’t yet “Ryan Murphy,” Lowe’s agents never even showed him the script.

6. CBS honcho Les Moonves talked Rob Lowe out of taking the lead role in Grey’s Anatomy. In 2004, Lowe was deciding between headlining CBS drama Dr. Vegas and taking the part of Dr. Derek Shepherd on Grey’s Anatomy (which would eventually be taken by Patrick Dempsey). Even though Lowe thought that Grey’s had the better script, he listened to Moonves, who was arguing that ABC hadn’t launched a successful new drama in more than a decade and that Grey’s wouldn’t be any different. Dr. Vegas lasted one season.

7. Rashida Jones calls him a “benevolent narcissist.” Well, it's better than “benevolent dictator.”

8. He went on a date with Madonna at the Palladium in New York. Madonna had just released Like a Virgin and he had just wrapped up St. Elmo’s Fire. They were sitting in the VIP area when she said she wanted to go dance in the crowd. Rob thought she was nuts and didn’t go. She told him, “I’m just not going to let success fuck up my fun.” Source: www.vulture.com

THE LYON'S DEN: "At the time NBC was the best network on TV. I felt like home after so many years on 'The West Wing'. So I read 'The Lyon's Den' and jumped on board. We set out to find a cast of great actors. I read with everyone we saw, culled the field down to two or three finalists for each role and selected them to bring before the studio; my criteria were clear: I want actors who can actually act, I don't want everyone to look like a model and above all [I want] charisma. Our final cast was: Kyle Chandler, Elizabeth Mitchell, David Krumholtz, Matt Craven and James Pickens Jr.

So on the last day, I invited my office rival, the future coach of 'Friday Night Lights', Kyle Chandler, to a final showdown. In it, he confronted me about secretly being on antipsychotic meds and my involvement in my mentor's death. I walked toward him with a smile, blithely confessed to the murder, then stabbed him to death with my steak knife. I then finished my meal, walked to the office balcony and committed suicide by throwing myself off. End of series." -"Love Life" (2014) by Rob Lowe

Following the demise of "Early Edition," Kyle Chandler tried his hand at other series, though none survived more than a season. He played Joan Cusack's love interest in the sitcom "What About Joan" (ABC, 2001) and worked against type as a heel lawyer in the Rob Lowe courtroom drama "The Lyon's Den" (NBC, 2003-04) named Grant Rashton who had an illicit love affair with Ariel Saxon (Elizabeth Mitchell).


Clip of Rob Lowe, Kyle Chandler and Elizabeth Mitchell in the 2nd episode of the 2003 show Lyon's Den.