The Big Bang Theory Star Melissa Rauch Kept One Of Bernadette’s Props

It’s not uncommon for actors to keep props when they finish a project, and according to Melissa Rauch, who played Bernadette Rostenkowski-Wolowitz on “The Big Bang Theory,” she kept one important part of her character: her eyeglasses.

In an interview with Showbiz Cheat Sheet in the fall of 2021, Rauch revealed that she almost returned the glasses she wore to play Bernadette until one of the show’s executive producers stopped her. “I was so excited,” she recalled. “I was about to hand them back and Steve Molaro, the executive producer, said, ‘I think you should have those.’ I’m so glad that he did.”

“I remember when I took the glasses off for Simon,” Rauch continued, referencing her on-screen husband Howard Wolowitz (played by Simon Helberg) before stressing how emotional the moment was when she received her glasses. “I was so happy they let me take them home with me so I can have them in a special box. I realized as we were shooting the last scene, I was like, ‘Oh, this is the last time I’m going to be using this voice.’ It’s definitely like saying goodbye to a friend. I’ll always remember that moment of realizing this is a goodbye to a character. I always said Bernadette was sort of like a big sister in many ways to me. She sort of did things a few steps ahead of me in life in general…”

Also, fun fact: They’re not real glasses. “They actually don’t have lenses in them so it’s not like I can use them,” Rauch told the outlet. “They’re whole lensless frames. That was literally a trick of the eyes on Big Bang was that they had no lenses.”

In Jessica Radloff’s 2022 book The Big Bang Theory: The Definitive, Inside Story of the Epic Hit Series, Melissa Rauch revealed that she saved quite a few things related to “The Big Bang Theory” … and in the process, she also told fans that she was the one who came up with the idea that Bernadette should wear glasses in the first place, in a sense. “I saved the dress I wore to the audition, which was super close to what ended up being Bernadette’s look, and a green cardigan,” Rauch began before addressing the glasses. 

“I wore glasses, even though it didn’t say Bernadette wore glasses,” she continued. “There were so many girls auditioning, so I thought, I need to do something a little different. I had crappy $10 prop glasses in the globe compartment of my car for auditions, so I decided to throw ’em in my bag just in case. And when I got there, there were so many women auditioning that I thought, I don’t have a shot in hell. But I put on the glasses as a last-minute decision, and it wasn’t until I got the role and was about to do the table read a few weeks later when [casting directors] Nikki Valko and Ken Miller sent a note to my agent saying, ‘The glasses were really great in the audition; she should wear them in the table read.'”

We knew from her Showbiz Cheat Sheet interview that Rauch kept the glasses, but while speaking to Radloff, she explained another emotional reason that she took them home as a keepsake … and discussed something else she’s saved that concerns the series. “I keep [the glasses] in a special drawer for my kids to have as a special memento years from now, just like how I also saved my parents’ voicemail message from the first time they saw my name in the opening credits when I became a series regular.”

So, now we all know that Melissa Rauch inspired the creative team behind “The Big Bang Theory” to declare that Bernadette would wear glasses — but she almost missed out on the chance entirely. As Rauch recalled to Jessica Radloff in the series-spanning book, when she auditioned for “The Big Bang Theory,” she wasn’t going out for many roles … and she called her agent at precisely the right moment.

“I auditioned on September 15, 2009, but prior to that audition, I hadn’t had one in so long that I called my agent and said, ‘I’m sorry, but is there anything out there you think I’d be right for?'” Rauch told Radloff. “I needed to work and hated having to make that call, but I just decided to do it. My agent said, ‘It’s very slow,’ and then two days later I had an audition for ‘Big Bang.’ Needless to say, I was thrilled I got the courage to make that phone call.”

Nikki Valko and Ken Miller, who helped cast the show, were interviewed many times for Radloff’s book — and they basically said that as soon as Rauch auditioned, she was perfect. “Melissa Rauch equals comedy gold, and we don’t say that easily,” Valko gushed. “We see a lot of actors. She walked into that room and it was like, Wow. We had never met her before. She knew where every beat was, every moment. It was a flawless audition, and that’s the gold. And the role was only for one, maybe two episodes. Certainly it wasn’t what it became.” Apparently, the faux glasses didn’t hurt either.

“The Big Bang Theory” is streaming on Max now.