Scene-stealer: Margo Martindale, ‘A Gifted Man’

“Sometimes things just take time. But with time comes appreciation,” Margo Martindale gushed when accepting her Emmy for best supporting actress in a drama for her work on “Justified” on Sunday. The 60-year-old has been stealing scenes for years, and she’s about to do it again in the new CBS drama, “A Gifted Man.”

“I’ve been working, honestly, as an actor professionally since I was 21, I think 23,” Martindale says, adding that her career as a character actor has led to a fluctuating lifestyle between “poor, some money, poor, counting pennies on the floor.”

But not any more. After playing ruthless Southern matriarch Mags Bennett on “Justified,” Martindale moves to New York City, portraying Rita, the no-nonsense assistant to Patrick Wilson’s well-respected neurosurgeon in charge of an upscale concierge medical clinic. The doc also just so happens to receive visits from the ghost of his altruistic ex-wife, which Rita thinks is ridiculous — and lets him know it.

“It’s great to go from that fabulous, wonderful part [on ‘Justified’]  to a luxurious, spa-like existence with another good-looking man,” Martindale says of the role change. “What can I say? I turned 60, and everything fell into place.”