A New Deal

Ed Asner returns to Pasadena as ‘FDR'

By Carl Kozlowski 10/16/2013

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Veteran actor Ed Asner has remained both highly political and widely respected for his work and his anti-war views in a career that has spanned six decades. But on Saturday, the legendary thespian will be bowing to a man he and many others worshipped during his time - President Franklin Delano Roosevelt - in the one-man show "FDR" at Caltech's Beckman Auditorium.

"What appeals to me is the fact that the man was a god to me," says the now 83-year-old Asner, who grew up during Roosevelt's time in office, from 1933 to 1945. "So I'm presuming to play God. He strongly affected my life and affected the lives of every American and most of the people in the world."

Asner, a former two-term Screen Actors Guild president, has been portraying America's only four-term president for the past four years, touring the US to deliver 30 to 40 performances annually. The show is based on Dory Schary's Broadway hit "Sunrise at Campobello" and explores FDR's life and the events and decisions that shaped a nation. In it, the president reflects on his years in office - from inauguration to the trials of World War II.

This isn't the first time Asner has brought the show to the Crown City, with a multi-show run at the Pasadena Playhouse in October 2010. He found that experience unsatisfying, however, as the then-troubled theater was lacking in its promotion of the show amid the throes of recovering from years of financial hardship before its remarkable current renaissance.

Asner notes that he's been trying to keep audiences entertained with a little more humor. "The show is fairly set, except I try to bring more comedy into the performance than in the past," says Asner, who notes that he hasn't seen Bill Murray's portrayal of FDR in the 2012 film "Hyde Park on Hudson." "You can't afford to have too many laughs, and it wakes them up, believe me. I may ad lib, but don't worry, I don't do pratfalls."

One thing that longtime liberal activist Asner is serious about is the current political stalemate that's threatening the nation in Washington, DC. He feels FDR "would have found a faster way to boot the rascals out if he were in power now," but while he empathizes with the struggles President Obama is currently facing with Congress, he expresses deep disappointment with some aspects of a presidency he hoped would mark a return to progressive ideals after a near-decade of disaster with President George W. Bush.

"Most of the time, Obama's had to react rather than act," says the outspoken actor. "After the debacle of George Bush, there couldn't be too much for Barack Obama to do. No matter what he did with his power, it wouldn't be too much. He was hesitant and minimal in many of his efforts.

"At the same time, for a constitutionalist, he didn't observe the constitution as often as he should have," Asner continues. "They've gone after seven whistleblowers, which is more than Bush did, plus he's still in Guantanamo. He hasn't been forceful in directions on torture, we're still all over the world and he was quite willing to pursue or initiate another war. I'd say he's acting more like George Bush than I ever expected, though I absolutely feel hope about how people fought back against getting into Syria, and I think that it's a wonderful sign that the body of the American people isn't a corpse yet."

Asner is more concerned with the way in which the Republican lawmakers are holding the nation hostage with the shutdown in the battle over the Affordable Care Act and the debt ceiling. With the government staring down the rabbit hole of insolvency at the time of the interview on Oct. 7, Asner noted his belief that "our government is skewed in a very bad way."

"I have no idea how it will end," says Asner. "Many people are talking about how as long as state legislatures create voting rules, lines and districts, we'll continue to allow creeps to become members of Congress. The tragedy is now that Obamacare has come into being, the majority of Americans aren't even covered by it because the states they live in are Republican and refuse to join; 48 million people have no coverage."

With seven Emmy Awards and five Golden Globes so far, Asner is staying highly active these days playing his annual array of roles as Santa Claus in TV movies. But he's more excited about an episode of the new CBS sitcom "The Crazy Ones," which he recently shot with its star Robin Williams. He keeps his stage chops sharp by doing play readings at the Actors Studio in North Hollywood.

Of course, his definitive role was playing the irascible TV and newspaper journalist Lou Grant in both sitcom form on "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" and drama on "Lou Grant." With over a decade of faux newsroom experience via that role, Asner offers a few thoughts about the state of real-world journalism today.

"I think the big time journalists are trying," says Asner. "Print has become so diverse, as has TV news, and with the various electronic media of the Internet and Google, people are subject to a great deal of diversity. In the one sense that's good because there's not one controlling factor, even though people who listen to FOX News probably don't listen to anything else.
"But there are many venues out there to offset that if they had an open mind," Asner continues. "I certainly don't think we've become any smarter and whistleblowing has become even harder, which is on Obama. I'd like to see Bradley {now Chelsea] Manning and [Edward] Snowden treated as heroes rather than criminals. There are more means of information, but no guarantee that people are being educated."

Ed Asner performs in "FDR" at 8 p.m. Saturday at Caltech's Beckman Auditorium, 332 S. Michigan Ave., Pasadena. Tickets are $22 to $32 for adults, with tickets for high school age and younger attendees $10. Call the Caltech Ticket Office at (626) 395-4652.

Weekend at Vroman's

Actor Andrew McCarthy of Bernie's fame talks about his new life as a world-traveling writer at Vroman's Saturday

By Carl Kozlowski 09/27/2012

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Throughout most of the 1980s, it seemed the world was at Andrew McCarthy’s feet. As part of a group of young and extremely popular actors dubbed “The Brat Pack” by the media, he played a heartthrob with soul in hit movies like “St. Elmo’s Fire” and “Pretty in Pink”, and mixed that image up with the role of a lovable doof in the two “Weekend at Bernie’s” films.

While those four­ movies in particular have stood the test of time, continuing to run frequently on cable boxes and DVD players to this day, A-list roles eventually proved hard to come by for McCarthy. So, while he continues to receive a steady stream of supporting roles and TV movies, he has taken on an additional career in recent years as a world-class travel writer that literally puts the world at his feet.

In an unlikely twist of fate, McCarthy has received his greatest acclaim yet for those travelogues. The Society of American Travel Writers named him their 2010 “Travel Journalist of the Year” and awarded him their 2011 “Grand Award” in addition to his winning the 2011 “Grand Award” from the North American Travel Journalists Association. He is also the editor-at-large for National Geographic Traveler and has written for The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Slate, Travel + Leisure, Afar, Men’s Journal, Bon Appetit, National Geographic Adventure and other elite publications.
McCarthy’s also released his first book, “The Longest Way Home: One Man’s Quest for the Courage to Settle Down,” which chronicles his quest to tame his restless nature and marry his longtime fiancé. In the process, he guides readers through both his relatable, emotional journey and his adventures in such far-flung places as Mount Kilimanjaro and Patagonia.  

“Travel really changed my life. I see myself and see what I’m doing well when I’m away out there, and I gain insight into who I am and what I need to be doing, because I don’t meditate at home,” says McCarthy, calling from New York City. “There’s a lot of that dilemma: ‘I love you but I’ve got to go,’ and asking, ‘Why?’ I was sad to be leaving, but at the same time I was thrilled to be going off on my own, yet wanting to be close to a loved one. It’s about coming to terms with that dilemma.”  

McCarthy grew up in New Jersey and was studying drama at New York University when he landed the plum role of a college student who’s seduced by his best friend’s mom in the 1983 film “Class,” opposite fellow new star Rob Lowe. From there, he was riding the rollercoaster of fame, with “St. Elmo’s Fire” establishing the “Brat Pack” brand in 1985 and a strangely iconic turn as the boyfriend of America’s Sweetheart Molly Ringwald in 1986’s “Pretty in Pink.”

“It’s funny, I remember very distinctly doing it and thinking at the time ‘This is a silly movie about a girl going to a dance, will anyone see it?’” he recalls. “I don’t think anyone realized it would strike such a chord and continue to, and now it’s on a second generation. It captured something for a lot of people, and when you get lucky to be part of a film that becomes such a phenomenon, you just get out of the way and enjoy it.”

One might assume that McCarthy would choose not to discuss “Bernie’s” now that he’s an erudite, published writer, but, in fact, he loves the films and even credits them with saving his life. That’s ironic, considering that the films were about a man whose employees try to make him look alive for a weekend after he dies.

“Who doesn’t love Bernie?” he laughs. “It was amazing how he kept a straight face. He never lost it once. We made a lot of it up on the set. What if he lost a toupee and we staple it to his head? Or what if I play Monopoly with dead Bernie? I was in Zimbabwe on my own once and turned down a street no outsider should have been on, with people looking threateningly at me until one of them recognized me and yelled, ‘Bernie?!’ and everyone became friendly.”
McCarthy’s acting gigs inspired his decision to become a travel writer, as he started writing a detailed journal while spending time on sets in foreign locales for a decade. He then decided to write actual stories about people and places he encountered and asked a travel magazine editor to give him a shot.

“If my writing wasn’t good, they wouldn’t have to pay me,” he says. “But thankfully he did, so it all grew from that first story. I didn’t plan it to be a career, but it was a passion, like acting, that grew. Then, when you win awards, you’re legitimized so people came after me, and the curiosity of an actor doing this became a good curiosity instead of an odd one.”

Ultimately, McCarthy — who also works as a TV director — has found that it isn’t the adventure and potential dangers of exotic traveling that inspires him most. Rather, it’s the surprising human connections he’s made in unexpected corners of the globe.

“I was in Sudan, where there’s no tourist infrastructure, and had the most extraordinary experience with the most gentle people,” says McCarthy. “I’m not a danger junkie, but I found the world a much more welcoming place than we’re led to believe.” 

Andrew McCarthy discusses and signs his book, “The Longest Way Home: One Man’s Quest for the Courage to Settle Down,” at 5 p.m. Saturday at Vroman’s Bookstore, 695 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena. Call (626) 449-5320 or visit vromans.com.