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Every day is Earth
Day for Ed Begley Jr.
By Amy
Debra Feldman • Bankrate.com
Scroll down actor Ed Begley Jr.'s home page and you'll
quickly see that Begley's isn't the typical Hollywood site touting
an actor's upcoming movie or television appearances. Rather Ed's
World is the actor's effort to raise awareness about environmental
issues. "As the environmental crisis deepens, there are two possible
responses: Forget it and hope government and corporations will figure
it out or take action yourself," Begley writes on his site.
One of the early believers in the importance of solar
energy, recycling and using electricity to power cars, Begley's
involvement in environmental issues stems from the first Earth Day
in 1970. Now the spokesman for the American
Lung Association of California, Begley sits on the boards of
14 nonprofit organizations.
Over the years, Begley has appeared in dozens of movies
and television shows, most notably Dr. Victor Ehrlich on "St. Elsewhere"
and most recently on "7th Heaven" and in "Best in Show." Begley
recently finished filming "Get Over It" (due out in January) with
Kirsten Dunst and Martin Short, and "Diary of a Sex Addict" with
Rosanna Arquette and Nastassja Kinksi.
Begley isn't big on investing in the stock market
-- he considers it another form of gambling. But when he does invest,
it's to support to a company that's "doing the right thing" for
the environment. We talked with Begley as the actor's 1-year-old
daughter Hayden laughed and practiced saying "Daddy" in the background
of his home in Studio City, Calif.
BANKRATE: Is it hard to earn a living as an actor?
I've had years, going back to the 1970s, that were
quite lean. I was an assistant cameraman, a photographer and I've
done carpentry. Since "St. Elsewhere," though, I haven't worked
nearly as much in the 1990s and beyond as I did in the 1980s. I
have a simple lifestyle so the SS Begley doesn't require a lot of
fuel.
How have you simplified your life?
Most of my investments were inexpensive -- except
for the solar electric panels on my roof -- and have paid off. I
don't have an electric bill and I don't have a large gas bill since
I use solar energy to heat water. I cook a lot of stuff in a solar
oven. I've had a pure electric car since 1996, but it's a two-seater
so we can't take our baby in it. I just bought my wife a Toyota
Prius. It's a wonderful car. It's a five-seater that combines a
gasoline-fueled engine with an electric motor. It gets 50-plus miles
to a gallon, so we only put fuel into it once a month.
Is money an important factor in your decision to
accept or turn down a role?
I've tried with some success to eliminate the influence
of money on my acceptance of roles with this important caveat: If
I get to the point where I haven't worked in six months, you can
bet that money will play a part. That hasn't happened, though. I
base my decision on the quality of the material, the quality of
the part. I have to eat like everyone else, and I sometimes take
roles that aren't a nine or a 10; they're an 8.3.
I'm doing a show on HBO called "Six
Feet Under" for a fraction of the price of an episode that I
normally work for, but it's a good show. The executive producer
is Alan Ball, the writer and producer of "American Beauty." I just
want to be part of good material.
Do you get a lot of money from shows that have
been syndicated?
"St. Elsewhere" has had no syndication of any substance.
The show ended in 1988. In 1989, there was still some foreign money
coming in, but there was no syndication like WB
Television Network , where you'll see "Friends" or "Seinfeld."
The ultimate cash cow for residuals is a half-hour show because
it has a story that's self-contained. Hour-long shows in syndication
don't do that well, though "St. Elsewhere" is now on Bravo!. Two
years ago, we got $1,800 for the year from "St. Elsewhere" -- and
I was happy to have it. There's been no payment since, nor do I
expect any anytime soon. It hasn't been the sort of cash cow that
people heard about in the old days of hour shows, "Perry Mason."
What about residual income from "7th Heaven?"
That's a different deal. I've only done about seven
or eight episodes of "7th
Heaven." Those residuals come in with some regularity since
it's running on WB and rerunning on WB.
Do you invest your own money?
Yes, but I don't play the stock market anymore. I
decided that the stock market is like going to Las Vegas. It's a
form of gambling that I'm not interested in.
What are some of your favorite stocks?
My investments in past 15 years have been all environmentally
based companies, companies that I feel do something for the public
good. I won't invest in any oil companies, any timber companies,
any extractive industry. I'm not interested in making money that
way.
One company is Energy Conversion Devices. They make
the best nickel
metal-hydride rechargeable battery out there. I first bought
into them in 1993, I've bought it low and sold it high three times.
I didn't buy a tremendous amount of shares -- just a few thousand
-- so my profits were around $4,000 or $5,000.
A lot of these companies I know from the ground up.
I found out about Energy Conversion Devices through the environmental
world in which I dwell.
Kafus Environmental Industries (AMEX: KR)
is another one. They make medium-density fiberboard out of wood
waste. I put on a hard hat and toured the whole plant. I invested
some money from my pension plan -- not to make a killing; just to
help out a company that I believed in. The company
is now in receivership, and the stock is virtually worthless --
it's down to 8 cents. I paid $4 per share when I bought it earlier
this year. I said I don't invest in stocks anymore -- I forgot it
was a stock. I wanted to do something to help this company. They
were having cash trouble. I like to help companies that are doing
the right thing. I'm confident the stock will recover.
I've also invested in movie companies over the years.
I work for them and I know how they operate -- there's no reason
not to invest in them. I've done very well, buying low and selling
high. The day after Black Monday in 1987, I bought as many shares
as I could of Universal Studios -- now owned by Seagram (NYSE: VO)
and Walt Disney Co. (NYSE: DIS).
Even if we were going into some sort of depression, the mouse won't
leave the planet. People will still scrape together a couple of
bucks to rent "Old Yeller" and go to those kinds of Disney movies
and theme parks. That was my reasoning. I did very well with that.
How do you know when to sell? That's often one
of the most challenging aspects of investing.
It is. I always say that "Pigs get fat, but hogs get
slaughtered." You just don't get greedy. You pick a price target
and you have to know when to get out -- where you started or maybe
a little under.
What was your best financial decision?
My best financial decision was my house. I live in
a 1,700- square-foot, two-bedroom house. The best career move I've
made as an actor is to stay in this house. When I was making a lot
of money in the 1980s and in 1990, people would say, "It's such
a little house. There's a mansion up the hill -- you should go look
at it." I'll be fine here. If I can't afford a gardener, the garden
is small enough for me to take care of myself. There's enough room
for the three of us to be comfortable. My house payment is very
low. I can live here, God forbid, even if I'm ever on unemployment.
My house is covered with solar panels, which was fine
when I lived by myself. Now that I have a wife and a baby, I'm using
a lot more power. I buy green
power -- which is from wind, geothermal or solar sources --
from the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power.
I bought my solar panels in 1990. They're the old-style
panels that mount to your roof with brackets. The newer style are
silver shingles. They're much more cost effective because you don't
have to attach them to roofing material -- the shingle is the solar
panel itself. I won't get my money back on this until 2010 or 2015,
depending on how much energy prices go up, and I think they'll continue
to.
Everything in the house is energy efficient. Fluorescent
lights, double-paned windows -- these things cost money, but I've
put the money back in my pocket in less than a year from some of
these things. We have a vegetable garden -- we grow tomatoes, carrots,
lettuce, Swiss chard, kale, radishes, rosemary and oregano. We have
fruit trees out front and the vegetables out back. I can get a lot
of the food in a place other than the grocery story for pennies
when you figure out the amount of water I'm using to irrigate the
garden.
What are some ways that respecting the environment
can save you money?
You should do the most cost-effective things first.
Compact fluorescent bulbs cost a bit more, but you're going to make
that money back with the electric bill and they'll last nine times
as long as incandescent bulbs. I'm looking at fluorescent light
bulbs that I put in my office in 1989. They're still burning. People
laughed at the time when I paid $16 for a light bulb. But I've saved
all that energy for 11, going on 12 years. Install an energy-saving
thermostat so you're not heating the house when you don't want to
heat it. Also, I take the bus a lot. And there's no more cost-effective
way of saving energy and cutting down on traffic than the bicycle.
It's the most energy-efficient form of ground transportation that
man has invented.
-- Posted: Dec. 14, 2000
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