Bankrate: You came into "M*A*S*H" with a social conscience, having been part of the civil rights and antiwar movements.

Farrell: Indeed, sure. There were things that were offered to me that were fine, were fun and I was well-paid, but here was this extraordinary opportunity and I felt like this could be not only something you could be proud of having done, but could on some level have an impact, above and beyond the entertainment value. The work I had done in the civil rights and antiwar movements, suddenly when I found myself on "M*A*S*H" and the media started paying attention in an entirely different way than they had to anything else I'd done, the fact that I was politically and socially aware and active was a source of interest to them. And that sort of fed on itself; they were interested in asking questions about that, I would talk about it, and then that got other people outside to want to meet me and say would I like to be involved in this thing or that thing.

Bankrate: Being an activist in Hollywood at that time was a bit of a risk, careerwise.

Farrell: Well, even today -- ask the Dixie Chicks. There's a very loud and fervent group on any side of a given issue and quite often, if you speak out and you take a position that they consider unacceptable, they will do anything they can to nail you. In our industry, we go back as far as the blacklist period of the Hollywood 10 that the really terrible times that were suffered through, and to some degree, although that doesn't formally exist, there's a lot of that kind of sentiment around today. You have this sort of "shut up and sing" notion that faces people who get involved on a level that I think is perfectly appropriate and we need to do what we can to see that this country stays on the right track.

If people are going to come and point cameras and microphones in my face and say why are you here, why are you standing outside the east gate at San Quentin to protest an execution or in Cambodia or Rwanda or Bosnia, why do you care about these people's situation on Skid Row, I get to tell them. Hopefully, it raises the level of understanding about the policies that have been put into effect that created those situations, or in some instances just have a better grasp of what's really happening and therefore make a better decision on whether they want to help out or be involved with it.