Fame &
Fortune: Mike Farrell of 'M*A*S*H' He puts his career where his heart is By Jay MacDonald,
Bankrate.com
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.
