Rick_Garcia's Blog

    The news of Charlton Heston's passing was sad. I always think of him as one of my favorite interviews. I didn't agree with him politically in a lot of ways, but why should that matter.
    The Dodgers were celebrating an anniversary in the late 80's and FOX/11, home of Dodger telecasts at the time, aired a 24 hour Dodgers' marathon. A cool idea and  I was lucky enough to host a good chunk of it from the stadium. The coverage culminated with the Dodgers season opener being broadcast on FOX/11. We interviewed tons of celebrities and Dodger greats over those 24 hours. Heston really stood out for me. The Dodgers put on a huge show before the game complete with music, dancers and a narrator. That voice belonged to the man who famously portrayed Moses in the Ten Commandments and won an academy award for Ben Hur. But our producers were running into brick walls trying to get him on our marathon. Heston's "people" wouldn't budge and the Dodgers P.R. folks were afraid to ask. I thought how ridiculous. I'm standing ten feet from the guy. So I approached him with the idea and he seemed thrilled to join us. The interview lasted about five minutes and was live on t.v. He was incredibly charming. Said he loved the Dodgers and when we finished he went right to work on  the pre-game show like the professional he was. His strong, recognizable tones gave me and I'm sure Dodger fans chills as he read his lines.
    I mention his politics because Heston was a proud conservative. And after his passing I'm reminded how in today's divisive world of politics the civilian population can't seem to stomach actors or entertainers just because of their political views. Doesn't seem to matter how talented they are. 
So, why can't we separate their on screen work from their off screen beliefs? How do political views figure in to make believe?
I know conservatives who won't watch anything Alec Baldwin stars in. He's a terrific actor. But an activist.  And I know liberals who think anything Heston did on the big screen is tarnished because of his work as president of the NRA.
I say who cares! Why is it so hard to just agree to disagree? I know the last thing I'm thinking when I'm watching a great movie is whether the actors are Democrats or Republicans. In fact I admire them even more for being active in politics. Tells me they love this country as much as I do even if we don't agree on how to run it.

Bottom line for me is I  want actors to entertain me. And I wish politicians would stop entertaining me!