Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
Actor best known for playing wisecracking surgeon Hawkeye in the TV series MASH; also wrote, directed and starred in films.
On the island
Eight records
English Suite No. 5 in E minor, BWV 810
I've seldom heard anybody who made such contact with the music and made the music his own… it's as though he's really speaking to me.
Los Angeles Philharmonic, conducted by Michael Tilson Thomas
Because when my father made the film biography of George Gershwin… he had to learn to play the exact notes… and this was the first serious music I had ever heard, and I would lie on the rug in front of the phonograph and just listen to it hour after hour.
A Weekend in the CountryFavourite
Original Cast Recording (A Little Night Music)
I love this number because of the his all of his characters are so clear in his lyrics… the orchestration in this weekend in the country I find thrilling. When the bells start to ring, my hair stands on and I start to smile.
Tashi with Richard Stoltzman (clarinet)
This has a lot of meaning for me… I first heard this on a historic night in my life… there was this beautiful young woman playing the clarinet who was Arlene Weiss, later Arlene Alda… In the final episode of MASH… More people heard the clarinet quintet that night than had heard it since Mozart wrote it.
When I was making the last movie that I wrote and directed… it was a very dismal experience… the one thing that got me through it was that I had a tape of Into the Woods… I would play this tape in the car… it got me through.
Concerto No. 5 in F minor, BWV 1056, 2nd movement (Largo)
Raymond Leppard, English Chamber Orchestra
The Largo is one of the sexiest most romantic pieces of music I ever heard… it kind of whispers in your ear… if I'm going to be all alone on this island, I at least ought to have something that reminds me of past glorious moments.
Symphony No. 4 in B-flat major, Op. 60 (finale)
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Herbert von Karajan
Beethoven's Fourth Symphony has a gallop in it… it makes me smile every time I hear it. It gives me strength, gives me energy… I most of all want to be prepared to have fun.
I love the Sgt. Pepper album… I love their melodies, their youthful exuberance and creativity… they had this joy of life and playfulness.
In conversation
Presenter asks
1:24After all those films and television series, must it be a professional culture shock to walk onto a stage and begin a play without stopping?
I wish I could say it was. I feel like I'm coming home to the stage. I'm on the stage the whole time, whether I'm in front of the audience or not. I'm sometimes just behind a little piece of scenery, sitting on a chair for a couple of minutes, listening to the other actors. And I look up into the flies and I look at the lights and I can see all the backstage works there, and I feel so happy to be there. I love the dark of the backstage and the sound of the audience, just before the show. And if you let them, they'll make your heart beat faster, you know.
Presenter asks
6:21Did your mother's mental illness make you unhappy as a child?
Well, yes, you I don't I think that's the history of all families where where uh schizophrenia enters the scene. In those days it was especially difficult because you didn't talk about it, that you were ashamed of it, you thought there was something wrong with you or your family. I mean, very often children think that they're responsible for the bizarre behavior of their parents. I did when I was a kid. And the family didn't sit around and discuss it, you know, and didn't think of it as a medical problem. I don't know if people now remember what that must have been like. You thought you didn't talk about it and you didn't think of it as a medical problem. It was a shameful thing and if she would only pull herself together… things that well, if you know, you can't pull yourself together, you need I mean there wasn't even any medication at that time that would alleviate the symptom.
The keepsakes
The book
Daniel Defoe
I thought it would be fun to compare line by line that imaginary account with what really happens. And there would also be a way to be rescued because I think if a literary agent knew I was writing a book he'd find me.
The luxury
I really would like, as a luxury, to be able to cook my own pasta every day with imported Italian pasta and imported tomatoes with the Reggiano cheese, you know, and basil, fresh basil. And garlic, a lot of garlic, and really good virgin, extra virgin olive oil. And you may think this is like a sneaky way to get a survival thing in here. It's not survival. If you would just come over to our house and taste my pasta, you don't understand I'm speaking of a luxury here.
Presenter asks
7:20Your mother saved your life when you were ill with polio, didn't she?
Well, she had an interest one of the lucky things for me was that she had an interest in reading popular science magazines, sci magazines that dealt in a popular way with scientific and medical articles. And she knew what the symptoms were of polio and in a way did in fact diagnose me when I got polio and got a doctor to me within hours. Otherwise I might have been dead or paralyzed 'cause I had it all over my body. I was affected. I had it when I was seven years old.
Presenter asks
11:04What's the secret to your long marriage?
No, I get asked this so much. I think in our case we both love each other and we want to make each other happy if we can and we both are willing to wait out the bleak periods that occur in every relationship and work through the ones that can be worked through. And we both love to laugh. I mean, there's certain things we love to do. We both love to laugh, we love to eat, we love music. I mean, they're things that and we've taught each other. She's taught me about music because she was a musician when we met. And she's learned about the theater through me.
Presenter asks
19:12Hawkeye was cynical, arrogant, subversive, a womanizer – not like you at all. How could you play him? Do you like playing people who are not like you?
Oh, very much. When I got to play I loved playing Hawkeye and I loved playing the cynical, womanizing, egomaniacal guy in Woody Allen's movie Crimes and Misdemeanors. Somebody that you're not allowed to be. Either you don't allow yourself or the world wouldn't go for it, you know, to be able to be Richard III and just have a go at everybody. It's really fun. It's fun being a rat when you're a nice guy. Well, I guess it's fun being a rat no matter what if you can get away with it. I mean I guess we'd all be rats if we could get away with it.
Presenter asks
23:17Do I sense a disenchantment with writing, directing, and starring in your own films? Have you had enough of doing it all?
Doing all of those three things at the same time, I don't think I'll ever do that again. I want to direct the pictures and I want to write them. And I really love acting. I appreciate being an actor probably more than most actors do because I know how hard all those other people have to work around me in order to keep me relaxed and happy so that all the troubles of filmmaking won't show on my face, you know, because I've had to do that with other actors, and I know how much trouble you have to go to. But I therefore feel so much happier just doing one thing at a time.
“I was in control of a room full of people.”
“I thought I was responsible for the bizarre behavior of my parents.”
“It's fun being a rat when you're a nice guy.”
“I don't have the same energy I did twenty years ago… I have a craving to work, I have a craving to get better at the things I know how to do.”
“I wouldn't call it pessimistic, I would call it realistic. Even as I fantasize about this desert island, I'm prepared for a reality that will have no beautiful sunsets. And cold nights.”