Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
Actor best known for his definitive role as the pedantic psychiatrist Fraser in the long-running sitcom of the same name; also a producer, director, and multipl
On the island
Eight records
Frank Sinatra, Fly Me to the Moon, is just one of the great recordings from one of the great voices, one of the great performers of all time.
This is an indelible recording of an extraordinary song I saw him play live about a month before he died. … It was almost a religious experience.
Symphony No. 7 in A major, Op. 92: II. Allegretto
This particular movement … just connected with me. … it has a tension and a build to it that is just breathtaking. … I would not want to live without this one.
We actually did play together for a while and he sang a song … That was one of the great joys of my life.
This is a song I just loved. It's a singular recording by a singular artist.
MatedFavourite
This one really spoke to me and when I met Kate kinda came back into my brain.
This song is for my children and for my wife. When Faith was born … the next song that came on was this song … Every one of our kids since has basically been born into the same song.
This one just gives me a hoot because … when I'm feeling not so great about myself or whatever … all I really need is to get my bullets back.
In conversation
Presenter asks
1:55When I introduce you as somebody who is not just the actor, but also as a producer and a writer and a director, do you see all those things equally? Or is there one that sort of stands out as what you consider to be your main job?
I'm a person who likes panic in a weird way. I like to be in a position when I direct or produce it. I'd like to be doing something that I have never done before. I like it to be a little bit over my head so that I can rise to it. So I set myself up for, I guess, failure and then hope to find triumph.
Presenter asks
2:30What was the biggest joy of playing Fraser [Crane]?
The beauty of playing Fraser was you could pretty much do anything. I mean, I could pull out every trick I've got in my bag and it would still fit on Fraser. He was loud and big and boisterous and then subtle and beautiful and touching and you had all the notes that you can play. It was almost as though all of creation was sitting there in the middle of Fraser's stomach, churning and ready to come popping out at any time.
Presenter asks
6:30You said you once heard Jack Benny say, 'I always play up to my audience'. For you, that was a moment of absolute clarity. What did that mean to you?
The keepsakes
The book
E. M. Forster
My favorite novel is Passage to India by E. M. Forster. There's just something about that book that caught my imagination. I think I read it when I was sixteen and the Mystery of India and I just thought it was fantastic.
That was a yes, a a crystallizing bolt of lightning that hit me in the head. I was in love with Shakespeare at that point and I thought, 'Well, that's how you need to play Shakespeare, is to never play down to the audience.'
Presenter asks
15:02Your sister Karen died in horrific circumstances. She was murdered. You were very close to her. What age were you when it happened? Do you feel like you've worked it out?
When I was twenty. … I think you always carry it. … as long as I'm alive I will miss her. … Have I embraced it? Probably not. I've learned to forgive. I've even told a guy that is still alive that killed her that I do forgive him, although I don't advocate for his freedom. … You're just left with it. So I cherish her memory and a great love that we had. And I continue to carry the joy that I felt in knowing her with me. And I continue to carry the loss of it. I just don't let it disrupt me, or destroy me.
Presenter asks
29:01You have seven children. What kind of a father do you think you are? What kind of a father do you want to be?
I want to be fair. I want to hopefully have enough time to impart the things I think are important, which are basically just common decency. Loving people for who they are and not judging prematurely. Judgment without knowledge is the greatest of all crimes.
Presenter asks
30:31Once upon a time you used to talk about entering politics. Am I interviewing a future president of the United States?
Well, gosh, I don't think so. It's just too nasty now. … I guess you can always rise above it. I don't know. I mean, I just don't think it's really cut out for me anymore.
“I like to be in a position when I direct or produce it. I'd like to be doing something that I have never done before. I like it to be a little bit over my head so that I can rise to it.”
“It was almost as though all of creation was sitting there in the middle of Fraser's stomach, churning and ready to come popping out at any time.”
“I stuffed so much emotion through my early years, my childhood and everything that, uh especially after Gordon was gone. That I I guess I just … part of my being able to become a whole human being was to just express my emotions.”
“I've learned to forgive. I've even told a guy that is still alive that killed her that I do forgive him, although I don't advocate for his freedom.”
“You just have to sometimes give them up. It's a great line. … So there's a cruise ship going by. You've been marooned for a year on a raft. You've been floating on a raft and you're hanging onto a rock because you think it's somehow important to you. And the only way you can get to the ship that can rescue you is to throw away the rock. So, you just throw away the rock.”