Alan Alda is acerbic and sarcastic in the role of "Hawkeye" Pierce in M*A*S*H*, sincere and presidential as Senator Arnold Vinick on The West Wing and surprisingly candid and self-depracating as himself in Things I Overheard While Talking to Myself.
I read Alda's latest book during my sojourn in the psych ward in December. While I wrote in my blog of the absurdities and miracles I experienced there, Alda was providing a voice of stability and reason through his collections of essays and excerpts from addresses. Anyone who has followed Alda's acting career will realize that he is not one to rest on the laurels of his most famous character. You will not find him being Hawkeye in order to stay in the spotlight. Over the many years since M*A*S*H* left the primetime airways (only to reappear pretty much hourly on one channel or another), Alda has stretched as an actor and has taken risks by venturing into the world of publishing.
What comes across in Things I Overheard While Talking to Myself is that Alda is a man of honor, a man of deep thought and most importantly, a family man. The last point is corroborated by the IMDB trivia that, "He commuted from LA to his home in New Jersey every weekend for 11 years while starring in "M*A*S*H" (1972). His wife and daughters lived in NJ, and he did not want to uproot the family to LA, especially because he did not know how long the show would last." This is a man who has experienced great fame while staying with the same wife and living a fairly middle-of-the-road life. It is probably this quality that makes him so believable and approachable.
Alda seems worried, like so many of us are, about the state of our country. He has marched against the war. He has maintained a sense of humility. He lays open his thoughts and observations for our consideration without once coming off as preachy or condescending. I loved it and will keep it on my shelves for future reference.
Di
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