The hotly-contested Screen Actors Guild election is over. Though this news is of no interest to anyone except (a) members of SAG, and (b) people in Los Angeles who were doubtless bombarded with headlines about this whole imbroglio, it does raise an interesting observation on my part.
Which is: It’s tough, sometimes, drawing a distinction between the actor and the role.
I’ve read enough Hollywood biographies (and, even if I hadn’t, I’ve read enough of Wil Wheaton’s blog) to know better. And I do. If I met Mel Gibson, I’d not think he was going to start acting like Mad Max or that guy from The Patriot. I know that Julie Andrews is not Mary Poppins. I know Andreas Katsulas is not G’kar. I know Leonard Nimoy is not Spock (he even wrote a book to make that perfectly clear).
But when I read about Melissa Gilbert going toe to toe with Valerie Harper over the SAG presidency, all of can think of is Anna Sheridan (evil, resurrected tool of the Shadows!) duking it out with Rhoda (constantly kvetching buddy of Mary Richards!). The previous president, William Daniels, obviously must have done a good job, since he was also John Adams (when he wasn’t being the obnoxious heart surgeon on St. Elsewhere). While I worry about Hawkeye Pierce (Elliott Gould) as SAG recording secretary, I’m sure that SAG members can rest easy knowing that Officer Reed (Kent McCord) will be their national treasurer.
(And, yes, I know that Melissa Gilbert is better known as Laura Ingalls on Little House on the Prairie, but to me she’ll always be Anna Sheridan from Babylon 5, looking up at the plummeting White Star on Z’ha’dum and screaming her little lungs out. So I’m a geek. Sue me. If I were really geeky, I’d have identified Kent McCord as John Crichton’s dad on Farscape.)
The point is, it does make me wonder whether these folks ever think of how the non-entertainment world sees these sorts of elections. Will bad publicity about Harper cause problems with Mary Tyler Moore reruns? Would a smear campaign against Gilbert cause Pax to drop Little House from their schedule?
Or am I just too enmeshed in this whole media thang?
(Via Blather)