Fred Thompson

[libertango]

From an e-mail I just sent:

Dave:

I think the sniggering at Fred Thompson being a TV actor is unfair. This is a man who served in the US Senate for eight years, has been a lawyer for 38 years, was Sen. Howard Baker's Chief of Staff, and was minority counsel to the Senate Watergate Committee.

Last I checked, being an actor doesn't revoke one's citizenship, or steal away one's sense of civic duty. I can even think of an actor who served two terms as President.

For that matter, in our very age-biased popular culture, I like the fact that, like Danny Aiello, or John Mahoney, or Dennis Farina (a former Greyhound bus driver, a former medical journal editor, and a former Chicago cop, respectively) Thompson found something he clearly enjoys later in life, and went for it. His first acting part was when he was 43, when he'd already been a lawyer for 18 years.

I say, power to him.

Comments

WYSIWYG?

[hal-obrien.livejournal.com]

Yeah, Thompson seems pretty cool, regardless of ideology. Not as much of a mensch as Robin Williams (do you know the story about Robin and Spielberg during Schindler's List?), but then, who is? :)

[chatworthy.livejournal.com]

You mean Fred Thompson who was an in-demand character actor before he was in the Senate? Just another citizen going back to his career after serving the public.

And add me to the list: I started acting at Renaissance Faires when I was over 30 and got my first stage role when I was 41.

[chatworthy.livejournal.com]

I replied to this post first, then went off to read the original comment. Winer's into heavy blowhard mode these days. I wish he'd go back to doing productive work.