“Learning is like rowing upstream: to not advance is to fall back.” Chinese proverb
“The more we care for the happiness of others, the greater our own sense of well-being becomes.” Dalai Lama
I grew up watching television. As a child most of the shows we watched were shows that my Dad liked. I saw a great deal of sports and westerns because Dad loved them so. Two actors whom I always associate with Dad are Ricardo Montalban and Patrick McGoohan. Ricardo Montalban is probably best remembered as Khan in “Star Trek” or Mr. Roarke in “Fantasy Island.” Patrick McGoohan is best remembered by his shows “Secret Agent” and “The Prisoner.” What is important to me is that both men were superb and under rated actors and they were both in shows that made you think.
My Dad was an unusual man. He was a mathematician and scientist. He also had a fascination for things mysterious. He was fascinated by ghost stories and things not easily explained. I look around at his library and there are books on the Bermuda Triangle. There are books on ghosts. There are serious books on religion. There are books on spies. There are books on outer space and Einstein and Stephen Hawking. There are books on history and books on philosophy. Dad was a man who liked to think and a man who liked to talk. One thing Dad never was, he was never boring.
“Fantasy Island” was a show that many thought was escapism but there was a moral in the lessons learned there. People would come to the island thinking “if only” and leave learning that dreams also have consequences. I remember the episode especially where the couple wanted to live in a simpler time where the materialism of today and all the gadgets that people surround their lives with were no longer a distraction. Mr. Roarke sent them to the time of the Pilgrims in America. They barely escaped being destroyed in the Salem witch trials after giving a girl an aspirin to reduce her fever.
Ricardo Montalban presided over Fantasy Island with grace and elegance and an air of mysteriousness. When he did Khan in “Star Trek” he was a man of charisma as well as strength. There was a passion in both men that made them irresistible. In real life Mr. Montalban was the cofounder of Nostros and the ALMA awards. He fought to raise the profile of Hispanic actors and to bring them roles that showed the essential dignity of their culture.
Patrick McGoohan fought his own wars against prejudice. As an Irishman he fought against the English prejudice against his people and became a force to be reckoned with in the English television world. He went from the success in “Secret Agent” to create one of the most talked about shows ever made “The Prisoner.” In real life he was also a man of enormous strength and dignity.
“The Prisoner” is debated today just as fiercely as it was when it was shown in the sixties. Did Number Six break the system? Was Number Six part of the system? Did he become what he fought against? Is the freedom of the individual more important then the security of society? Where are the lines?
So today I think of three men who are no longer with us. As different as they were in real life they all had the ability to make me think. They remind me of the lines from a play I was once in called “Teahouse of the August Moon.” “Pain makes man think. Thought makes man wise. Wisdom makes life endurable.”
“The more we care for the happiness of others, the greater our own sense of well-being becomes.” Dalai Lama
I grew up watching television. As a child most of the shows we watched were shows that my Dad liked. I saw a great deal of sports and westerns because Dad loved them so. Two actors whom I always associate with Dad are Ricardo Montalban and Patrick McGoohan. Ricardo Montalban is probably best remembered as Khan in “Star Trek” or Mr. Roarke in “Fantasy Island.” Patrick McGoohan is best remembered by his shows “Secret Agent” and “The Prisoner.” What is important to me is that both men were superb and under rated actors and they were both in shows that made you think.
My Dad was an unusual man. He was a mathematician and scientist. He also had a fascination for things mysterious. He was fascinated by ghost stories and things not easily explained. I look around at his library and there are books on the Bermuda Triangle. There are books on ghosts. There are serious books on religion. There are books on spies. There are books on outer space and Einstein and Stephen Hawking. There are books on history and books on philosophy. Dad was a man who liked to think and a man who liked to talk. One thing Dad never was, he was never boring.
“Fantasy Island” was a show that many thought was escapism but there was a moral in the lessons learned there. People would come to the island thinking “if only” and leave learning that dreams also have consequences. I remember the episode especially where the couple wanted to live in a simpler time where the materialism of today and all the gadgets that people surround their lives with were no longer a distraction. Mr. Roarke sent them to the time of the Pilgrims in America. They barely escaped being destroyed in the Salem witch trials after giving a girl an aspirin to reduce her fever.
Ricardo Montalban presided over Fantasy Island with grace and elegance and an air of mysteriousness. When he did Khan in “Star Trek” he was a man of charisma as well as strength. There was a passion in both men that made them irresistible. In real life Mr. Montalban was the cofounder of Nostros and the ALMA awards. He fought to raise the profile of Hispanic actors and to bring them roles that showed the essential dignity of their culture.
Patrick McGoohan fought his own wars against prejudice. As an Irishman he fought against the English prejudice against his people and became a force to be reckoned with in the English television world. He went from the success in “Secret Agent” to create one of the most talked about shows ever made “The Prisoner.” In real life he was also a man of enormous strength and dignity.
“The Prisoner” is debated today just as fiercely as it was when it was shown in the sixties. Did Number Six break the system? Was Number Six part of the system? Did he become what he fought against? Is the freedom of the individual more important then the security of society? Where are the lines?
So today I think of three men who are no longer with us. As different as they were in real life they all had the ability to make me think. They remind me of the lines from a play I was once in called “Teahouse of the August Moon.” “Pain makes man think. Thought makes man wise. Wisdom makes life endurable.”
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