For some reason, I didn't warm to the 1989 film version of Alfred Uhry's play, Driving Miss Daisy. It won a ton of awards including the Oscar for Best Picture but when I saw it in a theater, it felt very talky and predictable to me. The folks on the screen seemed like actors performing a script and the emotional turns they were making seemed obvious and uninteresting.
This was obviously a minority viewpoint…but I have those about a number of acclaimed films. Sometimes, I say so out loud and sometimes, I keep my opinion to myself because it really upsets some people if you don't love that which they love. (You should see some of the outraged mail I've gotten from people who love cole slaw and apparently think I will someday get it banned so they cannot enjoy it anymore. I mean, they're right. I will. But they're just so nasty about it.)
Because I do like Angela Lansbury and James Earl Jones, I made a point of TiVoing and watching the new PBS Great Performances production of the play and I did like that. I'm not suggesting Lansbury and Jones are better actors than Jessica Tandy and Morgan Freeman from the movie — seeing the show staged as a play before a live audience may have been the key difference for me — but I felt more chemistry and more interest in Miss Daisy and Hoke Colburn. Your mileage, as they say in automotive ads and strip clubs, may vary.
I especially liked watching James Earl Jones, an actor I've always liked — which is not to say I've ever disliked anything about Ms. Lansbury. But I thought Jones was just so good.
He's a nice person, too. One day at a Garfield voice recording session, he was working in the adjoining studio and we got to talking in the area where they have refreshments and snacks. That man has one of the greatest laughs I've ever heard — deep and rich and from the heart and belly. I kept trying to think of funny things I could say to him just so I could hear that laugh.
Then, to my surprise, he asked if we ever had a role in Garfield that he could do. I think I offered to let him play anything he wanted, even if it meant firing Lorenzo Music…but, well aware he was one of the highest-paid announcer-types in the business, I warned him we only paid scale to guest stars. He said, "That doesn't matter. You just all seem like you're having so much fun in there, I want to be a part of it." He was in town the next three weeks and if we were recording again during that time — and we were — he would be glad to come in and play any part I wrote. Guess what I wrote the next day.
What a delight. The other actors were, of course, thrilled. And I remember him being very respectful to them all and even a bit timid, since he was aware they were all more experienced at this particular type of acting than he was. Someplace in there is one explanation as to why he's such a fine actor.
So I'm recommending the PBS version of Driving Miss Daisy, which reruns several times on most PBS channels (check your listing) in the next week or three. You may have to search for Great Performances to find it…and believe me, it lives up to that name.
Oh, hell. I'll make it even easier for those of you who have good Internet connections. I'll embed the video here so you can enjoy it. I did…
