As a dapper, tuxedoed Martin Sheen shook my hand in the Beverly Hills Hotel’s Sunset Lounge, I said I hoped he didn’t think he had become an authentic museum piece because he was being honored by the Museum of Radio & Television at its annual gala.
“I feel like one!” he laughed.
But then he turned serious, telling me how his role as President Jed Bartlett on NBC’s acclaimed series The West Wing is “a supreme gift…I give thanks for every day to be doing this at my age after all this time I’ve been acting.”
As we stood there, Sheen regarded his West Wing co-stars–Richard Schiff, John Spencer and this year’s Emmy winners Bradley Whitford and Allison Janney–with palpable affection as they cavorted in front of a battery of photographers, Sheen having just playfully shoved the immaculately coutured Janney into the line of flashbulb fire. “Remember when Nixon pushed his press secretary?” he asked.
I suggested that the fictional White House staffers seem to genuinely have more fun socializing together–along with the “West Wing Wives’ Club,” Sheila Kelly and Jane Kaczmarek–than the cast of any other show on television. Sheen replied that working with his co-stars energizes him as much as the material they’re performing. “It’s my family, my second family,” he nodded fondly. “I adore them.”
The affection was mutual. “He’s certainly our leader,” Spencer told me, praising Sheen “for his humanity and his personal grace.” But, although he was introducing the man of the hour, he lamented, “I’ve written nothing! I figure it’s a 50-50 chance, [my speech] could be boring but it could be something really exciting.”
I asked Schiff what he could tell me about his TV boss that nobody else knew. “Probably nothing, which is a credit to him,” he said. “I’m just privileged to know him and work with him.”
When I suggested that his many performances had only improved with time, a humble Sheen said he wasn’t so sure admitting that in the early days of his career he never really envisioned acting professionally. “You don’t think about an end. You think about an evolution…You hope you’re going to be able to do it as long as you want to…I thought it’d just be a way to go out, make a bag of money and retire on a beach somewhere.”
Many years later, the actor–already well-versed in politics as a longtime liberal activist who isn’t afraid to be stand up for his ideals–has found the role of a lifetime.
“To do The West Wing is to go out with a bang and not a whimper.” He slapped my arm and grinned, then reminded me that even though he was heading down to claim his lifetime achievement award, “My life isn’t over yet!”
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Sheen wasn’t the only one in the spotlight that night. Veteran television director James Burrows–whose lengthy resume includes such TV benchmarks as Taxi, Cheers, Frasier and Will & Grace–was also being acknowledged for his impressive body of work. “It’s an honor to be singled out like this,” Burrows told me. “As opposed to last week [at the Emmys], here I already know who’s won.”
Burrows said he felt the honor wasn’t just aimed at him, but at all of the situation comedy directors who are just now beginning to enter the public consciousness. “I think what’s happened is that television and the movies mingle now…There’s no class system anymore.”
He was about to speculate, when comedian Robert Klein–Burrows’ schoolmate from Yale–leaned into the conversation backward, claiming he was just hoping to eavesdrop and grab some pearl of wisdom. “Everything this man says could be valuable!” Burrows was also back-slapped by an old high school buddy, NYPD Blue creator Steven Bochco.
Will & Grace stars Eric McCormack and Debra Messing arrived at the hotel together to salute their director, with McCormack introducing himself thusly: “I’m her husband.” Actually, both were sans their real-life mates for the night and had shared a limo.
Their co-star Sean Hayes showed up a bit later, as did other Burrows vets including proud new parents Kelsey Grammer and wife Camille, Ted Danson and Mary Steenburgen, Lea Thompson (Caroline in the City) and Dan Cortese (Veronica’s Closet).
There were plenty of other stars in attendance as well, including Sheen’s crony William DeVane, Dana Delany, Laura Innes, Mark-Paul Gosselar, Casey Kasem, Arleen Sorkin (perhaps best known as the voice of the Batman cartoon’s Harley Quinn), Richard Chamberlain, Loralee Bell and attorney Gloria Allred.
