ShareThisHe's probably best-known as one of TV's "MASH" doctors -- Capt. B.J. Hunnicutt, a steady presence in the Korean War zone to Alan Alda's mercurial Hawkeye Pierce.
Mike Farrell's eight-year stint on the beloved series was not only a great time in his acting career, it also provided him with prestigious credentials for promoting the humanitarian causes he holds dear.
In his 2007 autobiography, "Just Call Me Mike: A Journey to Actor and Activist," he writes, "Where do I fit in? ... What is my responsibility here? What does it mean to be alive in the world today? What part do I play as an American?"
For him, the answers are leading a campaign to abolish the death penalty in the United States and visiting troubled spots around the globe.
"For me it's a number of things," Farrell said in an interview from his Los Angeles home. "It's an opportunity to have a better understanding from on the ground of what's going on.
"And it's a curious thing about celebrity: being somebody who was one of the stars of one of the most popular television shows in history offers an opportunity. I look at it as an ambassadorial opportunity at times, where I can go to places and have the opportunity to do things and meet people that other people don't have. It gives me the opportunity to come back here and talk to people who are willing to hear about it."
He pegged a second book to his first. In May 2008, he headed out on an 8,882-mile, 25-city tour to promote the paperback edition of his memoir, and he kept a journal of his experiences, the people he met and the hybrid Toyota Prius (Mule) he drove. Published in 2009, "Of Mule and Man" is that bloglike collection.
At home, he drives a 1992 Toyota pickup and an on-/off-road BMW bike -- his therapy. He's biked through the Yukon to the Arctic Circle and crisscrossed Australia, breaking an ankle along the way. He's been a vegetarian for 40 years and is "an aspiring vegan." Vegans do not eat or consume animal products.
Farrell, 71, who makes appearances around the country, spoke last week in Toledo, Ohio.
The father of two children, ages 38 and 35, with a first grandchild on the way, Farrell's been married for 25 years to actress Shelley Fabares. Her credits include the 1962 hit single, "Johnny Angel"; eight years on the television sitcom "Coach" as Christine Armstrong, love interest of Craig T. Nelson's title character; three Elvis Presley films in the 1960s, and five years on "The Donna Reed Show."
Born to an Irish-Catholic family in St. Paul, Minn., Farrell was 2 years old when his father moved them to Hollywood, wanting work and finding it as a film-studio carpenter. Young Farrell longed for approval from his brusque, Camel-smoking dad, but didn't find it.
At 18 he joined the U.S. Marines, and, upon discharge, worked and hunted for acting jobs. He married a high-school teacher and began landing parts in TV series such as "Days of Our Lives," "The Interns" and "The Man and the City." In the 1967 film "The Graduate," he played a bellhop, and had one line. The career-maker came in 1975 when he was offered a role in "MASH," a television series he admired and would be a part of for 179 episodes.
In Toledo, Farrell delivered a 15-minute talk and answered questions from audience members. Queries were evenly divided between his work as an actor/producer and the death penalty.
The United States is among 30 countries that continue killing criminals, as are Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia and China. China and the United States kill the most, he said.
"It puts us in bad company." It should come as no surprise, he added, that U.S. soldiers have tortured and killed prisoners.
"I think that's a sign of the degradation of the soul of this country. And I think we deserve better," he said.
Farrell's appearance was part of a writers series sponsored by The Toledo Blade and the Toledo-Lucas County Public Library.
(Contact Tahree Lane at tlane(at)theblade.com)
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)
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