WBAI RADIO, 99.5 FM, New York - David Rothenberg
Celebrity autobiographies are a dime a dozen and mostly predictable. It goes something like this: Venus or Apollo started at an early age, found fame and fortune, and then drugs or booze which destroyed their career. After Betty Ford or Hazelden they found peace or God or both... and a publisher.
The press gives these books a great deal of attention... and though I admire the spunk of those who overcome their demons, the autobiogs are almost always a repeat of the last one you read.
I say all of this as a warmup to a celeb autobiography which is the antithesis of the genre and hasn't received its due from the media. Mike Farrell's JUST CALL ME MIKE (Akashic Books) cannot be categorized by his fans or by his years as BJ Hunnicutt on M*A*S*H. Mike Farrell has lived one of the fullest and most productive lives of anyone in Hollywood, New York or Main Street, USA.
A humanitarian and an activist, he has been at the forefront of the fight against capital punishment. He doesn't just lend his name to protest leaflets and ads, he visits death row inmates and lobbies elected officials in the fight for justice and truth.
Farrell has traveled through the Middle East, Central America and Southeast Asia with groups bringing aid and challenging America policy when and where it intrudes on human rights.
His life is a riveting tale and the book realizes that. In one instance, with a humanitarian doctor operating on wounded persons in isolated and oppressed El Salvador, he was called upon to aid in a delicate operation. He kept protesting to the medic that his TV role was acting and he couldn't participate in such an operation. But he did and the success with this woman/patient has an extraordinary conclusion.
There is also Farrell's reporting on his years with M*A*S*H and Providence, two major TV hits. His two marriages and two children are introduced to the reader, giving us a fill picture of the man.
More than anything else, you get to know Mike Farrell and recognize that he stands tall. His celebrity has been a door-opener for the best that the human experience can offer.
JUST CALL ME MIKE is an inspiration