RON PERLMAN ON "CBS THIS MORNING"
August 22, 1990.

Interviewed by Mark McEwen
Introduced By Paula Zahn

Actor Ron Perlman is appearing On Broadway in a role that will surprise a lot of fans who know him from television. In the cult favorite Beauty and the Beast, Perlman won rave reviews playing the noble Beast who loves and cares for the Beauty, but in the hit Broadway play A Few Good Men he plays a driven Marine Officer who reminds some theatre goers of Oliver North. Mark McEwen spoke with Perlman recently about both roles and his career.

McEwen: Ron - good morning. Thanks for being with us.

Perlman: Good morning to you.

McEwen: Your character - Lieutenant Colonel Nathan Jessep - not a nice, guy!

Perlman: Ah, well, it depends on what point of view you're taking. I'm sure he thinks he's a great guy. (Both men laugh)

McEwen: He thinks he's a great guy - and you look like you're having an absolute ball playing this character on stage.

Perlman: I'm having a great time. I was probably more terrified at the prospect of playing this part than, I think, almost anything else I've ever played, because I do not have a military point of view at all. I'm the most easy going... My background is anything but militaristic and my mind-set is anything but militaristic. This is a guy who is quintessential in that mind-set. I didn't get the script until after I was hired which is a very dangerous way to go about it, and also very rare. When I got the script, I was already en route to New York on a 'plane. I was reading it. I remember searching very, very heatedly for my return trip ticket (laughing) to see if I could figure out a way to get out of this thing.

McEwen: Let me ask you a question. What's the process of seeing the words on paper to fleshing out this character?

Perlman: The script is the road map and there is a journey from when you first see a character to where he ends up in a play. The better written the play is - the clearer the journey. It's been quite an interesting stretch for me, because this guy is more of a monster than the Beast that I played for three years with four hours of makeup on.

McEwen: Speaking of which - there are a lot of people who come to see you in this play because of Vincent. Do you ever tire of people bringing him up - ever tire of them saying they'd like to see him again - or being associated with Vincent?

Perlman: Well, I hate to see people disappointed and the people who want to see Vincent come back - I'm afraid - I don't know what their fate will be. But no, one never tires of getting that much back. I think that when one goes into this industry, it's because one tastes of the exchange that takes place between an artist and his audience.

McEwen: Why come back to "the boards"? Why come back to doing a play when you have been in the land of television for the last five or six years?

Perlman: I'm interested in anything that has the potential to be distinguished and that has a tremendous amount of integrity and that has a part in it for me that will interest me insofar as it's something that I've never had a chance to explore before. This particular job filled all of those criteria to a tee. It's a first rate company. Being produced by guys who, when I was growing up in this city and where theatre was my world, were legendary - the Schuberts, Robert Whitehead and Roger Stevens and those guys. Now I get a chance to play in their ballpark and it's like going to "the show" - like what they call "the show" when you're in the minor leagues. The theatre is something that I've never abandoned. You just do this for a while, then you do that for a while, and if you're lucky enough you get a chance to explore all the media, because they're all unique and singular. They offer different things - different challenges to you.

McEwen: Well Ron - A Few Good Men is the play - Colonel Nathan Jessep. You're outstanding as the Colonel.

Perlman: Well, thank you, Mark.

McEwen: Thanks for being with us.

Perlman: Pleasure.

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