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February/March Alda 2005 Ego Alan Alda was Mainer Hawkeye Pierce on M*A*S*H for 11 years. He was nominated for an Oscar playing Maine Senator Ralph Owen Brewster in The Aviator. What is it about Alda and Maine?
by Diane Russell
lthough from away–Alan Alda was Congress in 1935 and then the Senate in 1941. geography and become a state of mind. born in New York–“I became a It was in the U.S. Senate that he launched “Maine has the allure of the exotic–a place A Mainer in 1957 when I played at the a controversial investigation of Howard we’ve all been to in our dreams, where Kennebunkport Playhouse,” he says. “It was Hughes, an eccentric, reclusive millionaire. romance comes like a breath of spring after beautiful there. I was just married, and my The investigation and Senator Brewster’s the hard winter of our daily lives,” says wife and I were busy exploring all the nooks role in it are highlighted in The Aviator, the Alda. “It’s where all Americans long to be and crannies.” 2004 Martin Scorcese film starring Leonardo now that we’ve started hating France.” But does he talk like a Mainer? “Do DiCaprio as Hughes. Alda recently joined the cast of The West people from Maine speak with an accent? I “I saw film of Senator Brewster. He Wing as another–albeit fictional–Republican don’t think so. If they have an accent, how seemed like a really nice fellow,” says Alda. senator, Arnold Vinick. With a combined his- come Meryl Streep never played anyone “I say that in case there are any relatives still tory of playing characters from Maine and from Maine?” around with access to a lawyer.” Republican senators, does Alda have any While he’s played two char- Senator Brewster’s antith- plans to portray any other GOP Maine sena- acters from Maine, Hawkeye is esis was fellow Republican tors anytime soon? pure fiction and Senator Brewster Senator Margaret Chase Smith “It’s funny, I’m planning a one-man show was an historical figure. Are there of Skowhegan, who spoke out as Margaret Thatcher. But it’s not too late to other differences? against Senator Joseph McCarthy change it to Margaret Chase Smith. I could “There’s a great similarity in in her Declaration of Conscience use the same handbag.” n that they’re both played by me in 1950. and therefore bear a remarkable “McCarthy, you know, was Postcript: This interview is a legend at Portland Magazine be- resemblance to one another. on Brewster’s committee when cause it was written by an editorial intern on her first day. Today, Otherwise, they’re as different he held hearings in an attempt to Rep. Diane Russell, D-Portland, is serving her third term in the as night and meatloaf,” says Alda, 69. destroy Hughes,” Alda says. E Maine House of Representatives. She serves on joint standing US “Pierce took no guff and Brewster took no “Then, after he got popular, McCarthy
HO committees for Veteran and Legal Affairs and for Energy, Utilities, prisoners.” tried to destroy Drew Pearson, the columnist OM and Technology, and she’s known for her advocacy for the state- D
AN Oh, “and one of them was a lot older than who’d sided with Hughes. Politics is a great wide legalization of marijuana. R
et: the other.” contact sport.” Alan Alda has been seen most recently on the big screen in s The real-life Sen. Brewster was gover- With Hawkeye and Brewster in his rep- the Jennifer Anniston comedy Wanderlust (2012) and in episodes
CBS; in nor of Maine for five years before entering ertoire, Alda believes Maine can transcend of The Big C and The Blacklist on TV. F E BRU A R Y / m a RC H 2 0 1 4 4 9