Graduate Class

Friday, April 15, 2005 | 5:13 a.m.

WEEKEND EDITION

April 16 - 17, 2005

What: "The Graduate," starring Morgan Fairchild.

When: 8 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday; 2 p.m. Saturday; 1 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. April 24.

Where: Cashman Theatre.

Tickets: $29.70 to $45.10.

Information: 474-4000.

Actress Morgan Fairchild's interests reach far beyond the footlights of the stage and backlights of the screen.

Politics (she once dated Sen. John Kerry), paleontology and epidemiology are just a few of the subjects that fascinate the 55-year-old native of Dallas.

Born Patsy Ann McClenny, Fairchild had her first taste of motion pictures when she got a job as a stand-in for Faye Dunaway during the filming of "Bonnie and Clyde" (1967).

From 1973 to 1977 she portrayed Jennifer Pace in the daytime soap opera "Search for Tomorrow." In 1978, Fairchild moved to Los Angeles and briefly joined the cast of the hit TV series "Dallas."

She has performed in dozens of TV series over the years, including a starring role in "Flamingo Road," for which she won an Emmy. She appeared on many top TV series during the '70s, '80s and '90s, including "Falcon Crest," "Murphy Brown," "Mork & Mindy" and "Roseanne."

When Fairchild isn't performing in films ("Unshackled," "Nice Guys Sleep Alone," "Shattered Illusions") or on television, she can be found onstage ("Geniuses," "Goodbye Charlie").

Her latest project is the role of Mrs. Robinson in a national tour of the stage production "The Graduate," which will be at the Cashman Theatre from Tuesday to April 24.

"The Graduate" was a novel by Charles Webb that was made into a classic movie in 1967 starring Anne Bancroft as Mrs. Robinson, who seduces her neighbor Benjamin Braddock (Dustin Hoffman), a recent college graduate who feels alienated.

During a recent telephone from Orlando, Fla., where the play was at the Bob Carr Theater, Fairchild discussed her role and many other topics.

Las Vegas Sun: "The Graduate" is one of the most popular films ever made. When fans come to see the play, are they disappointed?

Morgan Fairchild: Many arrive expecting the movie. Obviously it is different. It's a different medium. The movie opens with Benjamin in a scuba suit underwater, symbolizing his isolation. We open with Ben in a scuba suit, lying on his bed, refusing to come down (from his room) -- we do this to capture that same sense of isolation.

All the famous scenes are there. The lines from the movie are there. It's the same story, based on the same novel.

It's very funny. It moves quickly.

Sun: How do you relate to the Mrs. Robinson character?

MF: You always get very into whatever you're doing now. I'm enjoying Mrs. Robinson, a strange, twisted and funny character. I like her. I kind of understand where she is coming from. Before, I didn't understand why she was so mean about Benjamin and Elaine.

Sun: How is the tour going?

MF: It's a little hard. It's the longest tour I have done, but I have been out before -- I once did "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" on the summer circuit.

I've been on the road since October. We've been everywhere -- from Anchorage to Washington, D.C., to Dallas, Delaware, Seattle, Orlando.

Sun: Have you ever been to Las Vegas?

MF: I have been there, but this will be my first time performing. I'm looking forward to it.

Sun: Which medium do you prefer -- stage or film?

MF: I started in theater when I was 10, long before I got into television. I have done a lot of theater over the years.

The two mediums are so different. It's hard for people to understand the difference, the different demands on time and energy.

In the movies, you are up at 5 in the morning and put in long hours with energy bursts in fits and starts on the set. There is a different focus of energy. In film it is more internalized. Onstage, it is directed to the back of the house.

Sun: You had an interesting role on the TV series "Roseanne" in 1992. What was it like to play a homosexual character?

MF: It was interesting. It was challenging to me to play a lesbian. It was interesting that Sandra Bernhard talks about her girlfriend and I walk out. It was a hoot -- campy fun. It challenged everyone's perceptions of sexual identifications.

People spent the next five years asking me if I were a lesbian.

Sun: You have played a lot of different roles during your career. Any favorite movies or plays or TV shows?

MF: I've been performing for 40 years. For different reasons, obscure reasons, each role is memorable -- maybe I had a torrid love affair on that one; this one is the most complicated and interesting. In one case I was a nun in Bosnia (in 1995's "Gospa," co-starring Martin Sheen and Michael York) -- I felt I did really good work on the movie, even though it was not widely distributed.

Sun: What was filming in Bosnia like?

MF: This was in 1994. We were losing sound takes to the shelling.

Sun: You are politically astute. Did you become involved in politics in Bosnia?

MF: I always have a tendency to get out and talk to the real people.

They are so happy to find an American they can talk to. They will pour their hearts out to you, if you are genuinely interested. I generally know their leaders and the arguments important to them, the religious and ethnic groups, why they hate each other.

I'm a big foreign-policy nut. I'm just interested in what's really going on, what we are doing as a country. I'm a voracious reader and I have an insatiable curiosity.

Sun: How political are you?

MF: I'm reasonably political. There are certain issues I care about.

Sun: For example?

MF: I wanted to be a doctor when I was a kid. Studying emerging viruses and epidemiology became a hobby. Because I was interested in these subjects I knew a lot about AIDS before most people, and I ended up going on talk shows such as "Nightline" with Ted Koppel to discuss it. I testified before a House AIDS committee in Washington in '85.

I did a town hall meeting once -- a five-hour "Nightline" on AIDS. I didn't realize it until I read it in Koppel's book (1998's "Nightline: History in the Making") that it was the first town-hall meeting the program had ever done.

Because of my interest in the sciences, I had an early interest in environmental issues. I testified before Congress in 1986 or '87 about global warming -- which was the first they had heard of it. Al Gore and I used to kid about us being the only two talking and the only two listening.

We shared the dais on many issues.

Sun: Censorship is a hot topic right now. What is you position?

MF: I'm very much anti-censorship. I'm very concerned about legislation now being foist upon us. I'm the first to say we should have a discussion about what is allowable on children's time on TV and in the movies -- we need to look at the reality shows that teach a value system to lie, cheat, steal and kill your mother to get ahead -- but I don't believe we should legislate it. We need to debate the issue as a country and come to a conclusion.

Sun: Besides censorship, what concerns you the most these days?

MF: There are new diseases out there -- avian (bird) flu, SARS, mad cow disease. The world is long overdue for a pandemic, like the Spanish flu in 1918 that wiped out 20 million people.

Sun: Touring must make it difficult to remain politically active.

MF: It's been a little hard. I've done what I could in the political campaign last year, but I've have had to miss a few things.

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