‘Stretching’ on Film

I’ve been an actor for 20 years, and I believe most actors “stretch” because of the opportunity to escape into or to explore the lives of different people.

Steve McQueen made the only feature film to date of Ibsen’s “An Enemy of the People,” and, success or not, it was a nobler effort than all of his “Tom Horn” or “The Hunter” programmers.

And I’d trade every “Chisum,” every “Rio Lobo,” for John Wayne’s shy Swedish sailor in “Long Voyage Home.”

As we used to say back in Texas, “Ah, but a man’s reach should exceed his grasp, or what’s a heaven for?”

JIM BEAVER

Van Nuys