FIFTY YEARS OLD AND STILL THE ADVENTURER
Original French | English Translation
Despite a few grey hairs, he still has a taste for exploits. But he admits that now another adventure fills his life with joy. She will soon be two years old, and her name is Wylie. And with his daughter, Richard Dean Anderson feels humbled...
Télé Star:
It's been four years now since you left behind your adventurer's clothes to put on the uniform of Captain [sic] O'Neill in Stargate SG-1. Are you at ease in the costume?
Richard Dean Anderson:
No problem! Stargate, as with MacGyver, is a well-oiled machine! When I embarked on this project (note: he is a producer of Stargate), the only difficulty that I encountered was with the special effects. I knew absolutely nothing about it! I had to adapt myself to it so that the settings of this science fiction series would be as credible as possible.
Télé Star:
For your role, were you inspired by Kurt Russell, who played Jack O'Neill in the movie?
Richard Dean Anderson:
I immediately warned the studio that my interpretation would be radically different from Kurt's. In the movie, the military context doesn't allow for humor. But I don't want to be bored. Life is too short! Not to mention that the TV series includes 88 episodes... That's why I wanted to make my character an irreverent hero with a sarcastic sense of humor.
Télé Star:
Speaking of time passing, you celebrated your 50th birthday last January...
Richard Dean Anderson:
And with great pomp! My girlfriend, Apryl Rose [sic], took care of everything. She has a knack for organizing parties like no one else and had invited, without my knowledge, one hundred fifty people in a bowling alley that she had entirely booked. When I got there I was a bit amazed to see so many people I knew among the guests. I soon understood! There were friends there going back thirty years, buddies from high school, friends like Henry Winkler (the hero of Happy Days), and pals who worked on MacGyver. I was so impressed!
Télé Star:
Seeing all those members from the epic MacGyver didn't make you long to bring back that cult series?
Richard Dean Anderson:
Who knows? You can't be sure of anything. If that should happen some day, I'd love to give him another dimension. In a movie, for example. But my most urgent project is, once the season of Stargate is completed, to take long months of rest to spend with my lady and our little Wylie Quinn Annarose.
Télé Star:
How have you handled the arrival of the baby?
Richard Dean Anderson:
With surprise! Apryl didn't expect to be pregnant so soon! Neither did I! But the announcement of this pregnancy delighted us. From my perspective, I think that the time had come for me to become a father. A responsibility that for a long time I hadn't felt capable of assuming.
Télé Star:
Wylie will soon be 2 years old. What kind of little girl is she?
Richard Dean Anderson:
She has started speaking in some little phrases, recognizes some colors, and knows how to count to ten. And she's not afraid of anything! At three months, she had already skied for the first time in my arms!
Télé Star:
And you, as Father Hen, how is it going?
Richard Dean Anderson:
(Laughing) My greatest pleasure, when I come home exhausted after a day of shooting, is to take a bath with Wylie. We gave her a floating puzzle and we have a great time in the water trying to put all the pieces together.
Télé Star:
And does Apryl Rose [sic] amaze you in her role as mother?
Richard Dean Anderson:
We didn't know each other well when she found out that she was expecting our baby. But I knew deep down that she would have a great maternal instinct. And I wasn't wrong! Apryl is really an extraordinary mother. Always organized, never overwhelmed by anything that happens! I admire her a great deal.
Télé Star:
Before the birth of your daughter, you were leading the life of an adventurer, weren't you?
Richard Dean Anderson:
It's true that, ever since childhood, I've had the soul of an adventurer. When I was younger, I left on my bike and I traveled all over the United States. Then I wanted to discover the world, to take up car racing, play ice hockey... My only worry in those days was to take risks and do things in such a way that would not get me killed. It was a very selfish life. It was time to grow up. That said, I have kept a bit of that spirit of the dare-devil and the adventurer, but softened by the responsibilities that I have today.
Télé Star:
Don't you miss the action?
Richard Dean Anderson:
I think about it sometimes, but Wylie and Apryl's happiness comes before anything. And then, when the need for action becomes too pressing, I take my whole little world to the mountains and go skiing. There, I feel in my element.
Télé Star:
Do you and your girlfriend follow the same guidelines for child rearing?
Richard Dean Anderson:
We have kept a certain independence and a freedom of thinking. But, as for the education of our daughter, we both have immersed ourselves in specialized books so as to make the fewest mistakes possible, and we walk hand in hand to offer Wylie the best life possible. At this moment, she certainly doesn't think so, because we've started to teach her some discipline! Something which I myself detest!
Télé Star:
And do you hope to give her married parents?
Richard Dean Anderson:
No exact date has been decided yet. But there is a chance that we might get married in June.
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Ragaine, Franck. "50 Ans et Toujours Baroudeur" (translated from the French). Télé Star. May 8, 2000: p. 12-14.
Special thanks to Nathalie and Isabelle for their assistance.