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Friday, April 02, 2010

Neal McDonough

Neal McDonough is a name I hadn't heard before, as I watch so little TV. I recognize him from his pictures, but I have no idea what I've seen him do.

But Neal McDonough is apparently the man with the big cahonas in Hollywood, and he chooses not to share them with everyone. Because of that, he was recently fired from a new TV series, as he wouldn't do a sex scene with sleazy co-star Virginia Madsen (who apparently has no qualms about it and couldn't be bothered to stick up for the guy).

Wow, an actor with morals! I don't think we've seen such a thing since Pat Boone.

One writer snarkily commented that morals didn't stop McDonough from playing a serial killer once, but let's face it: Playing a serial killer hardly compares to getting naked in front of a crew of people and being very intimate with a naked skank when you're a married man with children.

At a time when we keep hearing how skeevy Hollywood men can be (thanks to Tiger and Jesse), McDonough brings a breath of fresh air.

Bravo, Neal McDonough, Bravo!

6 comments:

Angela said...

He is only familiar to me from the movie Walking Tall with "The Rock" (Dwayne Johnson). I find the story interesting but don't necessarily think it means he is a good guy.

Where as someone like Jesse James, I mean come on, did you really expect him to be faithful? One of his wives was a porn star.

Saur♥Kraut said...

Angela,

Re: Jesse:


I expect people to live up to their promises, regardless of whether or not they've made poor choices before. A history of bad behavior is no excuse for current bad behavior.

Re: Neal McDonough:

I think it means he's a great guy, if it's the true reason for his parting ways with the show. No one's perfect, but I believe family comes first and if he respects his wife and his vows to that extent, more power to him.

One of the reasons there is so much misery in this world is that we don't value the good that people do, and minimize the bad they do.

Ed said...

Although it doesn't change the merit of your writeup, he wasn't fired from Desperate Housewives but from Scoundrels.

He has cited that his morals that got him fired were because he is Catholic. Thought I would toss that in because of your past posts on Catholics.

I applaud him for sticking up for his moral values.

Scott said...

Good for him though isn't an actor's job to play a part?
Sex/kissing etc.. on screen must be difficult for a lot of actors but really, it is just acting. He wasn't going to be having real sex with anyone.
If he can live with not doing any work that involves any of the well kudos to him, but he will definitely be living with those consequences.

Unknown said...

Scott,

If an actor agrees to play a part with an understanding of what is involved, then I would agree that it is his job. It sounds as though the parameters shifted after he was hired. I agree that if he doesn't want to "act" doing certain things then he needs to accept the consequences. It sounds as though he did.

I'm kind of reminded of Dean Jones. Some of us old-timers will remember him from a lot of Disney films in the 60's. He was so particular about what kind of films that he played in from a morals standpoint that he did very little work outside of Disney, at least little work that I heard of.

I also heard a rumor some time ago that Alley Sheedy took her career to Europe because American studios kept insisting that she get breast enhancement (full disclosure - I haven't followed up on that particular rumor, but it sounded believable).

I know of very few careers where there isn't some kind of pressure to cross a few lines to get ahead. Best to make up your mind ahead of time just how far you will go. If you wait until you're under pressure to decide, you might regret the consequences more than you think.

Happy Easter everyone.

clew said...

Don't know how I missed this the other day ... - I recognize this guy, I've seen him in a lot of things and he usually plays someone unsavory (the serial killer being the perfect example). I'm glad to see he stuck up for what he believed.

I always liked him - now I like him even more :)