"Lost" Regular Michael Emerson Talks of his Physical Role on the Show

If Ernest Borgnine's performance in the Hallmark Channel's forthcoming "A Grandpa for Christmas" comes off as deeply felt -- and it does -- it could be because the beloved 90-year-old movie-and-TV star had his own painful experience to draw from in playing a man whose daughter has been estranged from him since childhood. "I read it and said, 'Oh, God. This is me,'" he says, referring to the end of his fourth marriage, in 1972. He was making "The Revengers" with William Holden in Mexico when he got word that his then-wife was suing him for divorce. He was shocked. As he recalls it, "I got back from the picture, and there were two men with guns on at the front door, a big stack of cases with my things, and my Oscar sitting on top of it. She said, 'Take your stuff and get out … '"
"Lost" Regular Michael Emerson Talks of his Physical Role on the Show (Image: Wenn)

He remembers shortly thereafter coming to visit his young son and daughter, "and they were standing at the door with their mother. I said, 'Hey, kids!' and my daughter said, 'Oh, Daddy, we don't want to see you anymore.' It broke my heart. It really did. I didn't see them for a few years." Eventually, though, "my kids came back to me," he says. "They're happy now. What can you do? It's one of those things."

The holiday telefilm has Borgnine as a former movie heavy who learns he has a granddaughter only after his daughter (Tracy Nelson) is critically injured in an automobile accident, and he's asked to take care of the child (Juliette Goglia). It's one of three movies the energetic nonagenarian's got going in a row, including "Aces and Eights," a Western, and "Another Harvest," a drama he's soon to begin shooting in Harrisburg, Penn., with Anne Meara. Ernie is also just finishing his autobiography with the aid of longtime publicist Harry Flynn. Considering his swath across Hollywood, his five marriages (he's been wed to current wife, Tova, for 35 years now), and the faithful outlook that he says keeps him going, it ought to be some book.

NO NEED FOR THE GYM: "My work is my workout" says "Lost" regular Michael Emerson. The Emmy-winning, mild-mannered, somewhat nebbishy actor who plays Ben Linus, the evil head of the castaways known as "The Others," adds, "I continue to be amazed that I spend so much of my story line in scenes of violence because I'm not the most physical person. I think it's hilarious that I'm in an action program because I'm the last guy they would ever pick for running through jungles. And there are really physically fit people on the show, like Terry O'Quinn, Matthew Fox and Josh Holloway. … I'm always a little bit intimidated."

Still, Emerson notes it's his very lack of overt testosterone that makes him the perfect villain. "It's a reverse packaging. People like the idea that the scariest criminals come in the mildest packages. As if the fact that the neighbor was 'such a nice, quiet person, he helped me carry my groceries' is proof he's not a psychopath or a serial killer."

Source: National Ledger