E-mail a friendDennis Haysbert
airdate May 4, 2004
Dennis Haysbert is best known for his role as President Palmer in the hit TV series 24. Now starring in the CBS action-drama, The Unit, he has film credits that include Waiting to Exhale, Far From Heaven—both earning him critical raves—and Goodbye Bafana. A Northern California native, Haysbert declined various sports scholarships, opting to study at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. He's a certified deep sea diver, avid environmentalist and spokesperson for the National Leadership Commission on AIDS.
Dennis Haysbert
Tavis: I'm pleased to have actor Dennis Haysbert here with us tonight. Moviegoers know his standout performance in the film 'Far From Heaven,' but for fans of one of the best, if not most exciting shows on television, he may be forever known as President David Palmer. Here he is, Dennis Haysbert as president of the United States on Fox's Emmy-winning series '24.'
Jack Bauer: Mr. President?
David Palmer: Steven Saunders, the man who's
in control of the virus, you know him, correct?
Jack: Yes, sir. I worked with him a number of
years ago on a mission that you sanctioned,
the Drazen mission in Kosovo.
Palmer: The last conversation I had with him,
he said there would be other demands. His exact words:
'The main event to come.' Do you have any idea what
he means by that?
Jack: I wish I could tell you, sir. Right now
Steven Saunders is in a vengeful state of mind.
Any demands that he makes will be detrimental
to American security.
Palmer: What I'm asking, Jack, is what will he
do if I say no to him?
Tavis: Hmm. The brother president: Dennis Haysbert.
Dennis Haysbert: Pleasure.
Tavis: How you doing, man?
Dennis: I'm doing well. How about yourself?
Tavis: I'm doing well, man. Nice to see you.
Dennis: It's good to be here.
Tavis: Yeah. Before I get to the president thing, I've been waiting to tell you this--and I'm not really big on commercials--
Dennis: Mm-hmm.
Tavis: A lot of times, I don't find them believable, and you know that people are selling you something. I mean, they're commercials, after all, but you are so good, so good in this Allstate commercial series. Every time I see them--I mean, I'm like--you're, like, so believable. I mean, it's like I want to go out and buy some Allstate or something.
Dennis: Well, you know what? You should.
Tavis: So you actually use the product.
Dennis: Yeah. You know, it's... Well, it's something they insisted on that I totally agreed with. You know, 'cause if I'm gonna sell something--and I am, essentially, a salesman for Allstate right now--and I have to believe in it. And I've been to a couple of their events, and what they do and how they sell their insurance and how they treat their agents is really quite remarkable.
Tavis: I raise that not as a gratuitous shout-out to Allstate, but because--
Dennis: Oh, no, I understand.
Tavis: 'Cause the simplicity of the commercial--the way you chose to do it. I mean, there's no suit--I mean--the whole way the thing is shot, the way you come at it, the simplicity of it, I just thought it gets over really well.
Dennis: Oh, thank you.
Tavis: Yeah. Yeah. Um, while we're on that, though, why use your credibility? Why use your clout to sell a product? There are a lot of folk--I shouldn't say a lot of folk--there's some folk in this business who love the opportunity and would jump at the opportunity to sell anything. There are other folk who don't want to go in that territory. They don't want to be a pitchperson. They don't want to sell something, but the credibility and the clout that you now have--you're playing the president on television. What made you decide that you would use that credibility, use that clout, to endorse a particular product?
Dennis: Well, I'm going to be very honest: money.
Tavis: That's what I want you to do.
Dennis: OK, uh--
Tavis: I ain't mad at you for that.
Dennis: But also--I mean, it's not just for the money. I mean, I couldn't sell, you know, tacos. I mean, I couldn't--
Tavis: Hey, I like tacos.
Dennis: And I love tacos.
Tavis: I love tacos. No hate on the tacos.
Dennis: I'm not hating, but, uh...I have ascended to a certain kind of level, and I have a level that I, you know, try to keep myself at, you know? There are a lot of roles out there. I mean, I could have flown here in my own helicopter from the roles that I've turned down over the years. So I'm very particular about what I do, and this company was a good company. It's a class company.
Tavis: To the point of you being particular about the roles that you do, you have--as I'm sure you are aware, because you read the same stuff I read, if you read your own stuff--I read your stuff, and everything I read about you, people love to compare you to, one, Sidney Poitier. I suspect, in part, that's because you are very good about picking quality roles, that you come across as a gentleman in pretty much everything you do, uh, but that's just my own conjecture. What do you make of these comparisons, incessant comparisons to Sidney Poitier?
Dennis: I can't think of a better comparison, and I hope I can continue to live up to that. Um, I didn't... You know, I'm a great big fan of Sidney's.
Tavis: That makes two of us.
Dennis: And I kind of patterned the way I work, having watched him and others: Montgomery Clift, uh, Brando, James Earl Jones. These men, when I was growing up, you know, I would watch. Cary Grant. You know, I always saw myself--there's a famous line he has in 'Guess Who's Coming to Dinner.' He's speaking to his father, and he says, 'Dad, your problem is you always thought of yourself as a black man, and I always see myself as a man.' And I think when we, as human beings, as Americans, as people of the world, start seeing each other as human beings, as men and women, you know, our problems are just about over.
Tavis: Does the fact that you are allowed, as an African American, to play the president on a hit TV series suggest that we are making progress in that regard?
Dennis: I would think so. I would think so, especially how I'm received on the street by black, white, Chinese, Japanese. I'm like the designated ambassador. I go around the world, you know, pumping the show, and people love David Palmer. And I guess they love me doing it, but I like to think that they're both 2 different entities, you know? He is a performance, but I take David Palmer very seriously.
Tavis: Martin Sheen had a number of great roles in his career before he had a chance to play the president on 'The West Wing.' You've had some great roles, to be sure, as well, but I wonder how--maybe what is the better way to phrase it--what, having a chance to play a role like this, as an African American actor, does for your career, long-term?
Dennis: I don't know. I'm still in it, and I can definitely tell you there's a deeper respect, you know?
Tavis: Just because you're playing the president?
Dennis: Well, it's because, well, that and playing Raymond Deacon in 'Far From Heaven' as well. I mean, it totally eliminated the stereotype. You can see right here. I did 'Far From Heaven' and the first season of '24' at the same time. I just flew back and forth. So when '24' was in the middle of its run, 'Far From Heaven' came out. So immediately people saw that, 'Oh, well, he's not just the president. He can play, you know, different things.'
Tavis: Was that a deliberate attempt on your part or your agent's part to move away from playing--you were never stuck there in the first place. But was it a deliberate effort on your part to play these roles that people might not typically expect an African American to play, or you've just been blessed to have these roles come your way? Did you map out this strategy here?
Dennis: In a manner of speaking, yeah. I'm a very big proponent of visualization. And it's something that we all do. There's sometimes I don't think we all stick with it. I think, in large part, especially with black American entertainers, we kind of do what people think we should do rather than what we honestly want to do. And I've always visualized playing roles that would be accepted by the whole of the community rather than just one segment of it.
Tavis: You could've been accepted by the whole of the community had you done what you started out doing, which is not acting, but playing sports.
Dennis: Oh, yeah.
Tavis: Could've done that as well.
Dennis: Absolutely.
Tavis: What happened? And you played some of everything, too. What didn't you play?
Dennis: Well--ha ha ha! You know, I think I've always been an athlete, so I didn't play hockey because it just wasn't in my--
Tavis: Wasn't in your neighborhood. I understand that. Yeah.
Dennis: But if somebody had given me a hockey stick and a puck and put me on some ice, I guess I would've played some hockey. It's a very physical game. I enjoy watching it.
Tavis: Yeah. How'd you move away from the sport thing to the acting thing?
Dennis: You know, self-preservation. You know--
Tavis: Yeah. That's a good answer. Ha ha ha!
Dennis: I see a lot of football players, I know a lot of football players, basketball players, baseball players, and, you know, their bodies wear out. You know? I'm pushing a pretty big number now and I'm still able to get out there as well.
Tavis: You want to tell what it is? Just between you and me, between the two of us.
Dennis: The two of us and the rest of the world. I'll be 50 in June.
Tavis: You'll be 50. Man, if I look half as good as you at 50, man, goodness gracious. So, that's a good--how do you preserve yourself? You still work out regularly? How do you look so good at 50?
Dennis: I watch my diet. I work out regularly. And I just live clean.
Tavis: I wonder--as a matter of fact, I recall reading, you've actually done-- now that I think about it--you've done some work trying to educate people about taking care of themselves. HIV. Done some prostate work. What draws you to using, again, this platform to raise those kinds of health concerns?
Dennis: Because the major people at risk right now are blacks and Hispanics. And both of those groups are represented in my family and in the family of humankind, you know. I mean, it affects everyone, but we are at the highest risk right now. Especially with HIV and AIDS, as far as awareness is concerned and infection, we represent the highest number of infectees from ages of 25 to 44. So we are in danger of losing an entire generation.
Tavis: Why do you think that message doesn't get across? I ask this because I've discussed this a thousand times, almost ad nauseam, on radio and television. And you would think with all the messages out there now about protecting yourself, about safe sex or even abstinence, you would think that people would get it, and for whatever reason, people apparently still aren't getting it because these numbers are not going down as swiftly as they ought.
Dennis: Denial.
Tavis: Denial, yeah.
Dennis: Denial. And abstinence is never gonna work. It's just ingrained in us as human beings that we are going to propagate the species. We are going to--
Tavis: By any means necessary.
Dennis: Any means necessary. But there's one particular thing now that really concerns me is this dating on the down-low that I've heard about. And that is just--whew--that is just criminal what's going on there. These are men, and primarily African American men, who have wives, have girlfriends, who are dating men as well, and they don't consider themselves gay.
Tavis: You know, I'm curious about that. You've got to come back because I'm out of time. We've got to pick up on this theme on another show. Everybody's talking about that of late, and it's a legitimate issue, and it ought to be discussed. I think it happens in every community. I wonder why, though, it has become a phenomenon for national TV discussion in the African American community. I know there's a book out that people have been talking about, but we've got to talk about this more on another show, because that's a fascinating thing. Before I let you go, though--3 more episodes left, I think, of '24' this season. Can you give me any hints, any clues, any secrets?
Dennis: Fasten your seat belts, sit back, and enjoy, 'cause this is really good television.
Tavis: You are an ambassador, 'cause you didn't give up nothing right there.
Dennis: I can't. It would be such a disservice to you.
Tavis: Nice to see you. Proud of you, man.
Dennis: Thank you very much.
Tavis: That's our show for tonight. We thank Dennis Haysbert for coming by to see us. We thank you for watching us. I'll talk to you more on the radio on NPR. See you back here next time on PBS. Until then, good night from L.A. thanks for watching, and keep the faith.
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