And by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. Tavis when the oscars are announced thursday, the nominations, the odds are good that among the five best actors will be bruce dern, honored for his portrayal of a difficult and rough father in the movie nebraska. \ roleis one outstanding among so many during his 53 year career which includes some 83 movies and too Many Television roast account. Thats take a look at a clip from nebraska. His son is played by will forte. Let me take you home. We are going to lincoln. You did not win anything. It is a complete scam. You have to stop this. Im running out of time. You dont have a suitcase. Dad, i cant let you go. It is none of your business. I am your son. I want you to take me. I can drive to nebraska. What else do you have going on . Tavis it is an honor to have you on this program. My honor also because you did something one time that made me really think you were cool forever. Talkared to let prince about chem trail. Tavis i remember that conversation. [laughter] about it. On he is a student. Bright. Bviously very i am honored to have you on this program. Always a great conversation. N, the wholeaura o family but you. I want to come back to the movie but let me start with what might be an unlikely place. I was fascinated when i started to learn about your personal back story, your godmother was eleanor roosevelt. Your godfather Adlai Stevenson . He was one of the two godfathers. My fathers law partner was adlai, not far from where you grew up. Your below south bend . Tavis that is right. My father were a lot partners. My father said if anything happened to him it was up to adlai to take care of it. Wasnor roosevelt, the thing my fathers father george duren was the first nonmormon governor of utah. And then he went to become roosevelts first secretary of war. He died in office. And my family used to go visit the roosevelts and hide park where they were outside of new york. One year they were visiting and i got to go with them and i was riding a bicycle in the afternoon and i ran into a tree and hit my head. You had aays when concussion, they laid you dan with your head on the pillow and straps your head across the pillow so you could not move to the seder anything. To the side or anything. When i came to it was late at night and as i moved my head to the side, i saw this ladys legs veins, she had a night with tackyut here slippers. I did not understand. As i slowly came up and started looking to wear her face was, she had a book in her lap and she looked like this. She had that roosevelt invite and i realized, it is the president s wife. Before he went away so i would have been eight. Was in my house. Somebody took that and ran with it. Who would babysit someone like that unless his godmother . So that is how it got misconstrued. Tavis that is a great story. Eleanor roosevelt looking at you when you wake up. As i have studied your work and admired you from afar and spent some time with members of your family, these are my words, you are a humanist of the first order. Im not suggesting one cant be a humanist coming from a family of privilege but help me juxtapose how you turned out to be the brewster and you are having come the bruce dern you are having come from a family of privilege. You did not turn out arrogant. Unless youre fooling me. I ran from it all. Lack,because there was a when you grow up in that environment, you are taught you are privileged and you have a lot but you still have to prove it every day to everybody in the household. People in the household had major things accomplished. I was always, i would take my supper after dinner when i could not eat or Something Like that. I would go into the kitchen and eat with our show for. They were fabulous. I did not understand why they could not eat out with us. I did not think it was right. That started at six years old. I went my entire life. It was not that there was, when you live on the north shore outside of chicago, evanston, so schoolthe only guy in my who was black was mr. Johnson who started the black entertainment network. Did not have differences. I felt a difference in my house but never when i got to school. Friends werest jewish kids and jewish kids had moved from chicago after the second world war. There was, it was all new. It was 1946, the north shore took off. Yet there were old families that a different age. I did not like it. I was not familiar with it. I had an uncle who was a poet prize winner. Librarian of congress for a long time. A poet laureate. I was not an actor but when i decided to become one, they said acting as keep saying an art. You are not an artist. I said why is my uncle an artist . Because he is a man of letters. What am i doing . A livinging to make pretending. This family does not pretend. Tavis did your family disown you . My dad was gone and my mother, i went to broadway and started to work for mr. Kazan. In my first play, there was a review. One of them encouraged, he never doused the play, he said see it for yourself. Walter kerr wrote, did not like the idea of the actors studio. He said in his review the only unique performance in the play is by a hereto for unknown actor who is on stage 52 seconds whose name is bruce dern. Saidther called me and that he would change your name to make money in a career is exactly i said, mother it is a typo. He called in and gave his review and the clerk put down bruce stern, instead of realizing it was the end of truce. She never got it. From then on, i was kind of estranged and 10 years later i was in a movie and she said when are you going to be in a movie i can take her grandfather to . Our family owned a Department Store in chicago. She says i cant take him any movie you do. You are smoking drugs, doing all of those things. Or youre in a western. He hates westerns. And now youre in a new western i would never go to see. Why would they put a title on a movie like that . She said you are in a movie they shoot horses, dont they . I said it was about dance marathons. She never got it. [laughter] cracking up here. How did you navigate trying to pursue your craft with a family who did not get what you are trying to do . It, in they did not get did not try to persuade them. I figured when i went to the , iversity of pennsylvania had aspirations of trying to make the olympic team at 800 meters. To being thate good. Kind of close but not that close. So i quit college after my sophomore year and i looked around for stuff to do. Thought of acting. Never involved in anything. School a dramatic because i started going to movies a lot. People were touching me. They were reaching me. I said how do you do that . I would like to learn to do that. I sat at a dinner table all my life, i had raised my hand to be called on. Raised your hands at your own dinner. Saidwas because if i something, they wanted it to be interesting. They wanted everybody to be involved and they thought i would make up something just to be interesting. Half of it was not made up. We did that stuff. Mayhem whene into they were 9, 10 years old after school. So i realized it was time to go. When i ended Dramatic School i realized there are three and you had to do, you have to go to new york, become a member of the actors studio, and work for elia kazan. That is what i did. I was fortunate enough and after that i went on my own. My family was never a part of it. Tavis they might not have approved of your choices, but were you doing this journey on your own or were they financially supporting you . When i left college, that was the end of it. Tavis they were done with you. Absolutely. I had a big episode of the new york times. I had sideburns longer than this. Elvis was the rage. Was a quaker. Enn as thekname of penn quakers. So there was leakage from the main line and he said we are not individuals, we are teammates. Cut your hair. I was thrilled because having the top two runners going there and george always had great longdistance runners. Serious. Ou are not he said cut it or you are gone. I did not cut it and i was gone and my father, on the ears, because he had been a famous but all player there, a famous istball player there, that how i left school. In 53 years i have only missed about 80 days of running. Tavis and youre still a runner to this day. Give me let me fast forward now. Im trying to get a sense of how youre being a contrarian all of thee years has impacted roles you have laid, the things you have done and have not done as an actor. That spirit of being a contrarian has shown itself in what ways . That is a great question. Rebellion from inside against what i was brought up in, to think that was cool. It was not cool. Was very openminded compared to the people in my house. Was the one with the ideas that i thought were interesting. 1948 when he quit the law firm to become governor and then he runs against, runs for president. I will tell you an interesting thing ive never said on the for in 1952 he ran president and again in 1956. In 1959, when he was about to be asked to help the Kennedy Family and go to the u. N. , which he did not want to do. He said im not an international host. I dont feel that would be proper. He came to see me which was a Tennessee Williams play. Kazan directed. We went out to supper in new york. During the dinner, i dont drink, and he had his martinis and never showed a sign of it and i said can i ask you a question . Came to see the play because he wanted me to know how proud my family would have been i had gotten there. So forth. They were all gone except my mom. Said i dont know about that. Can i ask you a question . When you ran in 1952, what was that like . 1952 i came onin top of a white horse but he said iran against a guy who could not be beat. He won the war. He was a good golfer. He was a wonderful politician. He was a forthright, honest man. Deep down, know when to mess with. Sure iin 1956, i was not wanted to do it again but i went ahead and did it. And what was the difference . He reached across the table, grabbed my wrist like that, and got tears in his eyes and said to me the differences when i came in 1956, somehow that horse was a lot grayer and i realized i was in the wrong place. My arm and grabbed said i want you to do me a favor. I dont ever want you to vote for that office until you see someone on a white horse. I never voted for a president dreami felt obama had a and might pull it off. That was the first time i voted for president. Tavis in all of those years. I never saw anybody on a white horse. Adlai was good. Tavis so it has been five or six years. What do you think of the guy . The horses a lot grayer. Does he know it, i dont know. But he has it in him. Worked with some actresses sometimes who have been married multiple times and they tell you they married poorly. Sometimes he chooses people around him poorly. I think that is more about what we see than before. I can name individual names, certainly not on television. I believe he dared to dream at a time where people in that part of the government in america have stopped dreaming. He dreamed and he had something specific he was after. He does not know it but when i poor to pasadena, he was a ninth on the basketball team. He missed two free throws at the end of the game. I remembered the name. Schoolalso gone to high in honolulu. I dont know. I am not a political person. I dont understand it. Went to a high school, my freshman year, Donald Rumsfeld was president of my senior class. His mother was our student teacher. She taught mr. Johnson. Rumsfeldgap between and obama. Like night and day. It occurs to me as i listen to you, president mistake thate the you did not make. Is, while agree he is a good man, he is too often impressed with braininess and that is what makes for bad choices. You cant be overwhelmed and embraced impressed with braininess. You rebelled against that and the elitism and that is why you maderuce dern, and why he some mistakes, because of the people around him. Him is to be compared to nice. He has done big stuff but in the in addition to that, who also went to my high school was ron the manual. Now the mayor of chicago. He was bright. Obama was impressed with that. Rahm was deciding who he would have lunch with and for how long. Their family had been around a long time in chicago. They are all achievers. Fact, the onee thing my parents did provide me was an opportunity to live in an environment where i could learn. The greatest gift of privilege i ever got. We were not big financial people or anything like that but there were people at our dinner table and in our lives where if i showed up and listened, i could really learn stuff. Tavis i have about three minutes left, your insights have been so profound. We have not talked at all about the movie nebraska, which everybody is talking about. Nominatedyou may be as the best actor tomorrow morning when the announcements are made. Here is why that does not surprise me. I have been told that he does what he does, he loves what he does, but he is not into talking about it. He is not going to campaign for the prize. He is an actor and that is what he does. Im not surprised we have not talked about nebraska. Would you like to say a word about nebraska . The wonderful trip of this entire ride, since we started our last day of shooting was a year ago yesterday. Nirst of all, the biggest wi was getting the part. Alexander payne asks you to do a movie where it all works on the page to begin with . Is biggest exciting thing the fact that as people Start Talking about nebraska and everybodys work in the movie, i am finally getting a feeling that folks are finally starting to realize maybe bruce dern could play. That is all it ever was to me. Why dont they just shut up . Why forget guys because they played 55 years ago . Man retires with a triple double. Tavis you know what this means, the moral of the story, the take away is that youre going to have to see nebraska because this conversation did not give you a lot about it but i can guarantee it is a wonderful film and you will want to see it. All the best eu and the entire cast in the days ahead as the awards season takes off. I am honored to have you. You can come back any time to talk. Im available. Nine years ago, the world record of the hundred meters was held by a nebraska runner marie screen. Great runner. Honored to have you on. , my honor. Go check it out. Until next time, thanks for watching. Keep the faith. How did you and mom and up getting married . She wanted to. You didnt . Are you sorry you married her . All the time. Could have been worse. You must have been in love. At first. Never came up. Did you talk about having kids . How many you wanted . Nope. Why did you have us . A catholic. Er is you figure it out. So you and mom never talked about whether you wanted kids . Flee kept on screwing, we would end up with a couple of you. For more information on todays show, visit tavis smiley at pbs. Org. Tavis hi, im tavis smiley. Join me next time for a conversation with don cheadle about the return of his series house of lies. That is next time. We will see you then. And by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. Be more. Daniel mansergh upbeat theme music daniel mansergh imagemakers is made possible by a grant from celebrating the vitality and power of the moving image. And by the