Q & A: Ted Danson

Ted Danson has been entertaining audiences for many years - so can you blame us for being pleased when he accepted our invitation to meet with Rita Braver for some Questions-And-Answers?:

We first got to know him as the charming bartender Sam Malone on "Cheers." And now, almost 30 years later, Ted Danson's still got the magic - cast this season in a major role as investigator DB Russell on CBS's enduring crime drama , "CSI."

And he's just wrapped his third season playing man-about-town George Christopher on the hit HBO comedy series "Bored to Death."

George is the kind of guy who'd be game to dress up as Don Quixote - a guy who's a bit like, well . . . Ted Danson!

"He's seen everything, tasted everything. And instead of being jaded, he still has this amazing, eager desire to be delighted by life," said the actor.

Indeed, Danson is DELIGHTED by his life these days.

"Is it fun, you're walking in here, you know this is gonna be a great scene?" asked Braver.

"I know, exactly," said Danson.

At age 63, he's a father figure of sorts. Hanging out with two, much younger characters, played by Zach Galifinakis and Jason Schwartzman.

"A lot of the reviews say that you steal the show," Braver told Danson.

"Have you met my publicist?" he laughed. "She's here, and she planted pretty much each and every one of those comments!"

But show-stealing or not, Jason Schwarztman says he has learned a lot from working with Danson:

"Not only is he talented, but he's just charismatic," Schwartzman said. "And I think people love to be around him."

And no one loves to be around Ted Danson more than actress Mary Steenburgen (she just happens to be his WIFE in real life).

"He's a fascinating human being. He's as deep as it comes and as funny as it comes," she said.

On "Bored to Death," Steenburgen is supposed to be Danson's singing coach, but they don't spend much time singing ...

"Our children are gonna cover their ears and their eyes and run screaming from the room!" Steenburgen mused.

Their four children - two each from previous marriages - are all out of the house now. So at home in L.A., it's just Ted and Mary, showing us the family album:

"This is me before I had my teeth fixed," Danson said. "I looked like I had swallowed a hand grenade!"

Danson grew up in Flagstaff, Ariz., where his dad was an archeologist. He got into acting by accident, in college at Stanford, when he followed a girl he was trying to date into an audition . . . and ended up trying out, too.

"It was the first time I think I got a laugh onstage, it was like a bam - a light bulb!" he said.

After school he went to New York to act, but then it was on to Hollywood for MORE auditions.

In 1982 he landed the part of Sam Malone on "Cheers": "Standing in a big, long line of people going through the casting door," he recalled. "But it was just one of those wonderful things in my life. It really is what gave birth to my career."

But if you think, looking back, that the show was a natural hit . . . think again.

"The truth is they had nothing to replace us with, and we were dead last one week," he laughed.

But "Cheers" found its audience. And suddenly, 35-year-old Ted Danson was a star, which he says can go to your head:

"If you don't have your feet firmly planted, or in my case, I took that energy and I went, 'Thank you so much for watching "Cheers," and can I introduce you to this marine biologist who has something interesting to tell you?'"

Yes, he said marine biologist. Danson is an ardent advocate for the world's oceans.

"I moved into this neighborhood and I was walking on this beach with my kids and we came across a sign that said, 'Water's polluted, no swimming.' And I didn't have any answers. And i think that kind of started it," he said.

He co-founded the public service group Oceana, and has written a book about the perils facing the world's oceans, "Oceans: Our Endangered Oceans and What We Can Do to Save Them" (Rodale Books).

"This is about saving fisherman," Danson said. "It's about a billion people around the world depending on fish for their protein. It's a world hunger issue. It's a job issue."

"Now you've given me one more thing to worry about!" said Braver.

"No, no. No. Wash your mouth out. No. This is something to be HOPEFUL about," Danson said. "It's okay to be worried, but to be overwhelmed and depressed, you're not going to do anything about it. So don't be overwhelmed."

But while Danson was absorbed in his ocean activism - and his work on "Cheers" - in 1993 he decided it was time to end his run on the show.

"It just felt like the time to you?" asked Braver.

"Yeah, and how I decided it was the right time was, I blew up my personal life into smithereens and was like, 'Well, I guess I might as well jump off into the deep end here.'"

"Well, speaking of that . . . "

"No!" We don't have to speak about that!"

THAT was Danson's affair with Whoopi Goldberg, which led to his divorce from second wife Casey Coates.

But what drew even more attention was a performance Danson gave - in blackface, with Goldberg's prior approval - at a roast for her.

"I was very naive and wrong-thinking to think that you can stick your finger into the race issue and not get burned, you know?" said Danson.

Eventually, Danson and Goldberg broke up.

"Did you wonder if you were ever going to meet the right person?" asked Braver.

"I knew for a fact I was not cut out for a relationship, that I could mess up any relationship," Danson said.

"So then you started seeing Mary Steenburgen?"

"Yes, but it was gonna be so platonic, and naturally fell head over heels in love 18 years ago."

Steenburgen told Braver that if she could "clone" Danson for every other woman in the world, she would: "Because he's to die for. To be married to [him], it's been an utter privilege and joy. If I could sign up for 100 more lifetimes, I would do it. I'm not kidding."

"It's the grandest adventure of my life," Danson said. "She makes me grow all the time."

Danson's career has also grown, including another major series, playing the irascible "Becker." He did films, too, like "Three Men and a Baby."

But he's always up for a new challenge, which is why he said a quick "yes" when CBS asked him - an actor known for his comic chops - to take a dramatic role on "CSI."

"Basically, it's a pretty serious show about pretty serious business," said Braver. "Do you worry about whether the audience is going to like Ted Danson?"

"Sure, sure, I mean not overly so, because I'm 63, so pay attention to what I can do and forget about that," he said.

And even Ted Danson is surprised at how his career is exploding at a time when other actors of his generation are looking for work.

And forget about getting Ted Danson to get serious about accounting for his own success.

"It's hard to analyze your own appeal," Braver said.

"Right, no, actually I think about it a lot!" he laughed. "I think if you enjoy something and love doing it, that sometimes alone generates work."

"The one other part . . . "

"I don't know," he said. "Just, let's not examine it. It might go away!"

For more info:

• Oceana.org
• "Oceans: Our Endangered Oceans and What We Can Do to Save Them" by Ted Danson (Rodale Books)
• "CSI" (CBS)
• "Bored to Death"HBO