BEVERLY HILLS, California 鈥� Our best-laid plans often go awry. And for actor Denis O鈥橦are, it was a good thing. The man who has played everyone from a presiding judge to a vampire will be shining a light on one of America鈥檚 darkest heroes when he stars as Edgar Allen Poe on PBS鈥檚 American Masters on Monday.
In Edgar Allen Poe: Buried Alive, O鈥橦are reveals the conflicted life of the literary icon who wrote more than 100 stories and poems and was best known for his Gothic horror tales.
O鈥橦are himself was conflicted when at 17, he decided to become a priest. 鈥淚 was very serious about it,鈥� he says. 鈥淚 went to a Catholic high school and [there were] two brothers, one, Brother Smith and one, Brother Haas. And I remember Brother Smith was a great champion of mine, and we would talk. Brother Haas I didn鈥檛 like, and he didn鈥檛 like me.
鈥淏ut I was going to apply to be a brother with the Christian Brothers of Ireland, and Brother Haas said: 鈥業f you apply, I will block you,鈥� 鈥� recalls O鈥橦are.
鈥淚 thought it was the meanest thing I鈥檇 ever heard in my life. He said: 鈥榊ou don鈥檛 have a vocation.鈥� He didn鈥檛 explain himself. But he was right. I didn鈥檛 have a vocation. I wanted to be a brother or a priest because I wanted to be left alone. I wanted to be able to be left alone to sit quietly, play the organ, think about things. That鈥檚 not why you become a priest or a brother. You do it to serve other people.鈥�
He has been serving other people ever since, but in a way he hadn鈥檛 planned.
鈥淥ddly enough, my motivation now would be correct, because what I look for in life is to serve other people, to be part of a community,鈥� he says.
鈥淏ut then, that鈥檚 not where my head was at. It doesn鈥檛 help that I鈥檓 an atheist; I鈥檓 also gay. That could help or hurt, depending on how you look at it. But in so many ways, he did me a favour.
鈥淏ecause he didn鈥檛 like me, he told me the truth and steered me correctly.鈥�
While still a teenager, O鈥橦are attended summer school at an arts high school in his native Michigan. There, he was exposed to drama guru Stanislavski鈥檚 teachings.
鈥淭he idea of the Russian method 鈥� I fell in love with that,鈥� he says.
The following year, he applied to only two colleges: the University of Michigan to train as an opera singer and Northwestern to become an actor.
鈥淚 was accepted to both, but chose Northwestern because it was six hours away as opposed to a half-hour away. When you鈥檙e 18, you feel you need to get away from your parents.鈥�
The fourth of five kids, O鈥橦are was doing OK until 2008, when tragedy struck on several fronts. His boyfriend died of AIDS. 鈥淢y mother died in 2008. My sister killed herself in 2010. My favourite uncle died in 2008. My husband鈥檚 father died in 2008. So 2008 was a lot of death,鈥� he says.
鈥淵ou never get over it 鈥� you just move on. Life is for the living. so you have to stay alive. My sister killed herself, and when you know somebody who killed themselves, you realize that they didn鈥檛 want to be alive.
鈥淚 want to be alive till I鈥檓 95 or something. I have a lot to do.鈥�
One of the things he has to do is be a parent for the first time.
He and husband Hugo Redwood, with whom he鈥檚 been together 17 years, have a six-year-old son, Declan.
鈥淚t took us three years to adopt him. We had another child in our care before Declan, who was five weeks premature and was five pounds. We took that boy to nine pounds in a month. We really got him healthy, but weren鈥檛 able to keep him,鈥� he says.
At first, O鈥橦are didn鈥檛 want to become a parent.
鈥淲e talked about it for seven years and I finally said, 鈥業f you want to be a parent, I鈥檒l support you.鈥� He said, 鈥楴o, you can鈥檛 support me. If I鈥檓 a parent, you鈥檙e a parent.鈥� We wrestled for a long time with that one,鈥� he says.
鈥淚t鈥檚 very difficult for gay people to adopt ... My husband is Jamaican so we wanted to adopt a boy of colour because boys of colour are the least adopted children. So we felt a real passion to give that boy a home. It wasn鈥檛 until I confronted the idea that I felt like I somehow was not allowed to be a parent that I realized that was MY choice and that was something I could upend. So I did. I came around. And the irony, of course, is that we鈥檙e not gay parents 鈥� we鈥檙e parents.鈥�
