Martin Sheen Speaks For UD
by Teri Rizvi
"Are we having any luck with this?" a familiar voice broke the spell.
"We're gulping," answered film director Ron Hamad, clearly moved as he
wrapped up a 90-minute recording session with Ramon Estevez.
Better known by his film name Martin Sheen, Estevez loaned his voice --
what Hamad described as "a deep, quiet inner voice" -- to a nearly
five-minute image film about the University of Dayton that will be
shown to donors at presidential roundtable discussions in the spring.
Estevez, a Dayton native who never lost touch with his hometown after
he became a celebrity, didn't rush into the Indigo Ranch studio in
Malibu and race through the script, even though he started the session
by asking, "Want to record one in case we get lucky?"
Instead, he patiently offered to record dozens of versions in an effort
to capture the cadence of a piece designed to inspire alumni to answer "the call to lead" and support UD's aspirations for the 21st century.
"I want to feel like you're talking to me and I'm spellbound by you,"
Hamad told the actor, who connected with the words in a way that
showed both the range of his acting ability and an understanding of
the Marianist educational tradition, which calls people to use their
education to make a difference in the lives of others. As he slowly
delivered the words, the script's poetry leapt to life:
what we give to the world.
Ourselves
Honed to a fine commitment of the spirit.
This is why our dreams of the future are actual,
Why what you dream matters.
We've always known this.
Change that makes a real future
rises from the value of being connected...
This is who we are,
Members of one family called to act in service
To each human life
And so,
In service to the world."
Enveloped by the richness of his voice, the listeners grew quiet,
caught in the spell of a masterful delivery. Two thousand miles away,
he mistook the silence for discomfort. At one point, he said
apologetically, "I do tend to get complacent and fall in love with my
voice. The problem with me is that I get locked into something and
fall in love with it and can't let go."
Not a startling confession from a man who is passionate about the
causes he believes in. He calls himself a "Christian activist" and has
never been afraid to either sleep outside to demonstrate solidarity
with the homeless or get himself arrested for blocking the entrance
of a company that conducts research into nuclear weapons. He agreed
to provide the voiceover for UD's film in exchange for a small
donation to the San Carlos Foundation, which provides health and
educational assistance to refugees and others in the Third World,
particularly Central America. Professionals -- doctors, nurses,
lawyers, engineers and teachers -- earn a $6,000 annual stipend to
live in primitive conditions among the people they're working with
and train them to take over their jobs when they leave. Estevez, who's
on the board of directors, helped start the foundation in 1983.
One of 10 children from a Catholic immigrant family who grew up on
Brown Street in the shadows of UD, Estevez said his father wanted him
to continue his education at UD after graduation from Chaminade High
School. "I think it's a matter of record there that I had the lowest
score on record on my (college) entrance exams," he said with a laugh
at the end of the taping. "I wanted to go to New York."
Although he conceded he was "intrigued" by the lyrical nature of the
script, why did he bother to take the time to furnish his easily
recognizable voice to UD's film?
"I confess to a fondness for Dayton. It's my hometown. I was educated
by the Marianists at Chaminade, and when I was growing up, UD was the
only university in town."
University of Dayton
UD Quaretrly
Contributed by Tammy