Post by lemur on Aug 2, 2008 14:01:44 GMT -5
DAVID HYDE PIERCE REMEMBERS FOR THOSE WHO CAN'T
by Michael Jensen, Editor
AfterElton.com
July 31, 2008
While he is most widely know as an Emmy and Tony Award winning actor, I suspect that David Hyde Pierce's work on behalf of Alzheimer's is at least as important to him as those awards. Which is why he flew from New York to Los Angeles for the TCA to spend one day promoting the upcoming PBS special The Forgetting: A Portrait of Alzheimers which airs this Sunday at 9 PM.
After the special (which is actually a rebroadcast), David hosts a thirty minute follow-up on the latest advances in the treatment of Alzheimers. My mother-in-law (Brent's mom) suffered from Alzheimers and Brent also has it on his dad's side of the family leaving us rather keen about breakthroughs in treating the disease. After David's panel at the TCA, he was gracious enough to spend some time chatting with me.
AFterElton.com: I’ve always admired your work with Alzheimer’s, especially because my partner’s Mom died from the early onset form and his grandmother had it as well.
David Hyde Pierce: No kidding. How old was she?
AE: His mother was 67 when she died and she started showing symptoms when she was about 60.
DHP: You should know that there are different kinds of early onset and some of them are, one I think is extremely genetically determined. That is if someone in your family has it, then your risk is very high. But you can also have early onset where it doesn’t have the same genetic component, so it might be something to look into.
AE: I’m curious, have you and your partner talked about what might happen with you and how you will deal with that?
DHP: No. I mean we talk about it, but really only in the context of either the work I’m doing or donations we’re making to the Alzheimer’s Association and stuff like that. We haven’t really talked about it in terms of our own future, except that we have health care, medical proxies and all of the things that we would have for any kind of medical emergency in place, so if either one of us was unable to make a decision, we have that stuff in order. No, that’s interesting.
AE: We joke about it. That’s how we deal with it.
DHP: Right. We don’t avoid talking about it, and I can be very honest with Brian about if I am forgetting someone’s name or something, saying every time that happens it scares the sh*t out of me. In my family, the Alzheimer’s and dementia was late in both – my Grandfather’s case, who definitely had Alzheimer’s, he was in his mid-80s when the real strong symptoms came on and with my Dad, who I was saying earlier may have had vascular dementia and Alzheimer’s, he was in his 80s to late 80s, so it’s not something that we – sort of a different scenario from you guys,
AE: Yeah, that makes sense. Because if you’re in your 80s, you made it to your 80s and you’re kind of lucky just o have lived that long. Brent's mom was 60-years-old and we were there for Christmas when we first realized what was happening. Late one evening, Brent's dad walked down the hall and she went after him and then turned around and came back and said, “What’s the name of that man?” And it was just like this bomb went off.
DHP: Yeah, that’s terrible. I have to say, having seen it in my family and with other folks, it’s also terrible at that later age, but it is much more potent because we associate it with old age. So to see it in someone younger, to see it in someone as young as Jay , or even younger. I’ve seen it – I met a woman who was in her 40s with Alzheimer’s. It brings home the message that, Oh – it could be us. It just makes it a little bit clearer that it could be us. But really at any age, it’s a terrible thing.
AE: Any new projects coming up?
DHP: I have a play that I’m going to be doing next spring in New York called Accent on Youth, which is an old 1930s play that doesn’t get done very much and it’s director Dan Sullivan, who I worked with years ago.
AE: I know his work because I lived in Seattle.
DHP: Oh, yes, well of course, Seattle Rep. I did Heidi Chronicles with him years ago and I’ve always loved his work and he brought this play to me and he’s very passionate about it. It’s a very funny, odd piece and so I said yes. We’ve done a reading of it and I think it will be fun.
AE: Any film or TV?
DHP: No, I’m hopefully going to be taking time off between now and then. That’s my goal. "
LINK
by Michael Jensen, Editor
AfterElton.com
July 31, 2008
While he is most widely know as an Emmy and Tony Award winning actor, I suspect that David Hyde Pierce's work on behalf of Alzheimer's is at least as important to him as those awards. Which is why he flew from New York to Los Angeles for the TCA to spend one day promoting the upcoming PBS special The Forgetting: A Portrait of Alzheimers which airs this Sunday at 9 PM.
After the special (which is actually a rebroadcast), David hosts a thirty minute follow-up on the latest advances in the treatment of Alzheimers. My mother-in-law (Brent's mom) suffered from Alzheimers and Brent also has it on his dad's side of the family leaving us rather keen about breakthroughs in treating the disease. After David's panel at the TCA, he was gracious enough to spend some time chatting with me.
AFterElton.com: I’ve always admired your work with Alzheimer’s, especially because my partner’s Mom died from the early onset form and his grandmother had it as well.
David Hyde Pierce: No kidding. How old was she?
AE: His mother was 67 when she died and she started showing symptoms when she was about 60.
DHP: You should know that there are different kinds of early onset and some of them are, one I think is extremely genetically determined. That is if someone in your family has it, then your risk is very high. But you can also have early onset where it doesn’t have the same genetic component, so it might be something to look into.
AE: I’m curious, have you and your partner talked about what might happen with you and how you will deal with that?
DHP: No. I mean we talk about it, but really only in the context of either the work I’m doing or donations we’re making to the Alzheimer’s Association and stuff like that. We haven’t really talked about it in terms of our own future, except that we have health care, medical proxies and all of the things that we would have for any kind of medical emergency in place, so if either one of us was unable to make a decision, we have that stuff in order. No, that’s interesting.
AE: We joke about it. That’s how we deal with it.
DHP: Right. We don’t avoid talking about it, and I can be very honest with Brian about if I am forgetting someone’s name or something, saying every time that happens it scares the sh*t out of me. In my family, the Alzheimer’s and dementia was late in both – my Grandfather’s case, who definitely had Alzheimer’s, he was in his mid-80s when the real strong symptoms came on and with my Dad, who I was saying earlier may have had vascular dementia and Alzheimer’s, he was in his 80s to late 80s, so it’s not something that we – sort of a different scenario from you guys,
AE: Yeah, that makes sense. Because if you’re in your 80s, you made it to your 80s and you’re kind of lucky just o have lived that long. Brent's mom was 60-years-old and we were there for Christmas when we first realized what was happening. Late one evening, Brent's dad walked down the hall and she went after him and then turned around and came back and said, “What’s the name of that man?” And it was just like this bomb went off.
DHP: Yeah, that’s terrible. I have to say, having seen it in my family and with other folks, it’s also terrible at that later age, but it is much more potent because we associate it with old age. So to see it in someone younger, to see it in someone as young as Jay , or even younger. I’ve seen it – I met a woman who was in her 40s with Alzheimer’s. It brings home the message that, Oh – it could be us. It just makes it a little bit clearer that it could be us. But really at any age, it’s a terrible thing.
AE: Any new projects coming up?
DHP: I have a play that I’m going to be doing next spring in New York called Accent on Youth, which is an old 1930s play that doesn’t get done very much and it’s director Dan Sullivan, who I worked with years ago.
AE: I know his work because I lived in Seattle.
DHP: Oh, yes, well of course, Seattle Rep. I did Heidi Chronicles with him years ago and I’ve always loved his work and he brought this play to me and he’s very passionate about it. It’s a very funny, odd piece and so I said yes. We’ve done a reading of it and I think it will be fun.
AE: Any film or TV?
DHP: No, I’m hopefully going to be taking time off between now and then. That’s my goal. "
LINK
