Perhaps it was divine intervention that saved Kevin Anderson’s life a few years ago. It remains to be seen whether a heavenly presence can do the same for his show, ABC’s “Nothing Sacred.”
The Gurnee native recalls how an automobile smashed his motorcycle on Oct. 6, 1994. “An Oldsmobile,” he remembers. “Couldn’t have been a Toyota. I had to get hit by this big boat of a car.”
At the time, Anderson, who plays an idealistic young priest on the drama (7 p.m. Thursdays, WLS-Ch. 7), was scooting along the Seattle coastline on a cross-country trip. “I just came to a crazy intersection,” says the 37-year-old actor.
Anderson’s right leg was broken in several places, as well as his right arm. Rehabilitation took close to two years.
“I was very lucky, man,” he adds. “I could have lost a leg.”
Anderson’s rehabilitation regimen took at least six hours a day, almost seven days a week. He was physically and mentally wiped out for the first six months. His routine was to work out, sleep and watch the O.J. Simpson trial.
“An incredibly fascinating ordeal,” Anderson laughs. “And strangely positive. I had to really take a gut check at that point in my life.” At more than one point, Anderson wondered if he would ever walk again.
“Talk to anyone who goes through an accident like that. No matter what they tell you, you wonder if they’re really telling you the truth,” he says. “They (doctors) all seemed very confident after I had surgery that I would be completely fine. But when you can’t move your leg for a few months, you begin to wonder.”
Anderson, a member of Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theatre Company who studied at DePaul University’s Goodman School of Drama, says he was lucky to have teamed up with doctors and therapists in Santa Monica, Calif.
“Life catches up to you in one way or the other,” he says. “You can’t run away from death.”
It was an image of running that motivated Anderson not to give up on himself.
“I just couldn’t wait to run,” he says. “Just to be able to feel free like that. And I was just bound and determined that I wasn’t going to stop until I felt that flow again–until I felt like I could get on a treadmill or run on the beach.”
When Anderson was able to crank it out on a treadmill for the first time, “it was like I’d finally gotten there . . . that was a very special day.”
Today, “I feel great,” he says. “Things have been going pretty good since I’ve been back on my feet.”
Anderson made his screen debut in the 1983 Tom Cruise hit “Risky Business,” and has appeared in “Sleeping With the Enemy,” “Hoffa,” and “Rising Sun.” He has made three movies since the accident, which are either out or are scheduled for release this fall.
One is “A Thousand Acres” with Michelle Pfeiffer and Jessica Lange. Another is “Eye of God,” which caught the attention of “Nothing Sacred” executive producer David Manson and led him to offer Anderson the role of Father Francis Xavier Rayneaux (Father Ray to friends and the parishioners of the inner-city parish he serves).
“He brings a kind of soulfulness and an openness which is very appealing,” Manson says of Anderson.
“Nothing Sacred” is easily the most controversial new show of the season because of Father Ray, a man who struggles with his belief in God and what he perceives as unrealistic expectations from the Catholic Church when up against the realities of today.
The series in the last few weeks has lost several sponsors, including Sears and Kmart, and is a prime target of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, a 350,000-member New York group which, along with Catholic Citizens of Illinois and others, has labeled the show as offensive.
Although “Nothing Sacred” is one of the lowest-rated series on the four major networks, ABC has said it isn’t in danger of cancellation and still has commercial support. One ABC executive who has supported the show from the beginning wouldn’t comment on the backlash, but insists the network isn’t losing faith.
“We need to let this show find an audience. I think we’re all committed to doing that,” says Steve Tao, vice president of drama series for ABC.
Anderson, himself a Catholic, defends his show: “We don’t present ourselves as the Catholic Church. We only present our show as (about) this one particular kind of flawed, radical guy in this inner city parish. It’s just one church. And it’s going to be a lot different than a church in suburban Illinois.
“(Father Ray) doesn’t think he’s a very good priest necessarily. And I find that interesting, and in a way, more courageous and kind of wise and holy. It’s much more interesting to see someone go through travails and still maintain faith.”
