An enchanted 2025 NH evening with Actor William Devane

Manchester NH: An enchanted 2025 NH evening with Actor William Devane.

Actor William Devane shared an evening with fans in Manchester New Hampshire as part of the Manchester NH 2025 International Film Festival.

A highly engaged group filled The Rex to spend time with Devane and his work.

Rex Theatre manager, Warren O’Reilly  kicked off the session. We enjoyed a short film reel retrospective highlighting Devane’s more than 50 years of work. Folks called out Knots Landing (1983-1993), Marathon Man (1976 with Dustin Hoffman and Lawrence Olivier), Rolling Thunder (1977) and Space Cowboys (2000) from the snippets.

But, it was the 1974 film The Missiles of October that we watched in near silence as Devane on-screen portrayed president John F Kennedy. The Cuban Missile Crisis was a confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union. The crisis raged over 12 days from October 16-28^th 1962. A miscalculation could have brought on a nuclear war.  Not much of what happened during that time was visible to everyday citizens. The 1974 broadcast attempted to re-create the “behind the scenes” story, a decade later, based in part on Robert F Kennedy’s book “Thirteen Days.”  

Just Say Yes

Devane was 33 years old when he was chosen for the leading role of JFK. He told a humorous story of how he got the part and not surprisingly, just saying “yes” and “showing up” were as important then as they are now. Devane knew most all of the cast members who came with long histories on the Broadway stage. Each actor embodied the cadence of speech and personality of the character they represented. Rather than being intimidated, he found the table (during the cabinet crisis discussion) filled with encouragement for the craft of acting.

Watching the Cuban missile crisis unfold on the big screen – there was not a sound in the theater the tension was palpable and persistent. Those twelve days were tense and the prospect of a nuclear showdown was high.

Devane’s resemblance to President Kennedy and his ability to master a Boston accent put him in demand. He was well positioned to portray politicians and presidents. The West Wing was a later engagement that showcased his presidential type skill set.

Q and A after the movie; William Devane and Sam Weisman

The question and answer period after the film became a lively interaction between Devane and his close friend, director Sam Weisman. Both of them enjoyed the questions from the fully engaged audience and roomful of fans.

Weisman has directed for television, theater, and film. His feature films include George of the Jungle and The Out-of-Towners. His credits include the Adam Sandler production of Dickie Roberts. Weisman has taught and directed at the American Repertory Theater at Harvard.

“I have no personality.” William Devane

An audience member asked Devane what role over his 50 year career was closest to his real personality? His answer brought laughs and some introspection when he responded, “I have no personality.”

today, actors bring their own brand to their on-screen work.

He expanded on that comment to the delight of his fans. Devane said today’s actors bring their own personality – their own brand – and the tone/persona of their favorite actor role models to their everyday lives as well as their on-screen work. Branding is a big deal today.

Weisman added “actors back in those days portrayed their characters in a noble way.” Today, actors unconsciously imitate other actors that they like.

Devane, in another quip from the stage, mentioned that he is often mistaken for Robert Duval. So much so that one incensed autograph seeker demanded that he stop fooling around and sign his real name. “Duval” he demanded,  and so to his humble roots, – he did just that.

An interesting study in Humility

Devane is humble in his view of his acting career.  His answers always deflected credit to others. He spoke of starting out as a stage carpenter. Worked with Joseph Papp at New York City’s famous Shakespeare in the Park in the 1970’s. I likely first saw him there. We did many of the free in-the-park theatre and concert events.

He originated the role of McMurphy in the original off-broadway production of One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest. I probably saw him there too. . A bonus of growing up in NYC.

I don’t remember knowing of him back then.  He says he was just a carpenter.  He compared himself to Harrison Ford who also started out as just a carpenter building sets. Devane said, with a smile,  “the big difference, Ford was working for the likes of George Lucas and Steven Spielberg.” Devane claims that he and Papp were unknowns. I think that is not likely.

Weisman and Devane touched on the 2024 movie A Complete Unknown a biographical film about the early days of singer-songwriter Bob Dylan. They spoke with appreciation and respect for Timothée Chalamet who starred as Bob Dylan, sang like Dylan and studied to the point of being able to fully  assume the Dylan persona.

Devane continues to be in demand, and the welcoming Manchester audience was testimony to his ongoing impact on film, television and theatre.

Manchester take a bow – The Encore.

Constance McCashin is a former actress (Knots Landing’s Laura  Avery) and now independent clinical social worker with a great sense of wit and comedy.  McCashin is married to Sam Weisman and was in-attendance at the evening event. Both she and Devane’s spouse were in the audience with an occasional call-out during the Q and A.

McCashin followed up, after the event with a note to The Rex’s Warren O’Reilly, thanking “everybody for coming” and noted how she was “really impressed by how engaged the audience was and complimented the quality of the questions.”

An evening with William Devane – Photo Gallery