No Overnight Success

'Good Night And Good Luck' Star And Oscar Nominee David Strathairn On Paying Dues

(CBS) 
Strathairn immersed himself in Murrow, whose news magazine, "See it Now," set high standards for broadcast journalism.

The actor admits taking on Murrow was no small task. "It was very daunting. I think it's important when you retell a moment in history that you don't revise," he says.

Strathairn adds of the Murrow character, "He was quite a mountain to climb."

Both in the film and fact, former CBS producers Joe and Shirley Wershba have key roles: Patricia Clarkson plays Shirley. Robert Downey Jr. is Joe. The real Joe and Shirley knew Ed Murrow as well as anybody.

"I saw Strathairn for the first time in that studio in Hollywood. I saw him from the back of his head, I didn't see him from the face. Back of his head I says, 'Holy cow, this guy is Murrow, right from the back of his head,'" Joe Wershba recalls.

Shirley adds of Strathairn, "He channeled him. It was the most amazing thing I've ever seen."

But the role of Murrow offered additional challenges. As a non-smoker, Strathairn had to cope with Murrow's chain smoking.

"I counted once, just for the fun of it, how many cigarettes I went through. It was 51 one day," Strathairn remembers.

The entire movie was shot in only six weeks. Strathairn says he was not quite ready for what is now his favorite scene.

"It was this beautiful shot when Diane Reeves is singing, 'How High The Moon' and Fred Friendly has just told Murrow about Don Hollenbeck's suicide and there is this amazing camera move. And you can see her reflection moving through the back of my head. And, just a silent moment that so much comes to bear upon him," Strathairn says.

"Good Night and Good Luck" came 25 years after his first movie, the independent film classic "Return of the Secaucus 7." That and half a dozen pictures that followed were made with filmmaker John Sayles. For many years Sayles has lived next door to Strathairn and his wife and family, in the woods they love in upstate New York near Poughkeepsie, as far from Hollywood as they can get.

Sayles not only writes and acts in his films, he directs them.

"When working with David Strathairn, he was the only actor I would let stand behind me," Sayles says.

"The Brother From Another Planet" was one of those films.

"And I as director, who was also an actor, put other actors in front of me as I want to see what's happening; do we need another take. David was the only guy who I figured would do something cool," Sayles says.

Actors don't have to stand in front to admire him. In "The Sopranos," Edie Falco did that lying down.

"His kind of acting is the kind of stuff I'm moved by," Falco says. "He's very sort of naturalist and very conversational and I never for a split second lost a feeling of concentration from him, you know, we were really very much in scenes together."

So why has it taken so long for David Strathairn to become famous? Sayles thinks he has the answer.

"If you are lucky early in your career you get matched with that role and lots of people see you and you are on the "A" list.

He's on the "A" list now and after the Oscars March 5th, Strathairn's name may finally be first on the marquee, but don't bet on him changing where or how he lives his life.

Asked if his Oscar-nominated role has changed his professional life, Strathairn said no. "It may have just mutated for a moment," he says.