Richard Dean Anderson heads for the great outdoors
The star of Stargate SG-1 has joined RFK Jr. in a bid to save B.C. wilderness.
byline: Lynne McNamara Vancouver Sun
Richard Dean Anderson is looking forward to some time off. He and the cast and crew of MGM's Stargate SG-1 began shooting the 22nd and final episode of the show's fourth season this week. They wrap Oct. 20 and go on hiatus until mid-February.
The break is a welcome one, he says. "Partially because I'm not getting any younger and because I have a two-year-old baby girl now that is the focus of my life. She's sort of what keeps my motors running."
Wiley is now enrolled in a pre-school in Los Angeles, so daddy's been commuting weekends. "That's a little tough," admits the proud pop.
During the break, Anderson, his partner Apryl and their little girl plan to take some major R&R. "We're making a beeline for the mountains," he says. They'll spend a month or so skiing in Colorado. Also on the agenda: a possible dive trip to Galapagos and a river-raft trip in Chile.
"It's one of the joys of having a winter hiatus," says the Minneapolis-raised actor. "Most of the activities that I enjoy and am committed to are skiing and anything else related to snow and ice."
Anderson remembers as a kid studying a geography book and noting with fascination that although all the states were different colours, "Canada was all green -- it was just one big massive green blotch on the map." Inspired, at 17, he rode a bike 7,000 miles across that massive green blotch and has spent much of his working life here, beginning with his hit series MacGyver back in 1985.
Anderson has recently become an environmental advocate. On a lark last year, he bought a river-rafting trip at a charity fund raiser.Ê
He joined Robert Kennedy Jr. of the Waterkeeper's Alliance, Klahoose First Nations Chief Kathy Francis and others on the first-ever international adventurers' exploration and descent by raft through one of the world's last hidden natural wonders and top North American wilderness destinations, the Headwall Canyon and Filer River, 240 kilometres northwest of Vancouver.
The expedition was planned to oppose industrial clearcut logging within the Klahoose First Nation territory and was captured by National Geographic Explorer for its film Battle for Paradise.
This Friday night, Kennedy, Francis and Anderson will speak at a sold-out screening of the film in Vancouver.
Stephen Mahan, National Geographic / LEGACY: Robert Kennedy Jr., left, and Richard Dean Anderson at Headwall Canyon in the National Geographic film Battle for Paradise.
Cheers,
