Profile : Faith, Heroes and Sheen

Martin Sheen doesn’t want to be part of mainstream America. “Mainstream America is in a boat headed for a waterfall and can’t get out of it,” he said. “I don’t want to be mainstream anything.”

And that includes giving a mainstream interview. Over the course of 90 minutes, Sheen talked nonstop with swirling intensity about the Gulf War, Mother Teresa and the Catholic Church, comedy, heroes, villains and courage.

In between discourses, the activist dad of Charlie, Emilio, Ramon and Renee Sheen/Estevez, managed to squeeze in a few comments about his latest movie, “Guilty Until Proven Innocent,” airing tonight on NBC. The fact-based drama follows the case of Bobby McLaughlin, a rebellious high-school dropout who was wrongly accused of murder in 1979. Sheen plays McLaughlin’s foster father, who fought several years to get Bobby released from prison.

“This was an inspiring piece that could motivate maybe some heroism in someone that felt (a circumstance) was hopeless,” said Sheen, 50, diving into his bear claw. He stopped mid-sentence: “Did you hear my tummy growl?”

Sheen continued without skipping a beat: “I love courage, I love heroism. I think it’s a virtue. I think if you can achieve some measure of courage you are that much stronger yourself and you can nourish those in your community.”

And Sheen said he has never lacked courage. “I don’t think any of us are without courage,” he said. “My whole life I have been drawn to people with courage, people who have done great things. They are heroes. There is no one in our lives we admire more than people who have had difficult times. But we avoid as much difficulty as possible ourselves. Our heroes for the most part live in museums, but they should live in our hearts.”

Among those heroes alive and well in Sheen’s heart are his wife, Janet, his children and his grandchildren. “My wife is one of the greatest heroes that I have ever known ... “ he said. “This gal is real tough. I don’t mean tough in a sense she has muscles. I mean she has spiritual muscles.”

As does Sheen. After leaving the Catholic Church in the mid-’60s, he returned to the fold 10 years ago.

“I have often said Mother Teresa drove me back to Catholicism but (activist Father) Daniel Berrigan keeps me there,” Sheen said with a chuckle. “I met Dan just having rejoined the Catholic faith and he solidified a lot of things for me. There is a mainstream church and there is a church of the poor, the church of truth who really lives the gospel and is real vibrant and powerful.”

During the Gulf War, Sheen spent an hour with Mother Teresa in Rome. “We (Sheen and his attorney Joe Cosgrove) asked her to take a legal petition to the Holy Father to intervene at the World Court to stop the war,” he said. “The day she met with the Holy Father the war ended.”

As soon as he met Mother Teresa, Sheen recalled, he began to cry. “You start crying because of joy,” he said, “because (in her) it is possible to realize all your dreams. This woman is the most powerful woman I have been in the presence of. Her work is not separate from her. She is her work. You’ve got to look for those kind of inspirations in your life.”

These days, Sheen’s faith is more important than his work. In fact, his life is not confined to acting. “This is what I do for a livin;, it is not what I do to stay alive.”

Fighting for “peace and justice” is what he does to stay alive.

Besides leading protests against the recent Gulf War, he has been arrested several times for protesting against U.S. policies in El Salvador. Sheen, a close friend of the late homeless activist Mitch Snyder (whom he portrayed in the 1986 TV movie, “Samaritan”) has invited the homeless to a sanctuary in Malibu.

“I’m not political,” he insisted. “I don’t give a damn about politics. Since Dan Berrigan made me realize the whole picture (about the Catholic Church) I began to work for peace and justice. And it’s led me in a few interesting places--a few jails here and there and confrontations. When you speak the truth, you have to suffer for it. But then all heroes went against the grain and occurred wrath.”

Sheen’s religious convictions also dictate his choices of film roles. He turned down the part of the FBI agent (which eventually went to Scott Glenn) in “The Silence of the Lambs.”

“My concern was that if I was a part of something that would teach some poor crazy person to kill someone else and skin them and make a dress out of them,” Sheen said.

Sheen learned his lesson four years ago with “The Believers,” a thriller focusing on the cult Santeria religion. “It was a good movie, but it was used as a training film for this cult down in Brownsville, Texas, which killed 14 people,” he said. “It was very upsetting. When you feel you are being viewed by all these crazy people who went and killed 14 people, it is not a good feeling. And I said, ‘Never again.”

He is eager, though, to do a comedy. “I did a comedy recently for French TV, ‘The Maid,’ and it ended up at all the video stores here,” Sheen said. “A lot of people saw it and said, ‘Damn. I didn’t realize you were so funny.’ ”

Sheen took the last bite of his bear claw and smiled. “I am very funny,” he said. “I love being funny. I bet you never knew what a clown I am.”

“Guilty Until Proven Innocent” airs tonight at 9 on NBC.