Hollywood Veterans in Fight to Lead Actors Union

Both are veteran actors, and both are starring in roles neither especially relishes.

One of the bitterest fights in years at a Hollywood talent guild is pitting Richard Masur, veteran of films and television shows such as “Picket Fences,” against Emmy-winning actor William Daniels, known for roles in such shows as “St. Elsewhere” and “Boy Meets World,” for presidency of the Screen Actors Guild.

As the incumbent leader of the union that represents 96,000 mostly out-of-work actors--one that over the years has been headed by the likes of Ronald Reagan, James Cagney, Ed Asner and Charlton Heston--Masur has been under fire from Daniels and other dissidents, who say that the guild has rolled over when negotiating with producers and studios.

“The union has been pussycats with the industry for years and years and years,” Daniels said. “They need somebody who will go to the wall for them. There’s nobody in this town who frightens me.”

Such complaints aren’t unique to SAG, but are echoing regularly throughout all the talent guilds. Hollywood’s writers, directors and actors are restless in part because they believe the guilds--whose members have always been plagued by chronically high joblessness because of intense competition for entertainment work--haven’t been tough enough in making financial gains.

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The discontent has grown in the wake of the explosion of the lucrative cable television and foreign markets for producers and studios, and as studios tighten the purse strings. Veteran actors complain of regularly being offered “scale plus 10%,” a term that describes being offered just 10% above SAG’s basic pay scale. As Daniels puts it, the paltry cable TV residual checks actors receive tell the whole story best.

Masur believes that Daniels’ supporters are selling his administration short on its accomplishments in negotiating contracts and making legislative gains and on important, big-picture issues such as helping to attract attention to the issue of producers moving film and TV production to Canada to save money.

He also is making an issue of Daniels’ admitted lack of experience in union affairs, what he said is his naivete on a number of union strategies and the lack of specifics on just what he and his supporters would do differently. What’s more, he argues, many of the actors who are supporting Daniels are SAG board members who supported policies and administrative decisions they are now criticizing.

“He has no knowledge of the guild or its operations or its finances or anything else,” Masur said of Daniels.

Daniels, who said he’s taken a “crash course” on SAG, said his lack of activity in the union is exactly why he was drafted to run by Performers Alliance, a dissident, anti-Masur group within SAG.

“They wanted someone who was an outsider of the union,” Daniels said. “Someone who didn’t have any baggage or any political agenda, any commitments in the union and someone who was an established actor with visibility. I said, ‘That sounds like me.’ ”

Daniels also said that SAG is bloated, with union dues supporting too much administrative fat at its mid-Wilshire headquarters. “There’s lots and lots of jobs up there,” Daniels said.

In recent weeks, debates over SAG issues have given way to what Masur’s supporters say is a dirty campaign run by some members of Performers Alliance. Masur says he’s gone so far as to send legally threatening cease-and-desist letters to members he says are spreading malicious rumors that he’s corrupt. Daniels said he hasn’t engaged in any mudslinging and is unaware of anyone spreading such rumors.

“He’s taking all this as a personal attack. What we’ve done is run a campaign for office. It doesn’t involve him personally. It involves the way the union is being run,” Daniels said.

Masur countered that he has absolute proof that some alliance members are spreading the rumors, and that any efforts to distance the group are disingenuous.

“It has been the focus of their campaign from the outset,” Masur said.

The most unusual twist involves Masur supporters posting on their Web site a section titled “Fact and Fiction” in which they detail, then dispute, the rumors that allegedly are being spread about Masur.

Among them: “Richard Masur is on the take”; that Masur once declared there would be no strike on his watch by actors in commercials; that he won’t finish his term because he wants to run for political office and that he and other SAG supporters committed a crime during a ballot-counting debacle that occurred during an election of executive committee members last year. All of the rumors, they say, are lies.

Masur’s supporters have lined up some well-known stars to endorse him. Their Web site includes letters from Christopher Reeve, John Lithgow and Peter Coyote. Others lending their names as supporters include Billy Crystal, Kathy Bates, Dennis Franz, Michelle Pfeiffer, Jenna Elfman, Jack Lemmon and Michael J. Fox.

The list of endorsements for Daniels includes Ed Begley Jr., Gary Cole, Shirley Jones, Miguel Ferrer and Frances Fisher.

Masur is seeking a third two-year term. A third candidate, actress Angeltompkins, who reportedly changed her name from Angel Tompkins so her name would appear first on the ballot, also is running, although Masur and Daniels are expected to draw the vast majority of the vote. The face-off culminates this week when the last ballots are submitted and the counting begins.

A native of Brooklyn, N.Y., Daniels, 72, first appeared on stage at age 4 and later performed as a child on radio. A veteran Broadway performer, he appeared as Dustin Hoffman’s father in the classic film “The Graduate” as well as in such films as “Reds’ and “A Thousand Clowns.” He is best known for his two-time, Emmy-winning role as Dr. Mark Craig on “St. Elsewhere,” recently named by TV Guide as one of the top characters in TV history. He also was the voice of David Hasselhoff’s car in “Knight Rider,” and more recently has been Mr. Feeny on the ABC sitcom “Boy Meets World.”

Masur, 50, has a long list of TV and film credits, including major roles in such films as “My Girl” and “Six Degrees of Separation” and on such TV shows as “Picket Fences.” He has been one of the more visible SAG presidents in recent years, speaking and testifying regularly before government bodies on behalf of the union.

Observers say that the election result is hard to call. For starters, they note, turnout for guild elections is historically light. Whatever the outcome, they say, the bitterness of the campaign will last a long time.

“Some of this stuff is just too weird,” said one longtime Hollywood labor leader.

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Seeking the Top Spot

William Daniels and Richard Masur are the two leading candidates for Screen Actors Guild president. Actress Angeltompkins also is running.

William Daniels, 72

Acting highlights: Films include “The Graduate,” “A Thousand Clowns” and “Reds.” Television work includes two Emmys for “St. Elsewhere,” the voice of David Hasselhoff’s car in “Knight Rider” and Mr. Feeny in sitcom “Boy Meets World.”

Position: Believes Screen Actors Guild has failed to negotiate decent contracts for actors, especially amid the explosive growth in cable TV and foreign business.

Quote: “The union has been pussycats with the industry for years and years and years.”

Richard Masur, 50

Acting highlights: Films include “My Girl,” “Six Degrees of Separation,” “The Mean Season” and “The Man Without a Face.” Television credits include “Picket Fences,” “And the Band Played On” and “One Day at a Time.”

Position: Incumbent believes that SAG has made progress both in contracts and on legislative issues. Has also drawn public attention to the issue of production fleeing to Canada.

Quote: “He [Daniels] has no knowledge of the guild or its operations or its finances or anything else.”