Breaking Free From the Past

Chi McBride shifted forward, then suddenly moved his massive frame with a force that almost brought the swivel chair he was sitting in to its breaking point. He could barely contain himself.

“AH, THE DESMOND QUESTION!” McBride bellowed, his voice rumbling across the empty set that serves as his office on the new Fox high school series “Boston Public.” His handsome face exploded into a huge smile. “Finally. It only took 20 minutes for it to come up! What took so long?”

It was early morning, and the formidably built, 6-foot-5 McBride only moments before had wrapped the day’s shooting in his persona of Steven Harper, the beleaguered principal of Winslow High School who tries to keep his shaved head above water while grappling with the relentless stream of student stress, teacher turmoil and parent problems.

Although the new drama has an ensemble cast, it is McBride who is at the center of most of the action, and it is a role he clearly cherishes, calling it the high point of his career. His off-camera mood on the set is just short of jubilant, hugging, kissing and joking with his co-stars. When the cameras roll, he slips instantly into the compassionate but no-nonsense principal whose measured tones mask an undercurrent of tightly wound frustration and potential explosiveness.

“I just love coming to work,” says McBride, adding that he’s particularly gratified to be working with the show’s creator, producer David E. Kelley. “I’ve done a lot of comedy, but now I’m getting this opportunity to do drama, and people are really seeing that I’m an actor who can do different things. It’s great to work with someone who challenges you. I appreciate the level of confidence David’s given me. I couldn’t have done this five years ago.”

But despite the accolades from critics and the drama’s growing popularity, McBride is aware that he is still haunted by the ghost of Desmond Pfeiffer, the character portrayed by McBride in UPN’s controversial 1998 series “The Secret Diary of Desmond Pfeiffer,” which provoked a firestorm of protests from black leaders and highly critical reviews from TV writers. In the Civil War-era comedy, McBride played a black Englishman who becomes a butler and chief advisor to President Lincoln.

The show drew the wrath of several African American groups offended by its jokes and that it would try to mine humor from slavery. Even though the fictional title character was depicted as the most intelligent member of the Lincoln administration, some leaders blasted McBride for his involvement. Critics and viewers gave the series a chilly reception, and it was canceled just a few weeks after its Oct. 5 premiere.

Despite its short life, “Desmond Pfeiffer” continues to be a cultural reference used by black artists such as director Spike Lee as one of the most egregious examples of black stereotyping on television. In Lee’s case, the series was one of the inspirations for his latest satire, “Bamboozled,” in which a modern-day minstrel show featuring black performers in blackface becomes a huge hit.

Indeed, McBride’s biography in the Fox press kit for “Boston Public” pointedly omits any reference to “Desmond Pfeiffer,” instead highlighting McBride’s recent movies, “Gone in 60 Seconds” and “Disney’s The Kid,” and his previous series stint as the wisecracking janitor-philosopher on “The John Larroquette Show.”

McBride does not flinch from discussion about “Desmond Pfeiffer,” although he insists he has left the show far behind him. Others, he says, keep it alive.

“Journalists think it makes for interesting reading,” says McBride. “They ask me more questions about it now than when I was in it. And I completely understand that. My view is, it was a show that, like many in Hollywood, got canceled. It’s been off the air for two years.”

Fending Off Critics Is an Ongoing Task

He noted little of the criticism about the comedy was aimed at him: “There were one or two people who approached me early on, asking me how could I do it? I asked them if they had seen the show and they said no. I then told them to stop talking because they were being ignorant.”

The actor smiled when asked about Lee’s continuing barbs targeting the show: “Ah, you know Spike. There’s a short list of people whose opinions matter to me, and Spike is not on that list. I mean, the show is off the air! If you’re still complaining about it, then I can’t please you, and I don’t give a damn what you think!”

As for his own feeling about “Desmond Pfeiffer,” McBride says, “I fully expected some sort of controversy, but none of it has scarred me or anything like that. I mean, I was the lead on a show where I was the smartest guy. Just say this--I’m not in therapy over it.”

Kelley said he never saw “Desmond Pfeiffer.” But he was instantly impressed with McBride when he first read for the part in “Boston Public.”

“His talent stood above the field,” Kelley says. “What I needed was an actor who could personify the compassion of a principal, and also the power. But I didn’t want someone acting compassionate or beating his chest with power. I just needed those qualities to emanate from that character, and Chi did.”

He added, “There were other qualities that were needed. I wanted the audience to cultivate a sympathy and admiration for the character at the same time that they would be taking issue with some of his choices. They needed to cultivate an emotional investment in Harper.”

Much of McBride’s performance is conveyed through his body language and his imposing size.

“In approaching this character, I try to feel like a guy who has a piano on his head, he’s juggling a refrigerator, a broken bottle and a chain saw at the same time,” McBride says. “What do you throw up first? Steven’s a bit of a pressure cooker. But because of my physical appearance, I don’t have to yell. The assumption is that not too many people are going to try him.”

And woe to those who think they can. One of the most intense scenes early in the series found Harper exploding at a student (Zachery Ty Bryan) who repeatedly terrorizes a smaller classmate. Confronting the student, Harper becomes a human powder keg, slamming the student into lockers and daring him to “take a shot” at him.

McBride smiled as he recalled the scene: “I told Zach that once the cameras roll, this is real to me, and he might want to have another pair of pants on hand. He didn’t believe me. By the third take, he was asking for those pants.”

He then became serious. “There’s a very dark room in everyone’s mind, and when you go there, it’s very ugly. It’s difficult to get physical, but I had to be in that room to do that scene.”

But much of the time, McBride as Harper expresses himself in a low-key manner close to a whisper.

The role, which Kelley said was always written for an African American, was not written for a large man. “Now I can’t imagine Harper as being anyone but a man with a real physical presence.”

Looking Forward to a Higher Profile

Anthony Heald, who plays Vice Principal Scott Gruber, has found McBride to be genuinely engaging. He told of one instance where McBride missed a message on his home answering machine that shifted the next day’s shooting earlier in the day. McBride showed up about 40 minutes late.

“Chi went around to every single person on the crew and with the cast and apologized personally,” Heald said. “He also apologized to everyone as a whole, speaking at the top of his voice. He talked about how vital it is for actors to be on time, and how ashamed he was. He then arranged for a coffee truck to be on the set all day to make free coffee drinks for everyone. It just speaks to what kind of guy he is.”

McBride, who said he is “single and loving it,” says “Boston Public” has given his career a major boost: “This hopefully will increase my profile. I’ve been very fortunate to do movies, and projects like this, and make a decent buck doing what I love to do. It’s only going to get better.”

* “Boston Public” can be seen Monday nights at 8 on Fox.