ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, January 5, 1996 TAG: 9601050011
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: PAUL LOMARTIRE COX NEWS SERVICE
TV types who don't go to the movies much, please note: If you see Oliver Stone's film ``Nixon,'' when John Dean appears, don't stand up and shout, ``Hey, there's Niles!''
Yes, that is Emmy-winning ``Frasier'' actor David Hyde Pierce playing the ultimate snitch Dean. But the Yale-educated, 6-foot, 160-ish-pound actor has an acting life beyond playing the finicky, neurotic psychiatrist brother of Seattle radio psychiatrist Dr. Frasier Crane.
``Nixon'' isn't Pierce's first major feature film. Before hitting it big with ``Frasier,'' Pierce landed film roles, albeit small ones, as Meg Ryan's brother in ``Sleepless in Seattle'' and Jack Nicholson's co-worker in ``Wolf.''
Playing Nixon adviser John Dean started with a call from his agent. Pierce was told that Oliver Stone wanted to see him. It was only before a second visit, to read for the part, that Pierce found out he was being considered for the Dean role in ``Nixon.''
``I was sitting in [Stone's] waiting room,'' Pierce said during a recent phone interview, ``and Oliver came out and said, `Oh, that's right, you're reading today. There's someone I want you to meet.' ''
That someone was John Dean.
``I was so shocked, I couldn't believe it,'' Pierce recalled. ``We had a talk then and a couple [more] times after that on the movie.''
Not having seen the completed film, Pierce says the script ``has all the potential to be really incredible.''
``I don't think it's the kind of what-really-happened-with-Nixon-and-that-woman movie that everyone's expecting,'' he guessed. ``Oliver's very smart. He did that once, that sort of shake-'em-up-thing [`JFK']. I think the most shocking thing about this movie will be the three-dimensional portrait of Nixon.''
In August 1974, when Nixon resigned the presidency because of the Watergate scandal, Pierce was a 14-year-old at summer camp in New Hampshire. In the parking lot during intermission of an all-Beethoven concert, Pierce recalled, someone had a TV. That's where he saw Nixon make his exit speech.
``It didn't mean anything to me, really.''
After meeting Dean, reading his book ``Blind Ambition,'' along with other research, Pierce has made up his mind about the man who will always be known as one of the century's greatest snitches.
``I might have done the same thing in his position,'' Pierce said. ``I don't think he only did what he was told. I think he was responsible for some unfortunate choices.''
But Pierce thinks that history may, in the end, be kind to Dean because he did the right thing. Eventually.
``I think the thing that saved him in my mind is that there came a point when he said, `We've crossed the line, we can't do this any more.'
``Historically, a lot of people look at him as a rat for turning everyone in,'' Pierce said. ``I have to say I don't see it that way. He certainly made some really lousy decisions and broke some really good laws, but ultimately, I think, it must have been very difficult for him to face those people and say, `I'm going to tell what happened.'''
LENGTH: Medium: 62 linesby CNB