Ed Harris
b. November 28, 1950
In a 2001 interview with My Generation, actor Ed Harris said marijuana led him to acting. In high school, Harris was a football captain and wanted to turn professional. "And then I go to Columbia," said Harris, "and there's, you know, SDS [Students for a Democratic Society] and marijuana and I didn't do anything like that in high school. You start experimenting, you start thinking about things a little bit differently and you realize you've got to do something else with your life. I stopped playing ball. I'd seen some summer theater in Oklahoma, and I thought maybe I could do that." (Source: Cannabis Canada.)
Harris won an Oscar for his portrayal of painter Jackson Pollock in Pollock (2000). He was splendid playing Beethoven conducting his 9th symphony in Copying Beethoven (2006), learning to play piano and violin during his year-long preparation for the role. On the DVD commentary, he asked the director if she'd considered including Frederich von Schiller's poem Ode to Joy that lent its lyrics to the symphony. Unlike the sappy song schoolkids learn, the true poem praises a golden wine and begins (in translation):
Joy, beautiful spark of Gods,
Daughter of Elysium,
We enter, fire-imbibed,
Heavenly, thy sanctuary.
Thy magic powers re-unite
What custom's sword has divided
Beggars become Princes' brothers
Where thy gentle wing abides.
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2009 Very Important Potheads
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Changing the Face of Cannabis