Professor Gary Gardner Paid Tribute in Tim Robbins Acceptance Speech

On May 17, Tim Robbins accepted the prestigious UCLA Alumnus of the Year Award. A.P. Gonzales was also honored. In his speech, Robbins thanked professor Gary Gardner for defending him on an MSNBC news program. He also quoted Gardner for teaching students “to think” as opposed to “what to think.” Here is the complete text of Robbins’ speech, which follows on the heels of the Baseball Hall of Fame’s decision to cancel Robbins’ appearance for political reasons.

The text of Robbins’ speech as follows:

“Thanks for not canceling.

My first acting roll at UCLA wasn?t on stage, it was playing the part of an interested fraternity pledge during rush week to score a free beer. I had no intention of joining a fraternity. I just wanted free beer. I don?t remember any positive reviews for that performance.

Being at UCLA was great. To be in an environment of creativity and learning, our limits being tested, our perceptions being challenged, to be able to discuss, debate, argue, find common ground, fall in love, laugh our asses off. To do all of these things and to not have to clean our rooms. It?s heaven on earth.

I think the trick to happiness in adulthood, by the way, with all its responsibilities, is in retaining that fertile joy we discovered in college and keeping our rooms clean.

The UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television has produced some incredibly talented artists. I don’t think there’s another department in America that can claim the diversity of talent that has produced “The Godfather” and “Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure.”

I’ve met some pretty impressive people at UCLA and although I’ve never met the Nobel Laureates that have attended the school, my kids take great pride in the fact that I was in several classes with the voice of Bart Simpson.

In the spring of my first year at UCLA I organized an intramural softball team called the Male Death Cult. Considering that we were a Theater Department team, we thought the name Male Death Cult might somewhat balance our light footedness on the field. You see there aren’t a lot of softball teams where every single player on the team has taken ballet. Lightness of foot, or grace, if you will, did not hold us back however, we came within a game of the intramural championship. Take that Beta Chi Macho!

I had a teacher that I drove a little crazy when I was in school. I don’t think he really approved of my lifestyle, or probably my attitude, to some degree. And on the last day of classes he said, “Listen Tim, you’re tall, so you’ll probably be successful but you won’t have any friends.” It’s true.

To the contrary, I have great friends at UCLA and friends to this day. I found real artists there with a similar sensibility. We were in to punk rock and sports, and we wanted to put that kind of energy on stage. And the great thing about the UCLA Theater Department, that was despite an inherent departmental resistance to that kind of theater, there was still enough of an environment that encouraged and nurtured our anarchy.

Our first shows were offshoots of different classes that we had taken there and in 1982 we took one of the shows out in to the real world, performing at a little theater at midnight on Fridays and Saturdays in Hollywood. The success of that show really helped the Actors- Gang start on its path. And 22 years later we’re still together. And we’re still producing shows and we’re now at our own theater in Hollywood. And as the Actors Gang is so much a part of my experience at UCLA I’d like to ask those Gang members here tonight to stand up and take a bow. Come on, come on, come on guys.

If you haven’t had a chance to see an Actors Gang show, I really recommend it. You can also check us out at www.theactorsgang.com <http://www.actorsgang.com>. Incidentally, as the artistic director of this group, it’s a non-profit company, I legally can’t stand in this room of wealthy and successful people without making an appeal for donations. That’s right I would be arrested if I didn’t say we need support. We are currently running after school programs in theater for children and teenagers to help compensate for the cuts in state funding and we are proud and honored to do this but like most non-profits we’re in a cash crunch and although I give generously to the group, we still need more than that. So once again, that’s www.theactorsgang.com <http://www.theactorsgang.com>. OK, I did it alright! (saying to his Actors- Gang buddies near the head table) Jesus.

I’d like to thank the UCLA Alumni Association and the nominating committee for the invitation and the honor. It is my honor to be included with the other honorees tonight, especially the chemistry professor that likes to blow things up. I wish I’d taken that course.

Thanks also to Michael McLain and Gary Gardner and Bob Rosen for their very kind nominating letters. And to Gary, thanks for defending me and the University on television the other night. Not an easy thing to do, but you did so with grace, and sharp intelligence and it made me very proud to of had you as a teacher. I’m indebted to the Theater Department of UCLA and to the great friends I made there. The environment was so creative, so manic, so inclusive, so sensual, so exciting and nurturing.

Thanks are due also to the supportive and the caustic comments of the professors there.

I’m proud to be associated with a university that claims its graduates as Carlos Castenata, Francis Ford Coppola, H.R. Haldeman and Jackie Robinson amongst many others. All individuals of different political and social backgrounds, different economic classes, some who took hallucinogens and others who took Scotch on the Rocks. I accept this award in a celebration of their diversity. A diversity that is a testament to the University.

As my playwriting teacher Gary Gardner said the other night on television, “At UCLA we teach our students to think, not what to think.”

Any university that can give the same award to H.R. Haldeman and me, is honoring a deeper understanding of education. An understanding that celebrates independent thought and realizes that in order to live up to the ideal of a free society diversity of thought is absolutely essential to freedom. I thank the university for teaching me this and for remaining connected and committed to this truly American ideal. Thank you very much.

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Keywords

"robert rosen" "francis ford coppola" "gary gardner" "michael mclain" 

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