See the stars in your backyard
At home, celebrities make good neighbors by giving to their communities
The stars of music, movies, and television who live in the suburbs south of Boston tend to move about their private lives quietly. So it's not surprising that the good works these celebrities do are often are under the radar, too.
Yet, despite the lack of Hollywood-like glare, many area celebrities are quietly giving time, talent, and other gifts to make life better in their communities and the world at large.
For example, Duxbury High School alum Juliana Hatfield and Norwood native Dicky Barrett of The Mighty Mighty Bosstones have each donated their musical talent by recording songs for charity albums. The Dropkick Murphys, who started out playing together in the basement of a friend's Quincy barbershop, have played benefit concerts to raise money for My Brother's Keeper, an organization in Easton that delivers food, furniture, and other necessities to needy folks all over Southeastern Massachusetts.
Aerosmith guitarist Joe Perry gave two guitars to the Duxbury public schools. He also donated an autographed guitar to a Duxbury Rotary Club auction, where it sold for $12,000 and helped the Fire Department buy thermal imaging equipment. Perry and his wife, Billie, also worked tirelessly to get the new animal shelter built in Duxbury. The Perrys donated $25,000 to cover the construction costs in 1998, and happily threw the first shovel-full of dirt at the ground-breaking ceremony in December 2004.
In Kingston, Oscar-winning actor Chris Cooper and his wife, Marianne Leone, from the HBO series "The Sopranos," have been active in town affairs and in advocating for children with special needs. Cooper attended a career day at the local elementary school, and he and his wife have attended School Committee meetings. They helped raise money for Handi Kids Summer Camp in Bridgewater, and established the Jesse Cooper Foundation in memory of their 17-year-old son, who died of complications from cerebral palsy in 2005. Jesse was a sophomore at Silver Lake Regional High School. The couple serve on the board of directors of AccesSportAmerica, a nonprofit organization that supports athletic programs for people with disabilities.
Jeff Corwin, a Norwell native and host of wildlife television shows on the Animal Planet cable channel, helped launch a new wildlife exhibit at the South Shore Natural Science Center known as the "EcoZone." Corwin, who was named on People magazine's 50 Most Beautiful People list, still calls the South Shore home and lives with his wife and daughter in Marshfield.
"Marsh Vegas" is also home to actor Steve Carell, who rose to fame for his role in "The Office" television series. His wife, Cohasset native Nancy Walls, is a former cast member of "Saturday Night Live." The couple appeared at the Regal Fenway Cinema in Boston on June 21 for the premiere of Carell's new comedy, "Evan Almighty," which was a benefit for the Zachary Carson Brain Tumor Fund, established in honor of a Newton teen who was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor in 2005.
Mark Goddard might be best known for his role as Major Don West on the 1960s TV show "Lost in Space," but his work with children has eclipsed his accomplished acting career. He eventually left show business to go back to school, and earned a master's degree in education from Bridgewater State College. He now works as a special education teacher at the F.L. Chamberlain School in Middleborough, teaching students behavioral management skills, and the occasional improv workshop.
"I've always been involved in working with young people," said Goddard, who lives in Bridgewater with his wife and their 16-year-old son. "It's a wonderful facility, with kids from all over the Northeast," he said. "I work very closely with them."
Goddard said that, in between his acting gigs on the West Coast and on Broadway, he found time to work with children at Head Start programs in California and at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York. He occasionally makes appearances at trade shows to sign autographs for "Lost in Space" buffs, and he still receives fan mail from time to time. He recently began writing a memoir (working title: "To Space and Back") about his acting career, and his early days growing up in Scituate, including his varsity basketball days at Scituate High, and teenage pranks that led to run-ins with Weymouth police.
Wareham's own Geena Davis has also been involved with children's advocacy. She graduated from Wareham High School in 1974, and left her hometown to pursue a career in modeling and acting. But she didn't forget her roots.
In 1989, the year after she won an Oscar for her performance in "The Accidental Tourist," she returned to her hometown and led the parade down Main Street during her hometown's 250th anniversary celebration.
Davis is a nationally ranked archer, and a trustee of the Women's Sports Foundation, a charitable educational organization founded by Billie Jean King in 1974. The foundation launched a website titled "Geena Takes Aim," (geenatakesaim.com) which provides tools and resources to help promote gender equality in sports.
A message from Davis appears on the front page of the site: "You have the right to play sports and to be the best athlete you can be. But today, your rights may be in jeopardy. Here's what you can do . . ." The site features information about Title IX, online assessment tools to check to see if a particular school is in compliance, and contact information for legislators.
"Did you know that, on the average, 90 percent of all column inches on the sports pages of newspapers goes to men's sports; 5 percent to women's sports, and 3 percent to horse and dog racing? The same is true for television," she said. "Be active in either helping your media celebrate its fair coverage of girls and women in sports, or tweak their habits if they're not getting the job done."
The Women's Sports Foundation recently announced that the Fontbonne Academy Step Squad was awarded a $2,500 grant.
Davis has also embarked on a separate project that addresses the lack of female role models in children's television shows and movies. In 2004 she established See Jane, an organization that is examining gender discrepancy in children's entertainment. Davis raised money to fund research at the University of Southern California that found that there are a disproportionate number of male characters in G-rated movies and TV shows. Davis is working to develop programs to address the imbalance.
Another talented woman from this area, Foxborough's own pop superstar Joanna "JoJo" Levesque, has had a multiplatinum album, a No. 1 hit single on the Billboard charts, an MTV video music award nomination, and roles in major films. The 16-year-old singer has also helped out several charities along the way, including the Tsunami Relief Fund and the Breast Treatment Task Force. She donated her time to record "Come Together Now," a song to benefit the victims of Hurricane Katrina. This month, Levesque will be walking in
Although JoJo spends much of her time on the road touring, she hasn't strayed far from her roots. She said in an interview that she loves "getting my Dunkin' Donut fix when I'm back home" and likes the "realness" of people from around here.
"People are honest. They tell you exactly what they're thinking," she said.
"They're not materialistic. New England, as a whole, is more about family, sports, and barbecues. That's what I like, that kind of camaraderie."
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Emily Sweeney can be reached at esweeney@globe.com. 