For Danson, making ‘Knights’ meant more than the check
“Knights of the South Bronx,” premiering tonight at 8 on A&E, is based on a true-life tale about a teacher who uses chess to inspire inner-city kids.
Its star, Ted Danson, found himself inspired as well. His love of the game, long dormant, was rekindled, he says.
“It takes the computer a lot longer to beat me than it did!” exclaims Danson, who played chess as a kid but rarely since.
More so, he adds, he was moved greatly by the film’s inspiration, chess expert David MacEnulty, who taught the intricate board game to Bronx elementary school children, nurturing them to success in national competitions.
Executive producer Diane Nabatoff approached Danson by sending him a TV news piece about MacEnulty. He says he and his wife, actress Mary Steenburgen, were “in tears” after watching it.
The A&E movie does take some dramatic license with MacEnulty’s story, but Danson says he accepts that because what really matters is that the film is true in the way it depicts the lessons the kids learned through the challenges of chess.
“You don’t get ahead by getting it over on people. You get ahead by being better than they are at something, and the only way you are going to do that is if you work harder than the other people. And that’s the message of the movie,” MacEnulty says.
On location, Danson watched MacEnulty, who has written several chess books and created software programs for the U.S. Chess Federation, teaching young actors the basics of the game.
“There were six or so kids from 5 to 10 or 11 years old who were just nonstop, all over him, all over the chess pieces, squabbling,” Danson says. “I was horrified – ‘Oh, my God, is this what I’m going to be doing every day?’ “
“But what David said to me, and what I saw, was 60, 70 percent of his energy was to capture their attention and the rest was put into the chess teaching.”
Danson went on to apply that technique himself in working with his young co-stars.
“As soon as you offer them something that is really interesting and when the communication is, ‘You matter, I care about you, you can do this,’ you can keep them focused,” he says.
A&E, in collaboration with Food for Thought Software, has a “Think Like a King” contest for teachers in hopes of encouraging interest in chess as a tool to enhance learning skills. Winners get free chess-teaching software for their schools.
“Not everyone can play sports,” says Danson. “Sports got me through high school, made me feel like there was a reason for living. Music can do that for some kids, but not everybody is into music or is a jock.
“Chess is an amazingly cheap way to capture a child’s imagination and expand their brain … there’s a quiet confidence that comes from a kid learning how to play chess.”
Most famous as the womanizing bartender Sam Malone on the Emmy-winning sitcom “Cheers,” Danson, 57, also starred in the sitcom “Becker,” which ended last year after a six-year run.
While he would have liked to continue playing the curmudgeonly doctor, he reasons, “I don’t think you can get involved in why things go off the air. It would make you nuts.”
The birthday bunch
Jazz pianist Dave Brubeck is 85. Actress JoBeth Williams is 57. Actor Tom Hulce is 52. Comedian Steven Wright is 50. Guitarist Peter Buck (R.E.M.) is 49. Actress Janine Turner (“Strong Medicine,” “Northern Exposure”) is 43.