by Mark Griffin

The onetime vaudevillian from Buckfield High is now juggling movie roles as one of America’s hottest leading men. And he loves his new place in Harpswell…

For me, Patrick Dempsey will always be the boy with the piano-keys scarf. Long before he achieved international celebrity as the star of such box office triumphs as Sweet Home Alabama and Can’t Buy Me Love, Dempsey was already a vibrant, larger-than-life presence in the halls of St. Dominic’s Regional High School in Lewiston. In 1983, I was an overwhelmed freshman while Dempsey, the exuberant upperclassman from Buckfield, was about to embark on his very own show business odyssey. I envied everything about this future matinee idol, from his outgoing personality to the elegant black and white scarf he sported in the days before he disappeared from the cafeteria forever. Like so many of us, he left Maine vowing never to return.

But life is full of surprises. Not only is he one of America’s most sought-after leading men – Sweet Home Alabama has key female demographics drooling and Internet fan sites foaming ("click here to see Patrick Dempsey nude"); he’s also on screen this month in a supporting role opposite Kevin Kline in The Emperor’s Club – Dempsey, 36, also owns a gorgeous place on Harpswell Neck, with towering views of Orr’s Island.

"I think by returning to my roots, by returning to Maine, it’s changed me profoundly as a person," Dempsey laughs.

"The big thing for me is having returned and bought a farm in Maine. The moment I did that, my career changed again. Something happened where I sort of go, ‘Oh, you know, I come from a wonderful place!’ Maine is an incredible state and the people are amazing."

If Dempsey is impressed with the locals who are once again his neighbors, the feeling has always been mutual. Before hitting his marks in Hollywood, the actor left some lasting impressions on the colorful band of Vacationland vaudevillians who guided his early theatrical endeavors.

Denise and Benny Reehl were two of Dempsey’s earliest supporters. "The first time I met Patrick, he was a freshman in high school," Denise recalls, "I started a drama club at Buckfield High School, and he was one of two actors who worked in a one-act play with me. I don’t think he was happy at school..." Like many young teens, he may have felt lost, vulnerable. "It was a challenging piece, and he did very well in it. [Dempsey] hadn’t done theater at all, and he was very excited about the process. We were vaudevillians and jugglers, and we connected him with Fred Garbo, a fellow vaudevillian, because Patrick wanted to learn how to juggle."

Concentrating on performing to the point of obsession, Dempsey practiced juggling for hours on end, deep in the night. His future was up for grabs; all the balls were in the air.

Fred Garbo, the Norway based impresario of the Inflatable Theatre Company, remembers Dempsey as a thoroughly focused young performer. "Pat was sent to the Celebration Barn Theater, where I was teaching workshops on comic movement, juggling and acrobatics," Garbo explains. "Pat came and studied and was a natural! Really a quick study… So, he started performing skits and bits he worked on in our classes and entering school variety shows, and on it went to being seen by showbiz folks in Boston and New York City."

"It’s so funny that Buckfield became like this hotbed for vaudevillians," Dempsey says. "The Reehls, Garbo, Randy ("Jud the Jester") Judkins, and Michael Miclon [today the director of Maine Arts, Inc., sponsors of The Maine Festival] – all those guys are completely responsible for my career, " Dempsey says. "All through my teen years, they were such a great group of people who were really creative. Very sensitive and loving and supportive. It was just like this crazy surrogate family."

Dempsey also pays tribute to his real family for encouraging his youthful ambitions. "I had the opportunity to go do Torch Song Trilogy my senior year," Dempsey explains. "I flew down to New York to audition for it. I was 17, lied about my age, and just took off. It was really great that my parents allowed me the opportunity because had they not, I don’t think I would have had my shot."

The actor’s mother, Amanda Lowell, and step-father, Howard Lowell, still live in Buckfield. Amanda retired six years ago as the secretary of Buckfield High.

In 1985, Dempsey debuted on the big screen in director Michael Dinner’s Heaven Help Us, a coming-of-age comedy set in a Catholic boys school in the mid 1960s. Since then, Dempsey’s fans have had an opportunity to watch their idol mature onscreen. From the nebbish of Meatballs 3 (1987) and Can’t Buy Me Love (1987), Face The Music, with Molly Ringwald, in 1993; to Ava’s Magical Adventure, which he co-directed with first wife Rocky Clark, in 1994; to the JFK Jr.-esque sophisticate in director Andy Tennant’s Sweet Home Alabama, Dempsey’s career has endured because the raucous clowns he’s played have always shared space with a tenderly articulated vulnerability. When the 2001 Emmy Award nominations were announced, Dempsey received a nod as "Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series" for his role as Aaron Brooks on ABC’s Once and Again. This kind of industry recognition may be the harbinger of more challenging dramatic roles for an actor who long ago transcended the art of slapstick.

"I’m just thankful that I’m a working actor," Dempsey observes, "A movie costs $100 million. They have to ensure that the people that are in it are going to be bankable. So, it really limits you as far as your choices are concerned and also the material that you’re given." Like his contemporaries Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, Dempsey may benefit by custom tailoring future projects to fit his distinctive talents. "I’ve been trying to set up a movie based on the Philmore Wass book, Lighthouse In My Life, which is a story about a lighthouse keeper and his family [living] off the coast of Maine in the 1920s," Dempsey says.

"I very much want to do that at some point and do a lot of films in Maine. I think there are a lot of stories that can be told and it’s a point of view that a lot of people aren’t aware of."

People are aware of Dempsey’s winning onscreen chemistry with reigning ingenue Reese Witherspoon in Sweet Home Alabama. After his frequently being paired with older female co-stars (Kate Jackson and Carrie Fisher in Loverboy, Beverley D’Angelo in In The Mood, romantically coupled with other men (Will and Grace, In A Shallow Grave) and holding his own opposite a rabid monkey (he’s the long-haired victim who’s first bitten in Outbreak), it’s almost shocking to see Dempsey aging so well and being featured in a conventional romantic comedy. Of his engaging rapport with Witherspoon, Dempsey says, "We got along like a brother and sister really… We try to keep each other level headed. She has a great sense of humor and a really strong nature. It’s good to see someone who has so much going on behind the eyes."

Offscreen, Dempsey’s leading ladies include his wife, make-up artist Jillian Fink, and his young daughter Tallulah, who is named after a little girl who once assisted Dempsey on a shopping expedition. When not spending time with his family or enjoying the scenic splendors of Maine, Dempsey continuously juggles creative assignments.

"Because I dropped out of high school, I find every project is a history lesson," Dempsey notes. "Right now I’m doing something for HBO about the women’s suffrage movement… It’s like taking a class." Dempsey is also appearing in a supporting role opposite Kevin Kline in The Emperor’s Club, directed by Michael Hoffman, who helmed Dempsey’s 1988 effort, Some Girls.

Regarding long-term plans, Dempsey definitely sees Maine in the big picture. "I had to travel and explore and see different cultures and be in the city in order to go back now and appreciate the culture, artistry, and natural beauty in Maine," Dempsey says. "I’ve always felt that we need to have a performing arts school in Maine. You know, at some point in my career, down the line, I would love to be a part of setting something up."

Dempsey also expresses particular appreciation for the rapid development Portland has experienced in the years since he went searching for an agent there, "It has changed so much, hasn’t it? Since you and I were kids? I’ll never forget signing with the Gibson Girls Modeling & Talent Agency, in Portland, where I got Torch Song Trilogy. Is Ruth Gibson still running it? The Old Port and what’s been happening with the Museum has been great… I hope it has all the wonderful qualities of a big city without the trappings of it."

Before our St. Dominic’s reunion concludes, I ask Dempsey to describe himself as though he were a character in a screenplay. After careful consideration, the boy with the piano keys scarf sums himself up with two well-chosen words: "Eternally optimistic."

©2002 Portland Magazine

Colin Sargent, Editor & Publisher
editor@portlandmonthly.com
Click here to subscribe