An Actor's Plans

Darnell Williams, the popular black actor who at one time played Jesse Hubbard on the now-defunct daytime drama All My Children: "The actors can't bring about the change [in the TV image of blacks]. It has to be the producers. People behind the scenes with the money. Actors can only do their job. I think actors if they want to [bring about] change, they have to stop acting and start producing and directing. I'm going to do it. I want to direct. I want to go through the artistic end of it. I want to produce and direct eventually."

From an unpublished item I wrote for the now-defunct National Scene magazine's "Blacks in the Media" issue (1982). Williams's sentiments are still relevant in the 21st century.