Boston Herald
10/12/1996
BM19981015070063201
A&I Section
Paul Sherman

Moira Kelly was ready to quit movie acting - until the script for "Entertaining Angels: The Dorothy Day Story" came along.  "I went to my agent and said, "I'm tired. I don't want to do this anymore.  the battles are too much for me.  The movies they want to make stink, and I want to go back to the theater,: said the young actress, a familiar face from such movies as "Chaplin," "With Honors" and "Little Odessa." "He told me to hold on and just wait.  And not a week later, 'Dorothy Day' came across his desk."  the story of Day (1897-1980) - the intellectual-turned-Roman-Catholic-activist who lived among the poor in the shelters she started - immediately appealed to Kelly.

"I found minor similarities between her life and my own, and I thought, 'Here's a real human character,' " Kelly said.  "An audience is going to be able to find a little bit of Dorothy in themselves and relate to this woman.: roles like Dorothy Day are so rare in Hollywood.  Women don't get the opportunity to play someone who's inspiring and strong and so influential in the changes to the world.  I think any actress in Hollywood who read that script and turned it down was foolish.  It was an opportunity to really challenge yourself and do a great story."

But many had turned down the offer from the producer, The Rev. Ellwood "Bud" Kieser ("Romero"), to play Day from ages 20 through 66, and headline the story that includes the suffragette movement, relationship conflicts and, ultimately, spirituality.  Like "The Spitfire Grill," "Entertaining Angels" was financed by a religious group 0 in this case, the Paulists - but Kelly was quick to point out that it's not a religious movie.

"It's a human movie, a human story," said Kelly, who'll next be seen opposite Gena Rowlands in "Unhook the Stars."

"It's not telling you, 'Be Catholic.' Dorothy is probably one of the greatest figures of the 20th century, and we have to make ourselves aware of what she was doing."

"We have a world that is searching for answers, that is searching for a way back to spirituality.  On some level, though, we're not all asked to be Dorothy Day, we're all asked to server.  Dorothy could have done a lot of things with her life.  She chose not just to help the poor, but live with them.  How many of us can make that sacrifice?"

(Copyright 1996)