Brendon Boone's entire life seems to be one lived-out
on the world stage. The son of a Navy Chaplain/'itinerate'
Methodist minister, he was incessantly on the move with his family, always
readapting to a new environment and new people. His initial move was from his Meridian, Mississippi,
birthplace to Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, where his father earned yet
another sheepskin credential from the Candler School of Theology. In his birthplace he had 'learned' by age three (not from his parents but from the general malaise of society) his developing friendship with his little black pal to be improper. Then in Atlanta having already adjusted to this curious fuss over skin color now Brendon had to adjust to the alienation of a young Emory theology student from Japan, Shirakowa Tatsumasa, who bore a skin of yet another hue. Shirakowa had befriended Brendon and graciously gifted him with a red toy truck for his fourth birthday. Now, his young Japanese friend was compelled to say goodbye and return to his native land lest he shame his family, as the world prepared for war.
During World War II, the family settled in San Diego,
California, while Brendon's father served as a Navy Chaplain on the USS Attu in the Pacific. Then following the war it
was back to Mississippi where the Boones remained entrenched just long enough
for Brendon to win the State Championship in the Soap Box Derby. 'Nosed-out' in a photo-finish for the World Championship in Akron, Ohio, Brendon perceived himself, at age fourteen, to have let down his entire State and was reluctant to return home. Encouraged at Derby Downs by guest celebrity James Stewart, "You go on back down to Mississippi, Brendon. You're still a champion there!" -- he returned taking additional heed from the Jackson Daily News' account of his pet dog Penny's demise when editorializing that he could survive both losses (the World Championship and his pet) because to quote the newspaper, "Champions are made of sterner stuff than most people."
Within a brief few years Brendon was
discovered on the Rollins College Annie Russell Theatre Stage in Winter Park,
Florida, in a performance as 'Sakini' in "The Teahouse of the August
Moon", and Hollywood beckoned. With
a return to the West Coast and the launch of a career in films, Brendon
ultimately gained Golden Globe Award Recognition from the International
Hollywood Foreign Press Association in the category: Most Popular TV Star -
Male.
The single parent of his son, Norman
Brendon Boone, III (now 37), he contends it's finally time gracefully to 'get
off the stage', offering to the world as a novel and film -
"PREACHER AND CO" ... his 'Swan Song.'
