Wendell Pierce

I have my dad.

He was two months away from his 99th birthday.

I literally he passed in my hands.

You know, we were holding hands.

I was there with him.

And so I had my father for a long time in those last years.

I spent—I got closer to my father in the last 10 years of his life than I ever had before.

My mother passed, and one of her dying wishes was, Wendell, take care of your father, right?

She knew.

And, you know, while I was working in Budapest, if I got four days off, I would go home to New Orleans, right, and spend time with him.

It was—

But it was a blessing.

I was traveling the world and being an actor.

And at the same time, my home base is New Orleans.

And here I would have my father with me for all those years.

And he was fuel to my fire.

You know, he was reminding me of everything that he taught me.

And as I as I attack these challenges of these great roles and the different roles that I play, you know, he is very much in my process.

This is a man who fought in Saipan in World War Two, you know, and came back and was not his voting rights weren't even protected.

And here he was risking his life.