'J.R. Ewing' slams Bush as 'sad figure'

The man best known for playing a notorious Texas oilman on television told a German newspaper in Berlin that President George W. Bush is a sad but dangerous figure with little education.

Larry Hagman as J.R. Ewing (Photo: larryhagman.com)

Larry Hagman, who played J.R. Ewing in the popular CBS series "Dallas," told Tagesspiegel that while both Bush and J.R. came from the Texas oil industry, the president was not smart enough to be like J.R.

"J.R. was so smart he always found a way to win without violence ... he ruined his enemies financially or socially," said Hagman, according to an Agence France-Presse report.

The former actor, who also played an astronaut in the 1960s TV series "I Dream of Jeannie," called Bush a "sad figure: not too well educated, who doesn't get out of America much. He's leading the country towards fascism."

The German paper asked whether Bush would appreciate the accusation.

"It's all the same to me, he wouldn't understand the word fascism anyway," said Hagman, 71, who was in Germany to promote his autobiography.

Another American actor in Berlin recently, Richard Gere, also spoke out in strong opposition to Bush's policy toward Iraq. Gere, who was attending the city's film festival, said the administration's "plans for war are a bizarre bad dream."

According to a report at Ananova.com, several Hollywood celebrities were "eager to tout their anti-war sentiments" at the festival.

Meanwhile, Martin Sheen has cut a TV commercial in which he implores: "Don't invade Iraq. Inspections work; war won't."

The ad is set to begin a one-week run today – initially on CNN, MSNBC and CNN Headline News, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

An effort bankrolled by the groups Win Without War and MoveOn.org, the ad was unveiled at a West Hollywood hotel Wednesday, where Sheen was accompanied by many of his "West Wing" co-stars and Anjelica Huston, Janeane Garofalo and Mike Farrell.

The Sheen commercial advertises what Win Without War is calling a "virtual march on Washington." Scheduled for Wednesday, the virtual march asks Americans to use e-mail, fax machines and telephones to get their antiwar messages to legislators that day. A visit to www.MoveOn.org makes the task easier.