Reg E Cathey from cult American TV series 'The Wire'

Reg E Cathey is best known in the UK for his role as Norman Wilson, deputy mayor, in the cult American TV series, the Wire.  People who have seen him in the leading role of Red in the stage version of the Shawshank Redemption playing at the Wyndham’s Theatre until 29th November 2009 will recognise him as a very fine stage actor too.  This is hardly surprising as Reg has a string of credits in theatre, TV and film ranging from Law and Order, Oz, Star Trek - the Next Generation to the Taming of the Shrew, Hamlet and Macbeth.  Reg is an accomplished saxophonist and says that had he not been an actor he would like to have been a great jazz musician.



Among his many other talents, Reg is a great story teller and being a dog lover too, he was not short of tales for the London Dog Forum.

REG:  I’ve got a great story about herding dogs on the Navaho reservation.  They’ve traditionally used herding dogs for hundreds of years.

LDF:  Who?  The American Indians?

REG:  Yeah!  That name is a mistake, you know.

LDF:  What do you mean?

REG:  It was the mistake of Columbus.  When he turned up in America, he didn’t know where he was!  He thought he was in India.

LDF:  Should I say Native Americans?

REG:  Yeah, although that could really be applied to all Americans.  In Canada they say ‘First citizens’ which is probably the best name.  You know, people have this idea that they rode around on horseback all the time but it’s not true.  To most tribes, getting on the back of an animal would be unthinkable. 

LDF:  They would think it demeaning to the animal?

REG:  Well, yeah!  But demeaning to themselves too.  They wouldn’t trust them.  They don’t trust anyone who can count over five!  The Navaho Indians were a fierce nomadic tribe.  Navaho means ‘us’.  Us, as in first citizens.  Us and them. I was in Tuba City, Arizona teaching drama to kids on the Navaho reservation. The kids would write their own plays and we’d get actors to perform them to the public.  They had two Australian blue-tipped cattle dogs there - Davey Crockett and Popcorn.  When you’ve just got sheep, a gentle dog will do, but when you’ve got cattle, you need something a lot tougher.  These dogs would herd both.  They were amazing.  One evening the adults were having a barbeque taking time out from the kids.  This was when the dogs were most comfortable they would sit around on the edge of the social circle kind of aloof but relaxed.   And when the humans started throwing a ball to each other and catching it, the dogs accepted it as just something that humans do.  In their little doggy minds they saw this thing, this object, flying from one human to another and thought, ‘well, that’s fine’  but they ran around just making sure that the ball stayed in play and didn’t try and escape.  Then a little girl, Bejeba, ran unnoticed into the street.  Immediately the dogs ran after her.  Davey Crockett, the alpha dog, kept running in tight circles around her, snapping at her all the time, while the other dog, Popcorn, ran a much wider circle, as if to say ‘well, Davey Crockett’s taking care of the little human person, so I’ll just take the wider angle to make sure nothing else happens meantime.’  At first Bejeba thought the dogs were playing and tried to join in but the dogs didn’t give up until they had brought her safely home.  They were incredible.  Amongst these humans the dogs had their roles.

There was a brief pause.

REG:  I went to a Pit Bull Fight once.  But you don’t want to hear about that.

LDF:  Yes.  Yes, I do.
 
I don’t believe that we should gloss over subjects just because we disapprove.  Besides I had a feeling that Reg would had something interesting to say about Pit Bulls.

REG:  It was insane and crazy.  I couldn’t stand it.  I walked out after a few minutes.  Crazy!  You know, they even had concessions?

Now I’m immediately thinking ‘...they let OAP’s in for half price?’  But I had a feeling that was not what Reg was getting at.

LDF:  What do you mean by concessions, Reg?

REG:  Hot Dog stands...little pet shops selling collars, toys and rubber tyres for dogs to chew on.

LDF:  Oh!  Where was this?

REG:  Alabama.

LDF:  Is it legal there?

REG:  Hell no!  I only went because my friend wanted to show me what it was all about.  He had Pit Bulls but they were for hunting wild boar.  That’s why Pit Bulls were originally bred.  Those guys involved with fighting hate dogs.  They’re only in it for the money.  They have to teach the Pit Bull to kill.  They train them to fight by hanging a heavy bar from a tree and goad them into grabbing it and hanging on to it.  They train them to kill by giving them the runts of a litter or a weak or an old dog. 

LDF:  So Pit Bulls aren’t natural killers?

REG:  No.  They’re great dogs.  When you see them go after wild boar they are so intelligent and brave.  They have no fear.   It is absolutely necessary to hunt the boar otherwise the pig population would get out of control.  The dogs are quite small but they go for that huge pig with the great tusks and they hold him down.  They won’t give in and they just hold him down until the human comes.  They have to get the pigs or they would ruin everything and ... (Reg chuckled) they’re very tasty! I’ve only been hunting once. 

LDF:  Are you saying that these dogs are friendly?

REG:  Oh yeah!

LDF:  And they get on with other dogs?

REG: Yeah! Unless one of the bitches is on heat then you’ve got to keep everybody separate. They don’t like children though.  The theory is that a baby’s cry is very much like the sound of a boar and they hear it and think they have to rush in.
 
LDF:  Did you ever have dogs?



REG:  I was brought up with German Shepherds.  My Mum worked in the DOD (Department of Defence), she had the rank of colonel and my father was in the army, so we lived at army bases all over the world.  German shepherds were the dog of choice.  They were at the bases anyway.

LDF:  Working dogs?

REG:  Yep.  And when they had a litter, we would have a choice of the pups.  That way the pups would get to see their mom too. 

LDF:  Is that the breed you would choose now, if you were in a position to have another dog?

REG:  My girlfriend, Lydia, wants a Vizla.  Hey!  Are they hounds?  I mean, aren’t they always barking and howling?

LDF:  I don’t know.  I’d imagine they are like gun dogs.

I reached for 'Dr Bruce Fogle’s Encyclopedia of Dogs' knowing it to be reliably informative and, as I am working through the pages, Reg stopped me and pointed to a black Labrador.

REG:  Hey!  You know what those dogs used to be called in America?

LDF: No.

REG:  Doctor dogs!  It was around the time of the Salem witches.  If someone got sick the family and friends would dig two graves outside the house, a 'live' grave and a 'dead' one.  Then they would take the Doctor dog into the house to see the sick person. Afterwards they would lead the dog outside and if he went to the 'live' grave, they knew the sick person would live but if he went to the 'dead' grave then that person was a gonna!  I guess the dog had a 50% chance of getting it right!

Reg gave that familiar hearty chuckle that peppered so much of our conversation.

LDF:  Well, thanks Reg. I really do appreciate you talking to London Dog Forum.

REG:  No.  Thank you.  It is my pleasure.

Not only is Reg E Cathey an outstanding actor but he is also a lovely man.  His presence in London’s West End will be sorely missed when he returns to New York next week.

 

Berkeley, resident of London Dog Forum, thought he was pretty tasty too!