Release: MARCH 15, 2024
Last week’s Academy Awards ceremony was our annual peek behind the screen at those involved with and excelling in the film industry. Winning the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor was Robert Downey Jr. He won for Oppenheimer – a film about the atomic bomb – arguably the greatest simultaneous success and disaster in the history of mankind.
For Downey, the recognition might be something of a metaphor for his life. He is one of the most successful and acclaimed actors in Hollywood. Yet, not that long ago, he was, himself, a “disaster.” He suffered from drug and alcohol addictions so severe it resulted in multiple arrests for cocaine, crack, heroin, and handgun possession. He went to rehab several times and even spent a year in prison. He finally overcame his addictions and again climbed to the top. Either way, his was a path unlikely to lead to appearing on a commemorative postage stamp.
Such issues aren’t exclusive to Hollywood. Others in the public eye often succumb – including politicians. It’s no secret Ulysses S. Grant was a heavy drinker. So too were early founding father presidents George Washington, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson. Wine and ale were their beverages of choice. Many more including James Buchanan, Franklin Pierce, Martin Van Buren, Chester Arthur and, more recently Richard Nixon, were said to be “functioning alcoholics.”....