COMMUNITY PROFILES CHRISTOPHER ALLPORT One-man show has audience in midst of a wartime tale
By KRISTIN MAYER Special to the Daily Press
Marines stood at attention and saluted Christopher Allport when they saw him enter the officers’ club at El Toro Marine Corps Air Station. Curious about the unfamiliar face with the look of an officer, the soldiers asked Allport which company he was from.
Allport, a 30-year Santa Monica resident, was acting the part of Capt. Curtis on the set of “The Invaders from Mars.”
“I needed to go out and see if I could convince these guys I was the real deal,” Allport said. “I told them I was part of SAG, so they relaxed.”
Allport, 59, is often cast for his “good soldier” look, recently playing Secretary of State Francis in three episodes of the ABC drama “Commander in Chief” opposite Geena Davis.
All told, Allport has made more than 100 guest starring appearances on shows including “ER,” “The X-Files” and “Felicity.” His movie portfolio includes “Shark,”“To Live and Die in L.A.” and the “Jack Frost” movies.
While Allport has assumed numerous military roles on the stage and television screen, his decision to evade the Vietnam War draft via hitchhiking left him without any actual combat experience.
Allport recounts his open road draft evasion in “Backroad Home,” a one-man show that opened at Santa Monica’s Ruskin Group Theatre on Sunday night.
The play and accompanying music, written and performed by Allport, will run every fourth Sunday of the month indefinitely, except for February 25, when he expects his audience will watch the Academy Awards.
“Each of us has a story,” said Susan Hayden, Allport’s wife and co-producer of “Backroad Home.” “It took a long time to figure out what that story was.”
Allport’s story surfaced in the 10 years since the death of his father, who earned a Purple Heart in World War II, where he was one of the last prisoners of war captured in Germany.
Allport’s father divorced his mother and disappeared from Allport’s life at a young age.
“He wasn’t really a presence,” Allport said. “He was a question. Where was Dad? Why did he leave?”
It has taken Allport several years to understand that what his father saw in the war deeply affected his detachment from the family.
“I began to think about how his youth had been affected by the war and then how my youth had been affected by our own war — Vietnam,” Allport said.
The result is a deeply emotional story that will evolve from one month’s performance to the next as Allport delves deeper into his experiences, his wife said.
“This is the most personal piece he’s ever
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on January 29, 2007. Read the original PDF.