male announcer: this program was made possible in part by retirement starts with a financial plan. information at athene.com; the thomas and dorothy leavey foundation; the sullivan foundation; the richard and maude ferry foundation; the thomas healy hambric foundation dedicated to supporting and educating children who best learn outside the classroom. additional support provided by-- john o'groats restaurant serving west los angeles for over 40 years. ♪♪♪ steve allen: thank you, fellas. right now, we're going to meet a most extraordinary clergyman who

has succeeded in combining his roles as religious leader with his abilities as a very creative television producer. welcome father ellwood kieser. bob newhart: i always called him bud. how did he get the name ellwood? ♪♪♪ narrator: when father ellwood "bud" kieser arrived in los angeles for his first assignment as a catholic priest, it was still the golden age of hollywood. ellwood "bud" kieser: the normal parish priest, he has his parishioners. well, my parishioners were the people in show business. marion ross: huge big man. big white hair, handsome, huge, and lovely. narrator: little did father bud realize that he was starting an adventure in which he would produce an emmy award-winning show featuring the biggest celebrities-- martin sheen: it wasn't like any of the other television shows. it was a moral theme but it was non-denominational. narrator: --create one of the most prestigious

awards in hollywood-- bud: and we run the humanitas prize and we challenge people to love in this industry and they responded. narrator: --bring national attention to famine in africa-- john amos: he was a life-saver in a lot of respects. narrator: --and begin a friendship that would make him question everything. rose pacate: and that's what happened to father bud. he fell in love with a nun. ♪♪♪ bud: how do you do? i'm father kieser. you achieve your destiny in the next world only by doing the will of god in this one. but how, and at what price? these are the questions the hero of today's drama must wrestle with. eric andrews: if you were a catholic in the 1960s who was working in the entertainment business out in l.a., you'd probably find yourself at st. paul the apostle church in westwood. in the pews, you'd see people like bob newhart, jerry lewis, jane wyman, brian keith, ricardo montalban, carroll o'connor.

people loved to go to mass at st. paul's because they could see all their favorite celebrities in the pews next to them. bob: everybody knew father kieser. it was almost the way you pictured in movies the voice of god. tim matheson: the thing that was special about father bud kieser, he didn't judge you whether we were religious or jewish or catholic or protestant or whatever, we were all accepted. bud: to use pope pius xi's expression, we are spiritual semites. christian and jew, god love and keep you all. narrator: while he was not wearing a red cape, he quickly gained the nickname superpriest. terry sweeney: what is it, the dodge ram truck that goes, you know, over the terrain, up the terrain and down the hills and everything. bud was a dodge ram truck at full drive. bob: he approached me if i wouldn't mind doing a show in orange county. at that time we had a thunderbird.

bud kieser said, "would you mind if i drove it?" you realized that he was in a state of grace by the way he drove. it was one of the most terrifying car trips i've ever taken in my life. eric: father bud was intense as a young priest. some people said he was the superpriest. he'd spend an hour in prayer, then he would say the morning mass, go to the hospital. he was all over the place. it was wearying just to think about all the things that he was doing. narrator: soon after arriving in los angeles, father bud started an adult education class to teach catholics and non-catholics more about the faith. male: most of the people who attend inquiry classes are not catholics. still others have no faith, want no faith, but are very curious about those who do. male: how about suffering and accidents and wars, father? why does god allow them? female: father, does everybody go to hell but you catholics?

male: well, what about the renaissance, father? you'll have to admit some of those popes were swingers. narrator: it turned out that father bud's teaching was as good as his preaching. so much so that his inquiry class attracted hundreds of people from all over the los angeles area. one of the people taking the class was the producer joe connelly, who thought that bud's lectures might also work on tv. ed begley: joe connelly is a big name in television. joe connelly was one of those great producers and writers who did "leave it to beaver" and "the munsters." he was a legend in television. john geaney: and these guys in this parish who are so well versed in being producers, camera people, all kinds of stuff like that, stars, they said, "you can do a better job. we can do a better job with this. we can teach the same thing in their living room." how do you get to their living room? television. narrator: when broadcast television first started in the 1940s, it was understood that the airwaves were owned by the people so when the federal government allowed stations to

broadcast across those airwaves, it essentially told the broadcasters, "yes, you can make money from programming but you have to set aside some pray time every week for the public good." terry: people who had very serious concerns they wanted to communicate to the community could do so, whether those concerns were religious, whether they were educational. so bud kieser was able, through that ruling, to have programming put on stations as part of their public access responsibilities. narrator: but before he moved forward, father bud wanted to get the script of his first televised lecture approved by the head of the catholic church in los angeles, cardinal james mcintyre. rose: cardinal mcintyre was a good man but he was a finance guy. he didn't understand art and there was this huge gap, i think, between where the cardinal was and how father bud saw what was going on among the people in the pew. narrator: cardinal mcintyre did turn the script down.

father kieser, barely able to contain his disgust and anger, politely thanked the cardinal and left the room. rose: and so he just decided not to submit them anymore. narrator: in 1960, a very nervous father bud entered a studio and filmed the very first episode of the new television program, "insight." bud: how do you do? my name is father kieser. in a far corner of the universe there's a very remarkable planet. the planet, of course, is earth; the inhabitants, the human race. today we're going to discuss the purpose of that race. our title: "a reason to live and a reason to die." narrator: more episodes were filmed and distributed throughout southern california. with the help of the television producers in his parish, father bud used each half-hour to preach on diverse, if non-traditional, topics. bud: why? why am i alive? where did i come from? where am i going?

what is the meaning and purpose of this life of mine? bud: whether or not to marry? when to marry? who to marry? bud: some things are worth suffering for. the moral health of the community is one of these. john: bud did very well with "insight." good times for bud would seem to be noontime on a sunday. eric: but he wanted more. he was always ambitious for more. narrator: and that "something more" was a slot on prime time television. narrator: growing up in philadelphia in the 1940s, young ellwood kieser was among the millions of americans who tuned in regularly to hear bishop fulton sheen on the radio, and then later on television. fulton sheen: so the mother turned me on for the four-year-old becky. she said, "i want to see that man that uses the chalk and blackboard and tells funny stories." what do you think i was talking about that night? melancholy and sadness.

becky, forgive me. martin: he was spellbinding. for a half-hour, he held the country in his grasp with humor and theology and politics. fulton: scripture says that the young men dream dreams, the young look forward. those that start with this principle are concerned with values, with goals, with destinies and why we're living. narrator: but one night, as he finished his bedtime prayers, bud experienced what he later described as a quiet but deep realization as to why he was living. fulton: and the way to be happy is to know truth and to seek a life that is enduring and eternal. in other words, i am made for god. narrator: a few weeks later, bud confessed to his parents that he might have a calling to the priesthood. his mother, who was catholic, was supportive but skeptical of the idea. his father who was raised a lutheran did not quite understand.

john: the church was a very closed system at that time, was saying, "if you're not a catholic, salvation's not happening for you." terry: the language of the mass was in latin. catholicism was still an inward religion, not engaging in the world. martin: well, you know, the church was very conservative, but loving and compassionate. it was about community, it was about doing the right thing, you know? narrator: while he loved the compassionate side of the church, bud was not sure that doing the right thing meant becoming a catholic priest who was not permitted to marry. concerned about the loneliness of religious life, bud tried to push the idea of priesthood out of his head. he went on dates to the local dances. after school, he worked extra hours at his father's gas station. there he learned the important skill of upselling customers. lee purcell: he could sell anything to anybody. he was good.

telling ya, he would have been a great used-car salesman. narrator: and like other youth, bud was inspired by the heroism of soldiers fighting overseas in world war ii, with a special place set aside for his hero, general george patton. ronald reagan: an order of the day from patton to his men: "remember that we, as attackers, have the initiative. we must retain this tremendous advantage by always attacking, rapidly, ruthlessly, viciously, without rest. keep punching. god is with us." john sacret young: so bud was a guy that, in many ways, was a general, and the general laid down the rules in a way that, i think, that these days you would have issues with. narrator: but along the way, a new spiritual writer whose books presented a more expanded vision of god began to grab bud's attention: a catholic monk named thomas merton. thomas merton: the thing that we have to face is that life is this simple: that god manifests himself everywhere,

in everything, in people and in things and in nature. you cannot be without god. frank desiderio: what made thomas merton such a powerful writer and spiritual director is he was honest about who he was. john: thomas merton in some way touched bud in a transformative way. i think led him partly out of his childhood set of beliefs, crossing into the man he became. narrator: inspired by bishop fulton sheen's preaching, thomas merton's thoughtfulness, and general george patton's drive to conquer the next hill, bud kieser joined the paulist fathers in 1950 after graduating from la salle university in philadelphia. eric: in the catholic church there are many religious communities of men and women. for instance, the franciscans work a lot with the poor, the jesuits are focused on education, and the paulist fathers really wanna make sure that the word of god gets out to as many people as possible,

especially people who aren't in the church. male: you know, sometimes i think you fellas are more interested in us non-catholics than you are the catholics. male: well, some priests spend most of their time serving those inside the church. i'm a paulist. i spend most of my time serving those outside. narrator: bud's superiors commented during his theological training that, while he was intelligent, bud tended to rely on his head more than his heart. john: i mean, he loved dialogue. it could be about catholicism or faith or what you believe in, about world events, or it could be about what you're reading. narrator: so just as father bud's work in television was beginning in the 1960s, the catholic church as a whole was beginning to more fully embrace that expanded vision of god. and ellwood kieser would make sure that he would be in rome to witness it. male: the vatican ecumenical council, the greatest assembly of roman catholic prelates in history has 3000 high roman catholic dignitaries attending,

as well as a score of observers from protestant faiths. this is the first ecumenical council in 92 years and only the 2nd in 400 years. narrator: in the 2000-year history of the catholic church, there had only been 20 ecumenical councils. the 2nd vatican council would be the 21st, and it was shaping up to be one of the biggest. father bud, wanting to be a part of the action, was able to fly out to rome as a correspondent for "variety" magazine. john geaney: it was an exciting time to recognize that changes were taking place and they were all the kind of changes that he wanted to see, that we all wanted to see. christine avila: the big one, to me, was that the language of the mass would be in the vernacular of the people. nothing wrong with latin, but if you hear the words in your own language, my goodness, what a big difference. catherine hicks: vatican ii allowed the incorporation of societal happenings to come in to the liturgy, so the social justice permeated our masses. john: we're talking to the jewish people and they are a

part of this second vatican council and we think, "well, of course." no, not "of course." this was really new. we've got to talk to the muslim people. we are saying that they, too, may be saved. oh my goodness gracious me. narrator: father bud, whose own father was of a different christian denomination, could not be more excited about this expression of openness towards other faith traditions. bud: what is it which makes us one with other men? nationality? similar education? the same color skin? what is the common bond? i think all men are brothers, simply and solely because they're human beings, made in the image and likeness of god. narrator: as father bud toured rome, he began to reflect on how the changes in the church could be reflected in his television ministry back in los angeles. john sacret young: and i think it was a series of steps that led bud not only to wanna be in "show business," if you will, but also sort of finding what that meant to him.

narrator: one of the many people father bud saw in rome was bishop fulton sheen. every night, walking back to his hotel, bud would see his childhood hero dining alone with a sad look on his face. eric: father bud saw bishop sheen, how his fame and his priesthood really got him isolated, and father bud really didn't want that for himself. narrator: as he boarded his plane to head back to los angeles, bud could not help but wonder what bishop sheen's path meant for his own creeping sense of solitude. ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ male: what was it like to play god? bob: well, i didn't really have to adjust that much. [laughing] narrator: inspired by the vatican ii documents that asked the church to be more relevant in the modern era,

father bud threw himself into the new format of "insight." dramas. male: "insight," exploring the meaning of human life. male: you started out, though, doing a program on religion that was not at all theater or drama. bud: i lectured for 28 minutes. it was terrible television. narrator: "insight," however, was going to be something new, an anthology series like "the twilight zone." but instead of different science fiction stories each week, each episode would focus on spirituality in the modern world. vin di bona: this became the cadillac of religious programs. it was entertaining, yet it was spiritual. martin: he didn't beat people over the head with how they should react or how they ought to feel. male: watch "insight." vin: bud figured out that there was a timeframe when the studio, it went in hiatus, except that they had all their crew and their camera people 365 days a year.

and so bud said, "you're paying 'em, let's do shows." he captured all his free time. narrator: and because television stations were required to give part of their airtime away for free, father bud was able to distribute "insight" across the country. eric: bud was a force to be reckoned with. he knew how to twist arms, he knew how to ask for things he had no business asking for. people were afraid when they saw his name on their call sheets in hollywood every day. tom fontana: panic. i immediately panicked when i saw father kieser's name on the phone sheet. there was no opportunity for me to make excuses. vin: he was a force. when he walked into the room, he would sometimes suck the air out of the room. jim mcginn: well, he was a big guy, 6'6, a deep voice. so if he got mad, you know, that's somebody formidable coming at you.

john: bud would use that height to sort of lean over you until you sort of cowered a little bit behind-- underneath the authority. bud: family, like every other human community, requires authority. somebody has to concern themself with the common good and see that everybody's interests are protected. in most families, this authority is the father. terry: if you have a director who is later the president of director skills of america and then you have a producer, in this instance, bud kieser, standing over this director's shoulder, telling him which camera to go to and which take worked better than the other, a lot of directors do not appreciate that level of critique. narrator: and not only did father bud approach the actors that went to his parish to perform on "insight," he also solicited the top talent in town, regardless of their faith tradition. frank: he was seen as kind of a holy man in the entertainment industry and so he was able to get people to make sacrifices

because they weren't doing it for bud; they were doing it for god. ed asner: hello, it's god. john amos: now, ed asner had forewarned me and i said, "i got a call from a guy named father bud kieser," so "he's got you. he's got you. did you talk to him?" i said, "a little bit." he says, "he got the hook in, didn't he?" i said, "yeah, he got the hook in." lee: i got a call, "hey, do you wanna do this show for this priest?" i'm like, "wait a minute," ha, ha, ha. what? how can you say no to a priest who does television? bob: and he--he never said it in so many words, but you kind of knew if you didn't, you were going to hell. tom: because if i did dare to say no to him, he would say, "i'll pray--i'll pray for you." i couldn't very well go to god and say, "please, get me out of this," right? bud: by and large, people in the entertainment industry are loving people.

and if they're not, we kick 'em in the fanny and tell 'em to get busy. bob: 'cause you knew if you were gonna do an "insight" then you were gonna get quality of a director and quality writing and quality of a cast. jack klugman: you're it? bob: i don't get you. [laughing] bob: what's so funny? jack: why, i pictured gates, big golden gates, a guy in a gown with a trumpet. instead, i got a little room, a desk, a couple of chairs, and you. rue mcclanahan: great, you let him get you up here? lee: is that what you think? do you really think you are that irresistible? rue: it did occur to me. lee: the fact that you had been approached by father kieser to do an episode of "insight," it was recognition that you were talented. there was no shame in working for practically nothing and usually nothing because you gave the check back. tim: he would actually give you the check when you finished the show and shake your hand with his right hand and he would

not let go of either one until you did. marion: we'd had a lovely chat. ed begley: well, thank you, father, i'm kind of--money's a little tight right now, i can't-- marion: i kept that check. ed asner: why did you come back? tim: because i thought living here again, we might be able to talk. ed: we talked all the time. what do you mean, "talk"? tim: yeah, dad, but it was a one-way conversation. tim: the thing about "insight," too, was it offered us a chance to play these roles that we would not normally play. bud: and that means you come up with a very creative script, that they can't do on commercial television, so the directors wanna do it and the actors wanna do it. and many actors have said we've given 'em the best parts they've ever had in their lives. marion: and it was an honor to be in one of those shows. those were good scripts, good, excellent scripts. i mean, this isn't cheap stuff. robert lansing: are you in a condition to talk? ally's pregnant. marion: oh, roger, i don't find that funny.

you just keep your dirty jokes for your friends. robert: it's not a joke, for god's sake. can you get that through your alcoholic haze? your daughter is pregnant, lady. male: stay where you are! you clowns are under arrest. martin: that was always a welcome relief over all the other stuff you had to do on television back in the '60s, '70s, '80s, and the whole time i played where you had to rob somebody or kill somebody or do something awful. tim: bud kieser would just give you the benefit of the doubt and encourage you to stretch and to grow. tim: and some of them won't accept me, and they'll turn away as if i didn't exist. but unless i go, there'll be no healing or fulfillment for them ever. tim: going from jesus to playing eric stratton, otter, in "animal house." tim: we've gotta do something. male: absolutely. tim: you know what we gotta do? both: toga party. tim: it's the same guy. you know, i mean--

bud: what is the purpose of the church? to acquire money and influence and power? or to serve god by serving people? and whom does the church serve? just its own members like an exclusive club? or all men, especially those most in need? rose: the country was really on the brink of a--i don't wanna say a revolution, but a brink of great change, that also influenced the scripts that he produced. we were gearing up for the vietnam war. male: you wanna tell us now while--why you think it was not a criminal act to burn those draft records? carl betz: 'cause the war is immoral. i felt obligated by conscience to try to stop it. i think all war is obscene and irrational. gene hackman: what of the other presidents, four in all, who have committed us to vietnam in the belief that the future of asia, the united states, and indeed the world, depends upon our stopping aggression there? don't you think they are all following their conscience? carl: if they are, i believe their consciences are wrong.

gene: isn't that presumptuous of you, father? rose: there were civil rights, in particular the civil rights movement, that awareness of social justice. james mceachin: i beg your pardon, but is this the ashgrove neighborhood council? harvey korman: father mccarthy says you wanna buy a house over on spruce street? james: yes, i'm thinking about it, very seriously. harvey: i don't know what you want from us. the bank wants to sell, you got the money, so you got a house. ron masak: ah well, it just seems the more burning and looting goes on, the faster you guys move out, that's all. james: i'm worn out. so if moving into this neighborhood means more trouble for me and my family, then i'm not buying the house. bud: this is an exciting time to be alive, but it's also a painful one, for our civilization is changing very rapidly. so rapidly, in fact, that sometimes we're left frightened and confused by it all. narrator: one of the people particularly frightened by all of the change going on in the '60s was the head of the

catholic church in los angeles, cardinal mcintyre. rose: cardinal mcintyre was extremely resistant to the changes of vatican ii. if you look at cardinal mcintyre's voting record at the vatican council, he never voted yes on anything. narrator: cardinal mcintyre called father bud to complain about the content of an "insight" episode, objecting to what he considered to be graphic language. vera miles: the day i got to call it "high life" i was in very good form indeed. don't you think so, jimmy? jeffrey hunter: except there's some people who think that "high life" is not an appropriate name for the magazine. i quote: "'low life' would be a more appropriate name for a magazine that specializes in dirty pictures and dirty stories," unquote. narrator: bud defended the episode, saying that it was meant to be a frank look at the adult industry and the misguided values it tries to advance. in order to make the point, the script could not be sugarcoated.

vera: we simply appeal to the basic insecurity of a male ego. by telling him what he wants to hear about women, we instill in him a willingness to believe whatever we tell him. and to buy whatever we sell. narrator: nonetheless, the cardinal responded. he wanted it taken off the air. father bud agreed that he would not broadcast it again, in los angeles. he had no intention of removing it from syndication nationwide. before hanging up the phone, the cardinal remarked that he was not sure vera miles was the right actress for the lead role. it was an odd comment, considering vera miles had become one of father bud's regular performers. in one show in particular, vera miles played the lead written by someone to whom father bud was becoming very close. ♪♪♪ rose: he was working on an "insight" and he needed a writer for a specific episode.

so father bud arranged a lunch at a convent and the sister said that they had this other nun that they'd like to invite, sister genevieve. narrator: sister genevieve ended up writing the outline of an "insight" episode about a nun who struggles with her vocation. vera: i have been teaching at one of our schools. i've been teaching drama. i found i had a flare for it. mother superior asked me to come to the university to get my master's in drama so i could teach at one of our colleges. rose: you know, we come to a certain point in our lives that maybe we reassess our vocational choice and that's what happened to father bud. he fell in love with a nun. jim: she was exceedingly bright, so they had extraordinary conversations. they could sit and talk for three hours. terry: typically, he was not an emotional person, kept most of his emotions inwards and rarely cried. i mean, i don't think he even cried at his own dad's funeral. jim: there was nobody else in his life that he could be

that sharing with, that open, that intimate, in a conversational way. narrator: genevieve was able to challenge bud in ways that no one else could. she challenged him on how he ignored his emotions in favor of his own intellect, and she challenged him on the all-consuming focus of ministry. bud: he had only one concern: his work. he lives for it. he takes tremendous satisfaction from its accomplishment. kathleen wright: so it wasn't that it started out as a romance. it started out as a friendship, as companionship. genevieve understood him better than he probably understood himself. vera: he said he was lonely. his whole life has been a search for some reality beyond him. narrator: as their friendship grew, so did their feelings for each other. for someone who had written off that side of his life when he joined the priesthood, sister genevieve was a welcome, if not confusing, addition. but for the time being, father bud kieser decided that he would be able to have his cake and eat it too.

john sacret young: is an emotional affair the equivalent of a literal affair? and is an emotional affair in some ways maybe even more divisive? i don't know. john amos: father bud kieser, he always knew when he was gonna appear on television. we were about to do one talk show and before we went to the studio, he said, "wait a minute, i gotta get my shoes." i said, "what shoes?" so he went to the car, he came back with a pair of shoes that had very distinct and obvious holes in the bottom of the soles. and i said, "what are they for?" he said, "so when i cross my legs and i put 'em up to the camera, they can see the holes in my shoes. they'll be more inclined to give us money." john geaney: bud had the wisdom and the knowledge to recognize that he could do "insight." but those were just short, small points. what could he do to influence hollywood,