c-span: who was walter pidgeon? >> guest: walter pidgeon was an actor who was very, very successful. maybe many of our watchers remember him. but very successful in the '40s, '50s, '60s. and he was important in this story because when wasserman wanted to go into the tv production business, he was already -- mca was the most powerful agency, by far. they represented, oh, just 80 percent of the big stars. you name them -- bette davis, joan crawford, jimmy stewart, clark gable, on and on. he wanted to go into the tv production business, as well, and he saw -- while the studio heads were afraid of television because they felt that it was just going to threaten their business, wasserman saw that it was an opportunity. but he needed a waiver from the screen actors guild in order to be able to be both a producer and a talent agent. reagan was the president of the screen actors guild at that time, and walter pidgeon was on the board. and there was a critical meeting where the issue came up of whether this waiver would be gi