Michael Douglas, at UN, says stars can illuminate plight of those less fortunate

Oscar-winning film star Michael Douglas, visiting United Nations Headquarters in New York today to meet with officials and shoot a public service message on disarmament in his role as Messenger of Peace, said that celebrities can serve an important purpose by highlighting issues critical to the organization.

“We’re all entitled to help people less fortunate than we are,” a bearded Mr. Douglas told a beaming assembly of UN tour guides, adding that the entertainment business provides a particularly good stage for creating awareness of world problems.

Government officials in many countries, he said, will meet with film stars, thinking of them as “a breath of fresh air,” and he has been recognized in the far corners of the earth: “To have that kind of awareness, it’s nice to be able to do something with it.”

As an example, Mr. Douglas pointed out that, as he had a movie coming out today – The Sentinel – he would be making the rounds of talk shows. “Rather than simply talking only about movies, I can slide in talk about disarmament and nuclear weapons, which many people interested in entertainment would not normally listen to, but are forced to [hear about].”

Mr. Douglas was appointed Messenger of Peace by Secretary-General Kofi Annan in 1998, joining a distinguished group that currently numbers nine and includes former champion boxer Muhammad Ali of the United States, former international tennis star Vijay Amritraj of India, Italian-born opera star Luciano Pavarotti and conservationist and anthropologist Jane Goodall of the United Kingdom. Each Messenger has a particular area of specialization.

Mr. Douglas said his interest in disarmament stemmed from his youth during the Cold War, when the spectre of nuclear holocaust constantly threatened, as well as his experience in producing The China Syndrome, a movie about the meltdown of a nuclear power plant which came out 10 days before the Three Mile Island nuclear accident in Pennsylvania.

Other epiphanies occurred when he found out that the town in Belarus from which his father’s family emigrated had been erased because of its proximity to the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, and when John Lennon was shot in New York. He soon found his way to the UN.

“The United Nations to me has the best opportunity and, as flawed as it might be in certain areas, is still the best organization possible for universal dialogue,” he said.

The UN guides, who hail from dozens of countries, thanked Mr. Douglas for his work before posing for a group photo with him. One guide from Albania said the actor’s work in small arms destruction is extremely appreciated by people there, and another, from Japan, asked if he had any suggestions for them in responding to tourists, inspired by their visit to the UN, who ask how they could help the Organization’s work.

Mr. Douglas replied that the United Nations Associations that existed in many countries were the best place to start.