‘Reagan’ actor who immigrated from Soviet Union says ‘atmosphere’ in US changed after he became president
One “Reagan” feature film actor, a Soviet-era immigrant, said he thought he might have made a mistake coming to the U.S. before President Ronald Reagan took office, citing concerns about the state of the nation and the world.
Elya Baskin, who plays B.E. Kertchman in the top-rated feature film, joined “America’s Newsroom” to discuss the significance of the movie and why its meaning is personal to him as an immigrant who escaped authoritarian rule.
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“I came here almost half a century ago, and I thought I came to paradise,” Baskin told Griff Jenkins on Friday. “And then… Gerald Ford was the president. And then there were four years under President Carter, and that was four very different years… The Shah of Iran was betrayed by Carter and got Khomeini instead, the hostage situation, and he started treating Israel like an enemy… and inflation was huge. I remember it was like 10, 12% inflation.”
“Every time you go to the store, it’s more and more expensive, and I thought maybe I did the wrong thing that I came here,” he continued. “I was dreaming about. And all of a sudden… what’s happening? And then came Reagan, and the whole atmosphere in the country changed. And… you understood that things will be better and life will be much better, and it became much better and… that’s how I feel now.”
(Original Caption) Washington: President Reagan joins Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger (R), and others as they laugh at a remark made by Vice president George Bush, (L), prior to a Cabinet meeting 11/13. This is the first Cabinet meeting since President Reagan’s reelection. (Getty)
“Reagan,” the first full-length feature chronicling the life of former President Ronald Reagan, topped Amazon’s Best Sellers list after becoming available on Blu-ray, DVD and Digital earlier this month.
The film, which stars Dennis Quaid as the 40th president, was released on Blu-ray on November 19 and immediately rose to the top of Amazon’s Best Sellers in Blu-ray charts over the weekend.
“Reagan” outperformed box office expectations in its opening weekend in September, taking the third spot behind “Deadpool & Wolverine” and “Alien: Romulus.” It also has a 98% score on Rotten Tomatoes.
Baskin, who penned an op-ed with Fox News last year, argued “discredited Marxist ideology” has infiltrated the lives of Americans. He considered his role in “Reagan” to be a warning against Marxist rule.
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“The young Reagan met Kertchman, who was a real character and who actually told him that everything that he reads in the newspapers is not really true, because Stalin was a great manipulator with the public opinion,” Baskin said. “He invited a lot of celebrity authors to Russia and treated them like they were kings. He showed them how wonderful life is under the socialist… paradise and… at the same time, people were suffering.”
“They were hungry… There were people arrested for saying things that the government wouldn’t approve. It was [a] terrible time,” he continued.
“I was very surprised when after a few years living here that to say ‘I love America’ in America could get [you] in trouble.”
Baskin argued that Stalin used fear and manipulation to remain in control, which is why he wined and dined Western writers in the Soviet Union to disseminate a deceitful message to the rest of the world.
“Of course, these naive distinguished westerners had no clue about how ordinary people lived. Stalin had shown them only the artfully staged parts of life in the USSR and had permitted them to interact only with specially trained staff,” he wrote in the op-ed. “While in Moscow, they were closely watched and not allowed to deviate even slightly from their pre-planned route.”
“If they had witnessed the true conditions under which my compatriots lived, they would have had nightmares,” he continued. “Millions of people were dying of hunger, sent to labor camps or brutally executed for being disloyal to the regime.”
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The film, however, also showcased the love story between the 40th president and his wife, Nancy.
Singer-songwriter Kathie Lee Gifford, who met President Reagan and his wife, co-wrote a song for the film in an attempt to show their unmatched bond.
“You could tell when you were with them that they were madly, madly devoted to one another. It was just a beautiful thing to see, truly beautiful thing to see,” she said during “Fox & Friends” on Friday. “It’s an apologetically romantic song.”
Co-host Carley Shimkus read an excerpt from a letter Reagan wrote to his wife on their 31st wedding anniversary. “I more than love you,” she read. “I’m not whole without you. You are life itself to me. When you are gone, I’m waiting for your return so I can start living again.”
Gifford insisted everybody longs for the type of unconditional love Ronald and Nancy shared.
“Everybody longs to be loved like that,” Gifford said. “We’re not meant to be alone. We’re not. We’re meant to have not only community with other people, but intimacy with one person who totally, completely loves you for you, and you love him back the same way.”
Fox News’ Yael Halon contributed to this report.
