CBS actor Eric Close, wife, Keri, lead marriage class at their church

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. — Actor Eric Close plays FBI agent Martin Fitzgerald in the hit CBS TV series, “Without a Trace,” but off the set his passion is to see marriages built up in and around “Tinsel Town.”

Close, granting an interview at the 14th annual Movieguide Faith & Values Awards Gala March 2, said he and his wife, Keri, have taught a marriage class at their church for four years. The couple married in 1995.

“I have got to really take my hat of to my wife because she really does the bulk of the work in research,” he said at the event, with his wife by his side on the Red Carpet. The couple has two daughters, Katie, 7, and Ella, 4.

“She’s a therapist by trade and so she has a great understanding of marriage and counseling and I kind of go along for the ride. We both have a passion about marriage and love to see people work hard at their marriage and love for each other and it’s great when it does work out.”

Keri said she believes marriage requires work, something that would benefit many Hollywood couples, whose marriages seem to be breaking up all of the time.

“It’s great when you are working at it,” she said. “So really people should make that their priority because all the other stuff goes away and doesn’t necessarily last, but if you put your faith in God and your spouse and your relationship, I think that keeps you grounded.

“It’s good for me that I am not in the industry, so Eric can leave work at work and come home and be there as part of his family.”

Her husband added that the pace of Hollywood and its financial demands can undermine relationships.

“I think it is important, as Keri said, to have priorities and I understand the pressures that a lot of these people are under,” the actor said. “When you have a $50 million film on your shoulders every six months or every eight weeks, whatever it is, and you are jet setting all over the world, it’s hard to find quality time to nurture your relationship and so it is unfortunate.

“It’s really tough to make a relationship work if you are not with each other, so right now I am very fortunate to be in a situation where I am working, but I do get to spend quite a bit of quality time with Keri and our family.”

Faith renewed
Eric Close said the groundwork for his faith in Christ came as an adolescent when he was enrolled in a private Christian school.

“But I really solidified my choice to follow Jesus when I was about 20 years old and that’s when it really started to make sense to me as an adult.

“It was the greatest decision that I ever made in my life.”

Close, a presenter for the gala, was invited to the event by Dr. Ted Baehr, the founder of the Movieguide and the annual awards.

“It’s nice to part of a group that honors good storytelling and films and television that put out good content that appropriate for the younger viewers and families and people who care about that,” he said.

The Staten Island, N.Y. native shunned the notion that it was tough being a Christian in Hollywood.

“I find that people are very respectful. Look, I work alongside my Jewish brothers and sisters and we have a great time and we respect each other’s faiths, which are not too dissimilar. The other thing is great is that we love to tell stories. You have a big group of storytellers getting together. It’s a lot of fun.”

Published by Keener Communications Group, April 2006

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