Briefly: Lewis' stepson: eye to film, ear to folk

Douglas Gresham knows his job on the sets for the "Chronicles of Narnia" movies. As the stepson of C.S. Lewis, he represents the author's estate and makes sure that the adaptations remain true to the spirit of the original novels.

But he's also there in a capacity that can supersede everything else: He's working for God.

"When you wear a cross and you're on a set with as many as 850 people on it, a lot of those people are going to have problems and they're going to come to you looking for help," he said during a recent visit to the Twin Cities. "I always stop whatever I'm doing and listen to their problems. That's what we are here for. God put me here to do this for a reason."

Gresham was 10 when his mother married Lewis. The religious symbolism in the "Narnia" books conveys the Christian atmosphere in which Gresham spent his teenage years and how that shaped him. He speaks glowingly of the moral lessons he learned from the man he calls Jack. (From childhood, Lewis insisted on being called Jack because he didn't like his given name, Clive.)

"If you believe as strongly as Jack did, then everything you do should be informed by courage, duty, responsibility and chivalry," Gresham said. "These are things we've thrown away today. I think the world still needs them."

Gresham, 63, was in the Twin Cities to speak as part of the annual Global Voices lecture series sponsored by the Guthrie Theater. He also got a chance to watch a play that includes him as a character. The Guthrie is presenting "Shadowlands," a romantic drama based on the love affair between Lewis and Gresham's mother, who was battling cancer and died four years after they married.

He has seen the play before, of course, and he saw the 1993 movie adaptation that starred Anthony Hopkins and Debra Winger. Nonetheless, watching a re-enactment of his life still produced a quasi-out-of-body experience.

"The weirdness of it never wears off," he said.

Paul Newman, Christina Applegate and the Boy Scouts lead the list of nominees as online voting opens for Beliefnet.com's Most Inspiring Person of the Year award.

The faith-based website holds an annual election for people who have "demonstrated courage, forgiveness, self-sacrifice or love under difficult or challenging circumstances." Vote at www.beliefnet.com through Dec. 5.

There are 10 nominees, starting with Newman for his philanthropy, the Boy Scouts for their volunteer work after the Iowa tornadoes, Applegate for raising awareness of breast cancer, Christian music artist Steven Curtis Chapman and Dara Torres, the 41-year-old Olympic swimmer who held up a race because a competitor wasn't ready.

The list also includes: Randy Pausch, the professor whose "Last Lecture" about embracing life was given as he neared death; William Gibson, a Marine who returned to Iraq despite multiple war wounds; Dr. Halima Bashir, a doctor punished for treating people brutalized in Darfur; Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor, a brain specialist who used her own stroke as a teaching moment, and Darin Headrick, the superintendent who insisted that the schools in Greensburg, Kan., stay open to provide a sense of normality after a tornado decimated the town.

In what easily qualifies as the no-brainer of the year, the Murray Institutes' annual award for service to Catholic educators is going to the Rev. Harry Flynn. Flynn retired as Archbishop of St. Paul and Minneapolis in May after a career marked by an indefatigable support of education.

The award will be made Tuesday evening at a dinner at the University of St. Thomas. The dinner is private, but the public is invited to a 6 p.m. mass that precedes it. The mass will be in the university's chapel.

The vocal trio InnerVoice is presenting "Women Spirit," a reflection on "the interaction of the spirit and daily life" at 3 p.m. today at Spirit of the Lakes United Church of Christ, 2930 13th Av. S., Minneapolis. The trio consists of Carol Singer, Catharine Morris and the Rev. Katherine Engel. A $10 donation is suggested.

Jeff Strickler • 612-673-7392