The lessons our mothers impart to us stay with us, which is something Blair Underwood can attest to this Mother’s Day weekend.
Sitting down with the legendary actor at the Royalton Park Avenue Hotel rooftop restaurant, with picturesque views of the famous New York City street, he shared how his mother’s love and lessons inspired him to write A Soldier’s Wife: My Mother, the Marvelous Mrs. Marilyn A. Underwood, a love letter to and about her.
“She was an incredible, extraordinary woman. She grew up in Buffalo, New York, the only child of a single mother. She had a love for fashion and design and clothing, and was the only Black executive at a fashion house there,” he recounted. “Prior to that, she studied fashion at The Traphagen School of Fashion in New York City.”
Ms. Marilyn decided to put her career on hold when she met Frank Underwood, a lieutenant in the United States Army. “But when you’re an artist, it never leaves you,” the actor and author explained.
“She spread it to me as a performing artist and my brother, Frank Jr., who’s a painter and a writer, and he was acting before I was. And then my two sisters, Marlo and Mellisa are creative in different ways. That really was my mom’s seed.”
Chronicling Ms. Marilyn’s life in the pages of the book was part of his mother’s dream. “She would say, ‘Oh, I got an idea for my book.’ She would write down notes, but she’d always stop because she had a full life, just being a mother, just being a wife,” Underwood explained.
When she was older, “My sister Marlo sat down with her and said, ‘Let’s, let’s do this. I’m gonna sit here, and I’m just gonna interview you, and we did.”
Through this undertaking, Underwood has been able to revisit how his Mom’s lessons left an indelible impact, the first being that it’s never too late to take action.
“I was in Chicago for an online commencement, and I came back to my mom and said, ‘You always talked about how you didn’t go to college. It’s possible now.’ At 82, she applied to an online college. I wrote her a letter of recommendation.”
While she didn’t get to finish her studies — Ms. Marilyn passed two years later — her actions had made their mark. “It was just great because the inspiration to me about that is that no matter where you are with the circumstance, you never stop reaching for your goal,” Underwood exclaimed.
It also reinforced his belief in a higher power. “It’s understanding that God and our faith are what’s going to get you through, and that’s where every blessing comes from,” Underwood shared. “Every blessing comes from above; it’s not about you. What was driven and instilled in my siblings and me is that God has blessed you, but in those blessings, much is expected of you.”
For Underwood, that means using his celebrity as currency to reinvest in what moves his heart, like his book imprint to tell stories like these.
He is also blessed with his family life. Married to his longtime friend-turned-wife, Josie Hart, for the past three years, he has a full life.
“We have nine kids between us. She has six, I have three. We live way up in the mountains of Utah in a mountain community. We just started raising bison and buffalo recently,” he shared. So that’s my happy place. And I love this city,” he pointed out, referring to our conversation happening in Manhattan. “This is my second home. What I’ve discovered about myself is that I need that balance.”
Listening to Underwood speak about family, faith, and fulfillment, it’s clear his mother’s wisdom still guides the life he’s created.