Clarence Darrow had a carefully cultivated, aw-shucks persona that barely concealed an abrasive core. As a defense attorney, he was caught red-handed trying to bribe a juror to acquit two brothers accused of a bombing in which 21 people died. He treated the women in his life with callous disregard.
It's an unlikely biography for a great American hero.
"Performing this role is like peeling an onion," says actor Paul Morella. "After 10 years, I've just scratched the surface."
Tonight, Morella begins an 10-performance run at Everyman Theatre of "Clarence Darrow: A Passion for Justice," the one-actor play that he co-wrote with theater director Jack Marshall.
"We didn't set out to do this play to knock Darrow off his pedestal, but to explore every side of him," Morella says.
"He's much more accessible to the audience this way, because people can identify with him. I think that in the end, he emerges as even more heroic than he would if we didn't portray his human side."
Darrow is the golden-tongued civil rights attorney best known for his roles in the 1925 Scopes Monkey Trial and for his 1924 defense of thrill killers Leopold and Loeb.
He not only litigated many of the issues that galvanized American society in the first half of the 20th century (the death penalty, labor laws, evolution) but more often than not, he sided with the winners. And even Darrow's seeming defeats — few remember that he lost the Scopes trial — ended up as victories in the court of public opinion. It is partly due to Darrow that evolution is taught today in the nation's schools.
So after the attorney's death in 1938, he was lionized. He inspired the character of Henry Drummond, the hero of the 1955 Broadway show (and later movie), "Inherit the Wind."
"From 'Perry Mason' on, Darrow was referenced in all the legal television shows," Morella says. "If there was a particularly tough trial, someone would always say, 'Not even Clarence Darrow could get this guy off.' "
Morella himself has a heady background in Washington power politics.
He's the son of Anthony Morella, a trial attorney who defended Watergate Judge John J. Sirica during his constitutional clash with President Richard M. Nixon. And Paul Morella's mother is former Maryland Rep. Constance A. Morella, who served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1987 to 2003.
"I've always been fascinated by the synergy between theater and the law," the actor says."Darrow first delivered his famous speeches in 1925, and yet you wouldn't change a word today. They appeal to people emotionally and intellectually, and they are brilliantly theatrical."
In 1999, Morella was slated to portray the barrister for another play about Darrow at American Century Theatre in Arlington, Va. Marshall was slated to direct.
But "Naked Gun" star Leslie Nielsen happened to be touring nationally as Darrow, and he decided at the last minute to add Washington to his performance schedule. Though rehearsals were under way, the Virginia troupe lost their rights to stage the show.
"Jack and I thought, 'What would Clarence Darrow do in this situation?' " Morella says. "We went back to the books and found a much more interesting Darrow than the avuncular, saintly icon he is presented as being."
They ended up writing a completely different script that, Morella says, is about 80 percent Darrow's own words.
The actor has been appearing in "A Passion for Justice" on and off for the past decade, including a stint last summer at the Olney Theatre Center. The long exposure has resulted in a depth of familiarity with his character that permits Morella to customize the show for each performance.
He has memorized three hours of material, and the show's running time clocks in at just under two hours. So, on any particular night, the actor decides which material to use based on his audience's response.
"The show is never the same," Morella says, "I'll shift course here, embellish there and edit somewhere else. The audience is the ultimate jury. It's exciting and terrifying at the same time."
If you go
"A Passion for Justice: An Encounter with Clarence Darrow" opens at 8 p.m. tonight and runs through June 26 at Everyman Theatre, 1727 N. Charles St. $30. Call 410-752-2208 or go to everymantheatre.org for show times and tickets.