Sharon Lawrence
 A Conversation with Sharon Lawrence
(Marcy McClure Tyson)

Q: What drew you to this project?
A: The role of Mary Tyson does have some interesting elements, but it was the story. It was the interaction of the characters in a very critical time in our past and, I believe, in our present as a country.

Q: What is WORD OF HONOR about?
A: The story takes Ben Tyson through the journey of defending the choices that he made both in Vietnam and with his platoon members - keeping their solemn oath about protecting each other and protecting the truth--whatever the truth is. He makes very hard choices through these days to protect his family, to protect his men and to protect what he believes is his honor as a soldier.

Q: Do you think the story is relevant now?
A: Our country matured a great deal through the Vietnam War and now we are in our young adulthood, so to speak, as a culture. The responsibilities are different, and they are graver. In this film, this young soldier has to take on the stewardship of his platoon at a very tender age, when his judgment and his wisdom are put to an ultimate test, and I think that is also true for our country right now. But I don't think it speaks just to Americans. I think it speaks to whatever sense of nobility, responsibility, trust and faith in your word to your fellow man that anyone may have.

Q: Describe your character, Marcy.
A: She is a wife who really needs to know the truth and has to grit her teeth while she's recognizing that her husband, with whom she has always had a very open relationship, continues to keep something from her. This strains her faith in not just the marriage but in him. My character had a good time in her past and doesn't feel the need to apologize for the life that she lived when she was in her late teens and early 20s, hanging out with rock-and-roll bands and behaving in a way that could be questionable to some. But she feels no guilt or remorse about it because she wasn't hurting anyone. And now she is responsible for a school and for the upbringing of her son.

Q: What was it like working with Don Johnson and Arliss Howard?
A: I've never seen Don Johnson in a role like this. Don has a very understated quality that he's using in this character that I didn't necessarily see in some of his other roles. Arliss Howard is really exciting to work with and watch. He's always been one of my favorites, and it's terrific to see him as this gunslinger of an attorney.