It's Not Porn It's Promo

Almost every father gives some variant of the "I love you ... I will always love and support you ... You can do anything you want ... I'll always support you in the things that make you happy" speech(es).

However, just because the speech is given doesn't mean a dad's heart is always in it. Case in point, Laurence Fishburn is apparently not currently thrilled by daughter Montana, 19, and her decision that she can spark her acting career through porn. The report of his unhappiness comes solely from his daughter, who reportedly thinks she can fix things up with little trouble. Fishburn himself hasn't yet commented publicly, immersed as he is in a summer tour for his one man show about the late supreme court justice Thurgood Marshall, a role presumably giving him plenty of practice for weighing the pros and cons of anything, even a daughter and her delusions.

From Nothing Evolves the Ultimate Father

From nothing something ... and something extraordinary. That is the only way to explain how it is that James Earl Jones (whose father was out of his life before he was in it) has come to play Big Daddy in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof by Tennessee Williams (who had a strained to the point of near nothing relationship with his own father). James, voice also of (anti-father) Darth Vadar and Lion King Mustafa, among his many other roles, is in fact the father figure extraordinaire in the play that celebrates the role in grand style.

Quite the human equation: an actor without a dad plus a role written by a man without a positive relationship with his dad somehow creates the ultimate father figure. How does this sort of thing happen?

Simplicity

To make a dad proud remember the simple things. Remind people of him. Dance for him. Maybe just talk him up.

Tamil screenwriter/director Gautham Vasudeva Menon took his father's death as an inspiration for his new film about a simple man, Vaaranam Aayiram, which he says is both autobiographical and, "a tribute to all the fathers in the world. It is mostly from my life and the lives of some people I know."

For Nigerian dancer Emmanuel Adejumo, winning his comedian father's heart was all matter of footwork. So, while being son of actor Moses Adejumo (aka Baba Sala) is a bit of a step up in the country's art world, it also brings with it a host of pressures ... if nothing else, disappointing dad. And while he has pursued his mother's passion of dance, it all began with drumming in a small theater his dad built: "...my daddy is always happy with me. He is proud of me. What he saw in me [while drumming in the theater] has manifested. He has many children, some medical doctors, lawyers etc. But I am one of the few in active practice."

Taking pen to paper was all it took for Carney Mitchell to win for his dad Eddie Mitchell the honor of being The Fiji Times "Dad of the Year." As Carney tells it, "I wanted to do something special for dad but I didn't have any money so when I saw the advertisement in The Fiji Times, I went for it and told my dad to drop it in at Tappoo. I am proud to have won something for dad. It is the first time I won something for him and I am very happy about it.

While his blind father, a single parent raising Carney and his younger brother Justin, was honored, he was also very surprised, "I didn't know the boy was so observant. He asked me to drop his form and to promise him not to open it, so i did as he said. He has made me proud.

In fiction, it might take fighting off thieves trying to steal your scientist father's government secrets to win his respect, as happens in Hari Puttar: A Comedy of Terrors in standard Bollywood song and dance in reality, it is more often the simple things that matter.