McFarlane Says Old Movie Gave Him Will to Go On

NEW YORK — Former national security adviser Robert C. McFarlane in an interview published today revealed that Frank Capra’s classic movie “It’s a Wonderful Life” gave him the inspiration to go on after his failed suicide attempt three weeks ago.

While he was in the hospital, McFarlane said, a sympathetic stranger from New York mailed him a videocassette of the film with the simple message “Watch This!”

McFarlane, who took an overdose of Valium in Feb. 9, was interviewed at his home in Bethesda, Md. He said he took to heart the message of the film, in which an angel saves Jimmy Stewart from killing himself and shows him ways the world would have been worse off if he had never lived. Like the movie character, McFarlane says he now believes that his personal life and the values he leaves his children are as important as his professional successes and failures.