‘24’ vet Haysbert proudly commands ‘The Unit’

So the tales are not only gripping, they also have the ring of authenticity.

“Unlike most shows,” says Haysbert, “there's a foundation of truth.”

Haysbert — whose co-stars include Scott Foley, Robert Patrick and Regina Taylor as Blane's wife — has a history playing men of character and dignity.

In 1992, he starred opposite Michelle Pfeiffer in “Love Field,” a film about a couple drawn to each other in the aftermath of the assassination of President Kennedy. Four years ago, “Far From Heaven” placed him in another story of interracial love: as a gardener who befriends Connecticut housewife (Julianne Moore) circa 1957.

But it was on Fox's thriller “24” that Haysbert made an indelible impression on the public. He was strong and heroic as President David Palmer, the nation's first black chief executive, in a performance that surely made Americans think such a scenario could happen in real life, and is maybe overdue.

At 6 feet 4 inches and with a rich baritone, Haysbert commands the screen, as well as any room he occupies. Breakfasting in a Manhattan restaurant, he seems to catch the eye of half the other diners, any of whom might vote for him if he were running for something (or at least consider buying a policy from Allstate, for whom he does commercials). He's not just an actor, but a man of some influence.

“There are people who hang onto the words that we say and the things that we do — and believe it,” says Haysbert, summing up his approach to acting. “Yes, it's entertainment. But I think if we're going to do it, it's worth being responsible.”

Growing up in San Mateo, Calif., the eighth of nine children, Haysbert learned about scoring the approval of spectators as an avid high school athlete in football, basketball and track.

But acting promised even more than applause from onlookers.

“If I did my job right, I could make them cheer — but if I did my job right, I could also quiet them,” he says. “I could make them feel what I was feeling.”

Maybe so. But as a young black man entering the market in the mid-1970s with few role models besides Sidney Poitier — well, what made him think he could make a go of acting?

“I don't know ... I don't know,” he says quietly, but does know: “Tenacity. I kept believing that I could do it. That being black didn't matter, and that if I had the talent, I should be able to do what I wanted to do.

“As far as I was concerned, the sky was the limit,” says Haysbert, who has played a president and now, as an unsung death-defying patriot, helps safeguard the country every week. “So why not me? Why not?”

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