Star Tribune from Minneapolis, Minnesota • Page 259

3 MINNEAPOLIS TRIBUNE Actress says TV creates automatons B' Mw lift x) i Sondra Locke in "A Reflection of Fear" By Will Jones Staff Writer Sondra Locke is another one of those film performers whose agents keep advising her not to do TV. Ms. Locke has appeared in five features for theaters in the last four years, including the current "A Reflection of Fear." Sitting around not working between features, she has felt pretty silly, she said, when she could be exercising her talents in a few TV roles. So she ignored her agents' advice and accepted one TV role in "Rod Serling's Night Gallery." She liked the role because it gave her a chance to play a tougher sort of woman than the gentle, wispy creature for which she is best known. On the basis of that single experience, however, she now feels that maybe TV is not good for actors.

"In filming for TV, they really don't care about the actors," she said. "Their real concern is for working fast, for finishing on time, and making sure a scene finishes on time for the commercial break. "The actor is on his own, and as long as you get out the lines and make the moves on time, that satisfies them. They don't spend any time on quality." To illustrate, she acted out a simple scene in which the heroine is approached by someone from behind. The situation, presumably, is sort of a spooky one, at which Ms.

Locke has been something of a specialist. "There's a moment for an actor to work with, a subtle moment, before turning around A whole range of emotions flittered across her face as she demonstrated the kind of thing that an actor would love to do in such a situation. "But in TV they don't want that," she said. "They don't care a bit about that special moment. They tell you just to turn around and get on with it." An actor can get by working in TV and learning to swing with the pace, she said.

"But you could tend to become a glossy technician, an automaton," Ms. Locke said. "It would be like this table," she said, placing her hand on a wooden table in her hotel suite. "You would see all the gloss on the surface, but none of the warmth and texture of the grain underneath would be visible. They won't let you have the time to bring that out." On the basis of one experience, she indicated, she's not going to stay away from TV.

But she's going to move very carefully. She has one outing set on CBS's "Cannon," portraying the sister of David Soul, who appeared in the "Here Come the Brides" series. Television timetables, movies, radio highlights Published as a service to readers, at no charge to broadcasters. The Minneapolis Tribune is not responsible for program changes by stations. Late changes in programs are listed in today's Arts Section and daily in the Tribune..