The Kokomo Tribune from Kokomo, Indiana • Page 70

COVER STORY A little Schroder. A little wiser. Former child star Rick (a ka Ricky) Schroder's grown-up role on NYPD Blue could earn him a nod in next week's Emmy nominations. BY MARK MORRISON I T'S THE END OF another rigorous week on the NYPD Blue set, and Rick Schroder has a stomachache. Not that the actor, a likely Emmy nominee next week, is complaining.

In fact, the former child star, now 29, who grew up on TVs Silver Spoons, is in fine spirits. And why not? A year ago, Schroder was living on his cattle ranch outside Grand Junction, with his wife of seven years, Andrea, and their three children, Holden, 7, Luke, 6, and Cambrie, 2. Then the NYPD Blue role came along. "I had no clue," he says of the public stir his casting caused. "It shocked me because I've done four miniseries, including Lonesome Dove, and I don't know how many TV movies.

Yet, it seemed like everybody forgot I wasn't 12 anymore." Those days are over (and he has nude scenes on NYPDBhie to prove it). Since replacing Jimmy Smits last fall, Schroder has rejuvenated the aging series and his career. Most actors would be lucky to have one signature role in their career. But with his menacing attitude and weathered z-eal- guy looks, Schroder is enjoying a second crack. "I'm being considered for more stuff than ever before," he says.

But he's not rushing into anything. "It took me a long time to get where I'm at right now," he says. "Why blow it?" No sooner did the TV season end than Schroder joined his family for a summer in Colorado with their 400 mother cows, 400 calves, 40 bulls, eight horses and more dogs than he can count. He's eager to spend time in the new log cabin he's built among the aspen and alpine fir high above his main house. "I fit in with the cowboys," he says.

With all this activity in his life, Schroder 6 USA WEEKEND -July looks forward to turning 30 next April. "It's exciting, the close of one decade and the opening of another. I feel like the 30s are going to be my best years." Reflecting on the past year, he says, "A lot of people who didn't respect me NYPD may have a different opinion now." Excerpts from the interview: Why Colorado? It all started with William Holden, who I did a movie with as a little boy called The Earthling. I was from Staten Island where I used to play in the woods. But Bill opened my eyes to the wilderness.

He was a big-time naturalist. He piqued my interest. Wasn't it shooting Lonesome Dove that turned you onto the Southwest? I fell in love with the whole idea of living off the land, running cattle, working with your hands. I went to school in Colorado for fanner ranch management, but it didn't work. I'd been educated by a tutor my whole life and didn't have self-discipline.

I made three weeks of college. As soon as the first job offer came, I left. I learned about ranching from old cowboys. I never intended to stay. But I fell in love with the ranch so much, eight years went by before I knew it.

What's the real appeal of ranch life? I have a big thing about feeling productive. I love having a list of 32 things to do and 111 be done with it by Thursday. It feels good. Do the kids have chores? "Pick up your underwear and put them in the hamper." Not ranch chores. They're normal kids: They play Nintendo and like Tele- tubbies.

They watch television; we have over 100 channels. The other day I said to my daughter, "Honey, do you want to go fishing with Daddy?" Then my wife said, "Or shopping with Mommy?" And Cambrie looks at me and goes, "Shopping with Mommy." My boys are fishaholics. You have to pull them away from the streams. It warms my heart because I think things like that are good for their confidence. What do they know about your acting work? How much have they seen? Very little.

They've never seen Silver Spoons or The Champ. That's got to be a mind twist. I don't want to confuse them. Maybe when they're around 10. We've told them I stalled acting when I was a little boy.

And they know that's what I do. today. But they know me as the rancher more. My daughter thinks I'm an airline pilot or mechanic. Every Friday when my wife picks me up and every Sunday when she drops me off at the airport, my daughter says, "Daddy go on big airplane." Do you feel out of step with your generation because you've worked so much longer? When I finished Silver Spoons and I went back to Calabasas High School for senior year, I had a tough time.

I didn't know a soul. My socialization skills were stunted. That was actually one of my biggest fears going back to a series: How am I going to do socially with a cast that has been together for five, six years? It turned out fine. I did a lot better than in high school. How did your parents protect you? My mother was like a lioness protecting her cub from a pack of hyenas.

Once, she heard an assistant director yell at me because I was roughhousing in my wardrobe and getting grass stains on my clothes. I remember her telling them, "You'd better get him three changes of clothes, because he's going to play and do what little boys do." Danny Sorenson NYPD Blue seems commitment-phobic. But, like your parents, Schroder with wife Andrea at January's Golden Globe Awards With Blue co-star Dennis Franz With TV dad Joel Higgins on Silver Spoons With Jon Voight In 1979's The Champ Cover and cover story photograph by EJ Camp for USA WEEKEND.