The Record from Hackensack, New Jersey • 113

Suit II 3 MAY 17, 1331 17 He's a real iniyts-ainid-bolte actor nM(M But why is Castellano, a longtime favorite of 'Godfather's' Castellano in an everyday role By Lou Luntonick Staff Writer I here. It's the only town where you still see a man walking the streets with a sweeper." Castellano is very active locally in social affairs and politics, including the mayoral campaign of his longtime friend. Dr. Herman North Bergen's superintendent of schools. Bergenline Avenue than on Hollywood sound stages? The apparent "answer involves the ac-, tor's choosjness about his roles, his salary demands, disagreements with his ex-agent, and a bitter dispute over "The Godfather, Part TL" "They say if you turn down work in this business, people look at you with a jaundiced eye," he says.

"When a load of offers came in, there was usually one problem or another. Most of what MP A i ve oeen onerea is cat uner. Sometimes price is the obstacle. "I am in- volved in other businesses that I don't talk about, but primarily; I make a lot of money when I wort I won't work for less than I think I'm worth. If you can't get together with people on something as simple as that, then you have noth- ttu i J'i 7- I "I remember turning down the movie 'The Anderson where I asked for what I considered a very reasonable wage.

I was told I had the job fbutl thev changed their minds and thev asked me to take less: Anybody who can add knows that if I'm asking for $10,000 a week and they ask me to take off 10 percent and it's a six-week job, after taxes and after agent's and manager's fees, you'd end up with a fraction of that" Castellano recalls receiving $65 a week during r. A l. i 7 v-vV'r' I So what's the story? Why is an Academy Award nominee answering telephones at an auto repair -shop in Guttenberg? The answer is almost as complex as Richard Castellano, who has made only one theatrical feature film since he portrayed Clemenza, the' portlier of Don CoHeone's two lieutenants in Godfather" back in 1972. He recently appeared on the "Gangster Chronicles" television series, his first acting job in nearly two years. "People ask me all the time why I'm not work-, ing," says Castellano, whose thinning hair is streaked with gray.

"It's not annoying, really, but it's hard to answer. The truth is I don't know." 1 Almost every afternoon from 2 to 3, Castellano answers the phone at the Guttenberg repair shop run by Sergio Triches. The two became as close as brothers after the actor began patronizing the business more than a decade ago. "I started helping out about three years ago, when Pop Sergio's father went on vacation in Italy for about a month," Castellano says. "Somebody got sick and I just came in to give a hand.

We just lost Pop. He was 79, an old-timer from the other side who reminded me of my own father. When he passed whole town turned out to say goodbye." When Castellano isn't at Sergio's, he can often be found hanging out at Joseph Panetta's shoe repair shop in Hackensack or with his friend, Pino Angiulli, who runs a paint shop in Clifton. "Every one of these people are the best at their job and I try to be the best at my job," says the articulate actor, whose passion about his art belies his frequent screen portrayals of thugs. "I don't meari to knock the celebrity's life r- that's fun, too but I think when you lose contact with the people; you lose those very characteristics that people enjoy in you as an actor.

I have more fun doing things like this." i Castellano, who lives nearby, is a familiar fig- ure as he strolls through the tiny Hudson County community. People who run into him at the garage, shopping at the local Pathmark, or on the way to the local diner invariably recognize the thick-lipped actor from "The Godfather," his Oscar-nominated performance in "Lovers and Oth-. er or his two short-lived television comedies, "The Super" and "Joe and Sons." "I discovered this place in 1945, riding my bicycle across the George. Washington Bridge from Manhattan," he, says. "Guttenberg is about the best spot in the world to look across and get a perspective on New York City.

It's a small Camelot. The people are polite and courteous. uuc ui uic bis oiiMuiwajr yiaya lie iu. "At the time, I was starring and I was nominated for a Tony Award and I was living in a rent- controlled apartment for $78 a month. I wasn't respected until I demanded a living wage for Broadway, which I considered $1,000 a week and expenses, for doing 'Why I Went Crazy in 1968.

got called into' producer David Merrick's office and I told him why I was demanding that price. It was a dual role, a man and a woman, with 22 complete changes in a period of 47ft minutes! I told him that I would pay $30 a seat for front row center which was an outrageous do that job and be there at the end to take a curtain call It was a killer play." Merrick met Castellano's price, but he has less-fond memories of "Sheep on the Runway," a 1971 diplomatic farce by, political columnist Art; Buchwald. It soured him on Broadway. "I broke my back to make that thing work," he sayS. "When Buchwald wrote a book about it, he 1 made a joke out of me being a method actor.

We were at the slightest whim of two writers and a director. We had one opening on Broadway that was successful and then we were called into a' dressing room like a heard of goats and com- manded to change characters midstream." Castellano says a dispute with director Francis Coppola over characterization was one of the tmain reasons fie stayed out of the second See Page D-22 Staff photos by A) Paglion Actor Richard Castellano, taking calls at the repair shop in Guttenberg wmmm Moral Majority Mi U.SA Pagesnat marks 30tk yeso. is topic at parley cers Tivproau By Bill Kaufman Special from Newsday By Howard RotMnbarg Lti Angtles Timtt News Service The most offensive characteristic of TV networks is their arroganoe. They carefully foster images of omnipotence and infallibility, and like governments they abhor the thought of publicly admitting error. 7 1 If this is perfection, then the Titanic was one heck of a ship.

ABC, CBS, and NBC persist, selling themselves as all-' wise and all-knowing, a sort of Moses Three. How can viewers talk back to a stone tablet? Many Americans share a sense of alienation from ah unreachable, untouchable institution that has great influence on their lives. That jsense of Isolation, no doubt, fuels the proliferation of pressure groups, a situation that has the TV industry in such a justifiably worried state. COMMENTARY Somewhere among American traditions, perhaps not quite ranking with Fourth of July parades, mom's apple pie, or baseball, stands the beauty pageant Since 1921, when the Miss America Pageant (and saltwater taffy) put Atlantic City on the map, the country has been fascinated with loudly ballyhooed competitions among beautiful young women. Through the.

years the concept of merchandising a beauty pag- eant has blossomed into a highly organized and lucrative business. There is a wide variety of contests, ranging from Miss Teen-age America to this week's Miss U.S.A. Pageant, scheduled to be telecast, live on CBS Thursday night Of course, there are pageants devoted not only to Miss Something-or-other, there also Is Mr. America event and a Mrs. competition, not to mention a contest to find the most glamorous grandmother, which was held for many years at the now-defunct Palisades Amusement Park.

(The same park also sponsored a Diaper Derby for babies.) This year's "1981 Miss U.SA Pageant," at It is officially called, marks the 30th anniversary of this event For the third year It will emanate from the Mississippi Coast Coliseum and Convention Center In Biloxi, Miss. The telecast will focus on 51 young women who represent each state and the District of Columbia, all competing for the title. Once again, the show features Bob Barker as emcee, sharing the spotlight with cohost Elke Sommer. The guest performer Is Donny Osmond. As with most other pageants of such proportions, It takes an entire year to prepare for the contest and telecast The Miss U.S.A.

Pageant ut run by the same organization that stages the Miss Universe contest (which CBS will telecast July 20 from New York). The winner of the Miss VAX event automatically becomes the American contender In the Miss Universe contest Last year rarity occurred when Miss U.S.A., Shiwn Nichols Wtithirly, was Bob Barker and Elke Sommer wUl be joined by guest performer Donny Osmond for this year's Miss USA. Pageant. So worried, in fact, that the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences and the Caucus of Producers, Writers, and Directors organized a three-day symposium at Ojal, last weekend to hash out the pressure-group dilemma. Participants included industry types and persons Jn related fields.

Although all three networks were invited to send repre-, entatives, CBS declined, and producer David Wolper, chairman of the event, said he had difficulty getting any network to Ojai for the symposium. "They never talk to people," said Wolper. "Network executives have their conferences, but they rarely go out to talk to the people." No wonder, then, that some of the symposium participants spoke of the dlstanceseparatlng the decision-makers of TV from viewers. The result may be a feeling of powerlessness In viewer-dom, feeding and being fed by various pressure groups, none more so than the movement of the so-called religious right to shape TV Into something approaching Its own Image. It Is this movement, specifically the Coalition for Better Television and its most influential backer, Jerry Falwell's Moral Majority, that was most on the minds of the symposium participants.

The coalition li monitoring TV for so-called Indecency and plans to compile a "hit list" of advertisers of programs that the coalition deems most offensive. That is chilling Virginia Wagner Is In charge of selecting the chaperones, all of whom, like herself, are from Blloxl and Its environs. They work without pay. "You can look at It as sort of a vacation, but you must be away from home for 18 days. The use of a car Is provided, and understanding husbands are required," Wagner said.

"The chaperone? She ends up being a mother, a sister, a friend. Her prime purpose Is to get these girls where they have to be on time with their proper clothes." Wagner said that contestants' boyfriends or male visitors may view some of the rehearsals or may meet with the girls In the hotel lobby, "but no dating Is permitted during the time prior to the contest" See MISS, Page D-21 I With her possession of the Miss U.S.A. title about to end, Ford Is packing up and preparing to go to Chicago. "I've got this really neat public-relations job with a shipping line all set up. There might be some travel Involved, and It's the Hind of thing I've always thought about," Ford said.

Her final thought about It all? "I got to meet everyone from Darth Vadcr to President Carter." It takes nearly three weeks of rehearsals and other preparations to stage the final contest and telecast For the past two weeks the 51 girls who will be competing for the title have been billeted on an entire Boor of the Royal d'Ibervllle Hotel In Blloxl. The hotel Is also where 26 chaperones are staying. named Miss Universe. Her spot as Miss U.S.A. had to be filled by second-place finisher Jineane Ford.

The only disadvantage for Ford was that she did not get the prizes, which, under the contest's rules, were retained by Weatherly. Ford, who Is from Arizona, recently looked back on her year with certain de- gree of diplomatic charm. It was an unforgettable experience, she said, but "it's ex- tremely tough work, and not what the girls think It's going to be like." She added that one of the most rewarding aspects of holding the title wss the rent-free Manhattan apartment that each winner gets for the reigning year. "They make us pay our telephone bill, though," Ford said. See MORAL, Page D-20.