The Leader-Post from Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada • 69

r1 ryywy r00H '1 yNp 0' The Leader-Post Regina Aug. 1, 1987 Entertainment 13 Molflywood respects and admniSres Conrad Bain, anntlappalble gent 'ii1 (p" i Diffrent Strokes co-star Todd Bridges who, during one month-long period a while back, seemed to spend more time in the slammer than he did on the set. And what about little Gary Coleman whos struggle for health, some say, could have zapped Diffrent Strokes in its prime. According to Conrad, they are By Roderick Barrand and Colin Dangaard International Features Inc. When it comes to diplomacy, Conrad Bain could give George Schultz lessons.

Just ask him about George C. Scott's fiery temper. Or his Conrad Bain: A cool pro of many talents he felt, I watched the pain turn to anger. And, of course, while Bain tried to walk a delicate line between being a good friend and supporter to Todd and yet not taking the step that would create a dependency there was little Gary Coleman, quietly fighting his own brave battle with kidney transplants that wouldnt take. Conrad thinks Coleman is about the toughest kid hes ever met.

He never complained, his strength was incredible, Conrad says of his young friend. It wasnt one of those pseudo heroic, keep-your-mouth-shut affairs either, Gary genuinely copes in a remarkable way with his problem. Gary had a transplant at 5 and when that kidney died it was tormenting, not just for him, but for all of us because of what we felt for him. He was so disappointed, none of us knew the answers. He was losing kidney function at a heck of a rate, there were times he looked really bad.

There was also open speculation that Garys illness would force cancellation of the hit show. Bain says Gary was too much of a trouper to let that happen. They were trying to write scripts where he wouldnt have so much to do, he concedes. Sometimes Gary couldnt be there at all, wed do the scene and edit him in before it was shown. But considering what Gary went through the major nature of his problem its surprising how little we missed.

Bains own cool demeanor and finely honed skills have earned him considerable respect and admiration in Hollywood. As one producer privately put it, if youre dealing with volatile performers or child actors, Conrad is a good man to have on your team. Hed go unruffled in a force 10 gale. Bain is also a canny businessman who negotiates enviable contracts for himself. Back in the days when he played Maudes next door neighbor, Arthur Harmon, he locked Norman Lear into an agreement that gave him vast conceptual and veto powers over his next series which, six years later, turned out to be Diffrent Strokes.

We kicked around a lot of terrible ideas before we settled on Strokes, he remembers. Conrad Bain is also what is con- misconceptions all. Lets begin with George Scott, hes Conrads co-star on the increasingly successful comedy series, Mr. President George, reputed to have a time-bomb for a terpper, was recently reported by one New York columnist to have become so distraught with a script that he stormed out of the studio and wasnt heard from again for a week. Not true! declared Conrad Bain flatly, a gentleman as unflappable as they come.

Certainly George has been pushing for better scripts just like any actor who is in a position to push. And George is a perfectionist. But somehow this back room discussion of ours got mixed-up in the media. Even I read hed walked off the show. So, what really happened, Conrad? There was a script that gave George pause, says Conrad cooly.

They did a rewrite and that didnt satisfy him either. There was a third reading. Finally he simply said no. Was that when George blew his top and headed for the exit? Absolutely not, says Conrad. It was just that wed started this series so fast we didnt have another script to throw in.

We had to have a weeks break. Honest. Okay. Now whats the story with Todd Bridges? Conrad, as Phillip Drummond, worked with the troubled teenager, who played Willis and with Gary Coleman, who played Arnold, for eight years on Diffrent Strokes. Wasnt Todd, who seemed to get busted more often than a $2 watch, really a bit of a handful? A wonderful boy, wonderful, says Conrad easily.

I cared about him deeply when he got into difficulty. But again, the press blew it out of all proportion. People said Todd had trouble with drugs, he never had trouble with drugs. (Bridges was arrested, in separate incidents, for speeding behind the wheel of his Porsche, and for carrying a weapon). Conrad, married for 44 years and father of three, says what Bridges needed was more understanding.

I knew what was going on inside him, I knew how tormented he was when his parents marriage broke up, Conrad says. I watched him bounce off the walls from the pain sidered in the entertainment industry to be a mover and shaker. Highly articulate, hes a one-time instructor at New Yorks famed American Academy of Dramatic Arts, a driving force behind the prominent Seattle Repertory Theatre and the founder, 25 years ago, of the Actors Federal Credit Union. A Canadian by birth, Conrad recalls he had not seen a play until he was a high school student in Calgary. There he joined the drama department, fell in love with acting and theatre, and made a typically Bain-like commitment.

I did a couple of plays and knew immediately it was what I wanted to do for the rest of my life, he says. He moved to New York, graduated from the Academy of Dramatic Arts and, after much pavement pounding, became a regular on such fare as Studio One, The Ford Star Theater, Cosmopolitan Theatre and The Paul Winchell Show. His stage credits are also impressive, beginning 1956 in the Jose Quintero production, The Iceman Cometh, the first truly, off-Broad-way smash. On Broadway itself he did Sixth Finger in a Five Finger Glove, Uncle Vanya, Advise and Consent, Lost in the Stars and Hot Spot. In feature films Bain earned good reviews for Who Killed Mary Whats Her Name, Up the Sandbox, I Never Sang for My Father and C.H.O.M.P.S.

But it was television, of course, that put Conrad Bain on the map, two series and 14 years worth Maude from 72 to 78 and 1978's Diffrent Strokes, which ran til last season. And as Bain had insisted upon, and received, script, concept and cast approval for Strokes, its success tasted all the sweeter. To find out something works, to find out your guess was right, that your work is appreciated and the audience is sharing the things youd hoped theyd share, that brings incomparable satisfaction, he says. But best of all was being a part of those kids growing up and learning their craft, being able to put your oar in here and there and give them help thats what really brought me joy. Gary and Todd would surely be glad to hear it.

lifes good for Kolbeml wttnaf s-Ihis- ntamme? ed their spleen with this film, and its too bad that Stallones become a target of scorn largely because hes so successful monetarily. Loggia shifts to another film, Prizzis Honor, and talks about working with director John Huston. He put all of us (Jack Nicholson, Kathleen Turner) in the lap of Abraham. As a director he instills confidence and for some reason I liken him to Toscanini. He conducted me in such a way that I sure played the hell out of my violin.

With so many projects in the hopper, how can this man keep up his frenetic pace and style? Acting is never tedious for me, for Ive developed a big bag of tricks after all these years. So I dont do, for instance, what Dustin Hoffman did in Marathon Man with Olivier. Dustin was supposed to be exhausted in this one scene, so he stayed up the entire night until he was absolutely worn out. When he told Olivier what he had done, he whispered in Hoffmans ear, Ever try acting, my boy? Loggia tried the legitimate theatre after the Korean War. In those years New York was the hub, and there was a certain snobbery of belonging to the Actors Studio.

(Some of the members at the time included Paul Newman, Kim Stanley and Ben Gazzara. Later on when movie mogul Harry Cohn approached the stage actor with the promise of making him a star in Hollywood, he declined. I also passed up starring in Ben Casey. OK. I didnt do it.

So what? Id rather think of today and the success Ive achieved. And no, I dont feel any guilt, for Ive been analyzed enough to feel I am deserving. What really feels good, though, is being told about certain people making movies predicated on the fact Robert Loggias in them. Besides pride, anyone who sits long enough with Loggia senses an element of toughness. Audrey agrees: My husbands not in the least easygoing.

Hes very intelligent and is never pushed around. Yet, on the other side, he can be romantic dinner for two, candlelight and poetry. When reminded of these sentiments, he blushes easily, smiles, and then becomes serious. We really have a love relationship and are seldom separated. She goes everywhere with me and also negotiates my contracts, reads the scripts and handles the finances.

His wife explains how all this happened. It's very simple. Bob cannot deal with money. He can't even keep a decent cheque book. Thats where I come in, for during my divorce I talked to a CPA who taught me everything about business.

By Linda-Marie Singer Great photo of At Pacino, one of the PS workmen comments to Robert Log- gia, in the midst of renovating the actors Beverly Hills home. When theres no immediate reaction, Loggia adds, Hey, thats me with Pacino during Scarface. Where? the stranger asks, peering at the deeply tanned man with his arm draped around the star. Loggia pauses as the workman moves on. After a while you become philosophical, shrugs the polished actor, but at 57, what can I do about becoming a household name? Ive got to play it as it lays, so I smile when people ask me, Dont I know you from somewhere? That somewhere may be traced back to the 1950s when the native New Yorker starred in two TV series: The Nine Lives of Alfredo Baca and T.H.E.

Cat, continuing into The Pink Panther movies. But it's the 1980s that have been the kindest to Loggia, who rattles a list of hit films from An Officer and a Gentleman and Prizzis Honor, to the Oscar nomination for his supporting role in Jagged Edge, where he played a gruff but likeable detective. No doubt about it. Im definitely on a roll, he declares, citing the soon to be released Gaby (with Liv Ullmann), The Believers (co-starring Martin Sheen), Hot Pursuit (John Cusack), plus Disney's animated canine version of Oliver, spotlighting Loggias voice along with Bette Midler and Billy Joel. Such workability could give others an overwhelming ego boost, but Loggia explains simply, Upward mobility in your late 50s shouldnt be frowned upon.

Checking his watch, he realizes its almost time for his tennis game. When Im not on the road, a group of us (including Charlton Heston, Lloyd Bridges and Don Budge) meet every day in Westwood. It helps to be a natural athlete. At age 13 the teen-ager qualified for varsity baseball, and thought seriously of turning professional before receiving a bachelor's in journalism from the University of Missouri. Growing up on New York's Lower East Side automatically meant you had to be tough.

My older sister Annabelle protected me virtually closeted me from getting corrupted. Until age 10 I was house-bound and a bit of a sissy. Luckily, an I older cousin came along who was tremendously athletic and became a kind of role model. Still, I loved continuing the jock thing we had in school, but when I reached 40 I thought it was getting ridiculous to bang heads playing touch football with a bunch of guys in Central Park. So I took up tennis and thats where I met Audrey.

That's also where Loggia someone who doesnt invite extraneous conversation lets the warm side show. I came out to the West Coast because I was separated from my wife. I delayed leaving due to our three children (Tracy, now 32; and Christina, 26). I was determined to try life as a bachelor. Well, that lasted two weeks.

Audrey saw to that. Some tennis friends introduced us and I remember how I desperately needed a change. Somehow when I turned 38 I hit a mid-life crisis. From 1968 to 1973 I just I dont know dropped out. Nothing to do with drugs; just the era of rebellion.

Life became topsy-turvy and for some reason I was melancholy all the time and felt totally lost. More than a decade has passed and still the actors voice gets soft and strained. I really dont like to talk about this, he says quietly, but to show you how lost I was, moving to the West Coast I was astonished when someone came up to me and commented, We thought you were dead. Audrey OBrien Loggia recollects that time with a certain uneasiness. It didnt help that we were both separated.

It was hard consoling him as he was a rather very sad fellow. Neither one of us was looking for someone special, yet when I went overseas for a few months, I began thinking more and more about him. Bob sneaks up on you that way. Ten years later the couple married in Gstaad with Julie Andrews serenading. But we never forgot the nightmarish times.

You see, his wife didnt want to divorce him and there were so many complications. Bob doesnt like to talk about all this because hes still estranged from his children. I was like that cork in the sea of life just bobbing around. But then I managed an off-Broad way production of Wedding Band with Ruby Dee, and In The Boom Boom Room, David Rabes play with Madeline Kahn, says Loggia. I think I was merely coming up for air, and wound up doing episodic TV where I usually played all the heavies.

(He also directed several shows including Magnum, P.I., Hart to Hart and Quincy. That road was leading nowhere until An Ol fleer and a Gentleman bailed me out. It didnt hurt doing Sylvester Stallone's Over the Top. It was a (laughs) unique experience working with him. Unfortunately, the critics vent i.