The Berkshire Eagle from Pittsfield, Massachusetts • 28

Gazzara Meets Alter Ego in TV Series vJ: --3 Another thing Gazzara hates is the, way the word great is thrown around: when describing a performance or a play or a film. "Theres been so little thate even been near great, that I blow my stack when someone describes some starlets valiant attempts to express emotion as great, rages Gazzara. Ive seen greatness once, and that was when Laurette Taylor turned iA a totally great performance in The Glass Menagerie. Since then, Ive seen Marlon Brando and Kim Stanley attain moments of greatness and thats it. Actually, the word 'great should only be applied after someone is either dead or i 5 UA A his craft for 50 at has worked years.

4. A By MURIEL ROCKHAUSER There ere cigars and there re ceegars. And the stogie Ben Gazzara. was smoking was definitely a ceegar of the first order and last aroma. Feet up on the coffee table, Gazzara clad in green corduroy pants and a red velour sweatshirt, was combatting the afternoon heat with a frosty ale.

think Id like be rich, raid Gazzara as he pushed unruly black hair ofthis forehead. I also think it would be nice to be a star you know, one of those golden dozen Hollywood is always screaming about. That way I could write my own ticket. Professionally and personally, I could live my life to the fullest." Another person who wants to live life to the fullest is Paul Bryant, a man told by his physicians that he has wily 18 months to live. Bedding to live his remaining days to the hilt, he journeys to exotic locales and becomes involved in various adventures.

This Is the role Gazzara portrays in NBC-TVs hour-long color series, Run for Your Life, shown Mondays at 10 p.m. Its a good role, says Gazzara. Its entertaining and alive. Its good drama and good melodrama. The conflicts are Interesting, dynamic and theatrical.

The conflict within the man is powerful. He will be challenging to portray. Gazzara claims that he is very mucL like Paul Bryant. I hold back nothing in living life. Im a lusty man.

I enjoy good food and good liquor. I live life with as much abandonment as any man can who has a wife and two chil- Ben Gazzara dren. Im a night person. I like to go pub crawling, getting into long discussions with people. Im not choosy as to with whom I will argue." i A man of likes and dislikes, some of them quite passionate, Gazzara explodes at incompetency by supposed professionals.

He loathes what he calls the Iron Heads, also referred to by Gazzara as the passionless intellectuals. The man who reasons with all intellect and no heart or sentiment is a bore, says Gazzara. Youre in' if you put down sentiment these days. Actually, theres too much putting down of things in society today. I hate-pop art for that reason.

Its antilife. I dont think Ive ever attained a moment of greatness, continued Gazzara, Ive gotten some rave reviews eyen been called great in some of them which I wasnt Ive had some good moments in Strange Interlude and End as a Man, but thats about it. Does Gazzara expect to achieve greatness or a moment of it in television? No, he states. TV can make me a personality, a star, someone with box office insurance. To survive in the crazy acting world, ones got to be' one of those Hollywood Golden Dozen I mentioned.

I never much cared about being a star. Now Id like to be one. It would give me money. Money would give me, the opportunity to not only live the way Id like to but work where Id be happiest in a repertory company. Its amazing1 that, in a country such as an actor, serious about his craft, could starve.

Acting to me is a way of living. I could never stop, even though it often, tears me apart. A suspicious Ernest Borgnine gives the brush-off to Joe Flynn on uMcIIale's Navy Tuesday night at 8:30 over ABC-TV. i John Larch Finds Success At End of the Road Back SMOOTH TIRES will keep you from getting an INSPECTION STICKER! Good Casings and KRAFT SYSTEM RETREADING can give you the SAME MILEAGE aS I ORIGINAL TIRES at Vs THE COST! and certainly far more mileage than NEW so-called 1 BARGAIN TIRES To look at John Larch, one i would never imagine the tall, i lean actor, who bears a remark-, able resemblance to the late Gary Cooper, ever lived through Ijis own private hell. Says Larch, Hollywood con-1 sjders me a nice, normal guy with no temperament and no hangups.

I wish it were so. I 1 have a low boiling point and i quite a few hangups though none as serious as the ones I faced following my discharge from the army after World War II. Like several other veterans, Larch found the adjustment to civilian life difficult. Explains the costar of NBC-TVs new series, Convoy, seen Fridays at 8s 30 p.m., I was a thoroughly mixed-up young guy. In retro-t spect, I think I was actuallyy men-i Ujilly disturbed.

For several i months I kept to myself. I didnt socialize. I didnt work. I didnt do much of other than i destroy myself. But from the destruction, the rubble, eventual-( ly came the rebuilding.

What was my hangup then? Just about everything, says Larch. I was looking for the four years I had lost in service. 1 1 was also looking for a rhyme i or reason to the mass murders that took' place. I was looking for the ideals I had once had. I was disgusted with the world a world in which civilians acted I as though there hadnt been a i worldwide holocaust.

1 I In that rotten, little room I had rented, I thought out my bitterness. I couldnt explain 'war to myself. I couldnt find a purpose in life. I couldnt see how America gave an equal opportunity to all. I couldnt see anything.

Larch, himself, does not remember exactly when or why he btgan putting my house in order. It began with a series of tests he gave himself. I tore myself apart to find out what kind of human being lived with-i in my frame. I rated my hates, loves, prejudices and my humanity, or lack of same. Out of the nightmare came a dream a dream to be a person others 1 if i A John Larch could respect, even if I couldnt respect them.

I was not searching for the norm, I was searching for the way I could live best. As a child. Larch had always wanted to act. In that rotten little rented room, he discovered he still had the desire. "I remember asking myself if Id make it.

My answer was an emphatic yes. Once I made that decision, the road back wasnt endless but within reach. The road back was paved with success for Larch. He has appeared in every major dramatic TV series and has appeared in several Hollywood films, one, with John Gavin with whom he costars in Convoy. Of his life today, Larch says, When one has the kind of mind that perpetually questions, there are always certain hangups.

But one answer I found has proven to be a true one. I have never had a single regret about my life as an actor. Its been completely right for me. I havent got it made by a long shot. I doubt If I ever will.

Perhaps thats good. It keeps ambition burning. And heaven knows Ive got great dreams and plans for the future. GENERAL TIRE I A 6 TV I 1 OUR COMPETENT SERVICE DEPARTMENT PROTECTS YOUR INVESTMENT available exclusively PITTSFIELD RETREAD 315 Dalton Ave. 33 NORTH ST.

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