Ventura County Star from Ventura, California • 76

ame is a "'Trial' for Michael Richards By Ivor Davis NY Times Syndicate a bittersweet time for rubber faced clown Michael Richards who plays Cosmo Kramer lerrv Spinfplri's manir neighbor on the popular NBC TV series Richards' salary like that of his fellow "Seinfeld" co stars has jumped to $600000 per episode But while the rewards of "Seinfeld" are great so are the changes success has wrought on Richards' life "It gets pretty wild these days" he says softly wearing a dazzling orange jacket and midnight blue shirt that Kramer would die for can't walk the streets of a big city anymore Everywhere I go people scream 'Kramer Kramer look at me' whether it's a bunch of construction workers in Manhattan or a group of women in a shopping center in Los Angeles "People come up to me all the time Many of them seem unable to differentiate between me Michael and Kramer" Not that Richards is complaining you understand He's just trying to keep the whole thing in perspective During a recent interview at the our Seasons Hotel in Beverly Hills he was asked the inevitable questions about how closely he resembles his character "1 like to kid about it" Richards replied "I wonder when people interview Danny DeVito if they expect him to be like The Penguin (from "Batman or if when they talk to Ben Kingsley they think he'll show up in a sheet and little shorts like Gandhi" The dramatic turnaround from Michael Richards working actor to Michael Richards hot celebrity came just a couple of years ago and he is still trying to adjust "After five years on the show I stepped out in front of the live audience at a taping and they applauded me like crazy" he says "And they wouldn't stop" Then the same thing began to happen on the street in cafes and when he walked onto a plane "In restaurants they'd applaud" Richards continues "Then they'd come over to my table during the meal They were sending me drinks and soon I didn't have to pay for my food" Now Richards says when he goes out in public he dons defensive disguises baseball caps coats or sunglasses and insists on dark comer tables in restaurants And it's only going to get worse because now everyone is watching to see how the $600000 Man fares in his starring role in the movie "Trial and Error" which opens today Richards plays an out of work actor forced to pose as a lawyer to defend a man (Rip Tom) accused of fraud when his lawyer (Jeff Daniels) is unable to appear in court after a attending a raucous bachelor party Richards has certainly come a long way since his the days when he studied with famous Method acting teacher Stella Adler and worked for $24 a night as a stand up comic "I've had to hire people to sort through things a publicist a lawyer an accountant" he says "I've had to arm myself with people to handle what had suddenly grown around me I've even had to hire bodyguards "It started when I told a pal I was going to a Rolling Stones concert and the friend said 'You're not going alone you're crazy you need security' So 1 took a bodyguard along and my pal was absolutely right I quickly realized if I didn't have bodyguards I would have been eaten alive" "It's all crazy" he adds "I've even had to tint my car windows I never thought it would happen to me" Richards is unable to explain why his character has become such a household name "It's magic even 1 can't quite comprehend it" he says "It would be like trying to ask yourself why you have brown eyes and not blue eyes I do what I do and it came about that way "I have a certain presence the way I move my voice It's a whole mannerism that I've cultivated over the years It's '0 NEW WEST SYMPHONY Exotic Adventures May 30 1997 8:00 pra Oxnard Performing Arts Center May 31 1997 8:00 pm Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza Boris Broil music director Layna Chianakas mezzo soprano and Karen Hua qi Han Er hu Ravel Shdhdrazade Joe Curiale Gates of Gold (premiere performance) Mahler Symphony No "Titan" or tickets call 643 8646 pnsmttd by Superior National Insurance tbe City of Thousand Oats juO atyT wta mfr veex oe yrM WlwOVr Itoltiir ficty May 30 I Michael Richards' movie and opens today 2 zy V'T? ef' 'T 4 tv all in the hands of the gods There's no way to define it" The perils of stardom have even spilled over to his family Richards who is divorced has a girlfriend whose name he doesn't like to reveal and a 21 year old daughter Sophie into whose life Kramer is also intruding "I'm a little reluctant to talk about her" Richards says "She's studying acting at a university in Chicago She gets a lot of flak People refer to her as 'Daughter of Kramer' and ask her to do personal appearances "I'd prefer for her to stay away from that kind of thing until she makes it on her own" An only child himself Richards says privacy was something he grew to expect at an early age: "My father died when I was 2 so I grew up with my mother living in various parts of Los Angeles as an only child I always had my own room and no one came in there unless they were invited" said Richards who graduated from Thousand Oaks High School There has been talk of Kramer getting a show of his own but Richards insists it isn't so "It's not going to happen" he says "even though there are so many other ways the character can gO "People like to imagine him in strange situations like checking into a hotel that's too expensive and then trying to figure a way to either check out or persuade the manager to reduce his bill "Or maybe he can run for mayor of New York" Richards says with a laugh referring to reports that Kenny Kramer the man on whom his character is based is actually making a bid to inhabit Gracie Mansion Richards says if he were to do another series he'd prefer to leave Kramer behind and do "a detective show a sleuth kind of character" Meanwhile the actor escapes from his alter ego at least once a year "I like to go to Italy every summer and take a boat over to the Isle of Capri and walk and relax" he says "In California" he adds "I hop on my mountain bike and take a ride down the more remote trails" But considering Kramer's popularity it won't be long before Richards' "neighbor from hell" starts to follow him everywhere Venturan Ivor Davis covers the goings on in Hollywood.