Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, March 18, 1995 TAG: 9503210126
SECTION: SPECTATOR PAGE: S-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB THOMAS ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: LOS ANGELES LENGTH: Medium
Arnie was more or less the buffoon in the staid firm of McKenzie, Brackman, Chaney and Kuzak. Who else could have played the role? Not starchy Richard Dysart. Not heroic Harry Hamlin or street-tough Jimmy Smits.
No, it was character, or lack of it, that made Arnie Becker stand out. If Becker didn't have a divorce case he would create one. He issued his own direct-mail videocassette on how to shed your spouse. His most famous scene: falling through an office ceiling while in a semiclothed embrace with his secretary, played by Susan Rutan.
Now Bernsen is transformed to an aging ex-jock in ``A Whole New Ballgame,'' ABC's midseason entry on Monday night (at 8:30 on WSET-Channel 13).
Bernsen had thought he would appear only as a bit-player in the world of squeezing laughs from a live audience on a three-camera show. But he suddenly became star of his own series.
``I was asked to come and do this character on `Blue Skies,''' a series that debuted and died last fall, he recalled. ``All of a sudden Universal and ABC got together and said, `Why are we doing that? If he wants to do a show, why don't we create a new one?'
``I had agreed to come on `Blue Skies' as the baseball character who was going to act as a front man for the catalog business. Within five weeks after I said yes, we were shooting our first show. It was crazy. We've been going steadily since.''
How does it compare to his role on ``L.A. Law''? ``Arnie was a blast. I'm having as much fun finding this character, too. He's a version of Arnie; the things that the guy wants out of life are similar.
``Arnie was very calculated, educated and used all his resources as a means to an end. This guy is actually more like myself. He says whatever he wants, when he wants, without editing what he thinks. His charm comes out of that.''
A muscular six-footer, Bernsen fits neatly into the athletic role. At Beverly Hills High and UCLA, he played baseball and football, wrestled, ran long distance. He still runs and has competed in marathons. He played a baseball pro in the movie ``Major League'' and its sequel.
He's no stranger to sitcom work, having appeared on ``Seinfeld,'' ``Anything But Love,'' ``Dear John,'' ``Love & War'' and ``The Nanny.''
``It's a great life to be able to come in and laugh all day,'' he commented. ``It's harder work, far more difficult than I thought it was going to be.
``You get a script, and you've got to do a little play in front of an audience five days later. You're constantly trying to discover what's funny, what works, what works better. Once you get that, you gotta work like an actor, put in all the tensions and obstacles and all of that. And you've got to know the whole script.''
Bernsen was born into the film and television business 40 years ago; he is the son of Harry Bernson, an agent who turned producer, and actress Jeanne Cooper. The family moved from the San Fernando Valley into Beverly Hills, but not in the higher reaches of that sequined society.
``We were down and out in Beverly Hills,'' he smiled. ``But it was good. I have a lot of friends from there, and a lot of successful ones, too. Some just don't know how to work for a living, they don't know the value of work. They all do stuff, but it's not like a job.
``We had some money. If my mom was working, we had money. If my dad got something to produce, we had money. I got the dream [in Beverly Hills], and I realized I'm really going to have to work hard to live up to the dream. I saw what life can offer you: the pools and the mansions and the tennis courts. It kind of gave me the work ethic, actually.''
Observing his mother's career - she has appeared on the soap ``The Young and the Restless'' for 21 years - provided a healthy attitude toward hard work in the acting profession, Bernsen says.
``I never went into it saying, `This is a good way to make a buck.' I never had that wide-eye naivete of `I'm going to become rich and famous.' My mother was an actress, and she struggled. She was a known actress and still struggled.
``Everyone wants to be successful, but it was never about the money for me. Money is an important part of the business. But I do it because I love it.''
by CNB