Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, October 6, 1995 TAG: 9510070007
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LOUIS B. PARKS HOUSTON CHRONICLE
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Richards' Cosmo Kramer, for whom entering a room is an art and underwear a symbol of oppression, has helped boost ``Seinfield'' to its exalted ratings. The series' reruns have entered syndication, with a record 226 stations covering 99 percent of the U.S. audience.
Still going strong in first run, ``Seinfeld,'' which airs Thursday nights on WSLS (Channel 10), just began its sixth season. Rumors are rampant that it may be its last; Jerry Seinfeld is said to want to end the show while it's still vital.
``No,'' Richards says flatly, as if the whole idea were absurd. ``It's all a silly rumor. If you want any scoop on `Seinfeld,' you call me.''
Richards' twitching face garners instant recognition nationwide. But audiences have a short memory. So this is the time for the actor, virtually unknown before ``Seinfeld,'' to lay the foundation for his future career.
That's why movie audiences can see him now in ``Unstrung Heroes,'' directed by Diane Keaton and co-starring Andie MacDowell and John Turturro. It opens today at the Salem Valley 8.
``I'm trying to step into feature work,'' says Richards in a telephone call from Los Angeles. ``Trying to fit it in during what little time I have.''
Features aren't the only thing he's trying to fit in. As he talks, he munches on a Caesar salad.
``We're on a tight schedule here,'' he says by way of apology. Already well into shooting the new season, Richards says cast and writers are working hard to keep the quality high.
``I'll tell you, it really is tough,'' he says, the voice sounding like Kramer's but the delivery slower, more thoughtful. ``I just did three shows back to back. It took me four days to get my head screwed back on. I was exhausted.''
He gives a soft, mirthless laugh. ``But that's the nature of the television beast. You move fast. ... It's good training, but in motion pictures, you can cook it a little more.''
Richards, 46, has been in several films, but not many that Kramer would bother to go see: ``Transylvania 6-5000,'' ``UHF,'' ``Young Doctors in Love,'' ``So I Married an Ax Murderer,'' ``The Ratings Game,'' ``Problem Child,'' ``The Coneheads.'' He wants to establish a more substantial track record before ``Seinfeld'' - and Kramer - become trivia questions.
He had just about given up trying to find a script during last season's hiatus - that precious break before and after the nine-month insanity of shooting a series - when ``Unstrung Heroes'' came along.
``It was so last-minute, I really had to read it again, because I couldn't believe how I was feeling: `This is really too good to be true.'''
What he really liked was his character, Danny Lidz. On the surface, Danny and Kramer share a few eccentric qualities: a herky-jerky body that looks as if it might fly apart in a stiff sneeze, strange obsessional concerns, a tendency to say way too much at the wrong time.
But Danny, though often funny, is the dark, melancholy side of Kramer's zaniness. A serious paranoid, he believes ``they'' are out to get him and his family.
Danny is one of two eccentric uncles (Maury Chaykin plays the other) who help raise a small boy, Steven, when his mother (MacDowell) becomes ill. The boy's dad (Turturro) is a scientist who loves his son but regards him as a scientist in training. He's also an atheist who rejects teaching the child about the family's faith, Judaism.
``Danny inspires the boy to seek the spirituality the boy needs to enter the world,'' Richards says.
Richards, an only child, was born and raised in Los Angeles. His father died when he was young; his mother was a hospital administrator.
He wrote and acted in plays while serving in the Army in Germany and later studied theater at the California Institute of Arts.
He performed in serious plays in San Diego and started doing club comedy with a former schoolmate, Ed Begley Jr. (``St. Elsewhere''). Then Richards landed a spot on the short-lived ABC comedy ``Fridays.''
While filming ``Seinfeld,'' he also works on his own movie projects, most notably a script called ``My Blockbuster,'' written with Steve Adams. Castle Rock has paid him $3 million to star in the film, which he hopes to shoot next summer.
Though Richards expects to find success doing comedy - he knows that's what fans and the people who finance films expect - he hopes to bring dramatic elements to his work as well.
``You want to know something? I can approach Kramer from a dramatic standpoint, too. I always try to find what's real, then I try to heighten.
``I'm still grappling with that. My work with Kramer is not done, because I still sometimes go over the line, and it becomes too broad. I'm terrified of creating caricature. ... It's a fine line. How far can you get out there, yet still keep the character human?'' His banging, thrashing ``Seinfeld'' entrances have become his signature gag. He says they don't become a cliche, because they're part of who Kramer is, not just a joke.
``It's just the way he wants to come through a door, a certain flair,'' he says. ``In some ways, it's the way I enter life - quickly and to the point, the way Kramer does.''
by CNB