ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, October 5, 1996 TAG: 9610070116
SECTION: SPECTATOR PAGE: S-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: HOLLYWOOD
SOURCE: SUSAN KING LOS ANGELES TIMES
Malcolm McDowell is back in school.
The British actor made an indelible impression in Lindsay Anderson's controversial 1968 film ``If ...,'' as Mick, the smirking, rebellious upperclassman at a rigid boarding school.
Twenty-eight years later, McDowell is now a member of the academic establishment. As Rhea Perlman's nemesis in the new CBS comedy ``Pearl,'' McDowell's Stephen Pynchon is a brilliant, pompous humanities professor who makes life a living hell for his students, especially Perlman's Pearl Caraldo.
``Pynchon,'' McDowell muses, ``is a bit of a monster. I think he's really mean. He has such an ego!''
On a recent lunch break, McDowell is relaxing in his dressing room on the Hollywood lot where ``Pearl'' films. Though his hair is now white, McDowell still possesses that famous smirk. He's far less intimidating than his screen image.
Resting comfortably on his sofa is an antique teddy bear. ``I got that bear from England,'' McDowell explains. ``My wife saves them. She did the room. She did the paintings. She did the lamp.''
Adorning the white walls are portraits by his wife, Kelly, of Anderson and Stanley Kubrick, who directed McDowell in the landmark 1971 film, ``A Clockwork Orange.''
``Lindsay Anderson's really Stephen Pynchon - very, very much inspired by him,'' McDowell offers. Not only did the late Anderson direct McDowell in ``If friends.
``He was always very, very good with actors, very supportive of actors and made sure that they felt confident,'' McDowell says. ``But when you got past that and became his friend, if you said something stupid, he would let you know about it: `Don't be so ridiculous. Good Lord. How old are you and you don't know that? Did you have an education or anything?'''
Pynchon's only saving grace, McDowell says, is the fact that he's a great teacher. ``How many teachers do we remember?'' McDowell asks. ``Just the ones who really inspired us.''
McDowell laments he never attended college. ``I was so sick of education and being at a closeted [private] school,'' he says. ``I just couldn't wait to get out. I got a place to go to university in Sussex, but I said, `That's it. I want to earn my own money.' I couldn't take it anymore.''
McDowell is busy learning how to play the sitcom game. ``I just live the life of a monk, basically,'' he says with a smile. ``I come here and I have to learn lines all the time. Theater is a piece of cake. With this, you have to slogger these lines to get them in because I have huge chunks of speeches. It has to look sort of effortless.''
It was fate, McDowell says, that lead him to ``Pearl.''
Creator-executive producer Don Reo was looking for actors to do a reading of the pilot script. Though he wasn't in the market for a series, McDowell agreed to the reading.
``I was going to do it on my day off and then I was off to do a film in Toronto. When the script came, I said: `My God, this is a fantastic character.'''
McDowell, Reo says, ``was the first and only choice'' for Pynchon. ``Here he came and he was fantastic. I mean, who knew this guy was funny? This is flat-out big-time comedy and he's knocking them out of the park. He's just spectacular. He just stepped right in, and it fit him like a glove.''
``Pearl'' airs Monday at 8:30 p.m. on WDBJ-Channel 7.
LENGTH: Medium: 71 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: Malcolm McDowell plays professor Stephen Pynchon in theby CNBCBS sitcom ``Pearl.'' color.