Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, October 2, 1993 TAG: 9404140007
SECTION: SPECTATOR PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JACKIE HYMAN ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: LOS ANGELES LENGTH: Medium
When such a suggestion would arise, ``I actually shushed people,'' said Travanti, winner of two Emmys during his seven-year stint on what may have been the definitive 1980s police show.
Times have changed.
After a successful run on the London stage in ``Les Liaisons Dangereuses'' and a U.S. tour in ``I Never Sang for My Father,'' Travanti is back with two television movies and an ABC series, ``Missing Persons,'' on Thursday nights (at 8 on WSET-Channel 13).
Travanti is enthusiastic about playing a police lieutenant supervising investigations of missing persons, but believes the title sounds like a reality-based program.
It was a pleasant surprise when he read the pilot script, he said.
``The astonishing part to me is I weakened, said I was interested in a s-e-r-i-e-s - I tend not to say the s-word - and then fell in with these extraordinarily bright and talented people,'' Travanti said. ``It was really an accident. I had nothing to do with it. It's a little spooky because it turns out to be so good.''
``I hope you will say, please, that this is a drama with comedy, because people are going to think that this is one of those re-created pieces of - what? - that have corrupted television, along with home videos. We're professional and we are glorifying amateurs. Is that horrifying to you?''
Produced by Stephen J. Cannell and Gary Sherman, ``Missing Persons'' is filmed on location in Chicago, and features Jorjan Fox, Erik King, Fred Weller and Juan Ramirez.
Travanti also co-stars Monday (at 9 p.m. on WSLS-Channel 10), with Joan Van Ark in the NBC movie ``In the Shadows, Someone's Watching,'' a thriller based on a novel by Judith Kelman. (Parental discretion is advised due to some violent content).
In the film, Travanti plays an undercover policeman trying to get to the root of strange ``accidents'' happening to children in a quiet neighborhood.
``He's a smart aleck like me,'' Travanti said of the character. ``That's what I like about the series, too. The guy has an active sense of humor.''
No air date has been set, but he also stars with Donna Mills in ABC's ``My Name Is Kate,'' a movie about a professional woman whose family forces her to face the truth about her alcoholism.
The issue of alcoholism is one with personal echoes for Travanti.
``I talked about it a lot in the early years of the '80s,'' he said. ``I'm still sober. I'm no longer contributing to my own demise. I don't smoke, I don't drink, I don't get headaches, I don't get colds, I've never had flu. I've been lucky, but I feel I've improved my odds.
``I have only one lack in my life and it's the same one: great roles to play,'' he said.
He finds them in the theater.
``I'd be doing a play right now if it weren't for the series,'' said the 53-year-old Travanti, who studied acting at Yale and Loyola Marymount and began his career in summer stock. ``What I love about the theater is not the theater, it's the material.
``In the theater and only in the theater, the primary intention is to do something good,'' he said.
``In film and television, the primary intention is to be successful. In theater,the intention is to do something good'' - he paused for emphasis - ``that will also be very successful.''
Although he cited some television work he's proud of, including ``Adam'' and ``A Case of Libel,'' Travanti said, ``I almost always feel I have more to offer than is being demanded of me in film work. I'm rarely satisfied.''
He's candid about why he decided to return to the small screen.
``I said I've got to make a lot of money and get out of this business (so I can) just act when I please and putter around. I have a big house and animals and friends.''
``My expression for the '90s is `stash the cash,''' he said. ``I'm not willing to sell my very soul - but almost.''
Travanti said he didn't mind taking police roles again in ``Missing Persons'' and ``In the Shadows, Someone's Watching.'' In the course of his 30-year career, he noted, ``I've played very few cops. Mostly, (I ask) is it any good?''
Because he hasn't been offered better roles, ``I often feel I've been treated shabbily,'' Travanti said. ``I could be bitter about it, but it's too late for me to be bitter. It doesn't help, so I make jokes about it.''
Looking back, would he do anything differently?
``No,'' he said. ``I don't believe in mistakes. The wisdom was visited on me. You do what you do, that's all. If you don't want it to happen again, don't do it again.
``I try to do only what makes me happy. I'm very selfish that way. I fight off interviews. I fight off awards. I fight off personal appearances. The best thing I can do is be the best actor I can be and be an entertainer.''
by CNB