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-BySTEVEHARVEY © Tbo Los Angeles Times SAN LU1S OBBPO;Call/,^. Jn

1966,'lDte maiiy a penaUess young mon beforc hlm, Gi>. Spradlln came West. to make It os an actor .

In Hollywood. '__

Ooly he wasn’l young — be was 40. And be wasn’t pennllcss — hc was a retlred miliJoaalre ollman

- -and catUe rancher.-------

What he was, bowever, was on Inczpericnced actor wlth ;a fcw stage crodlts from Oklahoma City.

“Ihad no agent oranythlng and I Just walked - lato the William —Morris Agency-tn^_Beveriy Hills^-and lold tbe secrełary I wantcd to sec Mr. Morris," recalls Spradlln.

Hc laughs easlly — a facłllty _ locklng la tbe.. ligtrfjy wound, grlm-foccd football coacb that hc portraycd In '.'North Dallas forty" and the basketball coach In "One oo One." As a ma ller of fact, the venal senator he played In "Godfo-thcrrPart U," and the generał w bo _«ndaJMarlla SheenaijŁtho rl vopln-Apocałypsc-Now"-wcren*r5lićh'

---flnlsbed second ^a dlstant sec-”

ood."

------Spradlln recently ftnlsbed Wm-

Ing another famlllar part — as an o liman — ln a mystery entitled, “Tbo Formula,^JI thatstars George C. Scott and Marion Brando.

Hc had plenty of oo-tbe-Job trąjnlng for thls role two dccadcs ago, wben ho madę his fortunę, though his own story sounds a bit lmprohable: Raised on a dlrt farm... in Pauls Valley, Okla., attended at nJght whllc worklng, a law dograć, hlred as a by.an oll company, saved up a stake, qult the company to Diungc lnto the business as an vestor.

He was' llvlng the American Dream-como-lruo, but hefound, he says, that "wealth was a mixcd blesslng." ^!''

Bored wlth the llfe of an ollman, dlsenchanted after his selbacks ln polltlcs, Spradlln • becamc nc-lntcd wlth

fricndly guys, eilher.

"So Mr. Morris* seeretary asked

me If I had any fUm," hc contlnucs_

“In a slIghTdraw!.' "Weil, I was soch — a neophytc that 1 told ber. oo. but that there was a drugjtore around the corncr and Icouldnm werand • buy somc. I tbought you musi havc to brlng your own film to lu»ve a scroentcsŁ"

basketball coach at an unnamed "

Los Angeles_unlyerally.ln.yOne.oa______

One." and as the Blblo-ąuollng pro football coach wlth the Icy stare

who dasbes wlth Nick Nolte ln--

“North Dallas Forty."

Somc cx-Dallas playera told hlm . his charactcr ln "North Dallas” was chllllngly remlnlscent of Dallas Cowboys coach Tom Landry. '

. Spradlln has .undergraduato degrees ln Gngllsh literaturę and . hlstory — hc s been sort of o life-long student — and llkcs to rummngc through his memory for quotatlons to flesh out his charactcr.

'“Fortuńolely," he adds, *Tve had di rac tors who'vc gonc along wlth mc."    *

In "North Dallas,” whtch hc describcs os "a Wm about growlng up," he recltcs from I Corlnthlans

to Nolte, the frac splrit: "Wben I was a chlld, I spakc as a child, I,

a stąge trpupe_in_underatood as a chlld, I thought as -

ugh-—achlld^buUwhen I becamca man— I put away chUdlsh thłngs." (Nolte'

wben he un-' ćonducted

/ *TfoundIllkcdnctlng.”hesays. refers back to the speech whe “And I don*t want to sound im-- aults the' team, rather than —modest.-bulMhoughti.was pretty — oergo-a kangaroo trial ćondu

He flnaily gol somc smali parta

TCS^roertSraTfc^Uad^.^bSd ^—T^DrSprndlln hńd mllliońś7Uut wnneed Hollywood famc

ho łutrdly fdt llke one of thc bóys

amoog tbe other bit octors.__

ln 1960,

F. Kenncdv’s

"Fwould have a' role wlth three

llnes ln It and the producer would be tak I ng me out for drinks," he says, "and hlnUng that be'd llko to hdp'flnance a roovie.Mośfofmy fcltow actore were supportlve but somc resenled me and 1 cnn’t blaine them." .

Oklahoma.

“Nhton-

dJrecled John campalgn " ln

won_by— the- blggeat of any Republlcan cver hc snvs, stUl somewhat even wben a

shoulder. 1 felt guli ty because I’d always bccń taught that if you dldn’t work you were a bum. So I. came badutojrua. for- mayor.. I‘

goodałlL"

Sohc came West.

A tumlng point ln his career, he belicvcs, occurrcd during adrink-ing session wlth Lee Marvln after they had madę "Monte Walsh." ln whlch Spradlln had a smali roić as ^tranboss~ =

“Lee sald, ‘G.D., you'rc ln-telUgent, but you’ra a rołten actor,’ Spradlln recalls.

—"I-started taking-actingclnsses~ after that, and I thlnk my perfor-_. manccs lmproved."

Spradlln rccelved good revlews os—tho -euccessful,— otedssłye-

bytheowner.)

Have

FUN

Learning!

margm

Ihcre," nc says.

omazed. "Blggcr________

______ ___ Calhollc,—Al—Smith,--ran* asatnst—

iPJ^l^-fcw^ears^Spradlln^—Hooycr^Afterwardra-KenneSy-of-— fflm roles havc often mirro red his flcłal called mc and sald. *Sprad rcal-life roles — albelt through a when we run ngaln ln *64, we want dlstorted minor, sińce hc’s been you to support our ooponent " -castraalnlyasvlllalns. .    _IK ,

For instancc, his flrat prominent J™,    _f^-^^,lures;—

--part-TO-as-thc-Nev-xl£.^^^tor^;y‘^0r—^of—

compromlsed by Al Pj :lno and the - Oklahoma City ln 1965.

_ _    te ‘' Codfaiher. f urt IT." ' ^‘IMy (^mmt cnaracier^ me—

--^pradlhrhad bcaTJ-jculy inyolI^T ^entsman^^t^ a-p^^^/^ę

---says. "AmM gikisni was oll truć.

" at

Idaho Stata Unlvorelty^#8

VACATION

COLLEGE

ln0.klnhnmnnniuu.-v    _ _    _    _________

He borrowed sjn.c of the man- By Łhcn, I had dlvorccd my wlfe nerisms and sptoch palieras for.. .(tbcy!vc.slncc-remarried); moro hb’?‘Gó®itfi^“^CfrartlfeⁿłflTm—or less retlredfromOklahom&ljli'

former Sen. Fied Harris, DOklo., wbose 1962 Oklahoma gubemato-rialbldSpradlinmanagcd. *

"Fred lost by a laDdsllde," be notes, cringlngallghllY.

June:-networ-k&-timeto

— . _____ » - * . _wł. ..    •

duśioff documentaries

NEHLYORK (UPI)—June ls— partment talenrgęis restlcss and documentary tlme oo nefwork sbould be reworded, aóćTbecauśc tełcylałoo.    there arc people ln nctwork tclevl-

That doesa*t mcan people ara sion who honestly bellevc docu-*walchtng~ckx5imenlnrkie^IUjułl—mcntaxlessłxuldbe alred.wfcctber roeaas the networts put them oo or not large audłences attend.

to Florida to llve the llfe of Conrad^ Lord Jim nboard o yacbt. -"But I*m o WASP from many gencratlons of WASPs. The shad-ow of John Colvln lies heavy on my

Juty 14-18. 1980

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the air during thls period.

June ts coosldered a safety zono oo tbe calender, comlng after the rallngs race but before U Is tlme to start promoling ncw fali sbows.

It ls necessaiy to show docu-jnezilariea because lt-ts hełpful wben deallng wlth critlcs who de-^ ery-tbe lrivtal nature orcommei^ dal telcyłsion, because news de-.

Tcleyłslon documentaries, un-Ies8 they are on hot lop!ća”!lkc aezual fantasles or vlolence, addora do well ln the rallngs. Most often they wind upoo the boltom of .tbQJiJtetoenJl3t..aa dld lasLweekia. "te Tbere'aBcUerWay?"'a"solld NBC-Reports exploraUon of the presldentlalnomlnatlng system. ‘

-r—r

Chip onto our green. smash a lob.

Hot along a trail, float In th© pool. fłyfish a steam. or ice skate In th© sunshlne. -Sun N/alle/s Summ©r>th© p©rf©ct vacatlon plac© to do ©verythlng.....or nothlng at all. '

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