Police like his show

Press, 9 February 1983, Page 20

Police like his show

Somebody tapped him sharply on the shoulder and Daniel Travanti spun'round to stare in surprise at the two hard-faced Los Angeles policemen who had come up behind him in the studio parking-lot.

Fortunately, they were not looking for trouble. Travanti. who plays the warm-hearted Captain Frank Furillo in the hit TV series "Hill Street Blues." recalled with a grin: "After making sure that I really was who they thought I was. they both solemnly shook mv hand.

"It's been very gratifying to realise how much policemen like the show. When 'Hill Street’ started. I remember most of us were worried in case the real cops would complain that the show was rubbish. But if there's any one cop in this world who doesn't like the show, then I've still to hear from him."

It certainly is not just the defenders of law-and-order who enjoy "Hill Street Blues." It is one of the most popular shows among prison inmates, too.

Travanti remembers one long-term prisoner, who said he had always been hassled by the police, writing to say that he had always been afraid of police until he saw “Hill Street Blues." "But you've shown me that they're ordinary guys just like everybody else .."

Travanti's fan-mail also shows that he is winner with women viewers. “It makes me blush, sometimes,” he says, “but the sex symbol side of it probably has more to do with Frank Furillo than with me!"

There are other similarities between Travanti and his “Hill Street" counterpart. Their backgrounds, for example. Both came up the hard way. Both had parents who were first generation Italian immigrants, and both are bachelors. Both Furillo and Travanti are former alcoholics.

“Mind you, I never claim to be an ex-alcoholic." says Travanti. "It’s something which you can never shake off. There’s no 100 per cent cure and there never can be. “If I took just one glass of wine with a meal, then that could trigger it off again.

"It’s this knowledge that

everybody like myself has to live with every moment of every day for the rest of our lives’."

Travanti still works to help other fellow sufferers, by attending meetings of a voluntary organisation for alcoholics several evenings a week. Many of the members have his ex-directory telephone numbers, knowing that they can contact him for help and advice at any hour of the day or night.

"Nobody knows better than I do how lucky I've beerf 1 in managing to handle my own problem." he says. "And I also think that what I've achieved, because of my problem, can be some sort of example for others.

"Of course: everybody needs some luck in life, and I can say that I have been very lucky. For instance, it's

unusual for actors not to have had to work at other jobs from time to time. But I've never had to tackle anything except acting.

“Apart from being lucky. I guess that I've always worked at living within my means. After all. success might be here today, but it can disappear tomorrow."

Travanti's cautious approach to life, fame and fortune has been tempered by his background. His parents came from remote, rural Italy. They could barely read and write, but his father worked hard in a factory to provide for his five children.

Travanti's mother died when he was only 10 — the youngest in the family. "After that." he says, T think I set out to prove myself the best — at everything."

He became an outstanding college actor and athlete, and graduated from the University of Wisconsin in three vears. instead of the normal four.

"My mother always wanted me to go university."

he explains, "so I did. She wanted me to become a doctor, or a lawyer, or something safe, something predictable.

“But that was the one thing I didn't want to become. And it's the only time I ever disobeyed her."