‘Hotel’ star loves danger

Press, 30 April 1984, Page 18

‘Hotel’ star loves danger

From

JOANNE WILLS

in Hollywood

Clambering out of the cockpit of a powerful sports car at a Long Beach racing track, James Brolin dragged off his crash helmet, wiped the sweat from his face and said with a grin: “Wow-eee! That’s fantastic stuff — almost 170 miles an hour!” The star of the soap opera, “Hotel,” enjoys the fast life — and recently won his first competitive motor race. “I was never any good at football — so I got myself into racing instead,” Brolin said. “I think high-speed driving is the most wonderful experience in the world. It’s almost mystical . . . “Man and machine become one. It’s what happens in ski-ing,” he said, “but I reckon it’s a million times more dangerous.” Brolin is obsessed with high-risk activities because “I’m the sort of guy who would rather take any risk than run the risk of becoming bored. “It’s never worried me if that something involves life and limb. I’ve never beer scared of getting a couple oi scars across this mug ol mine. “To my way of thinking,’ he said, “scars and bruises just add some character tc a man’s face. “In fact, one day, I hope to end up working as a character actor. That’s where some of the best roles are in this business. “Every actor’s got to be prepared to make that

switch some day. Otherwise you’re out of acting, because you can’t go on playing a sex symbol forever. “One of my long-time ambitions has been to play Quasimodo, in ‘The Hunchback Of Notre Dame'!” 1 Brolin is a member of the International Motor Sports , Association and believes , that “there’s something in . the aggression of motor racing that appeals to many actors because, in some ways, acting is also a competitive game. “Take Paul Newman, for 1 example,” said Brolin. “He’s a really superb actor and he’s one of the greatest I racing drivers around. ! “Clint Eastwood and Gene Hackman also enjoy racing, and Paul, Gene and myself > have competed against each I other in events. > “It isn’t surprising that we enjoy it so much, when 1 you realise that many of the t qualities needed to make a 1 successful actor are also among the attributes needed by top racing drivers. “Both activities,” said Brolin, “need tenacity, the ability to concentrate under distracting conditions, determination to win and — yes — nerves of steel!” James Brolin has shown all these qualities in films like “Capricorn One,” “Westworld” and “The Amytyville Horror.” ' He was born into a 1 middle-class Los Angeles i family. His father was a successful building contractor. > Brolin could easily have : followed in his father’s

footsteps and eventually taken over a profitable and lucrative company. Instead, he said, “I liked films and I went to the movies regularly as a kid. “Living in a city like Los Angeles, I was constantly exposed to the movie industry and meeting people who worked in it. “Almost all my school and college pals had something to do with that scene,” he said, “so I decided that I might as well see what it had to offer.” After a spell at a drama

college, Brolin landed a role in a Sandra Dee firn, "Take Her, She’s Mine.” “It wasn’t much of a role,” he said. “It was just a two-day job for which I received about 100 bucks. “Even in those days, that wasn’t a lot of dough, but it seemed to me that I’d got my foot on the showbusiness ladder quite quickly. “It might have been the lowest rung of all,” he said, “but I reckoned that the only way I could go after that was" up.” Features International