[First part of interview unavailable - presumably talking about BB having to do some climbing in DJ]

MR : You had to give yourself some incentive for this, right?
BB : Yes I did, and then he promised me a scene with Rachel Ward in the shower. Well <sighs> that's good payment.
[laughter]
MR : This was after the director said he'd never take you up above 20 feet
BB : That's right, yeah, I've gotten a lot of mileage out of that one. But I tell you what, he did. When I initially met him he said "I promise you I'll never have you up more than 20 feet". Well try about 350 feet more over a canyon floor.
MR : Oh my goodness.

Go to caller from Rhode Island
Caller : One of the great mini-series I think of all time was East of Eden. You gave a great performance in that. One thing that bothered me, they never really used the full complete version on video and when they showed it on (W)CBS they showed the incomplete version too. Will we ever see the complete version again 'cos it's good -- the shortened version, the edited version -- but it's not as good as the great long version...
BB: I agree with you very much
C : I think they edited part of your role out too
BB : [laughs] Tell me about it I was the most surprised
C : That was the worst part, your part being edited out
BB : Yeah. Thank you. I don't know. I have that very same copy the only one that was I think was released video-wise. I was quite shocked myself but I guess that's what they felt they had to do. I don't know if there'll be a re-issue at all, so...
C: I enjoy your series too, Scarecrow, and wish you good luck in your future endeavours with that.
 

Caller from Elgin Illinois
MR : Gee that sounds like a familiar town
BB : [laughter]
C : I'm flabbergasted. I knew you were from Chicago but I never knew you were from Elgin
BB : Yeah, born in Elgin, I was not raised there. In fact my grandmother still lives there and I have a lot of relatives around there, yeah.
C : I've really enjoyed your work, I was just wondering about one series. The producer said you weren't in it, but I could swear, weren't you in that "Tales of the Golden Monkey"?
BB : No I was not, no [laughs]
C : Oh
BB :No, I was in a series similar to that and they both lasted one season, it was called "Bring em Back Alive"
C : Oh, OK
BB: It was still that Raiders of the Lost Ark type of...
C : Yeah it was similar. Was Tron your first movie, cos I really enjoyed that.
BB : Yeah, that was basically it. Another big classic [laughs]. Yeah it is, no it's funny because I have two sons and they're more thrilled about the fact that their father played Tron than anything else I've ever done and that movie at the time it really was kind of a bomb when it first came out. It didn't really make a big splash but it has since gone on to be..er people constantly come up and tell me how much they liked it.
C : A lot of special effects, I guess for the first time...
BB : Yeah, graphics that were being seen on the big screen for the first time, now we see it in every car commercial or what have you on television and on the big screen
MR : What do you do in Elgin Illinois?
C : I do dockwork loading trucks and stuff like that, you know
MR : And you're a movie fan?
C : Oh yeah, I really enjoy Bruce's work. The movie tonight [Double Jeopardy] I'm really looking forward to. Did you say it was on CBS too?
BB : Let me clarify that too. It will be on CBS probably in a couple of months. This was a joint venture which is not too normal a thing, you know. So, they're going to have it and it'll be probably a little more edited
MR : With all those little breaks in it
BB : And the commercial breaks, yes
C : Bruce you were mentioning you went to movies when you were a kid. Did you go to any of the theatres in Elgin?
BB : Yeah. My grandfather's farm was probably about 15 miles outside of Elgin at the time so  we'd go in on Saturdays. My aunt would take me in and we'd go see whatever movie was out, some Disney pictures, or what have you.
C : They're both gone now, "The Crocker"...
BB : Oh, "The Crocker", I remember that. That's where we used to go!
C : It's all closed up now and been turned into a Spanish restaurant
BB : Like a lot of the grand old movie theatres in downtowns all over America, you know.
C : Yeah we have to go to [?] or Carpentersville.
BB : Sure, you go to sit in a plastic box in a mall...one of eight, you know, theatres [laughs]

[BREAK]

MR: Before we go back to the phones, how did you feel about being named one of TV's top ten hunks?

BB : [laughs] I don't know, how does one feel about that. What a flattering thing...a hunk!
MR : I'm fascinated [laughs]. How do your kids feel about it?
BB : Erm, they don't remember it! [laughs a lot]
MR : I see, they didn't laugh?
BB : That came out, I think, probably in 1985 or something, I don't know. And I hope I'm still in hunkdom but I don't know.
MR : I remember during the 1984 campaign I was out on the campaign trail one day with President Reagan and there were these two teenagers down in the front and one of them had a sign that said "Ronald Reagan is a hunk". [laughter] And from then on whenever we'd say something he didn't like he'd say - "Just remember, I'm a hunk!"
BB : I think I'd probably have the same feeling. It's a dubious honour, I don't know...a hunk of what? I mean you could be a hunk of...there's hunks and then there's hunks.
MR : You have fan clubs all over the World
BB : Yeah
MR : You have fan clubs in Hong Kong, and England
BB : Yeah, it's amazing
MR : Do you go visit with these people?
BB : I should...I should
MR : But you haven't?
BB : No I haven't. I haven't, but my gosh I gotta keep stuff out there so they can have a fanclub, and keep working
MR : That's true, but, what a wonderful excuse!
BB : It's true, if I'm in Europe I'm working usually
MR : Have you done any travelling internationally?
BB : Oh yeah, I've been all around the World
MR : What's your favourite place?
BB : I like Europe a lot. In fact, when you were out on the campaign trail in 84 we were shooting Scarecrow and Mrs King in Europe. The Olympics were done here and so all the television shows got out of town. And ours was perfect, being international intrigue and stuff like that, so...and I love it. I just got back from Canada a little while ago, I did a picture up in Montreal and I'm heading up there again to Vancouver next week, so I get around. Asia, Australia. I haven't been to Africa but I want to do that.
MR : Oh you would love Africa
BB : I've got to. I've had occasions so many times, so many people have asked me, had trips planned, and I just couldn't do it, you know? But one day I will.
MR : You're missing one of the best parts of the World. Positively.

[Elderly caller  - Joe, from Crystal Lake, Illinois]
BB : Joe?
Joe : Hi, Bruce.
BB: How are ya! [laughs]
J : How are you?
BB: I'm fine. I have all my hair yet.
J : You're just as down to earth as you sound, you're a great young man.
BB: Well, thank you Joe
J : Did you tell that little lady I made you a lot of offers you couldn't refuse?
BB: He used to cut my hair.
J : Absolutely!
BB : My gosh I remember that place. It's good to hear you.
J : Right on Williams Street
BB : Yeah!
J : Right next to the train station
BB : Oh yeah!
J : How's your mother and father?
BB : They're just doing fine, Joe. They're still living in Mt Prospect, and they'll be thrilled to know this, that I talked to you. Gosh.
J : Oh good, I'm so glad to hear you. I just turned the radio on and said, I can't believe it, boy, you're a fine young man
BB : [laughs] Thank you. Thank you, I love you for that
MR : Well thanks for calling us Joe and taking us back along memory lane
J : Well thank you for letting me talk to him. I haven't talked to him for a long time
BB: It's been quite a few years.
J: Yeah that's right. And we never miss you when you're on TV - we'll be watching tomorrow night
BB: Okay, Joe. Thank you very much
J : Everybody here is so proud of you
BB:[laughs] Thank you!
--call ends
BB : Isn't that great?
MR : Isn't that neat? That's wonderful.
BB : Hometown people, there's nothing like it. They love ya.

MR : You said that when you were a kid you were a television addict. Did you watch lots of television?
BB : Oh yeah
MR : What about your kids? Do you let them? You know with all the stuff that's on today?
BB : It's tough. I mean I try to, but you can't always monitor them all the time, you just do the best you can. There's so much junk on there and so many things they don't need to be seeing, but thankfully my eldest son likes movies more. He watches the movie channels, though I don't know if that's a good thing or not, depending on what's in the movies but he doesn't really watch network television too much. He wants to be an actor. The youngest one does too, Lee.
MR : So what are you doing, are you trying to discourage them, or not?
BB: No I just want them to go to school. Let's worry about that right now. He's been in a number of productions with me, Gambler III, he was in The Babe with me. I've always managed to get him little parts in stuff like that. He loves it. He does school plays, just like I did. It's very tough for me to just sit there and try to discourage him because he's a Boxleitner and he'll just look me in the eye and say, well try what you want to do but I'm gonna do what I'm gonna do. And I was very much that same way. When I told my parents I wanted to be an actor they looked at me like, "What?" Like it was I wanted to be...I don't know. They didn't have any history with that, there was no theatricality in our family. My grandfather was a dairy farmer, my father was raised on a farm, he formed his own business and became a CPA. So they didn't know what to think, but they let me...you know. Ah, they raised me right, so. I don't know. To answer you question, Maureen, I just think you do whatever a parent has to do now, and I can't forbid them from watching television. They get a couple of hours in the evening after school, and Saturday night or something like that, but you know...
MR : But you do limit the amount of time that they watch?
BB : I try to. I try to, but...
MR : Well, some parents don't.
BB: Well, I'm divorced from their mother, so they live at my house, they live at their Mom's, and I don't know what goes on there, but I think she's of the same feeling as I am, so you know, you just try to do the best you can.

MR : Now you love horses
BB : Oh, I love 'em yeah, I'd spend all day with them.
MR : Did you bring that with you from Illinois or did learn that here in California?
BB : Well, being around farm animals is not quite the same but I was around farm animals most of my young life. I wanted to ride, and when I got out here I was always out in the stables, in the park, riding, learning to ride and everything. It's just always something I wanted to do. I always pictured myself on horseback...I wanted to be a cowboy too.
MR : You wanted to be a cowboy movie star!
BB : That's right! So that's what I did.
MR : So, do you have a ranch now?
BB : I've had a ranch now for about 15/16 years.
MR : Whereabouts?
BB : Out in Hidden Hills. And I team-rope and do pro-celebrity rodeos with Ben Johnson and Wilfred Brimley and all those guys. So we do it, we don't just talk it, we walk it...or ride it [laughs]. But that's just some of the stuff. You can't be an actor every day of the week. There's other things to do, I've got a lot of hobbies. I read, I love history a lot, I collect a lot of stuff, I've got a  Western art collection, old militaria, old stuff...I love to browse places, specially old bookstores. I need another house now, cos it's like I live inside a library, but I love old books. That's what's fun about being an actor. You go out on location, the first thing I wanna know, I ask one of the teamsters, "Where's the best bookstore in town", I think I've been in everyone of them on the North American continent. So I love doing that kind of stuff. I love playing tennis...
I : Do you prefer American history?
BB: Yeah mainly.
I : What's your favourite period
BB : I love Hollywood history. I've collected all sorts of stuff from Hollywood. In fact I was in New York doing some promos for Showtime just a few weeks ago, and Jimmy Cagney's estate was up for auction. And I went and got a bunch of stuff from Jimmy Cagney. Oh man. I don't know I just saw it in the paper and said where is it, and it's right down the street...zoom, went. Got a great poster that was out of his collection that was from "White Heat" -- [Jimmy Cagney impression] "Look at me ma, top o' the World!" -- Kaboom.

[Break]

MR : I'm Maureen Reagan...and my guest here in the studio is Bruce Boxleitner. And one of the most important things we have to tell you is that Double Jeopardy is premiering tomorrow night on Showtime. Not only does Bruce star in Double Jeopardy but he is also the Executive Producer.

MR [to Bruce] Now that you are an Executive Producer [laugh from BB] and knowing that you love horses, and knowing that you always wanted to be a Western movie star are we gonna get to see any Westerns now?
BB : Oh you bet you are
MR : You got anything on the drawing board?
BB : Well, I got a couple of scripts that some people are interested in but I've got a possibility of starting a Western series...it's very much in the early stages right now. It's based on a popular writer, Matt Brown, not Brown, Brawn [?sp] Matt Brawn's books, and hopefully we'll get some people interested in that. We're about 90% there. We'll make a deal [laughs]. But that's what I want to do because, as you're seeing in the movies, big period pieces are coming back with Last of the Mohicans, certainly Dances with Wolves and Clint Eastwood's Unforgiven and there are many more. There are so many big movies out there on the boards right now. And I think [on] television still. I know for a fact, I mean I worked with Kenny Rogers on the Gambler movies, I II and III, over the last 10 years and they always got terrific ratings and they were always big budget things. I just think it's out there, the people like that. I cannot go anywhere outside of Los Angeles and I'll hear, [things like] yeah Double Jeopardy was terrific but when are you gonna do a Western? I just love em.
MR : Well it's been a while and there's a cycle to the industry.
BB : It's all cyclical, yeah.
MR : Course there was a time when there was nothing [but Westerns] on!
BB : I don't think we'll ever see that again. I mean one time I think there was what, something like 37 Westerns on television? [laughter] I don't think we'll ever see that again. But it's a genre that should never be allowed to die because it *is* us. The good and the bad of us. It's the one format where you can tell just about anything that's going on today in that format. If you look at the history of the Western film whatever the period it was made in -- WWII - it had strong overtones of the Axis powers and good riding over evil. Those sorts of things. It's a place that you can tell a morality tale.

[End music fading in]
MR : Have you got a good horse that you want to ride in it.
BB : Big Jake, he'd be great
MR : I had a relative who rode a horse called Tar Baby through many many films
BB : [laughs] I wonder who that fella was!
MR : Who was that masked man?
[Ends]

NO MORE MR. NICE GUY

Thanks, Jean & Julie!