In an age of brawny but brainless movie heroes and lackluster teen idols, it's good to know that there's Bruce Boxleitner to bring star quality back to the screen. One of Hollywood's most romantic leading men as undercover agent Lee Stetson (code name 'Scarecrow') opposite Kate Jackson in the CBS adventure series Scarecrow and Mrs. King, Bruce evokes the image of the early John Wayne—strong, rugged, and apple-pie American. His down-to-earth charm, traditional values and lack of pretension would have done the Duke proud.

A native mid-Westerner, Bruce is an alumnus of Chicago's prestigious Goodman Theatre and received his formal training on stage. He arrived at Los Angeles and 1972 and won a few lines on an episode of The Mary Tyler Moore Show. Then he landed the plum role of James Arness' nephew in How the West Was Won and the TV series The Macahans and his career was launched. He is known for starring roles in TV films such as Bring 'Em Back Alive, The Last Convertible, The Gambler I and II, and most recently, Passion Flower. His feature film credits include the sci-fi fantasy film Tron and The Baltimore Bullet.

Bruce took time out from his very busy schedule to be interviewed by Modern Screen editor Ivy Miller about his childhood, professional life, marriage, and family. Here's their conversation word for word.

IVY: Now that Scarecrow and Mrs. King is in its third season, how would you say it has changed over the years?

BRUCE: It was much more of a comical show in the beginning. It's become a lot more serious, a little more of a dramatic show. We had some attempts at satirical humor but I think the network wanted it to be more of a dramatic and serious espionage thing with these two characters in it and in that way, it has changed a bit.

IVY: What do you think would be the audience reaction if these two characters admitted that they really loved each other?

BRUCE: I don't know but it would scare the network. They're afraid of that. I know Kate feels the same way I do, that we'd like to consummate this because it's very difficult for us to keep finding something new to tease the audience a bit. We've had the 'near miss kiss', 'are they or aren't they' thing. People would like to see it go further and perhaps it will. I think that resistance may be lightening up a little bit.

IVY: How do you and Kate get along? She's known to be hard to work with.

BRUCE: She does have that reputation. I think it's more mythical than reality; it's gotten a little out of proportion. She can be tough but this is a tough business and this is Kate's third television series. To me, it's some of the toughest work there is in this business. We didn't finish till late, late last night. The hours are killers. We love it but it can be hard on you. Kate is a very demanding professional. We get along terrifically. I feel like I have two wives. I spend so much time with Kate and we know each other so well that a lot of things are second nature especially when we're working together on-camera. We're just like a team of horses. She just made her directorial debut and I was very impressed with her. It was kind of strange because she'd be saying 'Action' and 'Cut' and it was a very schizophrenic thing for her for a little while but it was a more intimate experience with the whole cast because we didn't have the outside influence of a visiting director. Our cast is very, very tight-knit.

IVY: Can you describe a typical day?

BRUCE: Well, generally I have to be there about 7 a.m. Kate has to be there usually an hour before me; that's the way it generally goes—women take longer with the hair and make-up. The driver picks me up at my house and I go about 45 minutes away from the studio. I get into make-up, wardrobe, and then I have to go on the set. We start going over and rehearsing first shots and we work till about 7 o'clock or 8 at night. Then we repeat the process over again. This time of the year, since we're scrambling to make the end air dates, some shows are taking longer than usual. We work quite late.

IVY: What are some of the benefits of working in a weekly series?

BRUCE: It puts you on in front of the public every week. I like to have a place where I go punch in and punch out.

IVY: Do you ever have the fear of being typecast?

BRUCE: No, because I do things like Passion Flower and that was quite a different role from Lee Stetson. If I can do that every once in a while then I can at least show the audience I've got something else in my pocket. And I think I've done such a varied amount of roles, that I don't fear it, it's just that this is the most visible.

IVY: Do you do your own stunts on the show?

BRUCE: No, I used to when I was a little younger and I have the injuries to show it. Now I know what things I can do and when to say we have excellent stunt personnel and that's their job.

IVY: Can you tell any anecdote about a particularly strange, scary or funny incident that happened during an episode?

BRUCE: At the very beginning of this season, I had just come back from Singapore and doing Passion Flower and I had about a week off or so and then went right to work on Scarecrow. We were doing this sequence in which Lee was supposed to chase down this bad guy in the end. I said I could do it. We were in the park on grass and I just put some knee pads on and some elbow pads and I'm supposed to run this guy and tackle him. Well, I don't know what got into me but I thought I could tackle this stunt man and it would be nothing. I am not exactly Roger "The Refrigerator" Perry and I went flying up over him and came crashing down on my head real bad, we got all tangled up in each other and he landed on top of me. I knew I hit my head really hard but I said I was fine. And five minutes later as I'm going through the rest of the fight routine, I couldn't remember where I was and what season we were in. It took me the rest of the day to figure out who everybody was. I knew who Kate was but I thought we were in the first season of Scarecrow and Mrs. King and I couldn't figure out what happened to certain people in the crew.

IVY: You've been selected as one of the "Most Watchable Men in America", one of "TV's Top 10 Leading Men" and one of "TV's Top 10 Hunks". How do you feel about your sex symbol status? Do you feel a pressure to maintain that image?

BRUCE: I guess there is somewhat a pressure—the pressure on me not to have dessert at work when they bring out the goodies at the end of the day and everybody's eating candy bars. But occasionally I succumb. This is a crazy business because of all this 'hunk' junk. You can't live normally. There's such an emphasis on that now which I think is sick.

I don't know what to think of it. You know, it's lighting and make-up, that greatly enhances looks. But it's very flattering.

IVY: How do you keep your ego in check?

BRUCE: Occasionally I'll have my flare-up, I mean, it's built within this business—it kind of forces you to have an ego because you have to protect yourself. It's a highly competitive business and to achieve any status in it at all you have to be as tough or as callous as the next person.

I also really value a private life and my family and that helps me keep it in check. I really owe that to them, my wife and my two children and my home away from the Beverly Hills-type life.

IVY: What do you look for in a role you play?

BRUCE: I think if there is some kind of person I can identify with right down to the dialogue; it has to come naturally. I look for some kind of identification. My real goal is to play a great historical role. I really love history. I read a lot of biographies and history and things like that. I have an empathy towards those people, I guess.

IVY: How did you first get interested in acting?

BRUCE: The movies, like everybody I'm sure. In the 20th century, the movies, and television especially are very influential. I never got to see theatre. I just felt that I wanted to be an actor. From the earliest time, I was always fantasizing. If I didn't have friends or somebody to play with, I was very content with my imagination.

IVY: Do you have brothers and sisters?

BRUCE: Yeah, I have three sisters, younger than me, so for a while there I was on my own.

IVY: Was there ever anything else you wanted to do, an alternative plan in case you didn't succeed?

BRUCE: Never. I come from a very middle-class mid-Western background and people were saying to me that I should have somethine to fall back on and I said that there right away you're admitting defeat. I will win. I had tunnel vision that I was going to make it. It had to be me 'round the clock ambition. I must say, though, I've achieved certain things and I'm looking around for other achievements.

IVY: What other things would you like to do?

BRUCE: Well, I'm interested in art. I'd like to have an art gallery. I've always been interested in Western art and that type of colonial Americana. I might do things like that. I've looked around for a little business to get into. I have horses. I would like to start breeding horses. These are just things as sidelines but you have to have other interests, otherwise you go pretty stale.

IVY: What is you background? Boxleitner is a very unusual name.

BRUCE: I think a long, long time ago my people came from Germany. I'm an algamation. I'm German-Irish, English, Scottish, Welsh.

IVY: Who were your influences?

BRUCE: I had all kinds. I think the early movie heroes were my inspirations, the Gables, the Waynes, the Coopers. I love that era anyway. The '30s, the '40s. The '40s, especially, was my favorite era of film. These were larger-than-life people.

IVY: Your marriage to Kitty Holcomb is known to be a very happy one which is very rare in Hollywood. How do you keep it going in the midst of all that glitz and glamour?

BRUCE: My marriage is very good but we have all the problems that everybody has. We work at it, I suppose. It's not easy. I'm not easy to live with and because of this job, it's not easy. I have a marvelous wife.

IVY: How did you meet her?

BRUCE: We were working together on a series. It's probably my favorite role, a mini-series called How the West Was Won which I loved because I got to play cowboy every day and get paid for it. Kitty played my sister and it was very funny, we just met each other out in the deserts of Utah and became real good friends. We were both involved with other people at the time or dating and we really didn't get going until the series had already been on a year and we just got closer and closer.

But we've had all the pressures. We've had two careers going and even when we did get married, we were saying 'hello', 'goodbye' with she going her way and me going mine. That was very difficult. She has since devoted herself to her family, I can't say retired from her acting career. She is my most personal manager and runs this place and also is very active in all the social things that I don't get to go to because of my demanding hours.

IVY: You have two sons, right?

BRUCE: Yes, Sam and Lee. Lee's named after Scarecrow. Being a father takes my mind away from all this selfishness.

IVY: Has fatherhood changed you?

BRUCE: Oh, definitely! It's mellowed me, given me a real sense of responsibility. I had my wilder days, I won't publicize it or anything, but I got around and fatherhood kind of mellows you out. I've reached a certain part of my life where I really don't care about trying to burn the candle at both ends. I just want to be me. My boys are a part of me and I'm a part of them. I really strongly believe in the family unit.

IVY: Would you encourage your sons to go into acting?

BRUCE: Oh, I think they're going to. They're the sons of an actor and an actress and I think it's probably the logical thing. I see so much of myself in my son Sam. Lee is still very much an infant so it's hard to tell. Sam has the same kind of vivid imagination I had. He's very bright, he's got an artistic mind and he's a real film nut already.

IVY: Besides spending time with your family, what else do you do when you have a spare moment?

BRUCE: There are very few, right now. I stay home during the weekends. I like to ride my horses.

IVY: You're involved with the American Humane Association, right?

BRUCE: Yeah. I've been a spokesperson for them. I just did some spots for them. We have enough animals around this property. I've always been around animals, I grew up on a farm. And I believe in their protection.

IVY: Well, thank you for sharing your thoughts with Modern Screen. It was a pleasure speaking with you!

BRUCE: Same here!
 

Thanks, Claudia!