By Robert Schork
TV veteran Hal Linden (ex-Barney, BARNEY MILLER) debuts on THE BOLD AND THE BEAUTIFUL Dec. 19 as Jerry Kramer, a mystery man from Nick and Jackie's past. Linden sat down with Weekly to talk about his experience at the show and revealed how, thanks to B&B, his career has come full circle.
Soap Opera Weekly: Tell me how the role came about.
Hal Linden: In my entire career I only did one day on a soap opera. I don't even remember which soap, quite honestly, but it was shot in New York. All I remember about it was that it was a flashback. Then this arc came up with B&B, and interestingly enough it starts with a flashback, so I thought, "Hey, I'm coming full circle!" And, since I've never really spent any time on a soap opera stage, I wanted to see what it was like, to satisfy some curiosities.
Weekly: I did some research. You were on SEARCH FOR TOMORROW in 1969. It was a character named Larry Carter.
Linden: You're better than I am! I had no idea.
Weekly: And it was a CBS soap as well.
Linden: Is SEARCH FOR TOMORROW still on?
Weekly: No. It went off the air in 1986, after a big flood. And now you're playing a sea captain. Full circle, indeed. So what was it like doing a soap for more than a day?
Linden: Absolutely fascinating, I must say. People always ask me the difference between film and television. In film you shoot maybe three pages a day. In [prime-time] television, you shoot eight or nine pages a day. And in soaps, forget it! You really have to be quicker, and that forces you as an actor to learn how to do a better job in a faster way. There's no fooling around. You really have to make your decisions quickly — and you have to stick by them. I had to take the whole character from beginning to end and decide everything in the first moments and make sure I didn't do anything in the last scenes that would affect the first scene. That's not easy, but it's an interesting adventure. I also love how the actors work in soaps. You sit around a table and do the scene and everybody explains to everybody what they're doing. There's a lot of preparing on the fly. It's not something I was used to, but something I was perfectly ready to engage in.
Weekly: How was it working with Lesley-Anne Down (Jackie)?
Linden: I must say, the flashbacks we tried to accomplish spanned over 30 years, so we were supposed to be much younger. When we did the present-day stuff I said, "You know something, you're holding up pretty good!" She's quite gorgeous. And the acting experience was very pleasant, with Lesley-Anne and everybody. I ran into no egos, and everybody was very helpful.
Weekly: Longtime daytime viewers may remember you for your informative FYI segments on ABC. In fact, you won your Emmys from them.
Linden: Yes, I won three! That was also a pretty memorable experience. They talked about continuing it, but they never got around to it.
Weekly: You mentioned prime-time TV, film and soaps. Was the multiple-camera shooting a change for you?
Linden: No. I've done multiple cameras many times. BARNEY MILLER was multiple camera. The problem is the speed and having to make all your decisions up front. With BARNEY, at least we had a week to work on an episode to think about and try this and that. On this, you have to make your decision.
Weekly: You still get recognized for BARNEY MILLER?
Linden: Oh, yeah. But no complaints! If you're going to be recognized and associated with a character, let it be something that classy. Pretty timeless.