Soaps watch.

`Loving' Star Faces Some Tough Critics

July 28, 1994|By Marla Hart. Special to the Tribune.

Interviewed on the eve of the 25th anniversary of the Apollo moon landing, soap actor Michael Weatherly, who just turned 26, ponders whether soap opera is still relevant to his generation. "Am I contributing to moral decay by being on a soap?" Then he answers: "I can't take them that seriously. Soaps are like comics, cartoons," he says.

Weatherly portrays Cooper Alden-the polished, blond blueblood with unflinching nostrils and an easy smile, who valiantly gave up the woman who had his baby so she could be with the man she truly loved-on "Loving" (11 a.m. weekdays, ABC-Ch. 7). He considers his character to be little more than a blip on the radar screen of pop culture. He takes no umbrage at detractors.

"I was on the subway with another soap actor at 4 a.m. the other night and four street guys came over to us," Weatherly says, "and one looked at me and said, `Yo, you're Cooper from `Loving.'

"He started talking about how we're influencing kids and there was a lot of contempt in his voice about selling people a fantasy that can never happen.

"Most people who approach me talk to me as if I were the character I play," he continues. "But these guys were aware of the illusion. I was a guy on the train and they were saying they really didn't like all the beautiful skinny people with pearly teeth. They want other answers.

"Soap opera is very centrist," says Weatherly, barely pausing to catch his breath. "Even as (producers) talk about diversification-adding African-Americans, Asians to the cast-in fact, there still isn't a single Jewish character, I don't think, on the show."

Untethered from "the Cold War mentality that defined so much of American life for the past 30 years," Weatherly says, now everyone can obsess on endless amounts of information or, as he calls it, "cranium fodder. Like this O.J. Simpson stuff. What's that? He's just some guy who ran with a piece of leather under his arm. We fixate for a lack of something better to do."

Born in New York and raised in Connecticut, Weatherly attended three colleges-Boston University, Menlo College in Menlo Park, Calif., and American University in Washington, D.C.-working in between as a shoe salesman, dishwasher and street musician before finally settling in Manhattan in 1991.

There, he played a killer on "Guiding Light," guest-starred on "The Cosby Show," then moved to L.A. At the time, "Loving's" demographics skewed toward an older audience. That prompted a nationwide talent search for a half-dozen new faces in January 1992. Weatherly auditioned in New York for a frat boy role.

He remembers the night he found out the part was his. "It was Friday, Valentine's Day (1992), and I had flown in from L.A. for this weeklong auditioning process. When it was over they called to say I got the part. I was ecstatic."

Weatherly's character, originally that of a spoiled rich kid, has since grown to include Cyrano-like unselfish acts of love and romps with women twice his age. It cannot go unnoticed that "Loving" still remains dead last in the ratings month after month. But its loyal viewership is often rewarded with rich performances and offbeat humor.

Weatherly tries to look on the bright side of being in the bottom-ranked soap. "You get the perks, the salary, but not the high publicity like a Matt Borlenghi (former heartthrob on "AMC"), who was hassled to death. So I can walk around and not be bothered. I've got only mini-celebrity; usually it's like, `You're the guy from what's-it-called.' "

While clearly not the message center for Generation X, the "Loving" soundstage has become the divining rod for Weatherly's restless spirit.

"Young people have so much energy. We're just so immersed in TV, computers, Nintendo, video, reality programming, a parade of dysfunctional people on talk shows. Every waking moment-and some sleeping moments-you're always on," he says.

- "General Hospital" meets MTV: Emma Samms, who played Fallon on "Dynasty" and Holly on "GH," will star in the video of composer Dave Koz's new release "Faces of the Heart," the "GH" theme song and third single from the saxophonist's "Lucky Man" album (Capitol). Proceeds from the sale of the single will be donated to the Starlight Foundation, an organization Samms co-founded that grants wishes to seriously ill children. The video, shot this week, airs on MTV and VH-1 beginning mid-August.

- Life's a beach for actor Richard Burgi, last seen on daytime as Kimberly's TV producer husband Phillip on "Days Of Our Lives." He will star opposite Cheryl Ladd in the new series "One West Waikiki." The show debuts with a two-hour episode Aug. 4.