 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Lt. Harmon Rabb Jr., military lawyer-sleuth, strolls through a Lima bazaar on the prowl for clues that may prove Peruvian terrorists caused a shooting at the American Embassy [ex. War Cries]. Wearing navy whites, he's not exactly incognito.
"Cut! Print!" Return to the real world.
Lt. Rabb is really Canadian-born actor David James Elliott, doing a scene for the new NBC series JAG, which stands for Judge Advocate General. Scenes representing Lima are shot on Industrial Street, an area teeming with big rigs and warehouses in East Los Angeles. Set decoration and Latino extras help create the illusion.
Peru is the latest stopping-place for Lt. Rabb, who has been on board a carrier in the Mediterranean, submerged in a submarine and on Marine maneuvers in the desert. All without leaving the country.
"We even did the carrier movie (the two-hour season opener) in dry dock," Elliott said as he swigged bottled designer water in his trailer. He fits not too neatly in the space, being 6-foot-4.
Elliott also can be seen Sunday and Monday in the four-hour NBC movie Degree of Guilt (9-11 each night on Channel 22). It's based on two novels by Richard North Patterson. Daphne Zuniga (Melrose Place), Sharon Lawrence (NYPD Blues) and Patricia Kalember (Sisters) co-star in the story of a San Francisco lawyer who defends his former lover and mother of his child on murder charges, then becomes a prime suspect himself.
"This is the year of lawyers," Elliott said. "I hadn't played one before. Now, I've played two."
Most of Degree of Guilt was filmed in Toronto on a "brutal schedule - seven weeks, six days a week, 16-17 hours a day." But at least Elliott was filming in his hometown. He was born there 35 years ago and grew up with no interest in acting until he read King Lear in a theater-history class. He was encouraged to enroll in drama at the prestigious Ryerson Polytechnic Institute and then spent two years at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival in Ontario, winning the award as the most promising actor in the company.
Elliott came to Hollywood in 1990 and plunged into television work, including a recurring role on Knots Landing as a pro baseball player who wooed Nicolette Sheridan.
But he was perhaps best-known for his work on Melrose Place in a role far removed from straight-arrow Lt. Rabb: He played a "cross-addictive alcohol addict, drug addict, sex addict."
Elliott downplays the effect of Melrose Place on his career, although he admits it has helped the media identify him.
"I did only four episodes," he noted. "I did many, many TV shows. I did a series in Canada (Street Legal) for five years. I was on The Untouchables for two years."
Despite some rough patches, Elliott managed to keep working in series such as Doogie Howser, M.D., China Beach and The Hitchhiker.
"I always believed that something good would happen," he said. "I'm an actor - I'm not out to be a movie star. My idea of success is doing the best job I can, whatever the venue happens to be."
Nor did he worry that he would be below starring roles forever.
"You know, 35 is a prime age for a man," he observed. "You look like a man, get character in your face."
Elliott, who is married and has a 3-year-old daughter, noted that JAG is "holding its own" Saturdays at 8 p.m., a tough time to score ratings.
"You can't always have that Seinfeld time slot," he added philosophically. And there are rumors that NBC will find a more favorable time for the show. "When I started in the theater, we were doing a play, nine shows a week," Elliott said. "Sometimes, you'd come out and there would be seven people in a 700-seat house. We were doing a 2½-hour farce at a lightning pace. Normally we were playing to full houses all the time at nighttime shows, and we'd steal some of that energy from the audience. My buddy pointed out to me if there were one person out there having the time of his life, the effort was totally worthwhile.
"No matter what happens, I think it's a great show," he said of JAG. "However long it goes, it's a success in my book."
