Craig T. Nelson

A couple of years ago, Craig T. Nelson had visions of whacking golf balls around beautifully manicured links all over the Western world and parts of Asia. Having starred on the sitcom "Coach" (1989-97) and raked in serious money for eight years, the reality was that he didn`t have to lift a finger for the rest of his life.

Content to work in an occasional telefilm while writing TV scripts at his own snail`s pace, while dividing his time between homes in Malibu and Hawaii, about the farthest thing from his mind was starring in another television series. Particularly a one-hour drama series, a venture requiring up to 15-16 hours a day from the principal actor. The 54-year-old writer/performer had learned that back-breaking lesson years earlier in "Chicago Story" (1982) and "Call to Glory" (1984-85).

Nelson, an intelligent man, knew that he didn`t have the tenacity or stamina to do another one. And now he is starring in "The District" (premiering Friday, Oct. 6, 9 p.m., CBS), a one-hour cop drama series inspired by the real-life exploits of Jack Maple, a former New York City Deputy Police Commissioner. It`s no surprise that the hulking, 6-foot-3 and balding actor is working up to 16 hours a day on locations in and around Los Angeles.

As Jack Mannion, Maple`s alter ego, Nelson plays the eccentric and flamboyant new police chief of Washington, D.C., a zealous reformer determined to clean up the nation`s capital, which is riddled with crime despite the fact that the city houses more law-enforcement agencies per square inch than any other city in the galaxy. Mannion, who supports three expensive habits, two ex-wives and tailor-made suits, is now married to the job and works close to 24-hour shifts as he sets out to rebuild the ineffective and demoralized police department by highly unorthodox methods.

So why does the sitcom millionaire get up at five o`clock in the morning to put in another back-breaking day of work?

"My golf game just wasn`t improving and the pilot script was great," Nelson explains. "Terry George (from Belfast, Northern Ireland), who had been involved with the IRA (Irish Republican Army) for some years, did a finely structured script and addressed some issues I personally want to talk about. He also (co-wrote) the Oscar-nominated feature film `In the Name of the Father.`"

He was also intrigued by Jack Maple, who is listed as the co-creator of "The Districts" (with Terry George), a 27-year police veteran who started his career as a New York Transit cop and still consults for the police departments in Baltimore, New Orleans, Philadelphia and Birmingham.

"We set the show in Washington and gave Jack a new life," says Nelson. "Our idea of eccentricities for Mannion include living on a tugboat on the Potomac, where the decor is Early Mess."

Spent by the time the weekend rolls around, Nelson barely has enough energy left to unwind by hitting a few balls on a nearby driving range or occasionally stumble around a nine-hole course on Saturday mornings. But Sunday, family day, is the day he always looking forward to - exhausted or well-rested.

"We cook dinner and have a great time with the three kids (by a previous marriage) and (four) grandchildren catching up on what everybody`s doing," he says. He doesn`t always like what he hears, including the trials and tribulations of Noah, 24, his youngest son, who has enough sense to keep his day job while looking for acting opportunities.

"I could do a lot more for Noah than I`m doing, but I won`t," says Nelson. "He`s been around acting all his life, and I kind of figured he wanted to do it, but now it`s his turn. I`ve given him all the advice I can, now it`s about him doing it."

His oldest son, Chris, 30, is a science-fiction writer and his daughter Tiffany, 33, "is still trying to figure out what she wants to do."

After dinner, Nelson knows his chores. He is married to Doria Cook Nelson, a free-lance writer, president of a martial-arts association, karate instructor and tai chi teacher.

"When you are married to a karate black belt, you don`t wait to be asked to make dinner and take out the garbage," he laughs. "You just do it. Now. Or as soon as possible."

Now that he has found his acting legs again, Nelson has no trouble deciding what to do - his problem is finding the time to do it all. During his recent self-imposed semiretirement, he wrote a top-secret trilogy for television and helped develop a telefilm for the CBS network called "The Gold and Ivory Tablecloth" - which he will also produce through his Family Tree Productions. Other projects in the works include a biopic on five-time land speed record holder Craig Breedlove.

A speed freak who became hooked on horsepower during the 1991 Pro Celebrity Grand Prix, Nelson was foolish enough to form his own team - the Screaming Eagles Racing Enterprise - a year later. He had a lot of fun competing in the World Sports Car series, the Professional SportsCar series and the Porsche Super Cup series - but disbanded the expensive team in 1998, to avert his having to go back to work for a living.

Born and reared in Spokane, Wash., Nelson hails from a show business family: His father, Armand, played drums in Bing Crosby`s high-school band before opting for a legitimate career at the local Kaiser Aluminum plant. His mother once made a living as a dancer, but she gave up dancing to raise the family. Though a high-school top athlete in golf, football, basketball and baseball, Nelson eventually accepted a drama scholarship from the University of Arizona.

Nelson dropped out of college a couple of years later after meeting a "drunken and insane so-called producer who wanted to put me in a movie with Wally Cox " during summer stock in Cripple Creek, Ariz. He immediately found employment in Hollywood as a security guard in a soap factory, then formed a terrible stand-up comedy act with "Rain Man" director Barry Levinson. When the comedy act bombed, he went on to win two local Emmy Awards (1969 and 1970) as a writer for the Los Angeles-based "Lohman and Barkley Show."

Having established a reputation "as a big, funny guy," Nelson sought to simplify his life by moving his family to 40 acres in Northern California where he built a log cabin with his own hands. It was a magical five years, but without formal training as a carpenter, logger, plumber or a teacher, Nelson and his family were on welfare and food stamps by 1977. Back in Hollywood one year later, Nelson made his legitimate acting debut in Al Pacino`s " ... And Justice for All" and never looked back. It was that easy.

(c) Copley News Service

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Author: Eirik Knutzen