DON’T PLAY IT AGAIN, PHIL

1987 isn’t bright for L.A. actor/Woody Allen look-alike Phil Boroff. He appeared in a 1984 magazine ad promoting video store franchises; Allen sued charging unfair use of his image. Allen won $425,000 last fall from National Videos and a court order that Boroff claims has all but destroyed his touting career.

“The last 2 1/2 years have been absolute hell,” Boroff told us dismally. “What I needed for Christmas was a new face and a new life.” Santa didn’t come through. “I’m trying now to decide what to do with the rest of my life.”

The most chilling restriction, said Boroff, requires TV commercials or print ads featuring him to carry disclaimers proclaiming that Allen has no connection to and has not “authorized or approved” the product or service advertised. (For print ads, the disclaimer must be in bold-face type equal to or larger than the type in the copy.)

Boroff also must submit a copy of the court order to any prospective employer and advise them that they must abide by it. “The restrictions are so strict,” Boroff said, “that people just don’t use me.”

A stage director with a Ph.D. in theater arts from Southern Illinois U and some good critical credits, Boroff estimated that he’d done 25-30 commercials and print ads--some as a Ron Smith Celeb Look-Alike--when the lawsuit hit. He said he was spurned by the ACLU and Screen Actors Guild when he sought help fighting the suit in NYC Federal Court. “There were times when I was nuts. It’s calmer now, but I’m broke, I’m in debt. (The settlement) has destroyed my right to make a living at the profession that I’ve chosen and that I’m trained in.”

He said he’s never imitated Woody, even when starring locally in the Allen-penned play “Play It Again, Sam” (which uses a Bogart imitator, as does the film version): “I don’t know how to do an impression. I don’t mimic him in any way. I just happen to look like him.”

Said Jacob Laufer, Allen’s attorney in NYC: “It was not our intention to impact (Boroff’s) career. Our intention was to stop him from profiteering on Woody Allen’s image. And I hope we’ve accomplished that.”

SI John M. Wilson