FLEX BIZ

Well, it worked for Angeline (although we haven’t heard much about her lately). So why not blond, blue-eyed Joe Panicaro, 27, a body-building plumber from Reno?

The aspiring actor, who inherited his late father’s plumbing and heating company, rented a choice billboard on Sunset at Marmont late last month to show off his assets (the billboard followed two self-printed posters and a beefcake calendar that he calls “independent productions”). At press time, boasts his publicist, the billboard’s gotten him 33 appointments with casting directors, agents and producers, plus much media interest.

In his very first L.A. interview--yes, another Outtakes exclusive!--the former Mr. Nevada admitted that his bodybuilding resume is considerably longer than his list of theater credits (he’s only been studying drama for a year). But he posed this disconcerting question: “Can you have a Jack Lemmon play Conan the Barbarian?”

A lack of great acting talent, Panicaro implied, hasn’t stopped the likes of Stallone and Schwarzenegger. “As long as I can speak English and I’m halfway intelligent,” he said, “casting directors should feel comfortable working with me.”

Resolutely anti-drug, Panicaro said he developed his body completely without chemicals, and challenge Hollywood’s other musclemen to make the same claim: “I’ll take a drug test anywhere, anytime.”

Panicaro’s been to Hollywood before, blustering his way on to studio lots and into production offices, where casting directors “were throwing lead roles at me.”

But: “I have not as yet seen anything concrete.”

Stay hungry.