MARTIN MILNER ON A NEW ROUTE AS A DRAMA COACH

When Martin Milner was a callow Hollywood actor during the late 1940s, he learned the subtleties of his craft by observing other performers. Milner was fortunate--before turning 30, he worked with the likes of Henry Fonda, John Wayne, Burt Lancaster and Gary Cooper.

Probably best known for starring in television’s “Route 66” and “Adam 12” despite a string of supporting roles in several movies, Milner now finds himself in similar circumstances. This time, however, he’s the one being watched by neophyte actors hoping to learn something.

As the “artist in residence” at Cypress College, Milner is spending the next few weeks with the drama department’s more advanced students. Besides leading seminars that study acting and the demands of Hollywood, he is in the college’s production of “Mr. Roberts,” which opens Thursday at the Yorba Linda Forum Theater and continues through April 12.

“I think the arrangement is a lot of fun and beneficial, too,” said Milner, 55. “During the rehearsals, I get the opportunity to take them aside and tell them things, what they’re doing right and what they’re doing wrong. They ask me questions, and we get into specifics, technique and the like, through the performing.

“The classes focus more on my career. They ask questions about making it or what they can expect (as an actor), and I respond . . . we try for a meeting of the minds, and my experience seems to come in handy.”

Those experiences began in the 1940s in Seattle, where Milner worked as a child actor in local productions. But a boyish hobby became a career after his parents moved to Los Angeles and Milner found he could land acting jobs. His affable, all-American looks and simple, unobtrusive style made him easy to cast.

He appeared in a handful of films during the late ‘40s and ‘50s--the 1947 “Life With Father” starring William Powell and Irene Dunne was one of Milner’s first ventures--but then moved to television to find the role for which he is probably best known.

Milner was picked to team with George Maharis and perhaps the real star--a flashy Corvette--in “Route 66,” the long-running series about two do-gooders motoring around the country. The show, it was said at the time, was inspired by Jack Kerouac’s off-beat highway saga “On the Road.”

When the program went off the air, the sandy-haired actor took a right-hand turn into a far straighter world when he starred in his second major series, “Adam 12,” as conservative cop Pete Malloy. After the show died, Milner settled into his Del Mar home but kept busy with regional theater and touring shows (he has just completed a national tour of “Doubles,” a comedy featuring Gabe Kaplan). There was also a six-month stint as a radio talk show host with San Diego’s KOGO.

“Like most actors, I need to keep busy because the profession is so stimulating; it keeps you going,” Milner said. “That’s why if I’m not touring, I’m involved in something like this teaching program, which is, actually, ideal because I get to perform.

“And anyone who thinks this can’t be as satisfying because it isn’t the big leagues (of television), really doesn’t know what they’re talking about. That’s like saying you can’t enjoy yourself (as a performer) unless you’re on a network. There’s a lot of fun with this.”

The Cypress College program is divided into two parts, the classroom and the stage. Both are relatively unstructured to give Milner plenty of freedom and the students a relaxed, unintimidating environment.

During rehearsals for “Mr. Roberts,” students are expected to learn both by watching and interacting with Milner. Although he defers to director Mark Majarian on most scenes, Milner will sometimes take one of the production’s 23 students aside for an instructive chat.

His advice may be simply to read a line more expressively or emphasize a gesture. Milner said he often tells students that any performance, no matter how personal to the performer, must register with every member in the audience, even those stuck in the back row.

“I’m always telling them to make it all faster and louder, that the play has to keep moving and everything has to make sense. You encourage them to be inventive and take chances (but to be) careful not to lose people. Young actors sometime get carried away. . . . I try to bring a pragmatic, controlled approach to it all.”

“Mr Roberts,” based on the book and set aboard a Navy cargo ship during World War II, is a good vehicle for the teaching program because there are several unusual parts that allow the students to flex a bit, noted Milner, who plays the avuncular “Doc.”

“It really is the best play to come out of the war . . . it has so much to say about the human condition. And the characters are so rich, they really offer great opportunities” for the students, Milner said.

The chance to appear in a stage version of “Mr. Roberts” was the main reason Milner accepted Cypress College’s invitation. Milner, who had a small part in the 1955 film that was based on the 1948 play and the book, said the opportunity doesn’t come around every day.

“The biggest problem with it is that it’s just too costly for most (private) theaters,” he explained. “All those parts, they just get too expensive when you bring in equity players. Student productions can pull it off because there isn’t much overhead.”