Coming of Age

William R. Moses’ wholesome California good looks can be a curse: Ever since he started playing Cole on TV’s “Falcon Crest” six years ago, Moses has been typecast as an actor best suited to play “the good son.”

But over the past year, the 28-year-old actor and L.A. native has come of age. It was a time scarred by personal tragedy, but enriched by career breakthroughs--most notably his performance in the film “Mystic Pizza.” “I’ve had some mileage put on me this year,” says Moses, who also appears in ABC’s upcoming mega-miniseries “War and Remembrance.”

Three months after his marriage to actress Tracy Nelson, daughter of the late singer Rick Nelson, in July, 1987, she was diagnosed as having Hodgkin’s disease, a malignancy that often strikes young people. Moses dropped his acting career so that he could take care of his new wife full time.

“When you see your wife 10 minutes after a five-hour operation, or turning chalk white from the chemotherapy running through her body, it makes you realize what’s really important in life,” Moses says. Nelson recovered, but Moses’ father--diagnosed at the same time as terminally ill with cancer--didn’t.

Moses’ career, however, was a bright note in a difficult year, with a chance to grow up on the screen. In “Mystic Pizza,” which opened last week, Moses gives a strikingly convincing performance of a thirtysomething architect whose shoulders sag under the weight of failed dreams and an equally failed marriage.

The architect eventually seduces his college-aged baby sitter. But he’s no villain: Unlike others who auditioned for the part, Moses insisted on playing a kind but misguided man who sees his lost innocence in the girl. “It was a meeting of the minds, not the libidos,” Moses says.

While Moses is eyeing a film career, he hasn’t ruled out TV parts, especially if it’s in the name of love. When Nelson’s new NBC series, “Father Dowling,” starts up this winter, audiences just might catch a glimpse of her husband as a guest star.