A ‘Wiseguy’ Who’s Really a Regular Guy : TV’s Ken Wahl, a star who shuns the star label, relishes his real-life role as an ‘anti-celebrity’

Never mind that “Wiseguy” has become the hot crime series in this, its second season. Ken Wahl--who stars as undercover agent Vinnie Terranova--is passionate about staying in the shadows.

He’s so bent on keeping his private life private (“You won’t see any headlines about me in those supermarket tabloids”) that, during an interview, he wouldn’t even say if he’s married or single.

“Maybe I’m married and maybe I’m not,” said Wahl, who then implored a reporter to not even mention a private life. “Give me your word,” he exclaimed.

Chain-smoking unfiltered Camels and drinking hot cocoa, Wahl was kicked back on a rented couch in the living room of his brownstone apartment in downtown Vancouver.

Wahl had worked into the night on his series--one of a growing number of TV shows and movies that shoot in Vancouver. The hour was late, but a reporter was told not to rush. The reason: “You’re only going to get this one shot.”

Wahl had agreed to the interview only after some negotiations. His deal was this: He would not allow a reporter to visit the set to watch him work. (“You have your little rules, and I have mine. When we’re on the set, that’s our time. Nobody messes with that.”) He would not be photographed; photos were supplied by the series photographer.

“To be perfectly honest, the reason I’m doing this is basically to get (the series publicist) off my back.

“Don’t take it personal. It’s just that I would feel foolish if I was on the covers of magazines. It’s not anything I’ve ever wanted.”

Added Wahl: “I’m sort of proud of the fact that I’m sort of a--for want of a better term--an anti-celebrity.”

Dressed in what are more or less his trademark duds--sweat shirt, jeans, black boots--he didn’t look the part of The Celebrity. And he didn’t act the part. He made no pretenses about enjoying the interview process. At the same time, he seemed determined to see through his side of “the deal.” He thought over questions carefully and even asked to return to certain nagging points.

Including his predilection for privacy.

Which Steven J. Cannell, executive producer and co-creator of “Wiseguy,” summed up this way: “He’s saying I’ll do the lines and perform the part, but I’m not going to be this year’s pitchman. I’m not going to be this year’s hunk.”

As Wahl--who does not have a personal publicist--pointed out, “Wiseguy” has garnered attention and critical acclaim without him having played the role of Cover Boy.

“We get a lot of letters. What I’m proud of is that people write in not because Ken Wahl’s this big celebrity and he’s seen at Laker’s games and (stuff) like that. Or because of who Ken Wahl’s going out with, or what scandal he’s involved in, or that he was at this or that Hollywood bash.

“They’re writing in because they like the show. They like the characters. They like the stories. That’s what’s important.”

The story of “Wiseguy” is as follows: Vinnie spent 18 months in the pen--to establish himself with the Mob (and other nefarious types). Now he works undercover for the OCB--that’s the Organized Crime Bureau. Because the bad guys he works with are often so enticing, Vinnie’s often in a state of moral psychosis . . . sometimes seeming to teeter dangerously close to his own dark side.

Except for those formal nights out with the bad guys/gals, Vinnie doesn’t sport a GQ wardrobe. He sports a Ken Wahl wardrobe (lots of T-shirts and sweat shirts). And he eschews Ferraris for fixer-upper muscle cars.

“Vinnie’s more your regular guy,” said Wahl, who takes great pride in being the same.

Born 30 years ago on the south side of Chicago, Wahl grew up “bouncing back and forth” between Chicago and New York.

Today, home is “somewhere” in New York City.

Where? “Just somewhere,” said Wahl, who spoke highly of “hanging out in the Bronx with buddies of mine.” Foremost among those buddies is best friend Tony Ganios--who recently guested as the lawyer of a garment-industry crime lord on “Wiseguy.” Wahl and Ganios have been pals since they appeared in the 1979 cult film “The Wanderers” as members of the same gang.

Wahl also has done some palling around with former Penthouse Pet of the Month, Corinne Alphen. Publicity materials for his 1984 film, “Purple Hearts,” mention their marriage. (Alphen was billed as Corinne Wahl when she displayed her measurements in one of the sketches in John Landis’ “Amazon Women on the Moon.”) In 1984, the Hollywood Reporter announced they’d named their newborn son Raymond.

Wahl wouldn’t elaborate. Asked if he has a son, he answered: “Possibly.”

With shades of tough guy Terranova--and his own “regular guy” background--Wahl doesn’t refer to the film/TV world as “the industry” or “the business,” per regular show-business parlance.

He calls it “this racket.” Or “this scam.”

“This is just what I do for a living. It’s not my whole reason for living,” said Wahl.

“Put it this way, I’m a regular guy with the exception of having an unusual--by regular guy standards--occupation.

“And I’m glad of it,” smiled Wahl, adding: “It’s true that a bank account gives me security, and that is a big thing. But it doesn’t change who I am.”

(Later, after mentioning that he has a personal assistant and a driver on “Wiseguy,” Wahl stressed, “but when I’m in the Bronx, I don’t have a personal assistant and a driver. So there !”)

Wahl also likes to keep his distance--literally--from Hollywood/L.A.

“People in L.A. are the industry,” he said, shaking his head.

As for the town’s so-called parties: “I went to a couple. It’s funny how people don’t really have a good time at those things.

“That’s because they’re not really parties. They’re too much business and not enough fun. You have to watch what you say and watch what you do, because this guy’s the head of this and that guy’s the head of that, and he’s this guy’s agent and blah, blah.”

With a grimace, he added: “And how could I forgot those freeways in L.A.--and the traffic jams?

“And another thing--Mercedes are like Fords down there. Everything seems to be about creating an image.”

‘Muscle Car’ Collector

Speaking of which, Wahl--who has disdain for “status-seeking auto buying”--stressed “all the cars I’ve got, combined, didn’t cost as much as one new Corvette today.” A collector of “muscle” cars, he’s got 11 Dodges and Plymouths. And, Wahl bragged, he’s still driving the 1971 Chevelle he bought for $600.

So where does he keep all these cars? “Somewhere back home,” said Wahl, who shrugged off his automotive infatuation, explaining: “My dad’s a mechanic.”

It was Wahl who came up with the idea of having Vinnie drive a $3,500 1970 Dodge Challenger. “That’s much more real life,” he said, “it fits his neighborhood--and his character.”

And the idea of casting Jerry Lewis in the recent story line about a garment-industry businessman and his son was Wahl’s. “He was so fantastic in ‘King of Comedy,’ ” declared Wahl. “Then, after I went with (supervising producer) David Burke to see ‘Speed-the-Plow,’ we got to talking about Ron Silver (as the son). We got real lucky.”

In other words, Wahl doesn’t just show up on the set.

“It would get rather dull and boring if you were just saying lines,” said Wahl--who came up with the story for next week’s episode (the first of a two-parter), in which the late Sonny Steelgrave--made infamous by Ray Sharkey’s performance--returns in dream sequences.

In fact, Wahl is obsessive about the series and his character.

Asked about a fleeting moment in one of this season’s early episodes, in which Vinnie hands a young man a volume of Mark Twain and urges him to read it (C’mon, are we expected to believe that Vinnie’s read Mark Twain?), Wahl shot back, “Maybe it’s a book he wishes he’d read. Maybe he had to do other things--and didn’t have the time to read it. OK?”

When a distraught Vinnie dropped out of the OCB (and, basically, life), Wahl decided to grow long hair and a beard (and dress even scruffier than usual). Not exactly in keeping with the prevailing network mentality about leading men, laughed Wahl. “They were kind of thrown when I came up with that one.”

Wahl also argued for Vinnie’s right to tell his mother about his undercover work. “I felt that he needed some kind of connection with somebody who he derives happiness from.

“For a while, there were no rewards for Vinnie. Everything was about him just doing his job and endangering his life. And there was no payback . . . and I was bitching and moaning that Vinnie’s got to have something to be happy about. Otherwise, he’d say ‘to hell with this job--I quit!”

“Wiseguy,” which airs Wednedays on CBS, is like no other crime show.

For starters, there are those dicey story lines. And florid scripts. (If you don’t pay attention, you can miss entire plot points.) And there are production values that defy TV’s frantic production pace.

Most of all, there are the audacious and dangerously seductive bad guys/gals who saunter through the story “arcs.” (On “Wiseguy,” most stories span four or more episodes--creating “arcs.”)

A Rogue’s Gallery

From mob boss Sonny Steelgrave to those incestuous, drug-dealing siblings Mel and Susan Profitt (played by Kevin Spacey and Joan Severance) to hustler/white supremacist spokesman Knox Pooley (played by Watergate lawyer (!) Fred Thompson), “Wiseguy” has let loose a crazy, creepy, spell-binding rogue’s gallery.

And it promises to grow: Look for Deidre Hall--best known for playing sweetheart-types--to go “over the edge” (according to a series source), “as you’ve never seen her before,” in an upcoming seven-episode arc about corruption in the music industry. To get under way March 1, the story boasts the unlikely casting of Glenn Frey, Deborah Harry, Tim Curry, Paul Winfield, Mick Fleetwood and Patty D’Arbanville.

Little wonder that Vinnie sometimes seems like a visitor to his own series.

But, in fact, he’s the show’s core. Wahl is so much the core of the show that his presence was felt even in the recent episodes that went Wahl-less (because the actor took time off to allow an ankle injury to heal). Those episodes--with Lewis/Silver--found Anthony Denison as another OCB agent subbing for an “injured” Vinnie. In the end, Denison caved in to what must be Vinnie’s wildest nightmare: He cracked in the line of duty.

When it comes to Vinnie/Wahl, the word that comes up most often among the “Wiseguy” creative folks is vulnerable.

Said series director Rob Iscove: “Vinnie’s not afraid to show that he’s torn--that he’s vulnerable. He faces the same moral dilemmas we all do. For Vinnie, the world isn’t defined in terms of black and white.”

Said co-executive producer Les Sheldon: “Here’s a character who grew up on the East Coast in the same neighborhood as, say, Sonny Steelgrave. Maybe, because he had a slightly more stable home life, he took a left turn and Sonny took a right. What I’m saying is that he can relate to these people that he’s been thrown in with.

“He knows that he could have been one of them.”

“The thing about Vinnie,” said Wahl, “is that he’s constantly being tested. He’s very real, in that you never know what he’s going to do. I think that’s what the audience likes about him.”

Many female viewers also might admit to liking the show simply because of the tall, dark and ruggedly handsome Wahl.

(Billboards touting the show boast a massive picture of Wahl, accompanied by the words: If looks could kill. )

Wahl shrugs off hunk-status talk: “I have crooked teeth. I only got one eyebrow. (Wahl won’t tweeze those hairs that make his eyebrows appear to merge.) My mouth is crooked. My nose is crooked. Everything about me is crooked.”

He added, “I like to think that if I have appeal, it’s because I have heart. “

Wahl was 19 when he decided to chuck a job at an auto parts warehouse and try acting. He applied--with hundreds of others--for a chance to read for “The Wanderers.”

Remembered Wahl: “I didn’t bring in a resume. I didn’t have a list of credits a mile long, back to when I played the grape in the third-grade school play. I just said, ‘Please give me a chance--I think I can do the job for you.’ ”

He wound up doing “a little two- or three-minute screen test,” and getting the part. Philip Kaufman’s 1979 film--about Bronx high schoolers (and gang members) in the early ‘60s--has since acquired cult status. Wahl has since racked up eight film credits.

“Jinxed,” the movie Wahl did with Bette Midler, didn’t sell tickets, but it did make headlines during filming, when Wahl and director Don Siegel didn’t jibe with the volatile actress/singer. (“Don’t you think the screen just lit up when we were together,” quipped Wahl.)

“Fort Apache, The Bronx,” teamed Wahl with Paul Newman. “Nothing shabby about making a movie with Paul Newman,” surmised Wahl. He teamed with Cheryl Ladd for the wartime-romantic drama, “Purple Hearts.” “It turned out pretty sappy,” said Wahl, “but I was happy to do it because I got to play a doctor and not a New York street guy. It was nice to get to play an educated person.”

He’s done a few heavy artillery-action pictures. And a short-lived series opposite Billy Dee Williams. “I had a lean year there. I needed the money. I wasn’t sorry when it (‘Double Dare’) got canceled. It was pretty dumb.”

He wasn’t looking to do another series when the “Wiseguy” offer came along. “But I wasn’t in a position to not check it out.”

Wahl wanted to know: Could a reporter mention some of the crew members “who never get any attention.”

Such as? Director of photography Frank E. Johnson. Camera operator Cam MacDonald. Janet Ulmer (“she does my hair”). Personal assistant Kenna Marshall-Pitman. Driver Terry Newton.

Pointing out that the show’s cast and crew is “real tight,” Wahl said, “that really makes it easier when you’re filming away from home.”

“I mean, Vancouver has all the natural splendor. Trees and mountains and all that. If you’re into hiking, I guess it’s OK.”

As for the night life. “It’s pretty beat here. But on Saturday nights, I go hear Jimmy Burns play.”

Burns, one of the series co-stars (he plays Lifeguard), is also a musician who regularly plays gigs around town.

“I get in free. You think I’m gonna pass that up?”

Spoken like a regular guy.