Milquetoast to Bully

“My biggest problem is that he was quite milquetoast,” says Carl Lumbly, recalling his good-guy role as Det. Marcus Petrie on “Cagney & Lacey.” It’s hardly a factor in his current part. In the 1927-set “Eden” (at the Los Angeles Theatre Center), Lumbly pulls out the stops as West Indian patriarch Joseph Barton, a bullying, battering separationist who blames American blacks for the disintegration of racial purity.

The actor, who originally played the role in 1980, is finding the reprisal a tough one.

“This man has made me feel old,” he says. “Before I had all that youthful energy. It didn’t seem to go as deeply as it does now. Certain things in life take you to a deeper place. I wasn’t a father then, and my (Jamaican) father was still alive. This time, I see Mr. Barton’s brutality and single-mindedness as less tyrannical, born of fear and hope. I love him a lot more. Of course,” he says, laughing. “It’s my job to love him.”

Since the 1988 cancellation of “Cagney & Lacey,” Lumbly credits 1-year-old son Brandon (mom is actress Vonetta McGee) with providing the constancy in his life.

“Not my work life,” he says. “But that’s OK. There were parts of the series, though it was consistent, that it was not really regular--when you were there simply to be counted. I think the strength of the show was definitely the two women; the stories almost always had to come from that point of view. If I were to criticize, I’d say we could’ve been more effectively woven into their lives in the precinct. But I don’t think the show suffered from that at all.”

Being off a series has freed Lumbly up to do lot of other work (including the films “Bedroom Window” and “Everybody’s All-American”)--and also freed him from a weekly paycheck. “You do get used to that,” he admits. “But I feel pretty fortunate. And certainly in this business, (regular work is) an exception. Those five years were quite sweet. But there’s a part of me that never really believed it was happening anyway. It feels like winning the lottery.”