<i> Behind the Scenes of ‘Teddy Z’ With the Famous Alex R</i>

It’s noon at the Columbia Bar and Grill, and members of the entertainment industry are here doing what they do best: lunch.

This world of deals struck over cappuccino and consummated with two-cheeker kisses is a most fitting environment for a conversation with actor Alex Rocco, who has become a new darling of the lunch crowd by spoofing the very business that puts angel-hair pasta on his plate: Hollywood.

Rocco, 53, stars as super-agent Al Floss in CBS’ first-season comedy “The Famous Teddy Z,” created by Hugh Wilson (“WKRP in Cincinnati,” “Frank’s Place”), which takes an irreverent inside view of Hollywood through the goings-on in the Unlimited Talent Agency. “Teddy Z” is the story of young Teddy Zakolokis (John Cryer), who rises from obscurity in the mail room to the rank of agent when the agency’s hottest client, Harlan Keyvo (Dennis Lipscomb), demands that Teddy become his agent.

This works well for all involved except Floss--Keyvo’s former agent.

Just as “L.A. Law” became a sort of cult favorite among attorneys, Rocco says, tapings of “Teddy Z” on Friday nights usually draw a sampling of agents from the William Morris Agency, ICM and other talent agencies eager to watch the antics of Floss. Rocco’s Floss also appears tonight at 9 on another CBS comedy, “Murphy Brown”--as the agent of beauty-queen-turned-TV journalist Corky Sherwood.

Floss, a walking nervous breakdown in an Armani suit, is living proof that every man has his price and it’s not very high. His opinions of his clients and their projects vary depending on who he happens to have on the line. To his face, temperamental Harlan Keyvo is “the greatest actor in the American language;” behind his back, Floss refers to him as a “sociopath.”

In a recent episode, Floss describes one of his clients to Teddy Z as a “four-star loser.” “If he’s a four-star loser, why do you keep him as a client?” Teddy asks. “Because, kid, with writers you never know,” Floss replies seriously. “Just when you think a guy is a complete jerk, he sits down and writes ‘Police Academy.’ See what I mean?” (Producer Wilson fills the “Teddy Z” scripts with inside jokes, and in this case, the joke’s on him: Wilson wrote “Police Academy.”)

Despite Rocco’s glorification of the groveling, sniveling stereotype, Rocco says that so far, most agents find his character funny rather than insulting. In fact, Rocco adds, two real-life William Morris agents, Hal Ross in Los Angeles and Lee Solomon in New York, both claim to be the real Floss.

“Hal Ross out here even goes so far as to tell my wardrobe lady how to cut my clothes,” Rocco said.

“Only one (agent) came down to see a taping of the show and was offended--she said, ‘We’re not like that at all,’ ” Rocco added. “But, except for that one lady, everyone is laughing at themselves.”

Rocco’s own agent, Bob Gersh, calls Floss “a classic character you love to hate.”

“He does it perfectly. I don’t think we take it seriously as an accurate portrayal of agents in their daily life, but it’s great entertainment. He couldn’t be more different than Alex, who’s a nice, unassuming kind of guy.”

Gersh says that, in the past, Rocco has usually been cast as either a gangster or a father. He is best known for his role as Las Vegas mobster Moe Greene in “The Godfather”; he later starred in the short-lived CBS adventure series “Three For the Road” in 1975 and made occasional appearances as Jo’s father, Charlie Polniaczek, on NBC’s “Facts of Life.”

Rocco, a happily married father of four, is devoted to the Bahai faith, which he says keeps him stable in the unstable world of Hollywood.

“Al Floss frightens me,” Rocco says. “I tell you, I thought Hugh Wilson went overboard when he created the character, but when we went to a party in Beverly Hills at a deli they have there, all the agents were there, all dressed up. I was with my agent, Bob Gersh, and there they were passing me their cards, saying, ‘If you ever get bored . . . ‘ like Bob wasn’t even there. He was right: There were Al Flosses all over the place.

“Don’t get me wrong, 50% of them are really nice, but I’ve been in the business for 25 years, so I’ve been B.S.’ed a lot. I think there are Al Flosses in every business. People knock on the door--and there’s an Al Floss right there, waiting to sell you something.”

Rocco says that his recent success has brought not only agents, but also publicists out of the woodwork to offer him their services. Rocco does not employ a publicist and has no plans to acquire one.

“I’m not going to give somebody two grand a month,” he grumbles. “If people want to read about me, fine--if they don’t, I mean, I’m 53 years old, it’s not like I’m an ingenue or something. I’ve been feeding my kids for 25 years--and God forbid, if the show doesn’t go, I think God will kick me another 10 years and keep me going.”

Before coming to Hollywood at age 25, Rocco, a ninth-grade dropout, says he was “sort of a bum in Boston--I had no training, I was a truck driver, a bartender.” He took a job at a nightclub called The Raincheck Room, which was frequented by actors. There, the late Ted Knight gave Rocco his first acting tip: lose the Boston accent.

Rocco then enrolled in an acting class taught by Leonard Nimoy to try to learn to articulate better. Nimoy kicked Rocco out because nobody could understand him (“And he did it in front of 30 people--I hated him for that”). Undaunted, Rocco enrolled in a speech class and transformed his Boston inflections to a New York accent, which Nimoy accepted. “I mean, I knew I wasn’t going to come off like no Olivier, but a New York accent is acceptable in the business,” Rocco says.

Rocco does not know how long the agents will continue to pelt him with compliments and business cards--but, for the moment, he plans to enjoy it.

“I’ve never had this much attention,” he says happily. “At 53, I’m having the best time I ever had in my life.”