John Goodman: Burgeoning Career Beyond ‘Roseanne’ : Film: The actor makes his latest appearance in ‘Always,’ keeping busy when on hiatus from TV.

John Goodman is discovering that the most difficult thing about success is not getting it, but learning to live with it.

For one thing, it has made him wary of the press, though not without reason. TV fame has attracted ragsheet reporters to hound him (one tabloid tried to wreck his New Orleans wedding last fall by sending over a stripper), and even legitimate journalists are often more interested in Roseanne Barr’s latest explosion than in the explosion of his career.

Still, he shows up for breakfast at a West Hollywood restaurant smiling and on schedule to talk about his latest film, Steven Spielberg’s “Always,” co-starring Richard Dreyfuss and Holly Hunter.

“I was attracted to the film primarily for the opportunity of working with Spielberg,” he begins, a bowl of oatmeal before him. “But I wanted to work with Holly again too. We had a great time together making ‘Raising Arizona.’ She’s a powerhouse.

“I noticed a different pulse on a Spielberg set, maybe because he’s such a genuine, unabashed movie fan. One day on location, I was on top of a crane watching them shoot a stunt scene when he climbed up beside me and sat there looking at the action, just shaking his head, saying, ‘God, I love making movies!’ ” Goodman’s face breaks into a cherubic grin. “It’s the greatest joy in the world to feel that way about your work. You hear that and you wanna give the guy everything you’ve got. Here,” he extends open hands, “take it all.”

He glances at his watch, mindful that he is due soon on the set of ABC’s top sitcom, “Roseanne,” where he plays Barr’s big, lovable bear of a husband. Reportedly, her ongoing battles with the show’s producers have created a war-zone atmosphere, but Goodman stays out of it. “There are no problems between Roseanne and me,” he assures. “I like her. And I hate the way the tabloid press attacks her. The other stuff is none of my business.”

Goodman has his hands full keeping up with his own business.

In addition to co-starring in the hit TV show, he’s made five major motion pictures back-to-back: “Punchline,” “Everybody’s All-American,” “Sea of Love,” “Always” and “Stella,” the third remake of the old tear-jerker “Stella Dallas,” with Bette Midler, set for February release.

Beginning in January, he’ll spend his one week off a month from “Roseanne” filming “Arachniphobia” (Goodman says this one, co-produced by Amblin and Hollywood Pictures, will do for spiders what “Jaws” did for sharks). On his hiatus next summer, he stars in his second film for Coen & Coen (who produced “Raising Arizona”), then back to “Roseanne,” if it is still around. If it isn’t, Goodman won’t go jobless. Spielberg wants him as Fred Flintstone in “The Flintstones”; scripts are piled up at home and he can always go back to his first love, the theater.

“I really do miss the stage,” he says regretfully, “and I’ve had to face the fact that I won’t get back to it until the series ends. All I wanted when I went to New York after leaving school was to work in the theater. I never thought beyond that.”

No fantasies about fame and stardom?

“None. I had fantasies, but mine were the low-rent kind. The most I wanted was to make enough money as a stage actor to support myself and maybe buy something nice for my girlfriend, who was supporting me at the time.”

Upon graduation from Southwest Missouri State University in 1975 (classmates included Kathleen Turner and Tess Harper), Goodman headed for Broadway armed with a degree in fine arts, a burning desire to act and a $1,000 loan from his brother. In Goodman’s family, where his widowed mother had raised her three children on a drugstore clerk’s salary, this was a lot of money. Goodman’s father, a mail carrier, died of a heart attack when the actor was 2. His older brother was 14 and his mother was still carrying his baby sister, born two months later. In time, his brother, Les, became a father figure, advising Goodman against acting as a career.

“But I knew I had to try it or live with regret for the rest of my life.”

In New York, he moved in with a fellow SMSU alumnus who was working as a costume designer. His girlfriend from college joined them a short time later.

“She was able to get temporary jobs but I couldn’t get arrested,” he remembers. “I had a job for one night as a bouncer at a West Side meat rack called Adam’s Apple. The head bouncer started showing me all these cruel ways to beat up guys, like gouging their eyes out, so the next day I called in sick and never went back.

“I did children’s theater and a few plays but mostly I hung out at Cafe Central with buddies like Bruce Willis and Dennis Quaid. We were all broke and looking for work. I didn’t start making money for a couple of years until I got into commercials, which I hated . I was afraid I’d get trapped by them.”

Goodman disliked doing commercials so much he tried to sabotage his chances of getting hired. “I adopted an attitude for auditions. I’d show up hung over--I was drinking a lot in those days--snotty and arrogant, but I’d always get the job. I seemed to fascinate those guys that I didn’t care.”

His big break came with a part in the road production of “The Robber Bridegroom,” which led to his first film role, in “Eddie Macon’s Run,” followed by a few others before his 1985 Broadway run in “Big River” playing Huck Finn’s drunken father. Film roles began coming in steadily after that, but with enough time off for theater in between. The pace was enjoyable and Goodman was content. A television series had not occurred to him before he was spotted in a Los Angeles stage production of “Antony and Cleopatra” and tapped for “Roseanne.”

The pace today is anything but enjoyable. Time has replaced money as the luxury lacking in his life. “I grew up poor and that will always be with me. I could never be comfortable with extravagance.”

His big investment is a new home in the San Fernando Valley. His wife, who was a college student when they met in New Orleans where he was on location for “The Big Easy,” is decorating.

“Luxury for me right now would be some time off. I’m really looking forward to going home for the holidays. It will be my first Christmas there with Annabeth (his nickname for his wife, the former Anna Elizabeth Hartzog). We’ll be with my family on Christmas Eve, then go on to New Orleans the next day to be with her folks.

“Christmas was my favorite time as a kid. We’d all go over to my aunt’s house on Christmas Eve where they would spoil us to death with presents. We could hear Santa in the next room putting our stuff out, but we didn’t dare peek because if we saw him he would leave. I remember the best present I ever got. My brother bought me a second-hand bike with fat wheels. It was hot .” He pauses and leans forward, grinning like a Little Leaguer rounding third on his first home run. “You know what I got him this year? A new car! I’m going to give it to him on Christmas Eve. I can’t wait to see his face.”

Except for some stress-free time off to lose about 70 pounds, Goodman already has everything he wants for Christmas.

“1989 has been a helluva year,” he shakes his head in disbelief. It was the year that he got married, bought his first house, acquired wealth, became one of the most sought-after character actors in films and one of the hottest stars on television.

But for Goodman the rewards are not newly acquired fame and money, not even his Emmy nomination for “Roseanne,” not his recent inclusion as one of People magazine’s 25 Most Intriguing People of the Year, and certainly not being dubbed a sex symbol (People named him the “sexiest big guy” and USA Weekend called him “the sexiest man alive”). He is embarrassed by “the sexy stuff,” brushing it off with a blush as “just too cute.”

“For me, the reward is the work itself. And getting to work with the best people who love it as much as you do. And then if you’re successful, that’s gravy.” He smiles. “Naw, on second thought, that’s chicken-fried steak with gravy!”