The Mighty Quinn : NOT EVEN HEART SURGERY KEEPS ANTHONY QUINN DOWN

By DANIEL CERONE

March 25, 1990 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

About a year ago, Anthony Quinn deliberately and painstakingly chiseled a large sculpture of a depleted man dying in the desert, his arm still strong and defiant, holding a sword high above his head. The 74-year-old actor, sculptor and painter got his inspiration to create the marble figure- which he called “Destroyed but Not Defeated”--from the theme of Ernest Hemingway’s novella, “The Old Man and the Sea.”

The marble statue was an omen.

Several months later, Quinn suffered severe chest pains. They came during an exhaustive ocean shoot in the Virgin Islands during the filming of “Ernest Hemingway’s Old Man and the Sea” as a TV movie (Sunday at 9 p.m. on KNBC). After the shoot, tests revealed that two of Quinn’s arteries were almost completely blocked and the others were as crusty as the muddy boots on one of his screen villains.

“The doctors said, ‘We can avoid an operation. We can give you medicine, and you can go on the way you are,’ ” Quinn said gruffly. “And I said, ‘To hell with it. I don’t have the energy. I’ll either die or be cured.’ ”

Last month, Quinn underwent three hours of heart bypass surgery.

“The consequences are that I’m much stronger,” Quinn said recently from his New York office, a week after he was released from Mt. Sinai Hospital. “I’m walking about three miles a day now. I’m in good shape. A bull.”

Destroyed but not defeated.

In “The Old Man and the Sea,” Quinn plays a fisherman, once considered the best in his village, who sets out to catch a “great fish” after 84 days without a bite. Quinn calls the role the biggest statement he’s ever attempted.

“I just read a book about the life of (late film director) John Huston,” he said. “You can see in Huston’s life that the sharks were all eating him at the end, surrounding his boat, taking a whack at the great pictures he made. That happens to every man. I expect it to happen to me any day now.”

It hasn’t yet. Quinn has been praised for his work on canvas ann on screen. Quinn the artist has showings at a gallery in Honolulu, where his works command a generous price. Quinn the actor has been honored with Oscars for roles in “Viva Zapata!” (1952) and “Lust for Life” (1956).

Because of his Mexican heritage, the Chihuahua-born actor has played roguish characters of mostly foreign descent-an Italian strong man in “La Strada,” a Greek peasant in “Zorba the Greek” and Arab leaders in “Lawrence of Arabia” and “Lion of the Desert.” But eventually, Quinn faced typecasting problems in the United States and 10 years ago moved to Italy.

“In America, they always wanted me to play Italians, Indians or Mexican bandits,” said Quinn, who made about 25 European films after moving there. “I was doing all right in Italy. And then suddenly, I said, ‘I’m an American I I’m not going to be forced to work in Europe.’ ”

Director Tony Scott took a chance on Quinn last year in the steamy film “Revenge,” co-starring Kevin Costner. It was Quinn’s first U.S. movie in more than a decade. Shortly after he began work on “The Old Man and the Sea.” The actor said the heart condition that plagued him during the shoot actually brought him closer to the old man.

“He’s a weak old man. He’s not terribly strong. Without the angina, I was too strong for the part,” Quinn said.

Quinn is a Hemingway fanatic. He once had the chance to meet Hemingway at a bar, but the usually bold actor got cold feet. Quinn said the writer was drunk at the time, and “I was afraid that he might insult me. I never saw him after that.”

As long as Quinn is able-or perhaps even longer-he will keep working. “I was born to work,” said the actor, whose first job came shortly after the Mexican Revolution when, at 2, he collected sticks in the desert with his mother to sell for firewood. In his storied career-which has seen him as ditch digger, fruit picker, boxer and taxi driver-Quinn said he has made at least 265 motion pictures and more than 1,000 drawings, 500 paintings and 250 sculptures. He even sang on three record albums.

“I’ve learned to read between the lines of what Hemingway wrote,” Quinn said. “In ‘The Old Man and the Sea,’ it’s the unwritten expression that we all have to go out for the big fish. I think it’s a parable. It’s like every man’s life. We all know the dry periods, the 84 days without a fish. Every man experiences that. He says, ‘Give me one last chance, even though I might fail, before I die.’ ”

Anthony Quinn movies on video:

“Swing High, Swing Low,” B&W--1937;

“Bulldog Drummond in Africa” B&W--1938;

“Blood and Sand”--1941

“They Died With Their Boots On” B&W--1941;

“THe Ox-Bow Incident” B&W--1943;

“Back to Bataan” B&W--1945;

“Sinbad the Sailor”--1947

“Tycoon”--1947

“Against All Flags”--1952

“Viva Zapata!” B&W--1952;

“Blowing Wild” B&W--1953;