He’s Bad for a Good

Ben Frank calls himself part of “the long gray line” of character actors. “The viewers know our faces, and some know our voices, but none of them know our names,” explains the Hollywood veteran, who, despite 28 productive years in the business, has never enjoyed top billing.

Recently, however, Frank landed a juicy starring role in a powerful little drama. His character, a tobacco-industry exec who encourages his henchman to enlist new smokers, intones, “Forget about all that cancer, heart disease, emphysema, stroke stuff! Gentlemen, we’re not in this business for our health!” and laughs ominously.

Ironically, the role is in a commercial that some Californians will never see. The ad, part of the California Department of Health Services’s campaign against smoking, has been refused by KABC-TV Channel 7 because it portrays tobacco executives as patently evil. It has been aired by 50 other California stations, despite its controversial nature.

Frank stands behind his work. “It’s the first time in my life I felt like I was doing something good,” he says of the commercial. Of his apparently convincing role as a villain, Frank says, “About a third of my income is commercials. After this one, I said, ‘There goes my Jell-O career!’ ”

Frank certainly has enough to do, even if he never does another Jell-O ad. A self-described veteran of 125 television shows and 20 motion pictures, Frank theorizes: “I believe that an actor’s real job is looking for a job. When you have a job, you’re on vacation, so enjoy it.”

Frank is also the director of “Zeitgeist,” a collection of one-act plays at Studio Barbara Feldman in Beverly Hills, which closes June 30.

After that, says Frank, there will always be auditions to go to. “I believe,” he says, “when you die and go to heaven, Saint Peter’s gonna ask you to read.”