Profiles : The Winters of Content

I was very close to hanging everything up. If I quit, I’m going to quit for good.I’m going to step out for sure. And that means closing the door on thebusiness.”

Jonathan Winters sank deeply on the couch in his dressing room. His legs werecrossed and stretched out, his hands folded comfortably on his barrel stomach.Dressed in faded jean pants and jacket, a cowboy hat on his head, he looked likea tired old cowpoke.

“I pretty much made up my mind that I was going to retire,” Winters continued,his eyes azing absently ahead of him. “And that’s a very scary thing when youcome to it. Because I think that if you make up your mind, then it’s like anathlete. There are no comebacks. I’m 65, and my stepfather used to say, ‘Taketime out to smell the flowers, because you can’t smell them through a box.’ Andyou can’t.”

But Winters decided not to hang up his comic spurs. Not yet. The enduringcomedian, one of the founding fathers of modern improvisational comedy, co-starswith Randy Quaid in ABC’s new sitcom “Davis Rules,” premiering Sunday after theSuper Bowl.

When asked why he balked on retirement in favor of the exhausting challenges ofa sitcom-which includes commuting from his home in Santa Barbara-the Play-Doh ofWinters’ malleable face formed a smile.

“I took this specific job on because I felt it was a place to play, where I canhave some fun,” he said. “There are not that many places to play today. Not forme there aren’t.”

Winters once said that he never grows older, he just becomes an older child. Hecalls “Davis Rules” his new playground-a place of wonderment and good, clean funin contrast to the crude humor he sees all around him today. In the series,Quaid plays the principal of a grammar school and the single father of threesons. Winters takes on the role of Gunny Davis, Quaid’s eccentric live-in fatherand, like Winters, a former Marine.

Winters said the series, complemented by a host of cute kids and backed by guruproducers Marcy Carsey and Tom Werner (“The Cosby Show,” “Roseanne”), has allthe earmarks of a hit. “I’d hate to go out in a shambles,” he said. “I’d like togo out in a fairly good-looking uniform, waving at the crowd, rather thansneaking down the road at night.”

Despite headlining three variety shows of his own-one each in the ‘50s, ‘60s and’70s-and a long history as a regular cast member on an assortment of othervariety shows, Winters has worked only one sitcom. In the 1981-82 season heplayed Robin Williams’ son, Mearth, in the sitcom “Mork & Mindy.”

On that set the fast flip exchanges between Williams and his idol Winters poppedlike flashbulbs. But Winters said the on-screen ad-libbing was limited by thewriters. “They just wouldn’t let us play. Here (on ‘Davis Rules’) they let meplay,” Winters said with a sideways smile.

Indeed, in the scripts of the new ABC sitcom, portions of Winters’ dialogue arefollowed by “. . .”-a green light for Winters to take off and improvise.

Improvising is his specialty. It has been for 40 years, ever since he first madeup his own characters to interview as a disc jockey in Dayton, Ohio. Winters’bountiful career has included movies (“It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World”), anationally best-selling book (“Winters’ Tales”) and critically acclaimedsurrealist paintings. But he made his name as a satirist, using the host ofcharacters that live inside his head, such as the doddering Grandma Frickert, torecreate comic portraits of reality.

“A lot of people come up to me at restaurants, gasoline stations,” Winters said,Rand they break into the bathroom stall where I’m seated and say, ‘Say somethingfunny!’ My answer is, ‘I would if I thought you’d get it.’ I mean, if you sawJoe Montana would you ask him to throw a football the length of the room? It’sinteresting, that demand to be funny. You never really escape it.”

Earlier in his career, Winters had several personal breakdowns. Entertainmentauthor Tim Brooks called Winters a living example of the “fine line betweencomic genius and mental instability.” Although Winters incorporates his pastinto his comedy, he prefers not to talk about his problems for fear of beingconsidered a hypocrite.

“The thing is, there are people out there making a hell of a lot less money thanI am who have a lot bigger problems. There’s no sense in telling about thetragedy.” He scrunches his face and breaks off into a mock sorrowful voice: “Iwent through a thing three weeks ago. You know, my mind was just out to lunch.But thank God for Dr. Bellenhoffer. He brought me back. Of course, it cost me$50,000 for the treatments, six of them. I had to go up into the Ojai area tofind myself.”

Today, Winters appears to be a happy man. He’s been married for 41 years, stillpaints and is writing an autobiography. There are also cartoon voice-overs forHanna-Barbera Productions, record albums (he is currently nominated for a Grammyfor his comedy

recording “Jonathan Winters Into the I ‘90s”) and those Glad Bag TV commercials.For the moment, anyway, retirement is off the agenda.

Winters, who has never received an Emmy or Oscar nomination, acknowledged hiscontributions to improvisational comedy. But he likened the entertainmentindustry to the Olympics, with athletes standing on platform boxes to receivegold, silver and bronze medals.

When asked where he fits in, Winters said he wants “just to be in the picture.”He then painted one of his verbal images. “I think my place is inside the box,underneath the guy receiving the gold medal. They’re playing the national anthemand I’m fondling a platinum medallion.”

He laughed.

“Davis Rules” premieres Sunday after the Super Bowl, at approximately 7:30 p.m.