Proud Peter : Actor is content to make his mark on television

In the opening moments of NBC’s miniseries “Trial,” Peter Strauss’ character basks in the success of being named Houston’s “Lawyer of the Year.” But the veteran attorney’s standing drops faster than a courtroom gavel when a cantankerous judge (Jill Clayburgh) suspends him for unethical conduct and then his storybook marriage to a television anchorwoman (Laila Robins) begins to crumble.

“That’s contemporary television,” said Strauss, still best remembered (he might say cursed) as Rudy Jordache in ABC’s landmark miniseries “Rich Man, Poor Man.” “I don’t think it’s the way a good novelist or dramatist would prefer to tell a story, but that’s television in the age of the clicker. Within the first commercial break one must introduce all of the character conflicts, potential doom, childhood neuroses, past history of abuse and abandonment, sensuality and sexuality--all of that within a slightly extended 22 minutes.”

Having driven down from his citrus ranch in Ojai to his publicist’s office in Westwood, the affable, craggy-faced actor speaks energetically. But his eyes really sparkle when the conversation shifts to his family and farm. He eagerly pulls out recent photos of his wife, Nicole, and soccer-playing sons Justin and Tristan, marveling about how he still can’t quite believe his good fortune.

“I see my children running through an orchard--as pest-free as is possible in the 20th Century--and it’s magic for me,” said Strauss. “It’s a world that is privileged in the sense that it’s a world all children should have. ... There are flowers on a beautiful green background, glossy leathery leaves with succulent oranges, hills in the background tinged with snow against blue skies. It’s El Dorado--it brought a lot of people out here and the world I work in has given me that.”

But he quickly dispels any notion of the gentleman farmer, offering calloused hands as proof of the labor that helped produce 440 tons of fruit last year on 30 acres, a yield so large it attracted an inquiry from Dole. Strauss takes landscape architecture courses locally and, knowing the hazards of farming, is actively lobbying the government to label all fertilizers, fumigants and pesticides with instructions in Spanish.

“I am not doing ‘Hee Haw’ out there with a corncob pipe and saying, ‘Well, once in a while I’ll go to Hollywood and make a movie,’ ” Strauss said with a mock country accent. “I can play a more sophisticated character than most people, but I can also get out in the world of a tractor and jeans and boots and get the work done.”

For an actor who has carved out such a recognizable, lucrative presence in television (one Emmy award, several Emmy and Golden Globe nominations), Strauss has surprisingly striking opinions about the medium people love to hate but still watch regularly.

“If art can be defined as social conscience, television is who and what we are today,” he said. “We are a people very much allowing ourselves to be drawn to the middle line in terms of how we allow advertising to manipulate us. We’re a people looking for quick fixes, terrified of really digging into the things that we are. We’re anxious to have people go out and do it for us or to be made to laugh so that we can ignore the issue and not recognize that people can be in situations much worse than ours.”

His precarious situation in “Trial” blends political and personal intrigue. Balancing two high-stakes murder cases--a seductive saloon owner (Beverly D’Angelo) on trial for killing her wealthy lover and a Latino immigrant accused of murder--the attorney realizes that these disparate cases may be linked. Seeking to unravel the truth, he’s surrounded at every turn by headstrong, determined women.

“There’s one surreptitious woman who is actually nourishing and extraordinarily feminine and supportive,” said Strauss. “All of the others have already become traditional on television--tough, abrasive, manipulative women bearing the burden of hundreds of years of suppression and rage ... The dynamic of a fascinating woman (in television) who is whole and interesting and human is rare. It’s frustrating to me because ultimately they become as one-dimensional as a lot of male characters have been.”

Although now mulling two pilot scripts, Strauss doesn’t sound like he’s headed into the series grind anytime soon. Still, big salaries and the chance to segue into movies remain undeniable lures. “You might even get a really good seat and table at Morton’s,” he said. “You could get to sit near CAA people.”

With the feature film successes of actors such as “Rich Man, Poor Man” co-star Nick Nolte, an obvious question remains why Strauss hasn’t done more film work. “I sort of dabbled in movies (“Soldier Blue,” “Spacehunter”) and had some success, but ultimately the train left and a lot of other people were on it and are in better positions than I am now,” he said.

“I’ll have to work my way up the old-fashioned way at a time when the opportunities are real limited. It’s no longer, ‘Oh Peter, DeNiro’s unavailable so you get the part.’ Now it’s, ‘DeNiro’s not available so we ain’t making the film. Period.’ ”

“Trial” airs Sunday and Monday at 9 p.m. on NBC.