PRIESTLY DUTIES PLEASE ‘ONE LIFE’ ACTOR

“Cal Winters, the psychopathic killer I played on ‘Days of Our Lives,’ is everything I would never want to be,” says Wortham Krimmer. “While Reverend Andrew Carpenter, the character I’ve played for the past four years on ‘One Life to Live,’ is everything I aspire to be.”

Krimmer finds it almost impossible to compare his former role and his current role.

“Andrew has so much strength that I wish I had,” he adds. “Even when he makes huge mistakes--like his current attraction to Marty Saybrooke (played by Susan Haskell) while still married to Cassie (played by Laura Bonarrigo)--I admire the way he composes himself.”

“On ‘Days’ I was a plot device used to run interference on ‘super couples,’ ” he says, but on ‘One Life’ I have a home.”

The actor feels that he was not typecast as a psychopath because Linda Gottlieb, who was the executive producer on “One Life” when he was hired, was new to daytime. “About a month after I started, Linda told me that she had just heard that I had previously played a psychopathic killer and asked me if it was true.”

Krimmer had originally planned to be a lawyer with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. After being accepted to law school, he found himself drawn to acting. He got halfway through a law school in the University of California system before he took a leave of absence to accept a scholarship at the prestigious American Conservatory Theatre in San Francisco.

“It’s a three-year course of study, and I received my MFA there,” says Krimmer. “But I kept renewing my leave of absence at the law school until the dean, who by then had seen me act, finally told me to face the fact that I wasn’t coming back.”

“I never looked back,” Krimmer admits, even during times of unemployment. And the part of Andrew is an actor’s dream. “I would be foolish to leave or to complain. I’ve continually been given great stuff to play, and the writers just keep digging deeper into the humanity of this man of the cloth.”

The actor does not know what will happen with Andrew’s attraction to Marty, but hopes they just keep it simmering. The mail has been in favor of the story, with more than half rooting for Cassie and the rest for Marty.

Krimmer, who describes himself as an “old married guy” has a 5-year-old son, Max, and a 1-year-old daughter, Tess. He rarely speaks of himself without mentioning Mary Ellen, his wife of 18 years.

“She has supported me as a person and in my career,” says the actor. “Even before the kids, she put her own career on the back burner. She’s a brilliant photographer, and it would please me to give her the same support she has given me.

“But the most romantic thing I’ve ever done is staying married for 18 years,” he adds. “Romance is not the things you do here and there, but cumulative efforts over time. You can’t top that with a box of flowers or chocolates.”

“One Life to Live” airs weekdays at 1 p.m. on ABC.