No Kato Route for Barbieri

Paula Barbieri will not be chatting with Larry King any time soon.

Don’t look for her to trade quips on “Politically Incorrect.”

And don’t expect her to be signing autographs at celebrity auctions.

Aspiring actor and house guest du jour Brian (Kato) Kaelin may be using the furor surrounding the O.J. Simpson murder trial as a vehicle to move into the show-business fast lane. But Barbieri, 26, a model, aspiring actress and girlfriend of Simpson, has eased into the slow lane, declining to use her notoriety as a way to get acting roles and deals.

Aside from a guest shot last month as a modern-day vampire on United Paramount Network’s “The Watcher,” an interview last year with Diane Sawyer and, most recently, a controversial, highly suggestive pose in New Yorker magazine, her longtime manager says that Barbieri is maintaining a low profile, largely putting her show-business career on hold until the dust surrounding the murder case settles.

“She refuses to use someone else’s misfortune for her gain,” said her manager, Tom Hahn. “She wants to do it on her own.”

Unlike Kaelin, Hahn said, Barbieri is not granting newspaper and magazine interviews or making the rounds with studios, agencies or producers. And while she quietly continues to go out on auditions, producers have not exactly been beating down her door.

“It’s a terrible situation,” said Hahn, who has been associated with Barbieri for 10 years, first as her agent and then as her manager. “She’s refused a lot of things because she doesn’t want to appear exploitative. And everything about the case is totally negative. The good parts won’t go to someone that’s controversial. No one wants to be associated with it. And she doesn’t get modeling jobs, because designers are afraid that people will be looking at her instead of the clothes.”

When the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Lyle Goldman hit the headlines, Barbieri was just beginning to get her acting career going, Hahn said.

“Not to say anything disparaging about what Kato is doing, but he is a clown,” Hahn said. “He’s having fun. Paula is serious, she goes to church, she reads the Bible. She’s a good actress; she’s not a bad actor like Kato.”

He said Barbieri is not resentful about Kaelin’s grabbing of the spotlight: “She is not judgmental at all. People do what they have to do.”

These days most pictures of Barbieri have shown her infrequent visits to Los Angeles County Jail, where Simpson is being held. Even Simpson has encouraged Barbieri to work more and try to get roles, but she has declined, choosing to support him, Hahn said.

“He has said, ‘Please go out and do what you can,’ but she feels she can’t do that when she’s trying to stand by her friend,” Hahn said.

But Hahn said that he and Barbieri are unhappy that the media have largely characterized her as “the other woman” in Simpson’s life, with dated pictures from her modeling career highlighting her attractive features and profile.

“All these pictures show her as some kind of sex goddess, so she’s damned if she does and damned if she doesn’t.”

Of course, Barbieri may not have helped her attempt to escape that image when she posed for noted celebrity photographer Annie Leibovitz’s portfolio of the personalities of the Simpson case. Barbieri was photographed reclining on a sofa at the Chateau Marmont, wearing a shirt that was strategically buttoned in some places and strategically open in other places. The caption identified her as “girlfriend.”

Hahn defended the photo and Barbieri’s participation: “It was working with Annie Leibovitz, and working with Annie can really help a girl’s career. There was the possibility of other work. The magazine chose that shot out of several that were done. There was one of her in a Calvin Klein dress. They wanted to sell magazines.”

He said he does not believe that the picture will have a significant effect on Barbieri’s image: “The people who read the New Yorker are pretty smart. People in Wichita won’t read it.”

Barbieri has attempted to stop others who have tried to capitalize on her notoriety. She made off with nude photos taken when she was an up-and-coming model that photographer Peter Beard wanted to sell to Playboy.

S ome casting directors in the industry are already begin ning to notice the different routes Kaelin and Barbieri are taking.

“Yes, I would say Paula is laying low, but I could wallpaper my office with all the pictures that have been submitted to me of Kato,” said Vicki Rosenberg, who casts for “Married . . . With Children” and other shows and films.

“He must be spending a ton of money to get his name out there,” Rosenberg said. “I just did the casting for seven television pilots, and I can’t remember one that he was not submitted for. He’s really thrown himself into it, but none of these shows are interested in controversy.”

Barbieri has not been nearly as visible, said Rosenberg: “I’ve had quite a few roles that Paula would be physically right for, especially for ‘Married . . . With Children.’ You can imagine.

“Actors should be judged on their merits. For people to be recognized out of such a tragedy is terrible. There were two people that were murdered. Some people say any press is good press, but negative press is terrible. The fact that she has backed off is to her benefit.”

Despite the setbacks, it hasn’t been all downhill for Barbieri. She almost won a lead role on “Baywatch Nights,” a spinoff of the popular “Baywatch” series.

Susan Glicksman and Fern Orenstein, casting directors for the show, said Barbieri met with them about the part.

“She was very sweet,” Glicksman said. “She was very sincere, no attitude at all, no ego.”

Added Orenstein: “It was impressive how low-key she was. I give her a lot of credit.”

The show’s producers ultimately decided to go with another woman --a “more comedic lead,” Orenstein and Glicksman said.

“But I’m sure she would be considered for other roles --she’s that good,” Glicksman said.

Besides going for the occasional part, Barbieri does volunteer work, particularly with an organization that helps people dying of AIDS-related illnesses, Hahn said.

“But for the time being,” he said, “she really wishes she could just get back to work.”*