Mugging It Up Celebrity Style

Does Danny Bonaduce, formerly of “The Partridge Family,” really want the world to remember him as a man who was convicted of beating a transvestite in 1991? Wouldn’t Woody Harrelson rather forget his conviction related to drunken conduct 14 years ago? Will Mickey Rourke live down his bad-boy image after his arrest for wife-beating (charges that were dropped)?

Two new books are showcasing cell-bound celebrities and preserving their mug shots for posterity. Even though many of the photos are from their pre-fame days, it’s surprising just how many stars have been behind bars. Besides the heavy-rotation hits--O.J. in a daze, Hugh Grant’s guilt-ridden gaze, Paul “Pee Wee Herman” Reubens’ disheveled haze--there are also rare classics: Al Pacino, Larry King, Suzanne Somers and Jane Fonda--all under arrest. Some in Hollywood doth protest.

Yet Michael Cader speaks proudly of his pictures, available this month in “Famous Mugs: Arresting Photos and Felonious Facts for Hundreds of Stars Behind Bars” (Andrews and McMeel).

“I love the Jane Fonda one [drug possession, 1970; acquitted] because she’s camping it up so much,” says Cader, who compiled the photos for his Andrews and McMeel imprint, Cader Books. “James Brown’s [assault, 1988; convicted] is funny because it’s clear he gets his photo taken like this so much. It doesn’t faze him. Christian Slater [weapons related, 1994; convicted] looks bemused.”

George Seminara’s “Mug Shots: Celebrities Under Arrest” (St. Martin’s), also out this month, features more and rarer photos.

“My Larry King picture [grand larceny, 1971; charges dismissed] is pretty astounding, especially since he looks pretty arrested,” says Seminara, a music video director. “That guy looks busted. Dennis Hopper [traffic related, 1975; convicted] was quite a find.

“The whole idea,” Seminara says, “was to take away that beautiful sheen of celebrity. They look like people. I think it’s an equalizer.”

Hollywood is not amused. “I thought it was a low state of affairs before these books came out,” says Pat Kingsley, who heads a public relations firm, PMK Inc., that represents more stars than any other. “I just think people want to make money from whatever reason they can find. It’s a strange world.”

But the appeal is real, says Todd Boyd, a pop culture expert at USC. “When someone commits a crime, that’s something that cuts across celebrity status,” says the professor of critical studies. “It humanizes them.”

Some celebs are not entirely ashamed. After their arrests, for example, Keanu Reeves (drunk driving, 1993; outcome unknown), Tim Allen (drug related, 1978; convicted) and Brett Butler (drunk driving, 1981; convicted) were reportedly inspired to make amends in their lives--and to make no secret of it. “Some of the stories, like Tim Allen’s, are quite inspirational,” Seminara says.

Allen says his time in jail made him use humor as a weapon for protection. “Getting caught probably saved my life,” the star of ABC’s “Home Improvement,” has said.

Other shots were well kept until these two guys came along. “Mug Shots,” in particular, features hard-to-find photos (including Somers, Hopper, King and Pacino, who was jailed at the age of 20 for suspicious behavior but never tried). This book is backed by more research--more than two years’ worth--and it shows. There are 44 shots, each one with a long paragraph explaining how it came to be.

Seminara says he purposefully left out shots of Martin Luther King Jr. (traffic related, 1960; convicted) and Malcolm X (firearms related, 1944; convicted). “They were religious and civil rights leaders,” he says. “I didn’t want to trivialize them.”

Reubens’ mug shot, taken after he was arrested on suspicion of indecent exposure in Sarasota, Fla., in 1991, haunted Seminara. And so came the book idea. “I had been carrying that mug shot around for a couple of years, just thinking about it,” he says.

“Famous Mugs” features about 30 stars in mug mode, and more text about arrests that were not available on film, and mugs of Malcolm X and King, who is depicted as a victim of politically motivated policing.

Cader says he was inspired by Hugh Grant’s arrest last year for indecent exposure (convicted).

Both men say that, for the most part, police were hardly cooperative. Departments such as the LAPD, the Beverly Hills Police and the New York Police Department don’t consider most mug shots a part of the public record. The LAPD has stopped releasing shots “ever since Hugh Grant,” says a spokeswoman.

But the authors say that where there is a will, there is a way, even if it means filing Freedom of Information Act requests, taking departments to court and sweet-talking officers.

Seminara relishes the Hopper mug. Besides dealing with a department in Taos, N.M. (site of the arrest), that wasn’t about to give out a mug shot, Seminara also dealt with an officer there who swore Hopper was never arrested there anyway. The officer, as Seminara tells it, was an avowed Hopper fan.

“I actually had a bet with her,” he says. “Three weeks later I got the photograph in the mail.

“I made requests for over 600 mug shots” from across the nation, Seminara adds. “And I got about 60--in two years.”

“There is an argument,” Cader says, “that committing a crime is a public act. Certainly it is a matter of public record.”

In that spirit, Seminara includes his own likeness in “Mug Shots.” “It was a traffic thing,” he says, giving no further details.