A TV Surgeon Who Enjoys His Rounds

There’s nothing like being able to enjoy one’s own backyard. That’s how actor Rocky Carroll figured it when he and his wife, Gabrielle, bought their home--with a pool--in Westwood last April.

“I love swimming in my backyard. Mornings are best, unless I have an early call on the set”--as surgeon Keith Wilkes on the CBS-TV drama “Chicago Hope”--”and then I wait till I get home,” Carroll explained during a phone interview. He also likes to run, but sometimes Rosie has other ideas. “Rosie’s part terrier, just turned a year old, and she keeps me pretty busy running after her. We take walks together. That’s my little buddy.”

In case that’s not enough exercise, Carroll, 34, took up golf a couple of years ago, and now he is hooked, right down to the golf duds. “You know an actor--the first thing you do is, you dress the part. And golf is an incredibly addictive sport. I realized after about two months, you know, you got to be in shape. About 15 holes and you’ve been carrying your bags and walking the whole time, you start staggering around, you miss the ball. It’s very embarrassing to miss a ball that’s standing still on the ground.”

After a breakfast of Grape-Nuts and fruit, Carroll might skip lunch so he can get in some practice on the driving range at a golf course just across the street from work. If he does stick around the set for lunch, he’ll make do with soup or salad at the commissary. The idea, he said, is to veer away from the food on the set.

“I don’t know if you ever noticed or not,” Carroll mentioned, “even now, as health-conscious as people in the industry are, the craft services [that provide food] are usually a lot of fat, a lot of doughnuts and stuff that is bad for you. . . .” I told Carroll that the spread is one incentive for me to interview folks on the set, and he said, “The key word is ‘spread’ because that’s what you’ll do.”

Drinking fruit juices and water helps Carroll keep his meals pretty light until dinner. “Then it’s like, no holds. I’m a seafood fanatic. A lot of seafood, a lot of shellfish, chicken, a steak on occasion, but I’m not a big red-meat eater anymore. I like the vegetables. I got my wok, try to make a stir-fry occasionally.”

Carroll also said he has a major sweet tooth for ice cream. He called his favorite flavor “whatever’s cold.”

*

* Guest Workout runs Mondays in Health.