Newark Star-Ledger
Wednesday, February 25, 2004
STEVEN CULP has one of those faces, handsome but just a little bland,
that lets him blend into any crowd and disappear into any role without
great difficulty. He could be a politician, or a schoolteacher, or a
secret agent, or even a soldier from the future, and seem plausible as
any of them.
In fact, he's been all four of those things this season, with one of
the busiest, most versatile years prime-time television's seen in a
while.
While certain actors will pop up in guest-starring roles in a number
of shows in a single season, it's rare to see a performer have more
than one recurring part at the same time. This season, Culp has had
four: CIA agent Clayton Webb on "JAG," military expert Major Hayes
on "Star Trek: Enterprise," Republican Speaker of the House Jeff
Haffley on "The West Wing," and now schoolteacher Dave Spencer, a
potential love interest for Dr. Corday on "ER." (He appeared briefly
three weeks ago, and returns in tomorrow's episode at 10 p.m. on Ch.
4.) He almost had a fifth semiregular role on "The Brotherhood of
Poland, N.H.," but the show was canceled before he had the chance to
continue with it.
Culp's crowded schedule isn't quite Deion Sanders playing in a
baseball playoff game and NFL contest on the same day, but it's
close, especially since he's done other one-shot work in between the
recurring parts.
"There was one point where I was doing an episode of 'Lyon's Den,'
and we did a location shoot on the Paramount back lot that went until
3 or 4 in the morning," he recalls, "and I was back on that lot at 9
a.m. to continue this episode of 'Enterprise' that I'd already
started. On the last 'ER' I did, it was a little tense
at 'Enterprise' because we were trying to finish this stuff to get
both shows done on schedule."
Obviously, playing different roles is part of the job description for
any actor, but Culp has had to push himself to keep track of all the
identities he's worn in such a short period.
"It's challenging," he says, "but if you prepare whenever you can
grab the time, by the time you show up on set you can easily click
into it. I have 2-year-old twins now, so I find in a way that's made
me more focused and organized, so when I have stuff coming up I
secrete myself and prepare with the scripts."
"There's something about Steven that he really does commit himself so
fully to those characters," says "ER" producer Bruce Miller . "I
don't think of him as anything other than who he is on our show; when
I see him on 'The West Wing,' I think of him as that guy."
Culp does occasionally let different lines on his rųRmīSleed
together. When he was cast to play Haffley, the new conservative
antagonist for the Bartlet administration, he drew back on his time
playing RFK in the Cuban Missile Crisis film "13 Days."
"It's so easy to make those Republican characters on 'West Wing' cold
and bloodless, and I really wanted (Haffley) to be the idealistic
young firebrand of the right. I was looking at it as a combo of Newt
Gingrich, Ralph Reed and Bobby Kennedy ."
While Culp has auditioned over the years for regular parts in series
pilots, he's not sure he wants that kind of commitment. He's been
with "JAG" since it moved to CBS seven years ago, and at one point
his agent asked if he wanted to push for a permanent role on the
show. Culp said he preferred to remain a free agent.
"This is the best gig," he explains. "I do a certain number (of
episodes) a year, it's fun, it's a nice job to have in my back
pocket, and it enables me to go out and do things like '13 Days' that
I couldn't do if I were tied to 'JAG' every week."
He doesn't know if or when he'll be back on "West Wing," which shoots
on the same backlot (and shares producer John Wells ) with "ER." But
his newest job often reminds him of that one.
"When I was on the 'ER' set, (producer) Jonathan Kaplan kept calling
me 'Mr. Speaker.'"