As Detective John Kelly, red-haired actor David Caruso added yet another to a long string of roles as a cop. (Check Mad Dog and Glory or the watershed King of New York). This time, even though he gained thirty pounds for his world-weary character, Kelly's modus operandi struck a chord with global viewers.
But stardom took its toll of Caruso. Never an easy actor, his temperament
attracted attention. Then, come hiatus time, he demanded a pay rise of
30,000 a week. He was already paid 70,000 an episode -- for a role
initially intended for another actor.
That person, as it happens, was Jimmy Smits, who rose to fame on Steven Bochco's LA Law. A close friend of Bochco, NYPD BLUE's auteur, Smits had turned down the role when the show was casting. He was hoping to make the jump to movies. By the time he was offered a chance to replace Caruso, Smits found the show's writing better than his movie scripts. Thus, at last, he became "Detective Bobby Simone".
Caruso received a hasty exit from the TV squad. (With an official party
from the cast waiting for him in the wings, "Kelly" said his final lines,
walked off the set and simply drove straight into the sunset.) Since he was
still in costume, the script-disgraced detective managed to retain his
badge.
Smits says his new part will take time to settle in. (And, in Europe, the role has just started showing). But he is thrilled that the ratings stand at No1.
It's a huge job, joining this kind of successful show. But Steve (Bocho) is very special; he's got a good ear. He surrounds himself with people for whom quality is the priority. I think it shows in the work.
Bocho's previous series, Cop Rock died a speedy death. After the trailblazing Hill Street Blues, no one wanted to know. No one, that is, except Jimmy Smits.
That was a totally new kind of show, and it was wonderfully done. Very gritty like Hill Street, but with the music in it. And it WAS very hard for people to get into it. But it was innovative, that it really was. And if you don't push the envelope, how will TV ever change? Cop Rock played a definite part in what came later.
In LA Law, Smits went from a bit player actor to a national sex symbol. Previously, he had appeared in Miami Vice. He was -- for thirteen minutes -- Sonny Crockett's original partner. He got a spectacular death, but it merely led to stints as monks, soldiers and bartenders on daytime soap opera. But in 1986, LA Law gave him the David Caruso experience. How did he handle it?
Celebrity hits like a bomb. So you have to find what makes you stable in the storm. Then, no matter what's happening round you, no matter what the hype or the publicity, you can still manage to make leaps in your work as an artist.
But life at the top, he admits, is confusing.
It's very easy to get complacent. In series TV, the money is very good. And everybody's always telling you how great you are. There's a certain acceptance of things. People just settle for less, and it's easy to get caught up in it. Easy to say, "It's OK". Then your standards aren't what they were...
Smits pauses delicately. He is as independent as Caruso.
I think you really need a strong sense of self. You just try to remember what got you here. 'Cause it's very easy to get swept up in hype. And lose all the stuff which made you a "special person". For me, at 19, I had a family.(Smits' mother raised his two daughters from an early marriage)
I'm from Brooklyn, that's not Manhattan. There all the people I know are not connected with the business. That gives me an equilibrium. It helps a lot with work.
Some time into the series, "Bobby" tells a character to "kiss my
French-Portuguese ass". And Smits' ethnic roots have given him versatility.
His mother was Puerto Rican, his father from Surinam. He's had to learn a
variety of accents.
Like I said, I was born in Brooklyn. But we moved to Puerto Rico when I was ten. We always spoken Spanish at home, we ate "Spanish" food. But, when I got down THERE, all the Spanish sounded different! Plus it gave me this weird cultural hole in my life.
What sort of "cultural hole"?
Oh, just a time I missed, right before the day of the Beatles! (LAUGHS) Honestly, there's four years where I'm ignorant of my culture. I mean -- I relate. But, every now and then, I'll see a clip of something or hear a piece of music. And I just don't have a reference. In my life, those years were very different.
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