OCR Text |
Show f ff(Q)ff life James B. Sikking "Hill Street's" SWAT captain overzealous or overbearing? by Brian Robinette Most fans of NBC-TV's "Hill Street Blues" (Tuesdays) look forward each week to the unintentionally comic escapades of Lt. Howard Hunter, a Patton-esque, gung-ho head of a SWAT-like SWAT-like unit, who would rather turn in his combat fatigues than be accused of "having a bunch of daisies where his cinch belt out-ta out-ta be." However laughable the aptly named Hunter's point of view might be, James B. Sikking, who portrays the character, maintains main-tains a more sympathetic assessment in fact, he thinks there may be a little Howard Hunter in all of us. "Howard is the ultimate professional who is trying to do his job and is restrained from doing it," said Sikking. "He's highly trained, sometimes extreme, but he thinks he's right as most of us do. "He's very American; he reflects a vast majority of American character and what a lot of people think should be done. Because Howard's point of view is so grim, we try to make fun with Howard, not of Howard. "I find him very human. He's a very populous character who's common to all of us. He represents something in all of us to a degree which we may not want to admit." Curiously, Sikking attended the Army Reserve's special warfare training school and psychological warfare unit during his military commitment, something Howard Hunter would salute him for. Because of his frequent call ups for duty, Sikking's higher education required nearly nine years to complete. A native of Los Angeles, where his parents were Unity ministers, he finally graduated from UCLA. Since he had studied drama and had been an actor before his Army days, Sikking resumed his career in earnest, playing a killer in his first TV role in "M Squad." Other roles as heavies followed. "In this business, you played what you looked like," he said. "You tend to play the bad guy. Bad guys are the way you get into the business because they're either killed or taken away. The good guys had all the running parts." TV COMPUIOC SEHVICtS, INC. J |