Actor Ed Harris says happening upon a catalogue for a California college of the arts while he was studying at Oklahoma University marked a turning point in his life.
"I had studied acting at O.U. for a year. I was working at a little theater in Oklahoma City and wanted to continue studying drama. One day I was flipping through college catalogues and saw a description that was about this big," he recalled, holding his thumb and finger inches apart."It was a relatively new school that sounded interesting and wide-open. I had been in New York (at Columbia University), and I didn't want to go back; I wanted to head out to California.
"Somewhere in the back of my mind I knew they made films out here. But I just wanted to study acting and get better at it. I wasn't even thinking of making a living from it. I just wanted to get better."
Harris spent two years at California Institute of the Arts in Valencia, about a half-hour north of Los Angeles. He did improve as an actor, and after five years in little theaters, acquired an agent.
Subsequently, he played a string of killers and psychotics in series such as "The Rockford Files" and "Lou Grant."
Harris' film career was assured after he played straight arrow John Glenn in "The Right Stuff."
In David Mamet's blistering drama of bad days in the real estate business, "Glengarry Glen Ross," he's part of a stellar ensemble - Al Pacino, Jack Lemmon, Alec Baldwin, Alan Arkin, Jonathan Pryce.
Lemmon and Pacino liked the script so much that they took huge pay cuts to make the recently released film on its tight budget, according to director James Foley. So did the other stars, including Harris.
"That's for sure," Harris said, grinning ruefully. "But then, I don't even know what my salary is, because I never work for it. Most of the time I get involved with films where they pay you what they can. You try to make the best deal you can for yourself."
One of Hollywood's busiest actors, Harris has had a peculiar career playing secondary roles in mainstream films such as Sally Field's errant husband in "Places in the Heart," Jessica Lange's mate in "Sweet Dreams" and a deep-sea diver in "The Abyss." He also has starred in "Alamo Bay," "Walker," "Jackknife" and "Paris Trout."
"A lot of the films that I would like to do I'm not asked to do," he said matter-of-factly. "Among the ones that are available to me I try to find the most exciting, the most interesting characters, as well as people that I want to work with. It's a script-to-script proposition.
"You have to be in films that make money. Most of the films I've been in have not been big box-office successes. They've been pretty interesting, but they haven't gone over the top.
"I think I'm well-respected as an actor. But I'm not someone who is viewed as a box-office draw by any means. So that puts a limitation on someone willing to take a chance on me, particularly a big studio."
At 41, Ed Harris is powerfully built with strong features and a receding hairline made less evident by a military haircut. He and his wife, actress Amy Madigan, live in a sprawling ranch house atop a tree-shaded Malibu hill overlooking the Pacific.
The couple met in 1981 when both appeared in a play, "Prairie Avenue," in Los Angeles. A romance culminated when both were working on "Places in the Heart" in Waxahachie, Texas. On the morning of Nov. 23, 1983, they slipped away from the movie set and were married by the local justice of the peace.
They appeared together in Louis Malle's "Alamo Bay" and are hoping to do it again in a film of the Zane Grey Western "Riders of the Purple Sage."