Ladies'-man Harrison turns to lady luck with 'Guys and Dolls'

SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER - Friday, May 21, 1999
By JOE ADCOCK, SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER - THEATER CRITIC

Here's a startling statement: "Arthur Godfrey played my father in a movie," says Gregory Harrison. "My father was the captain of the glass-bottom boat that used to take tourists out from the Catalina Island harbor for cruises."
The movie, "Glass Bottom Boat," came out in 1966. Besides Godfrey, the cast included Doris Day, Paul Lynde and Dom De Luise. "The acting bug bit me when they were filming on Catalina," Harrison remembers. "For one thing, the prettiest girls I'd ever seen were always hanging around the movie location. For me, at that age, pretty girls were a tremendous incentive."
The show-biz contagion proved strong. Harrison has crafted a substantial film/TV/theater career. He is probably best known for his starring role as Dr. G. Alonzo (Gonzo) Gates in the 1979-86 CBS series "Trapper John." Right now, Harrison is in Seattle to play the romantic lead, Sky Masterson, in the 5th Avenue Theatre production of the 1950 Broadway show "Guys and Dolls."
"The 1955 movie of 'Guys and Dolls' made a big impression on me as a kid," Harrison recalls. "I remember Marlon Brando as Sky Masterson singing 'Luck Be a Lady.' All those men, singing together, during the crap game scene. It was a revelation to me. Men could sing. These guys are very masculine. And yet they are singing and dancing. It was a defining moment for me."

When Harrison left Avalon -- population 1,200, the main settlement on the Southern California resort island of Catalina -- he thought he would become a singer/songwriter. "I'd be working in Los Angeles clubs, seeing myself as a sort of modern troubadour," he says, "and guys would come up to me and hand me their cards. I quickly realized that these were the sharks who swim around Hollywood. They drift around, targeting attractive young people. I guess I looked hungry enough to fall for it. See, they recruit people for porno movies."

Disappointed in his hopes for a career in music, Harrison joined the Army. "I became a helicopter medic," he says. "My job was to keep people alive till they were evacuated to a hospital. It was good experience for my work in 'Trapper John.'"
After the Army, Harrison studied acting. Over the years he has been particularly successful as a TV actor. He's been a regular on "Logan's Run," "Falcon Crest" and "The Family Man." He's made dozens of recurring and guest appearances on other series, and he has produced and performed in numerous TV movies.

Harrison's physical allure has been a career asset. Critics and columnists often refer to him as "hunky." In 1989, he starred in a miniseries called "Fresno," in which he was always shirtless. "It was a parody of 'Falcon Crest,' " Harrison says. "My bare upper body was a joke. Sometimes I had to change my shirt. By that I mean I'd take off one shirt that I was carrying draped over my shoulder and I'd replace it with another shirt -- draped over my shoulder."
And then there was "For Ladies Only," a 1981 TV movie in which Harrison played a Chippendale-style male stripper.

Harrison doesn't like to say his age. He must be about 50. "If I keep working out every day," he says, "my age won't be an issue. If people look at me and guess, they generally guess low. Good. I work out for anywhere from an hour to an hour and 45 minutes every day, aerobic and anaerobic. I'll get my heart rate up to about 150 and keep it there for a half-hour. That's how you burn off fat. I have a heart monitor and a wrist pulse monitor so I can keep track."
Harrison and his family live in a tiny town on the southern Oregon coast. He has four children, aged 8 to 13. The "dream house," as he calls it, is set amid 60 acres. "I surf a lot," he says. "That is very strenuous. If I surf, it counts as my workout for the day."

As his career drifts past hunkdom into mature roles, Harrison has increasingly performed in musicals. In 1997, he starred in the short-lived Kander and Ebb show "Steel Pier." Last year he starred in the 1931 Gershwin political satire "Of Thee I Sing" in Los Angeles.
As for "Guys and Dolls," Harrison has long wanted to play Masterson. "It's now or never," he says. "If I wait much longer, they'll have to cast me as Abernathy, the father.

"For audiences, the show's appeal seems universal, almost timeless. For one thing you have that theme of men and women thinking they can change each other, reform each other. Of course they can't. But they keep on trying. It's eternal."
And what if Harrison were to imagine a "Guys and Dolls, Part Two, The Sequel"? Would Sky Masterson forever forswear gambling under the firm guidance of the lovely Miss Sarah? Would he remain a Salvation Army stalwart?"
"I don't think so," Harrison says. "He's already placing bets, even though he's in that Salvation Army uniform in the final scene."