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He has played a hippie, a psychopath, lovers and villains on the big screen, small screen and the stage over his long, acclaimed career, but actor Treat Williams is most interested in the quality, not quantity, of the work. Now 57, he grew up in Connecticut and attended Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster, Pa., where he began acting. He stars in the Hallmark Channel's "Safe Harbor," a true story about a Florida couple who started the Safe Harbor Boys Home, which is celebrating its 25th anniversary. The story airs at 9 p.m. Saturday.
Q: You play a guy who reluctantly, at first, helps troubled teens. What were you like as teen? Any run-ins with the law?
A: Once. I was a prep school kid and we went down for spring break when I was 16. We went out to dinner and we used our fake IDs to have a beer. I mean a beer. A cop came in (and we were all wearing our little coats and ties) and he arrested all of us. I ended up spending the night in the Dade County Youth Hall, which was terrifying. The guy running the youth hall called my father in Connecticut -- I wasn't allowed to call my dad -- and said your son has been on a drinking spree. We've got him in jail. I figured to try and clarify that would have been a bad idea at the time, so I had to let my father deal with that thought. But that was enough for me. (laughing)
Q: In real life are you more the cowboy than the sailor?
A: I'm not the cowboy type. I do live in the mountains of Utah, but that is not cowboy country so much as it is hiking and boating and skiing. Interestingly, as a kid, I grew up on Long Island Sound in Rowayton, Conn. (His dad is still there.) My mother had a sailing school, and I taught there. I sailed out of Norwalk Yacht Club and raced Blue Jays and Lightnings. I actually worked for two years as a dock boy at Yacht Haven (Marina) in Stamford, Conn., So my entire childhood was spent more on the water than on land.
Q: So you were very comfortable in all the scenes on the boats in "Safe Harbor".
A: Oh yeah, it was great. They just gave the boats to me and said 'have at it' as soon as they realized I had grown up with them. I still have a boat now.
Q: Just wondering, have your children ever commented on your performance in "Hair"?
A: Yeah, I think my daughter said, "Dad you look so weird," and now they are starting to say you look so young (laughing). I don't think my son gave me a thumbs up or a thumbs down. He's a musician and a performer himself, so I don't think I'm going to get a whole lot of 'Gee dad, you're great,' from my kid anymore. You know, the competitive edge is starting to be honed.
Q: So how about you? Is your career where you thought it would be at this stage in your life?
A: That's a good question. My career has so surpassed anything over the years that I ever thought I'd have. I never thought of myself, and still don't, as a film actor. I never wanted to be a film star. I always wanted to be a good actor and do good plays, whether they were for film media, television or on stage and that's what I did. I've basically been doing Broadway musicals consistently over the years. Unfortunately, my hobby is an expensive one, which is flying airplanes. There may have been a job or two (I took), we call it 'building the swimming pool or the addition on the house,' but I think right now any actor who is working in this environment is extraordinarily lucky. It's a terrible environment the last few years for actors. We all have to look at our careers as a body of work.
Q: Female actors complain about how hard it is to get roles after a certain age. Do you find it any more difficult now?
Q: Well, I don't. But that's a difficult question right now. It's been terrible because of the impending, or possibly impending, actors strike combined with the economy. I think the actresses' complaint is a valid one. It's a medium where young people like to go see themselves reflected in the movie. I've been lucky in that I never wanted to be a leading man, per se. If you look at my early work I went from hippie (in "Hair") to Italian cop ("Prince of the City") to a psychopath in "Things to do in Denver" and I just recently played the villain in this NBC miniseries called "The Storm," which will air in July. If you train to be an actor with a range, I think as the looks start to go and as gravity has its way, I think that your career is going to be much stronger. It's a very, very tough town.
Q: You seem to have not fallen prey to the pitfalls of fame.
A:I don't dislike it when it comes, because it brings work. I don't like the things that come with it, you know, where your normal day can be impeded quite often when you're with your kids. You must be polite. There is no excuse not to acknowledge someone who needs to tell you that they think you are good at what you do.
Q: Is there a difference in perspective in the young actors emerging today from when you began?
A: I think there is. I will tell you third-hand there is a much greater desire to get famous fast. When I was coming up, it was almost a given that you got your theater chops after six, seven years then maybe you started doing film roles.
Q: So going forward what are your goals?
A: To get my kids through college. This is my goal, I would like to only be able to say yes to the things that excited me. It would be an extraordinary thing to be comfortable enough, once my kids are out of school, to say I say yes when I like it and only then.
Q: That sounds healthy.
A: I'm a happy man. Looking at the mountains, laying down some sod tomorrow, life is good.
