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"We Were Forced to Grow Up--Or Sink!"

"You do it yourself with a needle and thread dipped in ink," Kent McCord grins while showing you the small tattoo on his hand. "I burned out one of them--but I've still got a K on my left arm. Why? Well, I grew up in a tough neighborhood."

For the first few moments while the words sink in, you find yourself wondering if this can really be the righteous, dedicated young policeman on television's popular Adam-12 series. Oh, all the physical requirements are there--the same piercing blue eyes and boyish grin that have proved just as arresting as his cop duties to millions of his fans every week--but there is something else brooding behind his brow that furrows it with the force of a distant memory.

And Kent does have many memories--some not so distant, but decidedly surprising. "At first I wasn't happy with my role on Adam-12," he recalls with a wry twinkle. "I just don't like cops. I never had much trouble with them, just the usual kid-cop experiences, like being stopped and being asked where I was going, but they always seemed to be rousting people for no good reason. They never seemed to be around when you wanted them--and they were always around when you didn't want 'em."

Opportunity, however, was around when Kent wanted it, and his rise to fame portraying the public servant he had little admiration for has been one of the luckiest--and most down-to-earth--success stories in Hollywood. It is a tale of grit and gusto, one whose roots are buried deep in the pavements of suburban Los Angeles.

Kent crossed those pavements many times while attending Baldwin Park High School. His counselor there, Sam Kerman, once remarked: "Kent was a pretty good kid. Never any real problem. His only trouble was that he was a little lazy in class and on the football field." But Kent wasn't too lazy to get a football scholarship to the University of Utah, although he subsequently shed 50 of his 235 pounds, "decided not to play anymore football," and transferred to the University of Southern California.

It was at USC that Kent met Ricky Nelson, the acting son of Ozzie and Harriet Nelson, who were then starring in one of the most popular situation comedies on television. Both youths were athletically inclined, and they soon became fast friends--both in the football sense and the emotional one. Their relationship solidified during a gridiron game between Ricky's team and--believe it or not!--Elvis Presley's. Since Kent had a loose schedule that left him with two "empty" days a week, Ricky invited him to "hang around the Ozzie and Harriet set. Kent ended up hanging around so much that Ozzie asked him if he'd like to do some "extra" work.

Kent quickly accepted the offer, since he felt it would pay more than his current part-time job. "You see," he clarifies, "I met Cynthia when I was 12, proposed at 16, became engaged at 17, married her at 19 and we had a baby when I was 20. If extra work could pay for a lot of diapers, that was for me."

It wasn't long before Ozzie was throwing bit parts at him, and Kent found himself becoming interested in doing lines. Eventually he was written into the show as one of Ricky's fraternity brothers. Quietly, overnight, Kent had become a television actor!

The acting "bug" really didn't bite him, however, until 1964--and, when it did, it took a big chunk out of him. Kent quit college and his plans to become a physical education teacher and concentrated his efforts towards an acting career. While Cynthia modeled to supplement their income, which amounted to about $90 a week, Kent started studying with drama coach Bob Thompson. The young McCord showed significant talent, and he was soon put in a scene for Universal, who then signed him to a full-time contract in 1965. So far, it sounds like a "dumb luck" success story, but Cynthia is quick to eliminate the veritableness of that assumption. "We had a small baby, and we were forced to mature. We had to make it--or sink. Our families were a little upset about our early marriage. Even I didn't think it was such a good idea, but I always knew Kent would make it. We never had any doubts because he was very sure of his goals. We just knew we had to work, and hard."

But work was hard as he did, things began to slow for Kent after his speedy start. As often happens at big studios, Universal limited him to small parts in their various series. Today he recalls wryly, "If you looked fast, you could have seen me in Run For Your Life, To Catch a Thief and others that I don't even remember. That first year at Universal was a big blur and, naturally, I thought they were wasting me. I didn't realize at the time that I was learning my craft and acting more easily in front of the camera."

Jack Webb was preparing a new edition of Dragnet. It was to be a two-hour pilot film and he gave Kent the small role of desk clerk. Webb recognized a star quality in the young McCord, and he later had a three-character Dragnet episode written to star himself, Harry Morgan and Kent. This was the big break! But the studio soon had even bigger plans for him.

Bob Cinader brought Webb the idea for a proposed Adam-12 series. Jacked like it. The only thing that he liked more was casting Kent for a lead role. "Kent' s the right age," Webb enthused. "He's perfect. He's the right physical type--he's a composite of the younger police officer. I think he has all the attributes of a big star--all man, boyish charm and good-looking without being pretty. And, like Martin Milner, he's a professional. Both are totally devoid of any prima donna tendencies." Even Milner, Kent's co-star, referred to him as being "a pussycat."

Now Kent was faced with one of the biggest crises of his career--should he blow the biggest break he ever got because of his antipolice philosophy? He paced the studio floors by day and the floors of his home by night, his confused thoughts riding a careening roller coaster on and on across the rails of his brain. Then he saw Cynthia's face in his mind and the face of his daughter, and he suddenly knew that he'd have to go ahead with the series.

As the Adam-12 project continued, Kent's feelings finally began to change. "It was Cinader's idea that Marty and I ride in patrol cars for a while. I spent 14 hours riding around in a prowl car with a young, real-life officer named Mike Walters. It changed my attitude. I got to see the other side of the picture. You see, I had those real qualms about glamorizing cops on the show, but riding around on patrol that way helped me to get over it. A policeman, as you discover, has to put up with a hell of a lot of abuse. A man in any other line of work would nail a guy who laid that kind of abuse on him. I know I would."

Officer Walters had his own observations on Kent. "Well, the first time we met, we struck it off pretty good, but I did feel he was a little antipolice. But on the second night, we went out on a drunk call and the drunk tried to kick Kent in the face. I think that's when his attitude started to change, when he began to really see what we're up against. The first night I was apprehensive about what would happen if we got into a situation where I had to protect myself and him. But after the first night, I got over it because he did everything right. I started to think of him as a partner, who'd do what he could to protect me--even though he didn't carry a firearm. The funny thing was that most people just accepted him. In fact, when we'd stop for coffee, people would see us--me in uniform, Kent in civvies--and ask him questions.

Adam-12's police training paid off for Kent in real life, too. When his own home was robbed, he decided to stake out the neighborhood. As Kent tells the unusual story, one can't help but notice how he absorbed so much of the cop's mind. "Since they left the suits but took the stereo, my guitar, my bow and arrows, some jeans and all of my velour shirts, I figured they were young guys. One day I saw a guy walking down the street wearing a pair of my jeans, which I recognized because of a torn back pocket, and one of my velours. I followed him home. He had most of my stuff in his closet, but it turned out that he was only keeping it for a friend of his, who by that time had already been thrown in jail for something else." Kent testified in court and the case was closed.

When MOTION PICTURE visited this dynamic young star, he was seated in his dressing room with two enormous bags of fan mail at his feet. "I like to answer these," he explained, "and I appreciate people taking the time to write me." His brow suddenly furrowed. "But the series take sup so much of my time...I'm afraid I can't answer them as fast as I'd like to."

His dressing-room wall was covered with a large map of California. It was dotted with pins. We asked him what the pins stood for. "Land", he answered. "I'm interested in raw land and trees and fresh air and rivers and lots of animals around them. I want my children to live in the country, to be a part of nature. Whenever I get a free day, I drive up to some part of California that looks promising on the map. If I find what I like, maybe in about five years we'll be able to afford to build a home in the country. Meanwhile, Cynthia and I are busy fixing up a real old house that we just bought in Hollywood. With two children now, we just couldn't live in our small rented home any longer."

When the assistant director called him away to do a scene, Kent invited us to "come and see the house and our new baby." He would be tied up for the rest of the afternoon on the set, but there was no reason why his wife couldn't give us the grand tour, so to speak. Naturally, we enthusiastically accepted his invitation.

Cynthia welcomed us with poise, warmth and a deep inner serenity that is too rare in people today. She explained that since the baby was asleep, she would show us around the house--an old Mediterranean type, over 50 years old, standing proudly in the part of Hollywood that was fashionable when the film colony first started to move "uptown."

"It was dark--very dark--when we first found it," Cynthia whispered like an excited little girl, her hair in pigtails and dressed in jeans, as we made our way through the ancient hallways. "Dark wood, dark wallpaper, dark ceilings--dark, dark, dark It's as if they wanted to keep the California sunshine out forever. I can't understand it even now." She wrinkled her nose in a small grin. "But it had a quality of charm that Kent and I love--an old one, the kind that is so hard to find in the present. We admire modern homes, too, but we wanted an ancient one that we could fix up, give new life to.

"Kent and I also like funky furniture--not really antique, just old. Not Early American, but sort of American early..." We soon learned what she meant. The decor was a kaleidoscope of misplaced antiquity. Oak pieces, railroad desks and Tiffany lamps rested together like so many lost but cheerful ghosts. There was an old dusty roll of wallpaper in one corner covered with dark cabbage roses in purple and green. It felt like being in an antique store where the antiques themselves were the customers. A misplaced sanctuary of the past.

Next we were shown Kent's den. It was a big red leather sofa, shelves of scripts, a stereo, his camera equipment and guitar. Cynthia proudly took out some pictures he had taken. "Did you know that Kent just took pictures of Ricky Nelson for his new album? They are so good that the record company plans to put one of them on a Sunset Boulevard billboard!" We confessed that we hadn't known--but, after examining the photos, we had to agree that Kent is quite good.

"Kent's really fixing this house up," Cynthia beamed. He has stripped down the wood to its natural color and has painted the rooms off-white. Doorknobs have been replaced with old porcelain knobs. A happier house is in the making.

Now that Cynthia is a full-fledged housewife, we wondered if she ever misses the glamorous modeling days of yore. "No, I don't--not a bit," she assured us. "I never really enjoyed modeling. I only did it to help us when we needed more money. I have no desire to show myself off. I love being Kent's wife. If I had wanted a career for myself, we would have gone on separate trolley cars and my energies would have dwindled. I'm so totally fulfilled doing things with Kent that I have no other needs. And of course, with two children, I'm kept quite busy."

Many of Kent's fans don't know that if fate's heavy hand had not taken hold there might have been three. "We had another baby," Cynthia revealed softly in broken whispers, the kind that tells you each word hurts. "He passed away when he was three months old. It was very hard on Kent, too. You know...a son. It made us both aware of each other's needs--and of our love. We were so concerned about how the tragedy would affect our daughter--and us--that we grew from our sadness...Now you know why our new baby means so much more to us. We waited so long...then, this blessing."

It is easy to see the truth of her words as Cynthia talks about their plans for their daughters. Kristin, nine, and Megan, just under a year. Each girl has her own bedroom--with picture-covered walls--even though the parents' bedroom is still far from completion. Sacrifice, patience, love--those are the keys the McCords use to unlock the treasure chest of feelings they share for their young.

Suddenly, we heard the door close. It was Kent. "Finished early, so I came home immediately," he greeted us amiably. "Glad that you're still here. Hey, have you seen the baby yet?" "I'll go and see if she's up," Cynthia said.

It's difficult raising children today," we remarked as she went to check. that didn't seem to phase Kent in the least. "Yes, but I still believe that if you give them enough love, affection and approval, they'll remember the values you show them." He clarified his philosophy. "I think children learn from example. I don't believe in raising them in an authoritative atmosphere. They need guidelines in which to grow, but I want my daughters to please themselves and have self-pride. Kids who get in trouble do so because they have no self-pride or self-love. They get in trouble because they don't feel worthy."

In addition, Kent has developed some mighty pointed views on contemporary education. "I feel that education needs an overhaul--courses are obsolete and grades are on the way out. I noticed that almost everyone I went to college with has worked at something other than the subject they majored in. I guess that' s one of the reasons for campus unrest. Not only that--college doesn't particularly qualify you for the outside world. he world is changing so fast, and college is not. It should strive to be more in tune with the world. It would be great if each college student were to take one year in a different country of his choice for the four years of his college education. That would be four years of thorough language, history and world politics. We would be versed in subjects that could make us live in peace. Instead, most colleges are studies in obsolescence."

Cynthia walked in with the baby just as Kent had finished--and the bright-eyed mother and daughter were a study in effervescence. The baby extended her arms in complete trust of all the adults beside her. It was most unusual to see such an open, optimistic, spirited child. "That's how we hope she'll always be," Kent said softly with a tender smile.

It's not hard to guess how Kent will always be--energetic, determined and successful. He will be the first to admit that "I've been lucky--I've been an actor for eight years and I've never been out of work." And Martin Milner observed that "Kent's come a long way on Adam-12. He's much looser now than he was in the beginning. He's probably done more acting on our show than he did in his entire career." Even though Kent does have a few qualms about Adam-12 ("I get terribly frustrated with the police restrictions), he does admit that the series has been "a lot of fun," and that his career--after much hard work and training--is now on the way to the higher peaks.

Not bad for a young part-time actor who disliked cops until portraying one changed him to a successful full-time actor who now understands cops and has gained a broader respect for justice. For Kent McCord, the dividends have been high--both professionally and philosophically. And he has no intention of diminishing those returns now. No, there is so much yet left to do. You just know that a man with so much sense of identity and responsibility will always win at the game of life.


Motion Picture Magazine
February 1973
By Sandra Gould
Transcribed by L.A. Christie

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