Lou Ferrigno never will be green again. ”No way!” says the former Incredible Hulk. ”I spent 2 1/2 hours each morning putting on that makeup. Then, after five hours of filming, I`d begin to sweat and turn another color. All through the day they kept adding more green. Everything I touched turned green. If my wife came by, I couldn`t hug her or she`d turn green.”
Ferrigno now is working hard to develop a new image as an actor, rather than a cartoonlike character. He`s currently appearing in ”Arsenic and Old Lace,” which opened this week at the Drury Lane South in Evergreen Park.
”It`s amazing how many people recognize me. Usually I`m jogging,” says Ferrigno, ”and I hate to interrupt my jogging. Any runner can tell you it`s impossible to just stop. Some people even drive alongside me waving a pen and paper in my nose.
”I don`t mind the general public calling me the Hulk,” he says. ”But Hollywood still thinks of me as a Jolly Green Giant, and I`m not. That`s why I`ll never be green again.”
However, Ferrigno considers it a compliment that people found his character, however cartoonlike, so believable. ”I still get letters from people who are really convinced I`m the Hulk. The kids ask if Mr. T could fight the Hulk.”
When ”The Incredible Hulk” completed production in 1982, Ferrigno starred in a series of ”Hercules” flicks, with the latest installment to be released at the end of this year or early next. It`s not exactly the kind of part that will make a Hollywood producer sit up and take notice of his dramatic talent.
Ferrigno argues that both the Hercules and Hulk roles were perfect. ”I needed the experience,” he says. ”The Hulk was a nonspeaking part, but it was also my first acting job. I needed the stepping stones.”
Ferrigno, a former bodybuilder, was training for a Mr. Olympia contest when he auditioned for ”Hulk.”
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”I always wanted to be an actor,” he says. ”I didn`t tell anyone because I was afraid everyone would think I was crazy. I loved to be like Clark Gable, Rock Hudson or Errol Flynn. They were my idols.”
In 1983, Ferrigno did get a meatier part in the short-lived TV series
”Trauma Center.” He played ambulance driver Johnny Six. In one especially memorable episode, Ferrigno`s character helped a young boy come to terms with accident-induced deafness.
Ferrigno, in real life, has learned to overcome his own acute hearing loss. ”Today, I hear very well. I`ve had a lot of speech therapy and there are better hearing aids,” he says. ”But I`d rather not talk about it at all. I don`t want people to feel that I need their sympathy. I don`t need to read lips all the time. If I keep reminding the public, it`ll only hold me back.” Ferrigno`s immediate goal is to take ”Arsenic and Old Lace” to Broadway. ”There`s a whole generation who have never seen it,” he says. ”I think it could be a hit again.”
Meanwhile, Ferrigno is cashing in on the video fitness craze with a tape called ”Lou Ferrigno`s Body Perfection.” It features Ferrigno teaching the basics of weight training.
Most of all, Ferrigno says he`d love to return to the small screen, but this time as a real actor, in the kind of part a Gable, Hudson or Flynn might have accepted. ”My dream is to do `Requiem for a Heavyweight, ”` he says.
But for all his talk about credibility, Ferrigno also is realistic. When asked if he`d return to television, even if it meant playing another cartoonlike monster, he says: ”In a second I would. Just so the character doesn`t have to fight Mr. T and just so he isn`t green.”
What: ”Arsenic And Old Lace”
Where: Drury Lane South, 2500 W. 95th St., Evergreen Park; 779-4000 or 422-8000.
When: Wednesdays through Sundays; through Dec. 31.
How much: $6.50-$7.75 without dinner; $14.50-$16 with dinner.
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