Since he got sober, Paul Williams is having the time of his life — again.
“I feel like I’m living a second life,” Williams, 57, said. He had called to talk about how, on Tuesday he becomes a regular on CBS’ soap “The Bold and the Beautiful” (weekdays, 12:30 p.m.), playing a recovering alcoholic.
“I’m just happy not to be playing an elf,” the diminutive composer-singer-actor said, laughing. “I’m delighted that my shoes aren’t pointed and don’t roll over on top.”
Back in the ’70s, Williams was an icon of Hollywood pop, co-writing the classics “We’ve Only Just Begun,” “Rainy Days and Mondays,” “Just an Old Fashioned Love Song,” “I Won’t Last a Day Without You” and his Oscar-winning “Evergreen,” for the 1976 remake of “A Star Is Born.”
He also had dozens of TV and movie roles. “I could find the cure for cancer and you know what I’d be remembered for? Writing the `Love Boat’ theme and playing Little Enos in the `Smokey and the Bandit’ movies,” he said.
“The best description of my career — and my alcoholism — is that in the ’70s, I was nominated for six Academy Awards and actually won one. Then, in the ’80s, I wrote the music for `Ishtar.’ “
It’s been an uphill climb since then. “When I got sober in ’89 and really looked at my life, I found that because I’d been medicating so long, I had denied myself the chance to really experience life,” he said.
Acting, singing and writing music seemed impossible. “I didn’t know if I could do any of these things again. I was terrified. All I wanted to do was stay in rehab.”
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Williams went to UCLA and got himself certified as a drug and alcohol rehabilitation counselor and worked as a volunteer. “I didn’t know whether I would ever act or write songs again,” he said.
He tried. In ’92 he wrote the songs for “A Muppet Christmas Carol.” Now his latest effort, “You’re Gone,” co-written with Jon Vezner, is the title track on Diamond Rio’s new album.