Friday, July 17, 1998 | 10:17 a.m.
Truth be told, acting has never been Glen Campbell's cup of tea.
This from the man who co-stared opposite John Wayne in 1969's "True Grit," which garnered "The Duke" the only Academy Award of his legendary career nearly 30 years ago.
This from the seemingly happy-go-lucky guy who, during the 1960s, regularly appeared on the television shows "Shindig" and "The Summer Smothers Brothers Show" and played host to countless celebrities on "The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour," his own weekly variety program -- which included comedy sketches -- on CBS from 1968-71. In the early '80s he hosted "The Glen Campbell Music Show."
"I'm not an actor, really," 62-year-old Campbell contends. "I can play myself pretty well."
That's the role that's suited the ("By the Time I Get to ...") Phoenix resident in recent years. He's toured internationally, performing his country/ pop music hits -- "Rhinestone Cowboy," "Gentle on my Mind," "Wichita Lineman," "Galveston" and "Southern Nights" among them.
Last year, Campbell performed in New Zealand and Australia and completed a Christmas holiday tour. He recently played gigs with country singers Ronnie Milsap and Patty Loveless.
He holds the stage at the Orleans hotel-casino through Sunday, backed by a band that features his adult daughter, Debbie.
"She's like a mom to me out on the road," Campbell says. "I say, 'As long as you press my pants, we're OK.' "
Last month marked the 30th anniversary of Campbell's network television debut hosting the Smothers Brothers' show, which birthed "Goodtime Hour."
But you won't hear him pining for his former hectic TV schedule.
"I don't miss television," he says. "It's too much hurry up and sit around; wait till they do this and do that, and get the lighting just right. I'd much rather go out on a stage anywhere and just play and sing for an hour.
"I worked so hard for 20 years," Arkansas born-and-bred Campbell says, reflecting on his acting and recording careers, during which he's sold more than 40 million records and earned four Grammy awards.
It was, however, marred by bouts of alcoholism and drug addiction, as chronicled in his candid 1994 autobiography "Rhinestone Cowboy" (Villard Books).
"I know it was raw in some places, and I was a jerk in some places, but that's the way I was and I was stupid," he says humbly. "It was bad, but I woke up one day and said, 'This ain't getting it.' "
Then there were the accusations made public by Campbell's former flame, country songstress Tanya Tucker, in her 1997 autobiography "Nickel Dreams" (Hyperion).
Tucker claimed that Campbell was physically abusive toward her in the early 1980s, and broke her front teeth in an alcohol and drug-induced rage.
Campbell, who has since married his fourth wife and fathered three more children, opts not to comment about the allegations, saying only: "I just feel sorry for (Tucker). God love her, she hasn't learned yet."
Making TV history
Some 50 million viewers tuned in each week to "The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour," the star-studded guest list of which included country greats Johnny Cash, Merle Haggard and Roy Clark, as well as Ella Fitzgerald, Tom Jones and Dean Martin (Campbell sang on Martin's albums during what he calls Dino's "heyday").
Lucille Ball was among Campbell's favorite guests. "She wouldn't sit on my right side," he recalls, explaining how she thought her left side was her best. "So I said, 'Well, if I hit you in the face with my guitar neck, I hope it don't hurt.' She laughed and said, 'You'd better keep it lower.' "
Songstress Linda Ronstadt threw the show's director for a loop. Moments before her appearance, Campbell says, the director approached him to express his concern over Ronstadt's shoeless feet.
"I said, 'What's the difference? Her feet look great; her feet don't stink.' He said, 'Yes, but bare-footed?' I said, 'That's her, that's the way she is.' "
Throughout the show's run, Campbell says he faced opposition from CBS executives over the abundance of country acts he featured. So, when he booked a country-laden special featuring Cash, Haggard, Buck Owens, Anne Murray and Minnie Pearl in 1970, the bigwigs balked.
"It kind of rubbed them the wrong way. They didn't like that," Campbell says of the program that finished at the top of the ratings the week it aired. "These big executives sat up and opened their mouths and they were wrong. I said, 'Well, maybe they don't want my kind of people watching their television.' "
Ronnie Pugh, research librarian at the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville, says Campbell deserves a good amount of credit for making country music palatable to American television audiences.
"He was a part of the movement, absolutely," Pugh says, along with Cash (who hosted "The Johnny Cash Show" on ABC from 1969-71 and CBS in '76), Jim Reeves, Eddy Arnold and Patsy Cline.
While Cash has more of an "artistic genius persona about him," as well as having experienced greater recording success than Campbell, "Glen was a great personality. He had better looks and a better smile," Pugh says.
"There was always just something legendary about Johnny Cash. ... He was more of the sad and thoughtful troubadour than Glen ever was. He was just taken a little more seriously."
But to discredit Campbell as an authentic country artist would be incorrect, he says. "While he did lean to the pop (music) side, he had consistent success on the country charts, much more so than an Elvis Presley or a Brenda Lee."
The video curse
Music videos, Campbell says, "buried" the old-fashioned variety show concept. But new life could still be breathed into the genre. "If somebody came back and actually did a good one, I think it would be different enough for people.
"I think people get tired of sitting and looking at one video that they've taken a week to make and it's all superficial -- nobody's singing, nobody's playing," he says, "whereas on a variety show, it's live."
While he's not averse to the idea of hosting an occasional television special, Campbell says he picks and chooses his entertainment projects more carefully these days.
Case in point: In 1996, he sold his Branson, Mo. Glen Campbell Goodtime Theatre, where he performed for five years, after learning how ticket profits were being kicked back to bus tour operators.
"When I found out about it, I said, 'Let's get out of here. I don't like it that much,' " he recalls. Performing there was "like getting up and plowing because it's a cut-and-dry show. It was like doing the same thing over and over every night ... because I did 12 shows a week for two years, and boy, that got old quick."
Instead, he returned to his religious roots to record five Christian music CDs. "I went back to what my mama taught me: Trust in God and read the Bible and you'll get more information there than anywhere."
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