Feature: Raising a profile in Hollywood

LOS ANGELES, Feb. 16 (UPI) -- Most people might not know Stephen Tobolowsky by name, but a good many would recognize him instantly as Ned, the insurance guy in the Bill Murray comedy "Groundhog Day" -- and now the veteran actor is appearing in a movie specifically intended to raise his profile in the entertainment industry.

Tobolowsky has been acting professionally for more than three decades, appearing in well over 150 movies and TV shows, but the independent feature "Stephen Tobolowsky's Birthday Party" is his first time out as a headliner. It premiered last week at HBO's US Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen, Colo., and is scheduled to be screened next month at the Cinequest Film Festival in San Jose and the South by Southwest Film Festival in Austin.

The movie was shot documentary-style by veteran cinematographer Robert Brinkmann ("The Rules of Attraction," "The Truth About Cats and Dogs"), who also directed and co-produced with Andrew Putschoegl. It highlights Tobolowsky's penchant for storytelling as he prepares for a party on his 53rd birthday with his wife, actress Ann Hearn ("The Accused"), and entertains guests including Mena Suvari ("American Beauty").

Tobolowsky's stories will mainly appeal to other actors and filmmakers, although some of his stories are about personal experiences that most anyone can relate to. As Tobolowsky put it in an interview with United Press International, "Things that an audience could say, 'Yeah, I've been there, I've done that.' Something that people can relate to besides, 'Oh, I met Madonna once.'"

In fact very few of Tobolowsky's monologues feature the kind of name-dropping he could easily do, given the list of stars with whom he has shared the screen.

His list of credits includes "Adaptation" (Nicolas Cage, Meryl Streep"), "Basic Instinct" (Michael Douglas, Sharon Stone), "Thelma & Louise" (Susan Sarandon, Geena Davis) and "Bird on a Wire" (Mel Gibson, Goldie Hawn). On TV he has guest-starred on such hit series as "Will & Grace," "CSI: Miami," "The West Wing" and "Seinfeld."

Tobolowsky said he and Brinkmann -- friends for some 15 years -- were between projects when they decided to make "Stephen Tobolowsky's Birthday Party." Once they began the project Tobolowsky had second thoughts about whether he could do it.

"For three months I put together a bunch of stories and came up with the idea of, 'Why don't we hold this thing together around my birthday and we'll just do it all day and I'll just talk,'" he said.

You might think that an actor would like nothing more than to talk about himself at length, but Tobolowsky said it's not that easy to keep it up all day, with a camera rolling.

"We realized when I got into it, 'Oh my God, this is going to be hard because it's just the camera, it's just me, and I have to go," he said.

Tobolowsky downplayed the idea that the film is specifically designed to raise his professional profile.

"That may be my dear friend Robert Brinkmann's intention," he said. "It's a double-edged sword. I attribute my success in this business to the fact that I have flown under the radar."

After "Groundhog Day," he said, it was very difficult for him to get work in serious projects -- he had been pigeonholed as a comedy specialist. He managed to break the cycle with a dramatic role in the 2000 independent thriller "Memento," playing a man who had lost his memory.

What casting directors didn't know, or perhaps had forgotten, was that before "Groundhog Day" Tobolowsky had appeared in such serious pictures as "Basic Instinct," "Thelma & Louise," "The Grifters" and "Mississippi Burning."

Still, he said, it's better in Hollywood to be typecast than not cast at all.

"If people don't know who you are," he said, "then you have (even) less of a chance of getting work."

Movie fans can name a half-dozen stars who command salaries of $20 million or more per picture, but as a rule actors are reluctant to discuss income. Tobolowsky is doing well enough to send his children to private school, and even if his branding has plenty of room to grow, he is nevertheless very recognizable to the public -- something he said has taken a lot of getting used to.

"Everyone knows my face," he said. "People come up to me or send me a free drink or want an autograph. They're always very sweet people -- they're not like stalkers or lunatics -- but it's an odd feeling. It makes you feel like you always have to be on your best behavior."

Mostly, when people do recognize him, Tobolowsky said they quote one or more of his best lines from "Groundhog Day." That sort of thing might get tiresome after a while, but he said he doesn't mind the repetitiveness of it.

"I take it with the motive that they have," he said, "You know the old basketball thing, you live by the jump shot, you die by the jump shot."

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