`Twin Peaks' Albert Jumps Ship To Star In CBS Cop Series

LOS ANGELES - Miguel Ferrer usually plays characters audiences love to hate. You know, the kind that prompt cheers when they tumble out high-rise windows.

He is snarly FBI pathologist Albert Rosenfield on ABC's ``Twin Peaks.'' He was the scheming industrialist in the hit movie ``Robocop.'' Before that, Ferrer played a succession of sleazy killers on numerous TV series.

Now he stars as Beau Jack Bowman, a bayou buccaneer from Louisiana who heads a special squad of misfit cops in CBS' ``Broken Badges.'' The Stephen J. Cannell show will premiere on Nov. 24.

(On ``Twin Peaks,'' Ferrer's abrupt departure was handled with one terse phrase as director David Lynch, guest-starring as FBI bureau chief Gordon Cole, simply said ``Albert Rosenfield will not be coming back . . . '')

``Beau Jack is a little more engaging than Albert,'' Ferrer said. ``He's the rudest man in the world. He has zero tolerance for incompetence.

``The first several years I was an actor I sort of eked out a living playing thugs almost exclusively until `Robocop,' '' he said. ``They asked me to be one of the gang members and I suggested the executive. I'd never been in a suit before that, but since then I've hardly been out of them.''

He notes that his father, Oscar-winner Jose Ferrer, had been typecast as a comic actor until he played Iago with Paul Robeson in ``Othello.'' His mother is Rosemary Clooney.

``I think my parents undoubtedly influenced me on some level,'' he said. ``I was a musician for years before I started doing this stuff. Show business was the only thing I ever considered. I didn't sing, but I did play the drums. I didn't start acting until I was about 25.

``It took me that long to get around to putting myself on the line to have the commitment. It's very intimidating.''

In ``Broken Badges,'' Ferrer heads a group of policemen who are on psychiatric leave for one reason or another in fictional Bay City. The show also stars Jay Johnson, Eileen Davidson, Ernie Hudson and Terry Donahoe.

``The story in a nutshell is that I'm a Cajun cop from New Orleans who comes to Bay City to solve a crime,'' he said. ``A friend of mine is indicted for killing his parents and extradited to Bay City. I know he didn't do it, but since he's a junkie they pin it on him.

``The only cops he can get to work for him are those on psychiatric leave. He gets in so much trouble he's fired by the New Orleans police. He solves the crime in such a spectacular way the Bay City police set up a special squad for him.''

Ferrer describes Beau Jack as a man who plays by his own rules.

``He throws the book away,'' he said. ``He makes it up as he goes along and worries about the legalities later. I didn't have any time to research the role before we did the pilot in Canada. So I based my Cajun accent on my Uncle George, who used to live in Louisiana before he became a horse trainer in Kentucky.

``He was one of the main influences in my life. This is my tribute to Uncle George.''

Many viewers say Ferrer's portrayal of Agent Rosenfield is reminiscent of Jack Webb, noted for his stoic portrayal of Sgt. Joe Friday on ``Dragnet.''

``It's not Jack Webb, it's Gavin De Becker, who runs a personal protection agency for celebrities,'' Ferrer said. ``I've known him since high school. He's a brilliant guy with a terrifying wit.''

He's never acted with his father, but hopes that he will be able to cast him in ``Broken Badges.''

``The closest we came was in an episode of `Magnum, P.I.','' he said. ``I played him as a young man in flashbacks and Annie Lockhart played June Lockhart. We were supposed to work together in `Shannon's Deal,' but he couldn't do it because of his schedule.''

Ferrer is unmarried, but lives in Los Angeles with his girlfriend, Kelly Snyder.

When he's not acting, he and Billy Mumy (``Lost in Space'') write for Marvel Comics. They created and wrote a limited series ``The Comet Man'' and a graphic novel called ``The Dreamwalker.'' They recently wrote an episode of ``Swamp Thing'' and are currently working on a graphic novel called ``The Company.''

``I've been a fan and avid (comics) collector since I was a kid,'' Ferrer said. ``Bill and I were writing some other things when a friend of his with Marvel Comics at the time suggested we write a comic book.''