Commercial Appeal

by Michael Donahue
Memphis, TN
May l5, l993

William Shockley never had a Roman numeral after his name growing up. "Just emotionally," said Shockley, recalling when he perceived himself to be the "Brooks Brothers poster boy. Just that whole button-down, blue blazer, khaki, loafer thing."

The long-locked Shockley now wears a scarf around his neck, boots on his feet, and a gun on his hip to play Hank, the owner of a saloon and house of ill repute on TV's Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman. Tonight's episode, The Secret, which airs at 7 on WREG-Channel 3, focuses on Hank.

Shockley used to look the part of a member of, "just that really conservative Republican right wing Methodist Texas family."

"Here's a good example. I wanted to buy an Army jacket when I was in about the third grade. And there was no way my mom was gonna let me wear overalls and an Army jacket. She said, 'If you want that, you can go out and work for it and buy it on your own.' And so I did."

It took Shockley longer to become an actor.

"When I was probably about 13 or 14 I was watching a school play. I was a jock, an athlete l00 percent, all the way. I sat down and watched the play and I thought, 'Gosh, there's something that's as cool as what I'm doing.' But I didn't ever do it because you don't do that in Texas if you're an athlete."

But Shockley rebelled after he got out of college with his degree in political science. "When I graduated and it came time to actually start living for myself I was off the payroll and off the hook and I said, 'It's been a great 21 years, and I'm out of here."

"I took my law school admission test and hated it and hated it some more, and decided to go to Europe and hang out."

He left his conservative duds behind.

"I lived in Paris for two months and then Milan for a couple of months. Just got by on what little money I had and the credit card, and really for the first time looked around, took a breath of fresh air, from a different point of view."

He let his hair grow and adopted a new look. "I just became freer with whatever it was, whether it was jeans or whether it was wild, ridiculous clothing or T-shirts or silk shirts."

Following Europe Shockley moved to Dallas, enrolled in an acting class, began doing live theatre, got an agent, and landed a movie role as a rapist in the l987 film, Robocop. "The first time I get in front of the camera I'm with Peter Weller, and Paul Verhoeven directing. What a welcome committee that was. Pres-sure. Pres-sure."

Other roles included Wayne Newton's sidekick in the Andrew Dice Clay movie, The Adventures of Ford Fairlane, and Whoopi Goldberg's love interest in TV's Baghdad Cafe.

His latest movie is Dream Lover, due out this fall.

He got the role of Hank in Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman after a "run-of-the mill audition. It was a fairly small part in the pilot, but it's blossomed and grown."

Asked what kind of person Hank is, Shockley said, "Kind of the bad guy with a good heart. And not necessarily even a bad guy. They're obviously exploring the more tender side of Hank these days," said Shockley, referring to tonight's show. "A child is found in a dead sharecropper's home, and nobody knows whose it is. Come to find out, it's mine, and I've been taking care of him for 12 years. He's a little bit slow and yet is a great artist. So, there are a lot of tender moments."

Shockley lives in Los Angeles in a house built in the l920s. But he plans to move, eventually. "On down the road, Medicine Woman's third or fourth season, I probably will be venturing onward. Probably in the canyon somewhere, west toward the beach. I just got to get away from it all."

 

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