Laying Down the Law

John Phillip Law

John Phillip Law, best known as the blind angel in "Barbarella" (1967) and as the amoral character Robin Stone in "The Love Machine" (1971), has been concentrating his career overseas for the last 25 years. At last count he has done more than 50 films in 24 different countries, and he recently completed an eight-hour mini-series for RAI-TV in Italy.

THEN: All chest, little emotion ...
John Philip Law as the
blind angel and Jane Fonda
as the lead, in 1967's
cult favorite, "Barbarella."

His European connection actually began in 1963, when Law was still a New York-based actor. He made both "High Infidelity" and "Three Nights of Love" in Italy before landing a major role in 1965's hit Hollywood comedy "The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming." Although it was the first time the handsome blond was brought to the attention of audiences, it was far from being his first on-screen job. In fact, he'd been kicking around the studios since the '50s. "What a lot of people don't know," the Los Angeles native tells PEOPLE Online, "is that as a kid I worked as an extra. I was a page boy in the Supreme Court in 'The Magnificent Yankee.' I was in 'Annie Get Your Gun,' 'Showboat' and 'Excuse My Dust.'" Recalling "Barbarella," Law says, "I talked to Jane a couple of years ago. She introduced me to her husband, Ted Turner, by saying, 'Oh, this is John, who played the angel.' She and I are both remembered for 'Barbarella' more than for any other film, it seems. Even with her Oscar for 'Klute' -- everyone remembers 'Barbarella.'" Many PEOPLE Online users, however, have also written this column to ask about Robin Stone, Law's role in the highly publicized (and critically crucified) film adaptation of Jacqueline Susann's best-seller, "The Love Machine." Stone, a protagonist purportedly based on one-time CBS president James Aubrey, was a ruthless TV exec who slept his way to the top. (The role was originally to have gone to Brian Kelly, who played the dad on TV's "Flipper," but he was injured in a motorcycle accident shortly before filming started.)

NOW: Remembering the past
with a laugh, Law, 60,
lives in L.A.

"I was in and out of bed with everybody in that movie, including Dyan Cannon," Law remembers. "We did some publicity stuff for Playboy magazine and Columbia Pictures the morning of a big California earthquake in 1971. I was in an outdoor Jacuzzi with two Playmates. Aftershocks kept coming. I thought, 'God, it's like Sodom and Gomorrah, it's the end of the world and I'm caught with my pants down, sitting here with two nude girls.' What a way to go." Law appears occasionally in American films and on TV and would like to spend even more time in the U.S. He still lives in the home above the Los Angeles Sunset Strip that he was born in 60 years ago. Divorced from Shawn Ryan, he has one daughter, Dawn Law, 23, and is looking forward to her upcoming wedding. Asked to name his best-liked film, the actor replies, "My favorite movie is the next one."

-- MARIA CIACCIA (pronounced "cha cha")

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