William Petersen is as bowlegged as an old saddle tramp.
“Part of that is genetic,” he says. “A lot of it is bad knees from football and baseball. I spent the better part of 50 years trying to ruin my body.”
Another explanation may be a life spent trying to straddle two worlds.
Petersen, 50, belongs to the old, quixotic, let’s-put-on-a-show-in-the-barn school of performing. His fondest showbiz memories are of running a modest theater company in Chicago for 16 years, till 1995.
Of course, he also happens to be the star and an executive producer of prime time’s No. 1-rated series, “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation.” But he may be the only TV producer who doesn’t go over the Nielsen numbers with a calculator.
“When we get involved in the ratings,” he said, “then we’re doing the network’s job. We need to focus on our work.”
When “CSI” debuted on CBS in 2000, Petersen didn’t expect the science-centric show about forensic technicians to be a hit.
“We have a huge audience that crosses all kinds of boundaries. It’s unique. It’s bizarre.”
Petersen’s penchant for inhabiting two universes simultaneously began when he was growing up in Evanston. He was a fanatical jock who also enjoyed the musicals his mother took him to.
“Sports were everything,” he said. “I’d play them all day, and at night I’d listen to ‘Camelot.’ “
Petersen dropped out of high school in Evanston and eventually finished in Boise, Idaho, where he lived with his brother.
At Idaho State University in Pocatello he played football and ended up working on sets for the theater department.
That’s when the drama bug bit.
When he moved back to Chicago, he started the Remains Theater Ensemble in 1979 with fellow actor Gary Cole.
“I spent my 20s with John Malkovich, Gary Sinise, John Mahoney, Laurie Metcalf and Aidan Quinn,” he said. “In Chicago back in the ’80s, we had this amazing group of talent that may never exist again in American theater. I can’t turn on a TV show or go to a movie without seeing one of my friends.”
And they–along with millions of others–see him on TV every week. Petersen knew that starring on TV would change his life.
“When you’re in movies, people may recognize you, but they leave you alone. But on TV, you’re in their living rooms. You’re far more involved in their lives.”
Next up: ‘CSI: New York’
When CBS announced in 2002 its plans for “CSI: Miami,” William Petersen was understandably irate.
So you can imagine how happy he is now that CBS is developing yet another spinoff, for this fall: “CSI: New York.”
“Two years from now, there’ll be another one in Philadelphia and one in Toledo,” he said. “You can’t tell them the golden egg is going to get broken. They say, ‘Look, I have a limited amount of time here. Let’s break all the eggs, make a big omelette.'”
You can catch Petersen’s “CSI” at 8 p.m. Thursdays on CBS.
