Jack Palance shows he's versed in romantic lines

By Arlene Vigoda, USA TODAY

12/02/99- Updated 04:46 PM ET
 
Who knew tough guy Jack Palance, of one-armed push-up fame, could be such a
romantic softie?

"It's time to lay down those bad guy gloves and show my tender side," he
says.

As proof positive, let's stroll through The Forest of Love (Summerhouse
Press, $22), in which Palance explores the vicissitudes of matters of the
heart:

Who are you?

A woman, yes, I know, but who?

A spirit force that has entered my being,

that threatens to destroy or make me whole again.

I don't know you, perhaps I never shall.

But then I don't know me, and never will.

Else I would have run after you. I love you, don't I?

"It's not specifically about one person," he says. "If there was somebody
like that, I'd be looking for her."

But the twice-divorced actor, whose portrayal of Curly in 1991's City
Slickers won him an Oscar, says he's not looking for love. "It becomes a
hell of a lot more difficult as you get older, although it is a delightful
madness, isn't it? Kind of like swimming, when you jump into a huge
whirlpool and, God oh mighty, you love it as long as you know you'll come
out of it OK."

Palance, 75, also isn't actively pursuing acting roles, although "if a
great part dropped in my lap, I might consider it."

He'll play Long John Silver in a feature film, due next March. "It sounded
like fun. Mickey Rooney will have a role, too."

But right now, Palance wants to talk more about love. "It would be
wonderful if we could arrange some sort of classes in grade school to teach
people how to love each other. You know Try a Little Tenderness? That's a
lovely old song that says it all. They don't write 'em like that anymore."