TARZANA, Calif. — Most people remember Greg Evigan as the swell fellow from “B.J. and the Bear” or “My Two Dads.”
But no more Mr. Nice Guy for him.
The one-time teen idol has been going for the throat lately, and it’s a beautiful sight. On Nov. 8 at 7 p.m., Evigan shows up as the devil incarnate on the Hallmark Channel’s “Mail Order Bride.” As a ruthless con man, he sports the right combination of menace and rue.
The character couldn’t be more different from him. Evigan’s a down-to- earth guy who has shattered every Hollywood stereotype. He has been married to the same woman for nearly 30 years and is the father of three kids, ages 27, 25 and 22, who still come to him for advice.
But the most ironic thing of all, he’s a journeyman actor who keeps on working. Some years are better than others, he admits.
“The humbling stock market in the year 2000 definitely made me work harder,” he said, “because I remember a long time ago . . . when I was really young, (my business manager) said, ‘When do you want to retire?’ I said, ‘I’d like to retire when I’m 40 ’cause that’s really old.’ He said, ‘OK, we’ll set you up that way.’ So pretty much I was in pretty good shape. Then 2000 came and wiped out little more than half of what I had and at that point, it was either give up or keep on working even a little harder to try to live the life you want to live.”
Evigan, 55, says he thinks he inherited his grit from his parents. “My kids say that grandma and grandpa are the rocks of the family,” he said. “They live their life a solid way. They got their first credit card maybe 10 years ago. They never needed one. They paid cash. They did take a loan when they bought a house. My father was working as an electrician for 44 years, and so they knew how much they were making every week, and they paid it off.”
While he’s not conventionally religious, Evigan is a spiritual man.
“I don’t really consider myself a religious person, but when it comes to beliefs in God, I believe in God,” he said. “I grew up in New Jersey, played the organ in the Baptist church. Grew up Presbyterian.
“All religions, I think — if you really break them down — they’re pretty similar. All the good in all of them is the good for all of us.”
Like his dad, Evigan is good at construction. “I really do enjoy building walls and ripping things apart and putting it back together and tinkering with things,” he said. “No problem with electrical. I’ve done cinder-block walls and stucco, some tiling — you name it, plumbing. I don’t like plumbing, but I can do it. I have a couple projects going on at the house which aren’t finished.”
Those unfinished projects represent his downside, he confesses.
So how does such a nice guy conjure up such evildoers?
“(The villain) is everything you don’t want to be in life,” he said. “It’s the opposite of you, unless it’s the same as you. In this case, it’s the opposite. That’s how I approach any character.”
