Bodyguards accent savvy preparations, not guns and brawn.

One sunny day you receive a letter in jagged script:

Dear Miss,

How are you fine I hope you hurt me bad went you went to The Studio One Disco with (famous television star). I am going to kill you and all the Gay Men and Lesbian. . . .

The police commiserate, but besides giving you a few tips -- "Change the route you go home by," "Lock the doors," "Buy a dog" -- there's little they can do. Soon every alley sends shivers up your spine.

For some, it's time for a bodyguard. But don't expect Arnold Schwarzenegger.

The guard likely will look like Glenn Massie, who is a supervisor for West Coast Detectives of North Hollywood. At 5-foot-10 and 190 pounds, clean-cut and dressed in a suit and tie, he evokes images of a mid-level manager rather than a lethal weapon. And that's fine with Massie.

"You don't want to draw attention to the person you're with," he says. "They may not realize who the principal (client) is until they see you -- so you can do more harm than good."

He bristles at television and movie portrayals of bodyguards as dimwitted hulks who spend their time scowling and looking bad.

"They have no idea where the nearest hospital or police station is," says Massie. "Those can be life-or-death issues."

He touts the planning and preparation that go into protecting clients and the training his firm gives its personnel. Massie has taken several firearms courses, is proficient in martial arts and trained at a school run by a former secret service agent.

Michael Eubanks, executive vice president of West Coast, says he rejects many applicants for protective services jobs. "Their appearance and demeanor disqualify them," he says. "I ask myself, 'Could they go to a stockholders' meeting with a client and not stand out?' We had a sumo wrestler apply . . . but he couldn't fit in, at least not in this operation."

Skilled bodyguard services can get pricey. Eubanks says West Coast charges according to an assignment's risk level. Strictly preventative work, with no expected threat, might only cost $25 per hour per agent, he says. That could jump to $150 if there's a real threat to the client.

And if a public event is involved, one bodyguard can't provide enough protection, warns the owner of another detective/protective services company. "It is a team effort and the minimum team is five people," says Dennis O'Keefe of O'Keefe Worldwide in Northridge.

The most crucial steps in protecting clients are planning to minimize their exposure to the general public, reducing the predictability of their schedules and preparing for all possible contingencies.

Want to see a bodyguard shudder? Schedule a book-signing.

"Book-signings are the most dangerous," Massie says. "Only a table separates the client from the public" -- and for a prolonged period.

Still, in seven years of work for West Coast, Massie admits there has been no serious attempt against a client while he's been on duty. So is this just high-priced hand-holding?

Definitely not, says Massie, especially for some entertainment figures whose admiring fans could love them to death, literally. Eubanks recalls in the late 1970s a fan got the home addresses of three stars of TV's "Charlie's Angels."

The fan "showed up at one of the ladies' doors," Eubanks says. "He knocked on the door (which she kept shut and then called the police). Then we were called (to protect all of 'Charlie's Angels'). About two weeks later the guy showed up again and tried to pry open a window at one of the houses. We took him into custody -- he had a 6-and-a-half-inch straight blade."

Another client is pop/R&B singer Anita Baker. "She was performing at the Greek (Theater) and she picked up a tail on her limo from the theater," Eubanks says. "She'd received letters over the preceding years telling her about her demise."

The bodyguards pulled their car in between Baker's limo and the suspect's vehicle and slowed down, holding back the suspect's car and allowing the limo to pull away and get to its destination unobserved.

"We were able to identify the subject and we monitor him to this day," Eubanks says.

Several events have boosted public figures' awareness of their vulnerability to obsessed individuals. In California, there was the 1989 fatal shooting of actress Rebecca Schaffer. That resulted in a tightening of public access to personal information. It also spurred creation in 1990 of a Los Angeles Police Department unit to deal with "abnormal and long-term threats and harassments," says Lt. John Lane, commander of the unit.

So what does Lane think of bodyguards for hire?

"I wouldn't discount the use of bodyguards," he says. "We don't provide 24-hour-per-day service."

Massie says three key risk factors weigh in evaluating who needs protection: the lure of media play likely to be given to an attempt to harm a subject; the target's apparent wealth; and the danger of being singled out by terrorists abroad acting against America.

Executives whose companies have been linked with strong stands on controversial issues are also at particular risk, Eubanks adds. In addition to entertainers, broadcasters and other media figures, bankers and politicians suffer the highest level of threats, he says.

And then there's danger from the wrath of a terminated employee. Rather than seek protection after a firing, make sure every employee is treated in accordance with company policies. That should minimize resentment than can turn to violence.

Still, a violent attack can be "over the most innocuous or ridiculous set of circumstances," says O'Keefe. "More people are violently prone today than in the old days. We are investigating a case right now of a disgruntled restaurant employee who came into the Japanese restaurant and shot the waitress and chef. He told his wife he thought he might be fired."

O'Keefe says that one aid to protection services is that "lone crazy" assassins often fit a pattern.

"They are alone, usually white males 25 to 35, under 5-foot-10, usually clean cut," he says. "If they are in a crowd, they need to be close enough to the front line to do the deed but near bodies to cover the weapon. Generally they are in the second row."

Then there are those whom no bodyguard can protect.

"We've had customers who think that the Martians are after them," O'Keefe says. "We try to find them help because we can't provide the help they need."