DAYDREAMS COME TRUE : ACTOR'S LIFE LEADS HIM TO FILM, STAGE WORK.

Byline: Jim Skeen Daily News Staff Writer

Paul Koslo knew upon seeing his first movie at age 7 that he wanted to be an actor.

Growing up in ravaged postwar Germany, Koslo often drifted into daydreams about adventures in faraway lands. In 1951, a year after immigrating to Saskatchewan, Canada, with his family, Koslo went to his first movie - ``Tarzan, King of the Apemen.''

Koslo remembers looking at the movie posters in the theater lobby.

``On the wall were pictures of what I had seen in my daydreams,'' Koslo said. ``I knew that's where I wanted to be. It was so foreign, so amazing, so miraculous.''

Koslo, a Lake Hughes resident, has worked as a movie and television actor for some 30 years - performing with such people as John Wayne, Clint Eastwood and Orson Welles.

Koslo's 130 movies and television credits include the films ``Vanishing Point,'' ``The Voyage of the Damned,'' ``Rooster Cogburn'' and ``Heaven's Gate,'' and appearances in such TV shows as ``The Rockford Files,'' ``The A-Team,'' ``Highway to Heaven,'' ``MacGyver'' and ``Gunsmoke.''

Koslo often plays the villain.

``I make my bad guys funny or humorous,'' said Koslo, who can do French, Russian, Spanish and German accents. ``I bring something out people can relate to, drawing people in with a bad guy that isn't laissez faire.''

Koslo was born into a Prussian family. His mother was a housewife and his father had a number of jobs over the years, including being a soldier and working as a typesetter, a reporter, a life insurance salesman and a radio show host.

Koslo left home at age 13, working first as a waiter at a hotel in Vancouver in a job a cousin helped him land. After a short tenure there, Koslo wandered across Canada, working odd jobs. He twice hitchhiked across the country.

In 1965, Koslo went to Toronto, a center of stage and film in Canada, to pursue acting. While doing some occasional theater work, Koslo took a job as a hospital orderly.

``To get a job, I lied to the Mother Superior of St. Joseph Hospital,'' Koslo said. ``I told her that I wanted to make nursing my life.''

In 1966, Koslo was accepted into the National Theatre School in Montreal and studied acting for a year, capping his stay by playing Peter in the Edward Albee play ``The Zoo Story'' at Stratford of Ontario, Canada.

A few months later, Koslo was walking in the parking lot of the Canadian Broadcast Corp. when a passer-by stopped and said, ``You look Russian. Can you act?''

Koslo told him about being in ``The Zoo Story,'' and the man asked him to return later that day to audition for a part. Koslo agreed and started to walk off.

``I said `Oh, by the way, is it a good part? He said, `Yeah, it's the lead. It was Rodion in `Crime and Punishment,' '' Koslo said.

``Crime and Punishment'' was distributed throughout Canada in 1967. That lead to Koslo signing with the William Morris Agency and coming to California.

The next year was marked with strife. Koslo, who had just wed, was having marital problems and he was fired from the one role he had that year - in a Broadway production of ``Hair.''

Koslo was out of work until late 1969 when he got a role in ``The Losers,'' a movie about Hells Angels rescuing a CIA agent held captive in Cambodia.

Since then, Koslo has been working steadily.

In 1974 he appeared with John Wayne in ``Rooster Cogburn,'' the sequel to ``True Grit.'' Koslo first met Wayne at a luncheon at the hotel where the cast was staying.

``He said, `What part do you play, kid?' I said, `I'm playing Luke the Duke,' '' Koslo said. ``He said, `No, you're not. You play Luke the Puke.' I said, `I was trying to make a little funny.' ''

Wayne was not amused. Later during the filming, Koslo played guitar for Wayne and his grandchildren.

``He said, `Anybody my grandkids like can't be all bad,' '' Koslo said.

Wayne later gave Koslo an autographed coffee mug that had Wayne and Katharine Hepburn's picture on it. Koslo still has the mug on his mantle.

Koslo considers ``Purple Breasts,'' a one-woman play he co-produced at The MET Theatre in Hollywood, as his most rewarding project. The play is about a woman's struggle with breast cancer and was co-written by Daryl Linstrom, who later died of breast cancer at age 37 in 1989.

``When I read the piece I thought people could get more out of it than just being entertained,'' said Koslo, who is the president of the MET board. ``The audience was so appreciative. We had a lot of breast cancer survivors and support groups come.''

The play was performed by Koslo's fiancee, Allaire Paterson, a Shakespearean actress and Stanford University graduate. The two met while working on putting the production together and are planning to be wed Saturday in Carmel.

Koslo is writing a science fiction movie called ``Heartfelt'' that he hopes to begin filming in Prague in the Czech Republic. Koslo expects the film will be distributed in Europe and possibly run on America cable.

Koslo is also working on putting together a play version of Mark Lane's best-selling book ``Plausible Denial,'' the story of E. Howard Hunt's defamation lawsuit over a 1978 newspaper article linking him and the CIA to the Kennedy assassination.

``It's the murder mystery of all time. It intrigues me a lot,'' Koslo said. ``Wouldn't you like to know who did it? I would like to know.''

Koslo has lived in the Antelope Valley for almost 25 years. He came here, he said, to put some distance between him and the Hollywood scene.

In 1979, Koslo purchased one of the Antelope Valley's landmarks - The Rock Inn, a Lake Hughes bar and grocery store built in 1929. Koslo also rents the building out for movies and commercials.

The vanity license plate on his BMW says ROC INN.

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2 Photos

Photo: (1--color in SAC and AV editions only) Actor Paul Koslo stands in front of the Rock Inn in Lake Hughes, an Antelope Valley landmark he has owned since 1979.

(2--ran in SAC edition only--color) Paul Koslo and fiancee Allaire Paterson, both actors, pose inside the Rock Inn.

Jeff Goldwater/Daily News