FITTING THE BILL WITH NEW MOVIE, SINGER-ACTOR HENDERSON FINDS NEW AUDIENCE AS WELL.

Byline: Glenn Whipp Film Writer

While casting their strangely titled but exquisitely affecting new movie, ``Smiling Fish and Goat on Fire,'' writers Derick and Steven Martini and director Kevin Jordan must have looked at a hundred old men for the role of Clive Winters, the character Derick describes as ``the movie's heart and soul, the Yoda of love.''

Problem was, every actor who read for the part was too bitter and set in his ways, according to the filmmakers.

``We saw dozens of variations of the grumpy old man,'' Derick says. ``We were pretty much ready to write the character out of the movie.''

And then Bill Henderson walked in the door. And it was, director Jordan says, a happy accident, like striking gold in the middle of the La Brea Tar Pits.

Henderson has that effect on people. And at age 74, the likable character actor and sublime singer is undergoing a renaissance in both careers. His role in ``Smiling Fish'' (currently playing to great success in four Los Angeles theaters) has won Henderson standing ovations at film festivals and a recognition that has largely eluded him in his 25-year career as an actor. And thanks to local jazz legend Charlie Haden, music lovers are again discovering Henderson's smoky baritone through a concert tour behind Haden's acclaimed Quartet West album, ``The Art of the Song.''

For Henderson, the recognition is proof that ``if you keep doing what you like to do, something good might happen.''

``And if it doesn't,'' he says, ``it's not because you didn't work at it. Would I like to be more successful? Yes. But that's not the thing, man. I'm still alive. I have no hard feelings. That's not my style.''

Henderson has always belonged to the less-is-more school of both singing and acting. (The two disciplines, for him, feed each other.) The Chicago native believes that the story - be it a song's lyrics or a screenplay's dialogue - should be front and center.

``The words are important to me because I was a middle child, and most times, middle children are not heard from,'' Henderson says. ``So I learned from an early age to enunciate clearly in order to be heard and so as not to be misunderstood.''

``Besides,'' he adds, ``I've just always had a thing for words.''

Henderson made his name among jazz aficionados in the 1950s and '60s, recording with the likes of pianists Oscar Peterson and Horace Silver, organist Jimmy Smith and Count Basie's orchestra. Henderson toured with Basie from 1965 to 1966, replacing the late great Joe Williams, and impressed masters like Frank Sinatra with his phrasing, sensitivity and the unguarded way he approached heart-breaking ballads like ``It Never Entered My Mind'' and ``My Funny Valentine.''

But Henderson never achieved any sustained mass popularity, and when the clubs and paychecks both started becoming smaller, Henderson found himself drifting into acting. The career change came gradually and with the help of friend Bill Cosby, whom Henderson had met while they were both performing in New York clubs. Henderson first became Cosby's stand-in (lifts were required, as the 5-foot-6 Henderson measures about half a foot shorter than Cosby) and then appeared in one of the comedian's early comedy shows.

None of the filmmakers responsible for ``Smiling Fish and Goat on Fire'' knew any of this when they met Henderson in a casting session. Director Jordan and Steven Martini are 25; Derick is two years younger. But they could tell right away that Henderson's wisdom was hard-won and authentic, perfect for a character who counsels the movie's young folks in the ways of love.

So the Martinis rewrote the part to fit an African-American actor. And once they began filming the $40,000 feature, the screenwriters quickly realized that their script was merely a starting point for Henderson.

``Bill is an inspiration for a writer,'' Derick says. ``Once you meet him, he's got so much energy and talent that you want to create more for him to do. So we did, and then when we starting shooting the movie, we realized that he had tremendous improvisational skills as well. So we just let him go and he created all these wonderful lines that we started calling 'Hendersonisms' because they're the kinds of things that only Bill could say.''

It all goes back to Henderson's love for words and a style that the great jazz producer Orrin Keepnews describes as a ``cross between a matinee idol and a pixie, with an off-kilter romanticism all his own.'' Haden had wanted to put that style to use for years and approached Henderson every so often to tell him that he had ``something in mind'' for him.

``He was like a guy coming out of the mist,'' Henderson says. ``You know, people tell you they want to work with you all the time. Even Duke Ellington said that: 'Bill Henderson. Where is he? How can I get ahold of him?' And you get excited and then you never hear from them. But Charlie kept at me, and one day he said, 'I finally have what it is.' ''

The Haden album, ``The Art of the Song,'' features Henderson and Shirley Horn (another undervalued talent) singing lushly arranged songs culled mostly from movies dating back to the 1930s, '40s and '50s. Henderson has been touring with Haden on and off for the past year, with Horn joining them on selected dates. The last scheduled show of the tour is a concert at UCLA's Royce Hall on Sept. 21. (Horn will participate, too.)

``I was becoming very disgusted with recordings and the things people wanted me to sing,'' Henderson says. ``It wasn't me. And it's very difficult to sing something that you don't have your heart in. So I was determined not to do anything unless I could sink my teeth into it. And Charlie gave me that chance.''

Although pleased with his new-found notoriety, the affable Henderson is maintaining a typical even keel, neither thinking that people are going to be busting down his door with offers or believing that life is going to hand him another kick in the pants.

``I'm hoping some of the things I've auditioned for are going to come through,'' Henderson says. ``But if they don't, I'll keep going. There's always something good that's going to happen for Bill Henderson around the corner.''

And if it's good for Bill Henderson, it's usually good for us, too.

The facts

--The show: ``The Art of the Song.''

--Who: Charlie Haden Quartet with Bill Henderson and Shirley Horn.

--Where: Royce Hall, UCLA.

--When: 8 p.m. Sept. 21.

--Tickets: $12, $35, $40, 50. Call [phone].

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Of his new-found fame and exposure, Bill Henderson says: ``I'm hoping some of the things I've auditioned for are going to come through. But if they don't, I'll keep going. There's always something good that's going to happen for Bill Henderson around the corner.''