SOME ENCHANTED CAREER.

Byline: Alessandra Djurklou Staff Writer

IT IS NOT EASY to sum up Robert Goulet. Oh, sure, it is tempting to refer to the 68-year-old as a ``show-biz legend,'' but that seems too general, and not quite colorful enough.

Ed Sullivan called him the ``American baritone from Canada.'' Frank Sinatra was heard to remark: ``What a reed! He's got a voice as wide as Sophie Tucker's (posterior).''

This week, just call him Robert Goulet, French expatriate. Starting Tuesday, the national tour of the revival of Rodgers and Hammerstein's smash musical ``South Pacific'' stops at the Wilshire Theater in Beverly Hills, and Goulet takes the male lead as Emile de Becque, a planter doomed to fall in unlucky love with a younger American nurse.

``He's a good man,'' Goulet said of his character in a phone interview from a tour stop on the East Coast. ``Though he had to kill a nasty man.''

This is actually the second time Goulet has played de Becque - the first was during a national run in the late '80s. And that was Goulet's second crack at the show - even further in the past, he had played the part of a lieutenant.

``I was playing the young lieutenant, and I said, 'Someday, I want to play the old man,' '' Goulet said. ``I love the part.''

Now, it is not unusual for a performer to be aggressive about pursuing a gig, but Goulet didn't start out so eager for fame.

Just call him Robert Goulet, stage-fright sufferer.

Goulet was born in Lawrence, Mass., to French Canadian parents. They, as well as the nuns at his French Catholic school, recognized the future baritone's potential, and urged him to sing and perform as much as possible. Though he was intensely plagued by stage fright, he agreed - even making a deathbed promise to his father (Goulet Sr. died when Goulet Jr. was 11) that he would pursue a singing career.

In 1960 he was cast as Lancelot in ``Camelot,'' opposite then-Broadway royalty Julie Andrews and Richard Burton.

The role was his big break and also a help for his stage fright. Incidentally, it was Laurence Olivier who came up with a cure. Olivier had noticed how scared Goulet seemed of performing live, and told him to wriggle his ears next time he was on stage. Goulet tried it, and found out, to his surprise, that the audience wasn't out to get him after all.

``Camelot'' made Goulet into a Broadway legend, but the performer went on to become many things, including a Grammy Award-winning singer (with 60 albums), a television and film actor (``Beetlejuice,'' ``Gay Purr-ee''), a voice-over performer (``Toy Story 2'' and a guest appearance on ``The Simpsons''), and, most important to him, a father.

He has three children, and his son, Michael (whom Goulet had with ex-wife Carol Lawrence), has even performed with him on stage in ``Camelot.''

``He's studying to be a physician's assistant,'' said Goulet, adding that it looks like Michael may eventually become a doctor.

But what about his father? What does Robert Goulet become when ``South Pacific'' is over?

A new Vegas hotel promises to include a Goulet-run theater, and Goulet hopes to mount a production based on Ebenezer Scrooge, everyone's favorite reformed curmudgeon.

Ah, yes: Robert Goulet, theater administrator. The evolution continues ...

SOUTH PACIFIC

Where: 8440 Wilshire Blvd., Beverly Hills.

When: 8 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday, 2 and 7:30 p.m. Sunday.

Tickets: $42 to 52. Call [phone] or go to ticketmaster.com.