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4.) 1995 interview

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Ronn Moss has been portraying the No. 1 Forrester son, Ridge, during the entire eight years The Bold and the Beautiful has been on the air. Times have changed, the show has changed, but what about Ridge and the actor who portrays him? Sitting in his dressing room at CBS Television City in Hollywood, working on a plate of steamed veggies from the studio commissary, the actor admits he doesn't think he's changed very much at all, at least not in any important way.

"Little awareness and things," he allows in his quiet, reflective voice, "I'm sure I've acquired. I can't say specifically what they are, because they sort of synthesize themselves into me, where I don't even think about them."

The actor, who achieved success early in his career as a singer/musician with the rock group Player (which had a No. 1 single, Baby Come Back, in 1978), agrees to provide some honest insights into what makes Ronn Moss tick: "I would probably describe myself as having a couple of different personalities. Not necessarily like Sybil," he grins, "but I have a very quiet, mediative side that I've grown out of a little bit. It's a side that really relied on the Zen aspects of my life. That's where I get my calm from. I have had that side for a long time. When I was younger, people said I was just being shy, being quiet. But it was actually being extremely observant and meditative about my life and the things around me. On the other side, another personality is the kind of wilder, talkier side, where I can just ramble about pretty much anything," he continues, "that part that goes onstage when I play my music, the side of me that's a lot more outgoing, much more extroverted. So I just swing back and forth between those two distinct personalities, depending upon what I need to do."

Growing up in Hollywood, Moss admits, "I was 90 percent introvert and 10 percent extrovert. Now it's just about evened out. That's probably why I took up acting, trying to even that out more. I think I'm still basically very shy. So the acting has helped me pull the extrovert out of myself - by force or whatever; it's become a part of me as well. I'm much more comfortable with it. There were years and years when I couldn't even stand to have my picture taken," he declares. "When I was a little kid, I would run away from cameras. It was too exposing to me, I guess."

Ironically, Moss' lean, finely chiseled physique has been exposed in a Speedo or towel ever since B&B's debut in '87. Being shy, he acknowledges those scenes have been difficult to do, "But I knew I had to get over it. So I just set my mind to do that, because its part of what I want to do. I did make a pact that I wouldn't do publicity shots in a Speedo or with my shirt off, because I really don't want to project that image. I'll do it in the context of the show, because it's right for the show, but otherwise, no. I see these guys doing all these thing where they're trying to look like 'Mr. Stud,' and it looks silly to me."

A self-described loner, Moss reveals, "I spent a lot of childhood time by myself, and I was fine with that. I was never one of those kids who felt lonely, because I always had myself - and whatever personalities I had there to talk to. I had a very vivid imagination, so I created imaginary characters to talk to."

At about 14, Moss began to study martial arts, including "the spiritual side of the arts," he says, which led to reading and talking to others about the teachings and philosophies of Zen Buddhism as well as meditation and visualization.

This talk of childhood triggers a natural thought progression for the actor. Moss suddenly smiles and says, "I've added a daughter to my life. That's one thing that's certainly changed - and that is extremely positive for me."

Moss and his wife, Shari Shattuck, welcomed a baby girl, Creason (a name from Moss' side of the family), into the world Feb. 26, 1994. "I really had no intention of ever getting married," he confesses, "so the idea of not having a family would've been fine with me. But somewhere in the last eight years I have definitely changed that attitude."

Asked how that came about, Moss says, "Meeting Shari. She's brought a stability to my life. She's a grounding element for me." They met making "an HBO-ish movie" he doesn't want to identify by name ("because it wasn't worth anything," he smiles) in which she had the lead and he played the supporting role of a night-club cad. "We hit it off immediately," he says. They were kindred spirits, he feels, because she had grown up independent, too. They were married Jan. 1, 1990, "the first day of the new decade," he says, describing in very romantic and poetic terms their nuptials on the African plains. In '92, Shattuck briefly appeared on B&B, playing a model named Heather who helped Ridge in a scheme to send Brooke back to the arms of Ridge's dad, Eric.

The other major change in his life, Moss says, "was finally reconciling with the idea of wanting to have a little girl. We do want to have another child. A boy would be fine, but another little girl would be great, too. But a little girl first. It worked out exactly how I envisioned. I visualized this for so long."

Moss is a great believer in the positive effect of visualization, which he says he practices "constantly. Envisioning what you want, how you get it, how the whole scenario plays," he explains. "It doesn't necessarily mean it will always turn out that way, but you have a much better chance of completing that goal and having something happen in your life if you set it up in certain ways, I'm not one of those people who believes you just ask for things to get them. You've got to work hard to get them. You've got to set up the game plan - and that's physically and mentally. So before I would have a child in my life, I had to prepare myself. Seriously prepare, because for so long I was not of the mind to have a child, that I had to get my mind accustomed to the fact that I would have to know how to raise a child, do my best to be tolerant and grow with her and learn with her and do everything that you do when you have a child."

Moss says the mental planning included pretty much going back to day one of your own life and relearning a lot about yourself. That's kind of what a child does - it makes you look at yourself again, and grow. You have to get accustomed to, 'What will I be like when this little child is in my life, and she has to take priority over everything?' They have to be tended to and cared for and changed and wiped and cleaned and everything that is involved with a child. You have to think about all those things, because once the child comes, you can't just go, 'Oh, now what do I do?' I like to be a little more prepared that that, because I want that little girl to have the best beginning she possibly can," he smiles, "and if she has an ignorant parent wondering what the hell he's supposed to do with the diaper, then she's not off to a good start. So from going from a very mental image, a visualization of this in my life, I was able to make it happen and have it pretty much go along as I envisioned it.

"You can't envision everything," he cautions, "but you can definitely set your path and make the cosmos - whatever you want to call it, the energy out there - know that you're ready and responsive to it happening the way you want it to happen." The first year of Creason's life has sped by "amazingly fast," says Moss. "She's a joy. She's gotten so big and matured to quickly. She's been walking since she was nine months old. Not only walking, but climbing, going up ladders, tumbling." When he's not with his wife and daughter, Moss is in the recording studio he built in their home, where he and Peter Beckett, a friend and original member of Player, are recording and mixing two new albums (one for release in Asia, the other for the U.S./European market). They're reviving the Player name for these albums, which have no specific themes. "It's just our songs, our style. It's very much blue-eyed soul, R&B, the kind of rock 'n' roll where you can understand the lyrics," he grins. "We're still very strong on vocals. That's kind of our forte." Moss plays guitar, bass and some drums on the album, too.

Music is an integral part if his life, says Moss, "even though, to me, it's the most intangible of the arts. When you hear that music, it goes into your senses. It's something you feel. Singing and playing give me great pleasure."

Pleasurable, too, for Moss is his prized motorcycle, a Harley Davidson Electra Glide, full-dress model. "That's pretty much my stable form of transportation," he says. He admits he doesn't like helmets, "but I wear them...I'm always careful on the bike. I'm not one of those guys who speeds through traffic. I ride it just like a car." With a sheepish laugh, Moss admits that he has visualized his baby daughter astride the bike with him. "Oh, yea, I could see it - riding her around the neighborhood - but I forgot all about the legalities of it. She has to be a couple of years old. She has to sit upright and wear a helmet.I've got about another year, and then, she'll ride with me. I think that's something she will thoroughly enjoy - as will I."

It's time for Moss to run lines with co-star Katherine Kelly Lang (Brooke) for scenes being taped this afternoon. As he goes out the dressing-room door, he smiles, gives a sturdy handshake and kindly offers, "If you need more, give me a call."

The guy who believes he hasn't changed much in the last eight years doesn't realize that he's already revealed just how much he actually has changed - and it's all to the good.