Another article from philly.com dated 23rd February:-
Dean Cain not raisin' it
Man of Steel has a heart, 'Believe It or Not'
by Luaine Lee
Scripps Howard News Service
PASADENA, Calif. - When the four-year run of the ABC series "Lois &
Clark - The New Adventures of Superman" flickered its last image,
Superman was not about to fold his red cape and head for a condo
in Florida.
But Dean Cain, the man who played the buff crusader, had other
plans. Cain, who formed his own production company, now is host of
"Ripley's Believe It or Not" on cable's TBS.
This project is a good fit for the Princeton graduate, one-time
All-American college athlete, ex-professional football player and
history enthusiast.
"The day before yesterday I had a Derringer pistol in my hand which
was found on the floor of Ford's Theater in Washington, D.C., the
night Abraham Lincoln was shot," says Cain, leaning forward in a
black leather armchair, his square jaw stretched wide in a grin.
"On the handle of the pistol it says the name 'J. Wilkes Booth.' It
was unbelievable to me.
"That combines the love of history in a heartbeat, and education and
entertainment and fun."
Those elements pretty much sum up the man himself. While people
already recognize the sturdy physique, few know that the kid who
grew up in sunny Malibu forsook sure-fire football scholarships to
UCLA or USC for the icy paths of New Jersey and the academic
drudge of history.
He admits, though, that his second year there he almost quit.
"I was having a tough time being away," he recalls, "walking through
Prospect Gardens in the middle of November, where it was snowy,
rainy, icy. . . .I talked to my mom and it was 92 degrees in Los
Angeles," he recalls, shaking his head.
"My friends at USC and UCLA were treated like gods because they
played football. I'd just gotten berated by a teacher's aide in Russian
politics because. . .I hadn't done well on the test. But I had done
really well in the game the week before.
"He said, 'You should've done as well on this test as you did in the
game!' in front of the class, which upset me. . .I was peeved off and
treated like a behemoth, if you will, because I was a football player,
a Neanderthal, and this was an institution of learning. I was
frustrated and had a coach that was yelling at me every single day."
Cain's stepfather, film director Chris Cain, came to visit.
"He calmed me down, had me go through it. And it was OK. I could
leave at the end of the semester and go take a scholarship at UCLA
and play football if that's what I wanted to do. But give it some
time. He got me to open my eyes to the bigger picture."
That bigger picture has stayed in Cain's mind, even when the Man of
Steel turned him into public property.
"When I was on television it was bad, I felt like I was constantly in a
fishbowl. But the series ended and it dropped off 60 percent. It was
great. And I got back some anonymity."
Cain, 33, didn't leave Princeton at the end of the semester, and that
determination has served him well in show business, too.
Originally, he was working as a writer. "I was doing a lot of writing
but didn't quite make the kind of money I wanted to make, so I
started to do commercials, TV commercials and things. And the
money came much more quickly and much more easily."
Commercials led to guest shots and a season on "Beverly Hills
90210," which led to auditioning for Superman. He says he found a
similarity between being an athlete and a performer: "As an athlete,
you enjoy being in the spotlight.. . ."
Cain may have turned Clark Kent into a babe magnet, but Cain
himself isn't in a relationship. He broke up with his girlfriend 18
months ago.
"I'm still looking," he says, adding that it's difficult to find the right
person.
"That's why there are so many single people and people who are
divorced," he says.
"I don't want to make a mistake. I don't ever want to have to have
a divorce. A lot of my friends who've been married are divorced. And
that's tragic. I'm 33 and I'm getting to the place I'm in no hurry.
Whatever happens, happens." (
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