No one at General Hospital knew who the hell Rick Springfield was when he auditioned for the show along with hundreds of other aspiring actors who wanted the part of Dr. Noah Drake on TV's most popular Daytime show. And he didn't tell them. He had a smash hit single "Jessie's Girl," climbing the charts, but no one recognized his name. He went in as an actor, did a screen test, and was hired. It's called making it on merit.

Springfield was born in Sydney, Australia, in 1949, the son of a career soldier. You'd never know he was Australian - his American accent is perfect. "I have a good musical ear," he explains. "I think that has helped me a lot." A high-school dropout, he performed with a number of rock 'n' roll bands in Australia before making his way, in 1972 to the land of opportunity.

America was something else. Problems galore - immigration red tape, hassles with record companies, too much teenage fan magazine publicity, bad management. He didn't record an album for over three years. "For the first time in my life I was out on my own, with no means of support. It was the lowest point in my life, and all the time I was receiving letters from kids [in Australia] saying they'd like to come to Hollywood to see my big house."

But through it all, in total obscurity, he continued to write, arrange, and record his music at home; he also got involved in his other love, acting. Universal signed him to a contract, and he appeared on The Six Million Dollar Man, Wonder Woman, and The Rockford Files. Meanwhile, his tapes found their way to RCA and a recording contract early in 1980, which led to "Jessie's Girl" and the album "Working Class Dog".


PLAYGIRL: Rick, you've had an extraordinary life so far. A guy from Australia, you have struggled as almost all musicians do early on; you made our way to America and couldn't even get permission to work in this country at first. Now you are not only making it big as a musician, but as an actor on General Hospital as well. It must be a glorious time in your life. How sweet is it, considering the travail and pain that you went through?
SPRINGFIELD: It certainly wasn't a case of being an overnight success. I'd been in lots of bands in Australia before I came over here in 1972, including a band called Zoot that had two top-ten singles. But when I came over here as a solo artist, it was pretty difficult going. I had some publicity at first, and I had a couple of albums released. But nothing really big happened. Until recently, I didn't have a record deal, and although I was working as an actor, it was still a very difficult time - I was selling guitars to make the rent money. But I knew that eventually things would happen.

The feeling when things finally hit, is - it's incredible. You're just never prepared for it. I knew that this was going to happen, and I felt inside that all the work that I was doing was going to pay off. Yet when it does finally hit, there's nothing that really has prepared you for it. But I love it, I'm absolutely loving it - both acting on General Hospital and what's happening with recording.

One of the greatest thrills so far has been calling up my mom and telling her the album [Working Class Dog] went gold. My mom and dad got a lot of pressure from their friends when I first went into music - because I left school, which was pretty unheard of. As far as everybody else was concerned at the time, the Beatles were going to be looking for jobs in three more years. So everyone told them, "What are you letting your son do that for? Why?" But my parents believed in me; they knew I had to go after what I had to go after. And it's a real sweet feeling that their belief in me has paid off.

PLAYGIRL: What is life like for a young Australian kid who has music bursting within him, when he knows he has to get it out and he knows he can't find fruition in Australia?
SPRINGFIELD: Basically I moved around a lot when I was growing up in Australia because my dad was in the army, but it was always my dream to come to the States and play music. I knew I'd have to leave the country to continue my career and to go as far as I could go. I always had this dream of coming to America. I remember driving along in a van once, on the road with one of my bands, when I looked up in the sky and saw a cloud formation that looked just like America. It was a great, great thrill. At the time I was really big on signs, so I figured it was a good sign.

PLAYGIRL: How did you get your first guitar?
SPRINGFIELD: I was about thirteen when I decided I should get a guitar. My parents had tried to turn me on to the piano, and that hadn't excited me at all.

PLAYGIRL:Too heavy to carry around?
SPRINGFIELD: It was a little too heavy to carry around. So I opted for guitar, and when I got one for my thirteenth birthday, I proceed to saw it in half, trying to make an electric guitar out of it. Painted in bright red. My parents weren't too thrilled about that, so I had to buy my next one myself. Then they helped me buy my very first electric, which I still have pictures of.

PLAYGIRL: How do you write your songs? What is the creative procedure?
SPRINGFIELD: Someone once said that writing anything or creating anything is 1 percent inspiration and 99 percent hard work. I get ideas for songs from - mainly from what I feel, things that happen to me. But I've gotten inspiration from billboards, too. Generally, I come up with a line that strikes me, and I start to structure a song around it. When I've come up with a couple of lines, I'll start to write a melody around them, finish the melody, and then finish all the lyrics later.
"Jessie's Girl" came out of a bit of pain. I'll tell you. I had a friend, and he had a girl friend whom I was very enamored with for quite a while, but I never did anything about it. I'm glad I didn't, because we're still friends. I guess second prize - a number-one single - is not too bad.

PLAYGIRL: So you didn't set out to be an actor; you set out to be a musician. Was acting accidental, something just to fill in the gaps while you were trying to establish yourself as a musician?
SPRINGFIELD: Basically I set out to be an artist, period. I didn't set out to be just a singer, or I would have stuck with singing. Acting has always been, for me, a kind of parallel career, and one that I'd always been very interested in. It's just another way of expressing myself.

PLAYGIRL: How did you get your first part here in America?
SPRINGFIELD: I'd been told that it was very hard to break into acting here. And it sure as hell is. The very first thing I did was go to an acting coach for two years before I even looked for an agent, because I knew I had to lay some groundwork. I wanted to learn the techniques for television and film. I wasn't that interested in stage.

PLAYGIRL: All the time continuing to work on your music?
SPRINGFIELD: Oh yeah. All the time I was still writing and playing. When I wasn't at [acting] class I'd be home writing. Then this girl from acting class and I put on a play together in L.A. We built the scenery, rented this tiny theater, printed up all the programs, and sent invitations out to casting directors and everybody. Of course, no one showed up. Actually three people did. One was an agent, whom I signed with; another was a guy from Universal, who signed me to a contract deal, which is where I got my first experience in front of the camera.

PLAYGIRL: How did General Hospital come along?
SPRINGFIELD: Talk about timing! It started out as just another casting call. The record was out and "Jessie's Girl" was on the charts, but no one on General Hospital knew I was a singer. I just did a screen test and was hired as an actor. Three weeks later they found out I was a singer with a record on the charts.

PLAYGIRL: How has your life changed since General Hospital?
SPRINGFIELD: I get recognized a lot. Most people on the street are pretty cool about it, though. But the most interesting thing that has happened has been with friends. For example, you start to get a lot of calls from people you haven't heard from in eight years. I give them the benefit of the doubt because maybe they didn't know where to get in touch with me before. But I do not let people in as readily nowadays, I guess. That is something I'm not really happy about, but I think I need to do it to a certain extent until I see who want to be friends and who just want to know me.
I've done a couple of personal appearance tours, promoting Working Class Dog, and there have been some pretty wild scenes with thousands of people. But I know that people come out to see me for the image. I don't think, oh God, these people are here for me, because they are not; they're there for the image that they see me as. And I'm aware that I have to keep that separation, because that's what's going to keep me levelheaded. That's why, in interviews, there's a certain place that I won't go beyond in talking about my personal life. I have to keep that separate, keep that as kind of an island inside of me, as a rock inside of me.

PLAYGIRL: Do you find it more difficult to maintain a relationship today, to meet ladies? Is it hard to tell whom she is interested in? Is she interested in Rick Springfield or the guy she sees on television, the guy whose record she hears?
SPRINGFIELD: Oh, I know basically they're not interested in me solely as a person. I know, because I've felt it myself. I used to write to Hayley Mills when I was twelve, you know! I know the feeling.

PLAYGIRL: An old friend of mine. I knew her when she was very young, actually. Terrific, marvelous girl.
SPRINGFIELD: But it is hard to maintain a relationship because of the hours that I'm keeping and the work schedule. I just have to put that first right now. So as far as having new relationships, it's difficult. I've some good male friends that I've had for quite a while. But meeting girls, going out on dates and things like that, it's pretty tough. If I treat it as a one-night thing it's fine - but I've very cautious of expecting too much from that kind of relationship. Basically I'm working too hard to have a lot of spare time to socialize. I do manage a bit. And when I cut loose, I do cut loose. I've got to do that once in a while, just for my own sanity.

PLAYGIRL: What do you think of American girls? Australian men are macho guys - they like to go to pubs with their mates. The Australian women I know say they're all chauvinist pigs. Do you feel that the American attitude toward women has rubbed off on you a little bit?
SPRINGFIELD: I'm still a bit of a chauvinist, mainly from my Australian upbringing. Sometime it's caused problems in my relationships, but I've learned to temper it because of just being here. I mean, not every Australian guy is chauvinistic, but it certainly is a pretty chauvinistic country compared with America.

PLAYGIRL: The American woman is suppose to be a prototype of today's independent woman, what with "women's lib" and everything else. A lot of guy's feel intimidated by that.
SPRINGFIELD: Well, I'd say I wouldn't have gotten lucky the first fifteen times if the girl hadn't come on to me first. I was very shy.

PLAYGIRL: You were shy, as an Australian?
SPRINGFIELD: Yeah. The chauvinistic thing is not just a guy going, "Hey, baby, come here!" Chauvinism can be just your general attitude in male-female relationships.

PLAYGIRL: Do you believe in the interchanging of roles today? Or do you think the traditional male-female roles should still hold?
SPRINGFIELD: Yeah, that's where my chauvinistic attitude still hangs in there. I like women to have careers, but I'd also like to be taken care of.

PLAYGIRL: Is it a big thing in your life to get married someday?
SPRINGFIELD: Yeah, yeah. I want to get married someday. Now is not the time, obviously, but I've been thinking about it more and more.

PLAYGIRL: What do you do when you're not working?
SPRINGFIELD: Sleep! I run. And ski, and ride. I love to exercise.

PLAYGIRL: Any hang-ups?
SPRINGFIELD: No, I'm perfect.

PLAYGIRL: That's your hang-up, right?
SPRINGFIELD: That's right. My hang-up is thinking I'm perfect. I have a lot of hang-ups, yeah. I'm selfish. I'm pretty selfish a lot of the time, too. And stubborn. I lose my temper quickly sometimes too.

PLAYGIRL: Well, that energy explodes in your music and your acting. Rick, it's a delight to talk to you and to meet you. A real high. As the Australians would say - what's that surfing expression? - hang a ten.
SPRINGFIELD: Hang ten.

PLAYGIRL: You're at the top of the wave right now. May it keep cresting for you. It's just the beginning. So I leave you with two lovely words, and you know what they are: Haley Mills.
SPRINGFIELD: Yeah!