Scott Bakula is having the best year of his career.
His new CBS drama “NCIS: New Orleans” is one of the few bona fide hits of the season, and Bakula surprised everyone by being the best thing about “Looking” — HBO’s whiny gay version of “Sex and the City” — with his portrayal of a silver daddy who has almost given up looking for love.
If you take a look at Bakula’s 20-plus year career, he’s the kind of actor who can step into any role and make it seem like a natural fit, whether it’s time-traveler Sam Beckett on “Quantum Leap” or Bob Black, Liberace’s laidback gay wingman in “Behind the Candelabra.”
Bakula talked about his varied career to The Post from New Orleans, where he films his CBS series.
Quantum Leap (1989-93)
Bakula played Dr. Sam Beckett, who jumps back and forth in time while physically embodying different characters.
“It allowed me to break the boundaries in what I thought acting was about and the parts you could play. The kinds of things I had to on the show were: You’re staring down the barrel at the back of John F. Kennedy’s head, go. Or: You’re Marilyn Monroe’s chauffeur, go. I got to go to so many wonderful places. When it was all over, people didn’t know what do with me because they thought I was playing all these different roles. You get through those years and you keep plugging away. Because of the Internet, if you’re in a successful show you can’t ever go away and reinvent yourself. You never go away anymore.”
Murphy Brown (1993-96)
In a recurring role, Bakula played Peter Hunt, a reporter who dates Murphy Brown, played by Candice Bergen. In a hilarious seduction scene, he almost gets Murphy, who’s uptight about being older than Peter, to take her clothes off.
“I had just come off of ‘Quantum Leap.’ I had done a bunch of half-hour shows, kind of my staple coming from New York. I just felt more comfortable coming from the theater; we had a live audience. I’d never worked with anybody liked Candice. We had a ball and I became fast friends. Later, I wanted to work with her on ‘Boston Legal.’ The character I played sings and romances her. We had had a thing years and years before. She’s so smart and beautiful. She’s a trip.”
Star Trek: Enterprise (2001-05)
Bakula starred on the NBC series as Captain Jonathan Archer.
“That came along at a great time. I’d been traveling a lot. It was an opportunity to stay at home. My buddies at Paramount, they called me. My initial response was I don’t want to be the captain. Then they said, ‘You’re 100 years before Kirk and Spock.’ I knew that would be good.Then I wouldn’t have to follow all the other great captains. I was twelve minutes from my home for four years. My youngest son was a year old. We hardly went on location.”
Behind the Candelabra (2013)
Bakula played choreographer Bob Black, an associate of Liberace.
“He was a real person, but not somebody I ever found much about. I researched and I found one Liberace pseudo autobiography. He was a choreographer, but there were never any pictures of him. The idea was there were choreographers in the world that Liberace traveled in and one of the ways Bob stayed in favor was helping [procure] the young fellas for him. The set was hysterical. It was just laughter from the first fitting on.”
Looking (2014-)
Bakula plays the Lynn, a businessman having relationship with a 40-year old waiter.
“There were no pages I could read when I met with [series creator] Andrew Haigh. We had a lovely hour-and-a-half breakfast. Andrew p;itched this idea of the character to me. I liked it. They were able to show me the pilot. I like him as a filmmaker. All the guys are so sweet and excited and brave in what they’re going for.”
NCIS: New Orleans (2014-)
Bakula has joined the mighty CBS franchise as Special Agent Dwayne Pride.
“At my age, with my years in the business, to have an opportunity like this is amazing, and I don’t take it for granted. There’s a certain kind of homecoming with the people at CBS and Warner Bros. I can remember being on the set of ‘Murphy Brown’ and Les Moonves walked on the set and said, ‘Lorimar is no more. This show is going to be a Warner Bros. show.’ I’ve never been in a situation where the show leading me is the number one show on the planet. I also never dreamed I’d do a series outside of Los Angeles. My lawyer said, ‘If you don’t to this, sitting around waiting for the next show that’s shooting in LA, you may wait awhile.’ I’m flying.”