People Magazine

Feb. 1997

[On filming an episode of "Homicide: Life on the Street"]

"I love them like the brothers I am thankful I never had," Eric Stoltz says of his actor pals Tate Donovan and Reed Diamond, with whom he will appear this Friday (Feb. 7) on NBC's Homicide: Life on the Street.

The trio have been buddies since making the World War II drama Memphis Belle seven years ago.

"Tate and I play the ne'er-do-well brothers of Reed's rather earnest TV cop," says Stoltz, 35, adding that he and Donovan, as guest stars, did their best to addle Diamond, a regular on the series. "We improvised a lot. Homicide has a loose structure anyway, so we'd change it every take--toss in new lines or steal each other's lines, just to see what the other guy would do. It was mayhem."

The three may get together to view their experiment, but it won't be at Eric's place. He hasn't owned a TV since 1979. "It's a wonderful way to live," says Stoltz, who has a video monitor to watch tapes. "There is so much that I don't have to keep upwith. Besides, tapes have no commercials."