RODEO ROPER RIDING HIGH AS HEARTTHROB

So . . . how handsome is C. Thomas Howell? Ask one of his girlfriends. By his accounting, he dates “about 20,000 of them.”

Puckish grin in place, the 18-year-old “heartthrob” immediately recanted his estimate: “Nah . . . I go out with a lot of different girls--there’s one I go out with maybe more than others, but I’m no playboy.”

Howell will acknowledge--uncomfortably--that filming was once halted on “Grandview U.S.A.” by adoring female fans (including several troops of Girl Scouts) dying for a look at him in Pontiac, Ill.

“Aw, it got a lot more hype than it deserves,” he said, with some embarrassment. “It was more the girls’ boyfriends. They’d hang out in my room and say, ‘Screw you, Mr. Hollywood, we’re gonna kick your butt.’ ”

As Howell sat in the Starlight Cafe on Melrose Avenue--sipping on a coffee milkshake--he didn’t really look or act like the sexy, magnetic young star seen in “The Outsiders,” “Grandview” or the coming “Secret Admirer.”

Lanky but not terribly tall, with tousled hair, one earring and the barest beginning of a beard on his chin, Howell was very attractive . . . but surprisingly unaffected--a regular teen-age guy.

That in itself comes as a surprise, considering that C. Thomas Howell has hardly led a regular life.

He’s been acting in commercials and on television since he was 6, later on film with famous directors like Steven Spielberg (he played neighbor friend Tyler in “E.T.”), Francis Coppola (Ponyboy in “The Outsiders”) and John Milius (Robert in “Red Dawn”), all before he turned 18.

Howell has managed to achieve success at an early age without letting it go to his head. (He says he never gave much thought to acting for a living until recently, yearning instead for life on the rodeo circuit, where he was a champion team roper at 12.) During an interview, Howell was friendly, with just a hint of shyness; confident, yet vulnerable. And just as exuberant as any 18-year-old would be over his latest purchase--a Porsche 944.

The only topic he flatly refused to discuss was what the initial C stands for in his name.

“It stands for many things,” he offered, then stopped. “Actually, I don’t like to say. It’s not that it bothers me--it’s not some corny name like Claude. I just want to keep that to myself.”

Howell was candid and often self-deprecating about this rodeo-to-riches existence.

He gave away his cowboy-type upbringing with his yes’m manners (reminiscent of Gary Cooper’s cowboy) coupled with the penchant for mischief exhibited by Paul Newman as Butch Cassidy.

“I could ride before I could walk,” Howell explained. “I was chewing tobacco in kindergarten.”

While other kids were playing Little League ball, he was learning to ride bulls.

He left home for the rodeo circuit at age 11--doing occasional commercials to support himself. He was named All-Around Cowboy by the California Jr. Rodeo Assn. from 1978-1980 and the Kern Jr. Rodeo Assn. in 1981.

When his commercial agent switched agencies around that time, Howell found himself suddenly called for an audition with Steven Spielberg, then casting “E.T.”

“I never saw the film until four months after it opened because I was off doing ‘The Outsiders.’ A buddy called me and said, ‘This film is amazing.’ I thought, ‘Great. He digs my movie.’

“By the time I got back, it was--like--E.T. sheets, E.T. candy and all that E.T. baloney. It never really hit me that I was a part of that--it never really has.”

It never really hit him that he was working with the Steven Spielberg, either. At age 13-14, Howell explained, “working with Steven Spielberg didn’t impress me. Nobody’s a big shot, except--like--Mary Jane in the fourth grade.”

He also wasn’t particularly impressed with acting either, he said. “At that age, it’s really hard to learn because you want to go there and do your job, then hurry back home and watch ‘Scooby Doo’ and play Ping-Pong with your buddies.”

It wasn’t until after he completed “The Outsiders” that Howell decided to move acting to the forefront of his career plans--not an easy decision.

“I wanted to be a world champion team roper,” he reflected. “I still can’t admit the fact that I’ve given it up--it was my life. I still lie in bed sometimes with a knot in my stomach when anything about rodeo comes on TV. I sit there saying, ‘God, there’s Jimmy Cooper, there’s Sean--I know all these guys. But when I get around them they say, ‘Just keep doing what you’re doing--go for it.’ ”

He still owns two quarter-horses, Tarzan and Jedi, and team-ropes every other weekend. Basically, he is pragmatic about his decision. “I’m still going, but now I go and have a good time. I’m still competitive, but if I lose, I’ll just go home, get in my Porsche and live my life.”

Howell began studying acting after the “Outsiders.” He said he finally got “serious” about a year ago. “During the filming of ‘Secret Admirer,’ I brought my acting coach (New York-based Larry Moss) on the set so I was studying and learning at the same time.”

He espoused his new attitude about acting with the fervor of a religious convert.

“I can’t believe the difference it makes studying. I used to say, ‘Oh, I don’t want to study. Who wants to give up six hours a week to go over monologues, then go to class and do them?’ That was a big cop-out. It really helped me.”

In “Secret Admirer,” Howell plays a high school student who unwittingly sets off a romantic melt-down among six people (including his parents), when he is careless with an unsigned love letter he receives.

“I think it’s one of my better movies,” he said confidently. “People will be able to have a nice dinner, go see ‘Secret Admirer’ and have a terrific evening. They’ll laugh and enjoy it . . . it’s not one that will blow them out of their chairs.”

Howell especially enjoyed his first opportunity to play a role in semi-comedic fashion. “I had scenes that I could be ridiculous, cute or plain corny,” he explained. “Comedy is fun, but real difficult at times.”

“Admirer” also featured several scenes with co-star Kelly Preston that Howell approached with unusual sensitivity--seeming to stem from his cowboy-code-of-honor upbringing.

“There were some scenes (involving heavy necking/petting) that were written differently for her at first,” he said. “I wasn’t going to do anything that she objected to, so we changed things. I was very aware of her needs and made sure the set was cleared and that she was ready before we did anything.”

Howell recently completed another feature, “The Hitcher,” a supernatural thriller that also stars Rutger Hauer. “It’s definitely my best work so far,” he maintained. “You know how all the dominoes can be lined up one way and then one falls in the opposite direction? On this movie, they all fell the same way.”

As far as future roles go “I’d like to do an outrageous slapstick comedy like ‘Ghostbusters’ and be way off the wall or do a love story,” he said.

But he’s not dissatisfied with his present series of films. “I’ve been lucky enough to do different things and I’d like to keep doing that,” he said.

“What I really like,” the non-playboy finally admitted, “is that lately a lot of people--older people--have been coming up and saying, ‘Gee, I really enjoy your work.’

“It’s not just screaming bubble-gummers anymore.”