Man Hopes Mobile Resume Gets Acting Career in Gear

Actors are often at their most creative while looking for work. Consider Dennis Woodruff, who has converted his car into a rolling job application.

A would-be film and TV actor, he has plastered his blue and yellow ’77 Cadillac limousine with his mug shots, agent’s phone number and bumper stickers that read “Born to Act” and “I Brake for Auditions.”

A painted message on the car’s side panel shouts: “Give me a part!”

Says Woodruff: “Sometimes you have to do pretty off-the-wall things to get noticed.”

Both the car and owner have become fixtures on Sunset Boulevard near Fairfax Avenue in Hollywood, where Woodruff, 42, often parks in a motel lot. Too broke to rent an apartment, he sleeps in the car and shaves and showers at a local gym.

“I’m doing it to entertain people,” Woodruff says of the car, “but also to get parts.”

So far, the results have been mixed. Some foreign magazines and TV crews have interviewed him since he bought and customized the car two years ago. But he says he has landed only three or four bit TV and movie parts.

Woodruff, who was born in Long Beach and has spent most of his life in Southern California, has taken advantage of his spare time by writing an as-yet-unsold screenplay about his experiences as a down-and-out actor.

These days his biggest worry is that his car will give up before he does. The odometer registers almost 175,000 miles.

“When I have auditions, which is rare, I drive my car,” he explains. “If this engine goes, I’m really up a creek.”

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FACE TIME: This is such an unmitigated publicity stunt for a certain upcoming movie that we’re not even going to tell you the name of the film. Suffice it to say that an entity called Mr. Puss Productions is sponsoring a “Weird Distorted Face Contest.”

Anybody willing to contort their features in public is invited to enter the event, to be held at the United Artists Westwood Theater at 3:30 p.m. this Saturday.

“Entrants should be prepared to have their pictures taken and to make complete fools of themselves,” says a news release.

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HER OWN SHOW: Starting Friday, political junkies, community activists and other civic-minded folks can tune in to a new talk show starring(drum roll, please) . . . Councilwoman Ruth Galanter.

Galanter new monthly program on the Continental cable TV system is called “Ruth Galanter & Guests.” Upcoming editions of the 30-minute show, which will address issues affecting the city of Los Angeles, will feature guests ranging from Police Chief Willie L. Williams to actor and environmental activist Ed Begley Jr.

“Geraldo” it is not. The first program’s topics: curbside recycling and environmental education.

Galanter, however, is ecstatic.

“I’m very excited about it,” she says. “It’s fun being a TV star.”