No drug dealers, no pimps. Playing a cop gives you a good-guy image, the fans are always friendly. I enjoy meeting them and sharing their aloha. When Five-O casting director Ted Thorpe spotted him speaking at an athletic banquet, Al Harrington's only stage experience was in Honolulu high school productions and movie bit parts in the Bay Area. For several seasons on Five-O, the former Punahou and Stanford football star portrayed villains .
Good guys are more controlled, they require a subtlety of expression.
When Zoulou left the series in 1972, Harrington was teaching history at his high school alma mater. Detective Ben Kokua, a Hawaiian who returned home after suffering a college football injury. I was ready to try my hand in show business after five years of teaching. Lenny Freeman gave me my big break Working with him was the greatest. He had a warm spirit for everyone and was a giving person, always positive.