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FINE TUNING "I was stunned to see that someone sent in their impressions of what I said to the New York Times. I did not even think there was a chance of it being covered. I didn't think it warranted coverage. I spoke for an hour and a half' in a ques­ tion and answer session with parents and students, Walden said. The story in the Times was only four paragraphs long. "So the fact that if you say something, it can be quoted at any time or printed anywhere--or misquoted--(means that) suddenly you have to weigh words carefully, because people are going to believe what they read. It's living in a fishbowl in a way I hadn't experienced before." The image of a caring, intelligent per­ son isn't all bad, of course, especially when it's true. Walden says the Rossi im­ age has helped to make him more effec­ tive as a spokesperson for special in­ terest groups and charities and in other speaking engagements. "I'm not set for life or independently wealthy by a long shot," he points out. I donate a lot of money to charity, and I think I do more good by donating my time and energy to fund raising for various causes." Walden is involved in what he calls 'human issues.' He works for the World Hunger Fund, he hosted the Easter Seal Telethon in L.A. and he helped raise funds for a children's hospital in Seattle. Walden's notoriety has also given him an opportunity--not so coinciden- tally--to write. Although his pieces are usually lighter than the kind of in­ vestigative stories Rossi does for the Trib, Walden has published 12 articles, mostly features. He covered the Democratic National Convention in a first-person piece for the San Francisco Examiner, he interviewed Lakers and Kings owner Jerry Buss at the opening of MOCK Living with the by Chuck Bins New York--After four seasons of "Lou Grant," Robert Walden is so recog­ nizable as hard-driven reporter Joe Rossi that he feels hf has become something of a media mascot--a symbol of a caring, intelligent! person. It's a double-edged image that makes him both in demand as a speaker and, at the same time, feel like he's living in a fishbowl. On this particular morning, Walden is disturbed by a brief story in the New York Times about his visit to Union Col­ lege. On the face of it, the article doesn't seem like anything to get annoyed about--the lead paragraph says Walden thinks people should read more. But to Walden, it's another reminder of the 'fishbowl effect.' "Suddenly you have to weigh words carefully, because people are going to believe what they read.", --Rotfert Walden the 76ers-Lakers playoff, he spent four days in the Sierra Mountains in the dead of winter for a piece on the Indian move­ ment, and he interviewed Lou Grant, Mrs. F»ynchon and Joe Rossi for a tongue-in-cheek article for Us magazine. The difference Walden seems more mature than his character; he's low-key, mellower, and he dresses better. He sports a white shirt, a blue-plaid sweater, a camel- colored jacket and a few gray hairs. Of qualities they have in common, the difference between the social-minded actor and the hard-bitten reporter is mostly a matter of degree. Walden says they're both iconoclastic they both prize their individualism and are willing to pay a price for it, and they both tend to over­ react--although Rossi overreacts more frequently and with mOre venom. "I am somewhat aggressive, but not to the degree that Rossi is," Walden says, segueing into how he makes the transi­ tion from Walden to Rossi for the TV cameras. "If I feel that Rossi possesses a larger percentage of aggressiveness, I would try to tap that area in myself and somehow balloon it to the proper propor­ tions." What has made "Lou Grant" such a hit? Walden believes it is the show's con­ cern for dealing with the humanity of an issue--"not merely the politics or statistics or sociology" of it. That concern is not lost on this actor. It is evident that, like reporter Joe Rossi, Robert Walden cares about other peo­ ple. He sees a lot of strife in the world, but says: "Of all the emotionally devastating images I can think of, the rfrost horrendous is a starving child. I can't think of anything that undoes me /more. --And I refuse to accept that that has to be, just as I refuse to believe that change can only come about by killing. Maybe that's romantic or naive, but I have to believe that--I need to believe that--for my own soul."