Alan Rosenberg

Transplanted New Yorker Eli Levinson, the character Alan Rosenberg plays on "L.A. Law," is getting used to Los Angeles. He's finally learning how to drive, he's unruffled by aftershocks and he's even tolerating the "cottony" bagels. Rosenberg, who went with the soulful Eli from ABC's now-defunct "Civil Wars" to NBC's "L.A. Law" in an unprecedented network-jumping move, is also feeling quite comfortable in his surroundings. "At first, I was nervous.

On the eighth floor of the Screen Actors Guild headquarters on Wilshire Boulevard, interim Executive Director David White is pacing his new office, marshaling arguments in support of the union's recently negotiated film and TV contract. "It's a good contract with solid gains," said White, who was installed in late January after moderates on the union's board orchestrated a revolt against the former leadership.

His endearing performance as the sensitive, soulful attorney Eli Levinson on ABC's "Civil Wars" and later on NBC's "L.A. Law" made Alan Rosenberg a hot TV star and a "thinking woman's" sex symbol. Rosenberg and co-star Debi Mazur, who played Eli's secretary Denise, proved so popular with audiences that after "Civil Wars" was canceled in the spring of 1993, they joined the cast of "L.A. Law" last fall.

Forestalling a spectacle of a union at war with itself, a judge rebuffed for the second time a bid by Screen Actors Guild President Alan Rosenberg to block the union's new negotiating team from reviving contract talks with major studios. Rosenberg and three other SAG board members filed a lawsuit this week seeking to overturn a recent vote by the board that ousted the union's chief negotiator and disbanded the union's negotiating committee.

Throwing a monkey wrench into the renewal of contract talks with the major studios, Screen Actors Guild President Alan Rosenberg has launched a legal challenge to the legitimacy of the union's newly appointed leadership.

Beach Baby: Marg Helgenberger, the Emmy-winning actress who plays K. C. on ABC's "China Beach," had a baby boy in real life on Sunday at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. Ten days ago, Helgenberger's character had a daughter on the series. She and husband Alan Rosenberg named their son Hugh Howard Rosenberg.

I would like to go on record as fully supporting all actors getting residual payments for the work they do. However, I feel it should be conditional on them paying a residual sum to their first-grade teacher each time they read a script. ALAN ROSENBERG Valencia

No doubt they are some of the more dramatic lines actor Alan Rosenberg has ever delivered. The Screen Actors Guild president teed off on fellow member Laird Stuart by e-mail last week after Stuart urged actors to reject as inadequate a new contract Rosenberg helped negotiate governing work in commercials. "You realize, I hope, that you are not terribly bright," Rosenberg wrote Stuart, a former guild national vice president. "Nobody cares about you or what you think.

Alan Rosenberg narrowly fended off a challenge from veteran actor Seymour Cassel to win a second term as president of the Screen Actors Guild. The 56-year-old actor, whose credits include "The Guardian" and "L.A. Law" on TV, defeated Cassel and two other opponents, background actor Barry Simmonds and Charley M. De La Pena, who is active on the guild's disabilities committee.

Forestalling a spectacle of a union at war with itself, a judge rebuffed for the second time a bid by Screen Actors Guild President Alan Rosenberg to block the union's new negotiating team from reviving contract talks with major studios. Rosenberg and three other SAG board members filed a lawsuit this week seeking to overturn a recent vote by the board that ousted the union's chief negotiator and disbanded the union's negotiating committee.

Throwing a monkey wrench into the renewal of contract talks with the major studios, Screen Actors Guild President Alan Rosenberg has launched a legal challenge to the legitimacy of the union's newly appointed leadership.

When Alan Rosenberg was elected president of the Screen Actors Guild in 2005, he vowed to take a hard line against the Hollywood studios. After years of moderation and pragmatism, Rosenberg argued, the union needed a more aggressive leadership to square off against the corporate behemoths that could undercut actors in the new era of digital entertainment.

Alan Rosenberg narrowly fended off a challenge from veteran actor Seymour Cassel to win a second term as president of the Screen Actors Guild. The 56-year-old actor, whose credits include "The Guardian" and "L.A. Law" on TV, defeated Cassel and two other opponents, background actor Barry Simmonds and Charley M. De La Pena, who is active on the guild's disabilities committee.

He's played hustlers, gangsters, an aging hippie and a deaf mute. Now, Seymour Cassel is auditioning for what could be his toughest role yet: president of Hollywood's most powerful union, the Screen Actors Guild. A character actor whose career was nearly derailed more than two decades ago by a little-known stint in federal prison, Cassel has launched an unexpectedly strong challenge to incumbent Alan Rosenberg leading up to the Sept. 20 election.

No doubt they are some of the more dramatic lines actor Alan Rosenberg has ever delivered. The Screen Actors Guild president teed off on fellow member Laird Stuart by e-mail last week after Stuart urged actors to reject as inadequate a new contract Rosenberg helped negotiate governing work in commercials. "You realize, I hope, that you are not terribly bright," Rosenberg wrote Stuart, a former guild national vice president. "Nobody cares about you or what you think.

Actor Alan Rosenberg and his supporters gained control of the Screen Actors Guild in a near election sweep late Friday, promising to take a tougher stance in labor negotiations with studios and advertisers. Rosenberg was elected president of the 120,000-member union with nearly 40% of the 27,053 votes cast, succeeding actress Melissa Gilbert, with whom Rosenberg's coalition had repeatedly clashed during her four years in the post. His total compared with 34.

When Alan Rosenberg was elected president of the Screen Actors Guild in 2005, he vowed to take a hard line against the Hollywood studios. After years of moderation and pragmatism, Rosenberg argued, the union needed a more aggressive leadership to square off against the corporate behemoths that could undercut actors in the new era of digital entertainment.

Actor Alan Rosenberg and his supporters gained control of the Screen Actors Guild in a near election sweep late Friday, promising to take a tougher stance in labor negotiations with studios and advertisers. Rosenberg was elected president of the 120,000-member union with nearly 40% of the 27,053 votes cast, succeeding actress Melissa Gilbert, with whom Rosenberg's coalition had repeatedly clashed during her four years in the post. His total compared with 34.

They've played a glamorous vixen, a soulful attorney and a secret service agent in the Old West. Now they are auditioning for the role of a lifetime: leading the Screen Actors Guild when Hollywood's already fractious performers' union is threatening to splinter into warring camps.