CNN.com - Former 'Walking Tall' star Svenson directs, writes

WHERE ARE THEY NOW?

Action man

By Serena Kappes
PEOPLE

Bo Svenson says, "I've never been very good at doing the right thing and saying the right thing"; (inset) Svenson on the set of 1975's "Walking Tall Part II." Story Tools

(PEOPLE) -- If you want to hear Bo Svenson gush, ask about his small role as a preacher in the upcoming Quentin Tarantino film "Kill Bill."

But such praise is not the norm: "If I wasn't thrilled with what I experienced on 'Kill Bill,' I would say so," he says. "I've done films where people asked me what I thought and I said, 'Next question.' "

But honesty isn't always the best policy in Hollywood, as Svenson, 62, has learned. "Over the years, people have given me scripts and they ask for my opinion," says the Swedish-born actor, who has starred in more than 45 films (notably the 1970s "Walking Tall" sequels). "Then I found out that they didn't really want my opinion at all."

Still, if Svenson seems bold as an actor, it comes from the intrepid nature he has displayed all his life. A native of Goteborg, Sweden, Svenson came to the United States when he was 17. "I knew that if I was ever going to learn who I am, I would have to leave Sweden because Sweden was too insular," he explains.

Upon his arrival, the 6'5" Svenson made ends meet by playing ice hockey, until he joined the Marines in 1958. During his six-year military stint, he studied psychology at Japan's University of Meiji and, as a third-degree black belt, became a Far East Heavyweight Division Judo Champion in 1961. After his time in the military, he relocated to Georgia and then Florida, where he began racing in NASCAR.

Svenson turned to acting

Svenson turned to acting after he was introduced to a casting director and did a guest spot on the mid-1960s family show "Flipper." He moved to New York in 1967 and began studying acting in earnest, and eventually, after a slew of Off-Broadway roles, he was cast as the lead in a 1967 Broadway production of "Pigeons Don't Cry."

Though a couple of TV pilots that he was signed on to do went nowhere, Svenson, who moved to California in 1969, got his break on the small screen on the 1968-70 series "Here Come the Brides," in which he played, appropriately, Big Swede. Roles such as the Creature in the 1973 TV movie "Frankenstein" soon came his way, and he made the leap to films in 1975's "Walking Tall Part II" and "The Great Waldo Pepper."

But much of the strapping actor's oeuvre has involved being typecast as a tough guy in testosterone-fueled films such as 1986's "The Delta Force." "It saddens me that it's sort of the norm that if you're tall and somewhat, I guess, manly, then you can't do sensitive guys," he says.

As time wore on, he grew less and less satisfied with the caliber of films he made. "I did a lot of bulls--- movies," he says candidly. "Many of them were generally so badly written, many of which didn't really make dramatic sense." And, he adds, "I took the easy way out by taking work in B-films that paid me the kind of money that allowed me to provide my family the kind of comforts that I felt they deserved." But eventually, Svenson decided to try writing screenplays himself (for which, he says, he has earned up to six figures per script).

In 2001, Svenson wrote and directed the independent film "Outlaw." Other scripts include "Lonely Hearts Square," a film set in a European dance hall; "Viking," an epic period piece tracing life in pre-Columbus America; and the 1930s love story "A Spirit Rebellious."

Along with writing, the Pacific Palisades, California-based actor, who's been married to Lisa, 61, since 1966 and has three daughters -- Pia, 33, the head of fund raising for L.A.'s The Music Center; Maja, 31, a student; and adopted daughter Maria, 10 -- hosts the PBS talk show "The Di Palma Forum," and he's been a commercial director for a Japanese media company for the past decade.

"If it wasn't for some alarming things going on in this world, my life has never been better," Svenson says. "I am so grateful to do what I do and to live where I live and have the family and friends that I have."