FEBRUARY MARCH 1999 
STORIES
GRAD PLAYS ROBIN HOOD
By Bayard Stern
Managing editor, Florida State Times
An FSU honors grad knows about the daily grind. Yet his grind doesn't come from irate bosses or nosy co-workers. His comes from steel against rock as swords are sharpened. He has dramatic fights, rides galloping horses, shoots arrows at an array of targets and deals with damsels who may, or may not, be in distress. It's John Bradley.
Bradley plays Robin Hood in the television series "The New Adventures of Robin Hood." The half-hour action show is syndicated nationally and is in its second season.
A serious high school student and athlete from Orlando, Bradley chose FSU and started at the age of 16 via the early admission program and a scholarship from the Southern Scholarship Foundation.
"I took really heavy loads," Bradley said. "I was taking 20-hour semesters, and I graduated with a 3.8+ GPA and was magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa." He also tried to experience the non-academic side of college life. He participated in the student council, played intramural football and socialized.
"In retrospect I really would have liked to have slowed down a little more," Bradley said. "I regret never taking advantage of the theater program at FSU because it's so fantastic. I had a burning desire underneath to just try it. I didn't think I could make a living at acting, and I didn't pursue it...."
Bradley was a philosophy major.
"I had a great professor who spent a lot of time with me and sponsored me for Phi Beta Kappa," Bradley recalls. "Merrill Hintikka really was special, and she died way too young." (She died at the age of 47 from complications of Lupus.)
After FSU, Bradley started a graduate program at Cornell University on scholarship. Only 19 years old and after a "disappointing" semester of getting Bs, Bradley felt he needed a change. It came. He was spotted by an agent while working as a waiter, auditioned, and got a role as a stand-in for Michael Douglas in the movie "The Slugger's Wife."
"I got a chance to go for it," Bradley said. "It wasn't easy. I spent six years living in a closet in New York, studying and doing off-Broadway plays. I got to study with some great people there. I got better at what I did, but when I first started, I wasn't very good."
Bradley has since been in TV series such as "ER," "The Naked Truth," "Jeff Foxworthy," "Dream on" and "Melrose Place." He has had recurring roles in "LA Firefighters" and "In Living Color." Bradley's feature film credits include "Independence Day" and "Mars Attacks."
Bradley, now 38, is enjoying his trade, but he keeps a level head.
"This business can drive people crazy," Bradley said. "One moment you're on top of the world and the next you're out of work. I wouldn't give it up for anything. I love it."
The show is filmed in a forest that could have been home to the Robin Hood of lore.
"We shoot the show in Lithuania, which is a tiny country north of Poland, in an old Soviet film studio," Bradley said. "We built two giant sound stages. Our sets are incredible. We have castles, villages and a beautiful forest. Robin Hood's camp is there."
Being Robin Hood is fun, but not easy.
"It's a lot of work," Bradley said. "It's six days a week, 12 hours a day. I only had two days off in a row in the six months that I was over there. But I wouldn't trade it for the world. I get to play this fantastic legend, and I would like to keep doing it for awhile."
Bradley has been married eight years, and has a 4-year-old daughter and a 2-year-old son. His family travels with him when he's shooting in Lithuania.
"I can't be away from them for five and a half months," he said. "Every day they are developing and changing. My kids think that their dad just goes to work, and he's Robin Hood. Some people go to a bank - I go and play Robin Hood."
What does he miss when he's in Lithuania?
"The hardest part of living in Europe is not having live sports," he said. "I watch every game of FSU football. I was so sad when Kendra went down. Go Noles."