51�Թ�

Before he moved in the late 1960s to San Francisco, where he started acting at the American Conservatory Theater, he worked as a counterman at several New York delicatessens.

I walked into the place, where an older counterman greeted me and quickly filled my order.

As he launched his acting career, Mr. Constantine supported himself by working as a night watchman at a department store, counterman at a hamburger chain and barker at a shooting gallery.

At 10 minutes to the hour, he got up and made a motion indicating to the counterman that he was paying for our lunches.

The counterman, a younger man with a big smile, listened to her patiently.