Jack Bannon, a man with his own Wikipedia entry, is perhaps most frequently identified with the role of assistant city editor Art Donovan on "Lou Grant." A longtime resident of Coeur d'Alene, Bannon is currently performing in 'A Christmas Cabaret' at The Coeur d'Alene Resort. The production, which is presented by his wife, Ellen Travolta, stars Mark Cotter, a well-known cabaret artist and Bannon, who is listed on the program as a "special guest."

So there you are in front of the audience, special-guesting. What do you actually do?

Basically, I just get up there and tell a few stories. Hopefully I can make somebody smile while I'm at it.

Whom do you play to when you're on stage?

When you're working in a town like Coeur d'Alene, you play to the people you know - your dry-cleaner, the postman. It's real swell if you can make eye contact with someone in the audience that you know - someone you've somehow previously affected in a good way.

I never did get into this whole pursuit-to-be-recognized-by-people-I-didn't-know thing. I did what I did my whole professional life because it felt good.

Some people say, "I got to go to work." Not me. I never felt that I had to go to work. There were very few times I didn't like going to work. I've worked for free a lot of times just because it was fun.

What about retirement?

I don't know what I would do if I retired. Ellen asked me if I wanted to do this show and I thought, yeah, that would be fun.

Some mornings you wake up and ask yourself, "What is my purpose?" Doing a show gives you some sense of purpose and it answers that nagging question.

I'm lucky to have Ellen. She's a real barn-burner. Me, I'm not.

Where did it all begin for you?

I was raised in the San Fernando Valley. In those days you could buy houses at equitable prices. My mother would buy a house, fix it up and then move on. I would come home from school and find a note saying we'd just moved. Well, actually we'd live in a place a couple of years each time before we moved.

Your mom, the house-flipper, was also a well-respected actor, yes?

My mother was Bea Benaderet and she was Kate on Petticoat Junction.

She first came into TV with Burns and Allen. And she and Gale Gordon were actually the first choices for Fred and Ethel on the Lucy shows, but she stayed loyal to Burns and Allen.

How was it to grow up in "the industry?"

It was both nice and kind of different at the same time. My mother was a very busy actor and she'd be gone a lot. But then I'd get to go and watch a radio show from the control booth where I could see everything happening. My stepfather was the sound of Jack Benny's famous vault and he was real good at it.

But generally I didn't find any of it really glamorous because I didn't think I'd ever want to be in show business.

What did you think you wanted to do?

Since I was going to Catholic school, at one time I thought about becoming a priest, but that passed.

Then I wanted to go into the Air Force and be a pilot, but my mother told me, "No, you'll go to college and get your sheepskin." Which I did, because in my family, at least, you didn't dare tell your parents to take a hike.

How did you end up in the entertainment business?

I discovered theater when I was in college.

I went to hear my roommate read for a part in "The Cherry Orchard" one day. I listened to the other people auditioning and thought, "I can do at least that well." I didn't know yet that people got better during rehearsals.

What I loved about the experience was standing alone on the stage reading a scene from a play and getting the attention of the audience. It was powerful, but not in the sense of power over anybody. It was just a really nice moment and something I wasn't used to feeling.

Did you get the part?

I did not get the part. My roommate got the part.

What is it about the theater that you find so intriguing?

Theater is like a bubble. Once it bursts, you can't replay it. It's a moment. It's a magical sort of thing.

Where did you go after graduation?

I got my degree in theater arts, bought a bus token and went home.

And then I went to New York to be on the stage. But I didn't adjust to New York very well. For instance, I had never seen anyone eat standing up until I rode the Staten Island ferry.

I went out on auditions, but it wasn't very rewarding. The first open call I went to, I waited in line about six hours, got to where I was three people short of the door before the doorman said, "That's it for the day. Come back tomorrow." The next day I went back and waited another four hours so I could talk to someone on the inside for about 20 seconds.

They say that you either polish the Big Apple or the Big Apple will polish you off.

Often when people hear your name, the next words out of their mouths are: "Art Donovan." How was life on "Lou Grant?"

I think I got the offer because, whatever it was, I had the right thing at the right time. It's odd because going into the reading, I didn't know whether Donovan was supposed to be from Ireland or not. I knew at some point, though, that I had at least read well. I remember going down to the phone booth, making a call and saying, "I read the daylights out of this part."

In the end, we never knew the show was going to be cancelled when we went on hiatus. I came home one day and it was Ellen who told me she'd heard it.

Nine months later, I started to cry one day. Ellen asked why and I said, "I miss them so much."

Ellen says that every win is a loss - that you win but then it goes away. Or that you're with wonderful people and they go back home.

I enjoyed doing television and it was always a treat to get a job.

How much television do you watch today?

Ellen and I are binge watchers. We get the entire series and watch it.

I hate commercials - I find so few of them entertaining. But these days I do love the size of a screen and the quality of a picture.

Tell me something about the one-night production of "Over the River and Through the Woods" you did in 2012 with Ellen Travolta, Patty Duke and Dennis Franz.

It's a spectacular memory and the audience was wondrous. Sometimes you just shoot through - it's a fabulous feeling. We put one foot on the stage and it was a trip on an angel's back.

Do you have any words about The Coeur d'Alene Summer Theatre?

I'd prefer not to talk about it.

How about plans for the new year?

John Lennon once said, "Life is what happens when you're busy making plans." I don't make a lot of plans.