| In the interest of speed and timeliness, this story is fed directly from the Associated Press newswire and may contain spelling or grammatical errors. |
Caan revisits Las Vegas in new NBC series
Friday August 15, 2003LOS ANGELES (AP) James Caan was a regular visitor to Las Vegas in his early 20s when, as he put it, ``it was smart to gamble because I had nothing.''
Caan revisits Sin City in the upcoming NBC drama ``Las Vegas,'' in which he plays the head of a surveillance team that oversees security in the city's casinos.
The 63-year-old actor spent his single years in Las Vegas hanging out with Frank Sinatra and the Rat Pack in the '60s and '70s.
``I witnessed some unbelievable stories with him when Caesar's was `the boys' and stuff,'' Caan said recently. ``Everything was more personalized in those days. Everything was on a first-name basis. There is no such thing as a comp anymore. It's gotten really kind of corporate and cold.''
Eventually, Caan stopped going to Vegas after he married. It's only in recent years that he's taken his sons, ages 4 and 7, there.
``A warm place in my heart and an empty pocket,'' he said of the old days. ``I used to go in a $30,000 car and come home in an $800 bus.''
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