"I quit show business when I was a youngster," Hector Elizondo declared in his deep, velvety voice during a revealing phone interview. That’s a surprising statement from the man who mesmerized television viewers with his portrayal of Dr. Watters in Chicago Hope and who has over 80 films to his credit. "I wanted to be a baseball player, not an actor," he added.

Describing how he was discovered by the legendary W,C. Handy (of "St. Louis Blues" fame), Elizondo told about appearing in a public school play when he was 10 or 11 years old. "I sang a song and they wanted an encore. Then someone told my mother, my father, and my uncle that a man wanted to talk with us. That man turned out to be Mr. Handy. A few days later, I was in a television rehearsal studio."

After appearing in a couple of kiddie shows like Howdy Doody, Elizondo retired. Changing his mind when he got older, he returned to acting and won an Obie Award for his live theater work in Steambath as well as a Golden Globe nomination for his portrayal of the helpful hotel manager in Pretty Woman. In discussing his numerous supporting roles, Elizondo revealed his three favorites to be the cross-dressing mobster’s son in Young Doctors in Love, Matt Dillon’s hardworking dad in The Flamingo Kid, and a trigger happy villain in The Taking of Pelham One, Two, Three. It’s obvious he enjoys playing very diverse roles. "But I don’t get to play bad guys much anymore," he complained.

Although Elizondo snagged the lead in television’s adaptation of Burden of Proof, his first big-screen starring role didn’t come along until Tortilla Soup, the American version of Ang Lee’s Eat Drink Man Woman. According to Elizondo, who portrays a retired chef living with his three grown daughters, Tortilla Soup is a hard film to categorize. "It’s a slice of life with lots of heart, but it’s not a comedy," he said. "We played it straight and the humor came from that. I think everyone can identify with this father and his daughters. The father wanted these young women to make their reach exceed their grasp. It’s contemporary but also very old-fashioned, a movie with many layers and great depth."

The preparation of delicious Mexican food assumes major importance in Tortilla Soup, but Elizondo didn’t have to learn how to cook for his role. "I just had to learn how to look like I could cook," he said. "People should be sure to eat before they see this movie," he advised.

Recognizing that gorgeous women as well as yummy food fill the screen in his latest film, Elizondo quipped, "I had to do push ups every day to keep up with them. They were loaded for bear. I had to watch my back all the time." The them referred to includes Elizabeth Peňa, Jacqueline Obradors, and Tamara Mello as the chef’s strong middle-class daughters. But there’s also sexy Raquel Welch as a man-hungry grandmother and Constance Marie as her beautiful daughter.

In a sequence showing Elizondo and Welch dancing together, the actor’s smooth moves are reminiscent of his elegant number with Julie Andrews in The Princess Diaries. Admitting he trained as a dancer, Elizondo seemed adamant about not wanting to do a musical. "It’s a lotta trouble," he almost shouted. "I’d have to stay in bed a whole day to prepare for just one scene."

When asked what he would like people to know about him, Elizondo responded, "People know too much about me already." After a brief silence, he reconsidered and said, "That I’m grateful for the opportunities I have every day."

With all his success on stage, television, and in the movies, is Elizondo a happy man? "Happiness is like broken crystal, you can never find all the pieces," he explained. "Some times are better than others. But the most important thing is making someone else happy."

That might be why Elizondo agreed to star in Tortilla Soup, a film destined to make his fans very happy indeed.