They know Lawrence Pressman at Art's Deli.

The Sherman Oaks actor - who appears in the new play "Of Equal Measure" at the Kirk Douglas Theatre - has been a regular patron at the Studio City eatery for many years. When Pressman's wife, actress Lanna Saunders, was in the advanced stages of multiple sclerosis, the staff at Art's would set up the same table to accommodate her wheelchair.

"They really treated her particularly well," says Pressman, whose wife died in 2007.

The couple's 45 years together - 34 as husband and wife - informs much of Pressman's discussion of his life and work. A veteran of more than 150 films (including "9 to 5" and "The Man in the Glass Booth") and TV programs ("The Gathering," "Late Shift") Pressman, 69, is a founding member of both the Antaeus Theatre and Matrix Theatre companies.

In Tanya Barfield's "Of Equal Measure," Pressman plays President Woodrow Wilson, whose segregationist policies and entry into World War I are seen through the eyes of an African-American stenographer.

You've been on the Kirk Douglas stage before?

PRESSMAN: In "The Paris Letter" (2004) - and it's interesting to be back. When I did "The Paris Letter," I said, "I won't do this play unless you can find a spot every night for my wife." It's on stage right, a little spot where she would sit. She came to almost every performance, which was great.

She was a third-generation actress, and our son (actor David Pressman) is fourth generation. When she was struck with MS, she was on "Days of Our Lives" and her career was over in a firefly light, just like that. The whole idea of involving her in the theater, to find a way to let that lifelong calling have a life for her, was a challenge. At the same time, it was very meaningful to me to know she was there every night.

Watching your performance, did she give you notes?

Yeah. She was very judicious because she was part of the process for so many years. She would time it. She would know when I was being very sensitive and crazy and all that stuff, and then there were times I would be very cocky. Those were good times to give notes. She'd say, `You know, I don't think you were in the right position for that." Or, "I don't think you understand that moment." And even if I did understand it, it clarified that I was not communicating what I understood. There are two processes in acting: understanding what it is and communicating it.

Tell me about your research into Wilson.

On the seat of my car is a psychological study of Woodrow Wilson by no less than Sigmund Freud. A buddy of mine from college who is still in my life said to me one day, "Have you read that book by Freud on Wilson?" I thought he was joking. I said, "No, I must have missed that." These days, I don't over-research. I find that you have to start with the (playwright's) stuff, and if the author has chosen to change or compress or needs stuff in a historical character's life, you have to honor that stuff. The research I do now is to satisfy my curiosity.

What were some of Freud's conclusions on Wilson?

I'm not completely finished with the book yet, but deeply messianic. (Wilson) believed that God had anointed him, and you don't find that sort of thinking outside of Shakespeare. Freud also thought Wilson was deeply attached and strongly influenced by a need for a mother. His own mother was very smothering in some ways. The other side of her was she was deeply withholding. Wilson had maybe an overly strong, idealized relationship with his father. That's something I had not heard before. He idolized his father in every sense of that word.

The play has some current political resonance.

George W., Woodrow W. There is a marked similarity. Wilson was a very contained and expressive and intellectual man, but with a enormous passion. I think he has a greater passion than George W. He couldn't control his passions.

There's a great number of people today - myself included - who had no idea of Wilson's stance on race. He wasn't the only president after Lincoln who systematically tried segregation. It just was never as much of a government policy as under Wilson, and I think, in light of Barack Obama and this extraordinary period of history that we're in right now, this is a historical moment long desired for many of us, a long-waited-for and truly earned moment.

In no way have we solved our problems of race in this country. We are in the process of solving it. I like to think we'll solve it in the next few years. Whether Obama wins or not, the very fact of his candidacy is a major event.

"In the process of solving our problems of race" sounds optimistic.

Having a black candidate for president, whatever happens, those wheels will not go backwards this time. They can't. Changes are in the process, but it's where you are in the process that's the question. How far has the country as a whole come? We'll see in November. Or we won't.

A customer here looked over at you and said, "Lawrence Pressman, Doogie Howser's boss."

I don't mind that at all. That's as good a thing to be known for as anything else, I happen to like that show and believe in it. That was a truly magical four years working for an old friend, Steven Bochco, one of the truly good guys in the business. When other people were giving me sympathy about Lanna, Steven gave me a job, and I needed the job more than the sympathy. To get a Steven Bochco show on TV is like being asked to do "Hamlet" for Shakespeare. I had to redo the house in order to make it handicapped-accessible, and "Doogie Howser" paid for it.

Evan Henerson (818) 713-3651

evan.henerson@dailynews.com