Monday, January 5, 1998 By LOUIS B. HOBSON --

HOLLYWOOD -- Since he walked home with the Oscar this past March, Cuba Gooding Jr. has seen the money.

He got top dollars to play Robin Williams's guardian angel in What Dreams May Come and to be Anthony Hopkins's lawyer in another drama.

Currently he is producing and starring in the thriller A Murder of Crows.

"I owe it all to the little bald-headed gold guy," admits Gooding.

"I've had a good career these past seven years but the first six were nothing like this past year."

Gooding won his Oscar for playing the flamboyant, fast-talking football player opposite Tom Cruise in Jerry Maguire.

It was his character that coined the catch phrase "show me the money," which has become Gooding's mantra.

"People greet me with that phrase wherever I go. The weirdest place was at a urinal. That one really threw me."

He readily concedes that he "loves being associated with that line. Our nanny taught my (three-year-old) son Spencer how to say it. When he does it for me, it's my greatest thrill."

Gooding had a small taste of celebrity after his film debut in 1991 in John Singleton's Boyz N the Hood.

His performance won him not only rave reviews but small though memorable roles in A Few Good Men and Outbreak.

Hollywood thought his breakout role would be as the boxer in 1992's Gladiator, but the film tanked and Gooding found himself in a string of box-office disappointments including Lightning Jack, Judgment Night and Loosing Isaiah.

Then came Jerry Maguire, for which Gooding sculpted his body and shaved his head. Even his outrageous performance in the film couldn't match his wild acceptance speech at the Oscars.

"I honestly never thought I'd win. What you saw that night was my unedited reaction. I lost my mind. I was over the moon with excitement."

Gooding is back a year later in another studio comedy, the hit As Good as it Gets. He plays a bisexual art dealer who gets to roughhouse Jack Nicholson.

"I was terrified the day I had to slam Jack Nicholson into a wall. I asked him if there was a particular way he wanted me to grab him and to cushion the blow. He told me just to do it and not worry about him. He told me it was my scene, not his.

"I wore four-inch heels that day so I'd look more menacing."

Gooding admits he came to As Good as it Gets with some preconceptions about his famous co-star.

"I expected Jack to be really reclusive. He's not at all. He's only distant because of other people's preconceptions of him.

"We're nervous so he backs off until we feel comfortable around him.

"He really taught me the love of the business. He told me if I really loved acting and put my heart into it, I could be around for as long as he has and still enjoy being on a set as if it was my first movie."

Gooding says he had no qualms about playing a bisexual.

"Sexuality is a frame of mind. The only actor who would be nervous about playing a gay character would be someone who's not secure about his own sexuality."

Gooding still has his head shaved for As Good as it Gets, but he says it was because he was reshooting scenes for Jerry Maguire at the time the Nicholson movie began filming.

"I wasn't trying to perpetuate my Jerry Maguire image, though I'd shave my head in an instant for another role like that one."

Jerry Maguire not only brought Gooding an Oscar, but the Screen Actors Guild Award, Blockbuster Award and American Comedy Award.

"I have this great new wine cabinet. The top shelf has a light over the Oscar."

When he was in Spain early this year doing interviews for Jerry Maguire, Columbia Pictures gave him an imitation Oscar to hold.

"I kept it and it's the one I let the kids play with. I'm the only one who's allowed to polish the real one."


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