Now he's back in a cable series with a new actor (Ving Rhames) and the old confidence.

"He's the prince of the city," Rhames says.

The new "Kojak" opens with a two-hour movie tonight on the USA Network, then airs at 10 p.m. Sunday, its regular one-hour time slot.

Fans of the original series can compare the new and old product; season one of the 1970s TV show hits stores Tuesday in a $39.98 three-disc DVD set.

Meanwhile, despite the obvious difference, Rhames and the late Savalas have much in common — both are native New Yorkers, are big, bald and commanding. Savalas may have been Greek and Rhames black, but that difference soon seems minor.

"Telly created a character that you could stand behind and walk into any storm," says Tom Thayer, producer of the new "Kojak."

And that description fits Rhames, as does "prince of the city." Indeed, his "Pulp Fiction" character was described by director Quentin Tarantino as "a gangster and a king."

Rhames, who will star in "Mission: Impossible III" due next year and just finished shooting the film "Animal," is comfortable playing either extreme. "I grew up amid gangsters and I learned to talk like a king at Juilliard," he says.

When he was growing up in Harlem, he says, cop stories were part of everyday life. " 'Kojak' was happening right out there in my neighborhood."

The neighborhood had other attractions, though. "Thank God, I grew up a block from the Apollo Theater," he says.

There, he could see the great performers. He also read about past stars. "I probably read every book on Paul Robeson," he says.

He read poetry, absorbing Langston Hughes, Maya Angelou and more. A teacher suggested he audition for the New York High School of the Performing Arts.

Rhames got in and found a fresh outlet. "I needed to shout and yell ... it allowed me to let out my emotions."

He went on to study drama at the prestigious Juilliard School, then to theater and more. Starring in 1994's "Pulp Fiction" brought him fame; the 1997 TV movie "Don King: Only in America" brought him a Golden Globe award, which he promptly said Jack Lemmon should have won and preceded to hand it to him. (The Hollywood Foreign Press Association, which doles out the Golden Globes, later gave Rhames a duplicate award.)

Rhames, 45, is a family guy. According to USA's press release, while filming "The Saint of Fort Washington" in New York years ago, Rhames met a homeless man who turned out to be his long-lost older brother who had lost contact with his kin after returning from Vietnam. Rhames helped his brother re-enter society.

Now married to a former Los Angeles cop, Rhames has a daughter (Reignbeau, 4) and a son (Freedom, 3). Rhames' wife has retired from police work, but he says she influences his work in "Kojak."

"I want to see his humanity," he says. "I want to see him cry; I want to see him be vulnerable."

That's one thing that may separate this "Kojak" from the original.

"What makes this series so different is how Ving is expressing himself, because (of) all that passion," says his "Kojak" co-star Chazz Palminteri ("The Usual Suspects").

Rhames' Kojak also has a love interest, played by Roselyn Sanchez ("Rush Hour 2").