Oscar host Franco juggles many roles in real life

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On Sunday night he was in Hollywood,as co-host of the Oscar telecast in black tie. At 9 the next morning,he was in a Starbucks in New Haven,hunched over a book and barely recognisable in a gray sweatshirt,but still wearing his tuxedo pants.

James Franco,movie star,had rushed back on the red-eye to play his other big role: Yale doctoral student. By 9:25,he was at his seat in a seminar on medieval manuscripts. I was surprised and delighted that he made it to class, said Jessica Brantley,an associate professor of English. Hes dedicated.

Yale has had its share of screen-star students,including Jodie Foster and Claire Danes. But by all accounts,Franco,32,who arrived last fall as a full-time student in Yales PhD programme in English,has straddled the line like no one else.

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Hes very good at not attracting attention to himself, said Michael Warner,chairman of Yales English department,whose graduate course on Walt Whitman Franco took last semester. He goes down in his charisma,and he looks with thoughtful attention at the people around him and doesnt display the Hollywood wattage.

But Franco has hardly escaped publicity. Student journalists chronicle his every move. Twitter messages breathlessly report sighting him in his hoodie and shades.

And the fascination is fed by Franco himself,a self-promoting and often self-mocking polymath who is a film director,screenwriter,painter,author,performance artist and actor,with several film projects under way. In addition to the Yale programme,which could take several years,he is on track to earn a masters degree in film from New York University this spring.

Last year,Franco received a masters degree in writing from Brooklyn College,and this semester he is co-teaching a course on film editing at Columbia College Hollywood.

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Even at Yale,home of overachievers,he stands out. He has found time to undertake a multimedia musical production with about four dozen undergraduates. He is listed as producer,but has worked on all aspects of the show,The Stargazer.LISA W FODERARO