Hollywood actor Fred Thompson, known for his commanding roles, plans to run for US president in 2008, joining a crowded field of Republican candidates.

"I can't remember exactly the point I said, 'I'm going to do this'," Thompson said of his planned presidential run in yesterday's edition of USA Today.

"But when I did, the thing that occurred to me: 'I'm going to tell people that I am thinking about it and see what kind of reaction I get to it'."

Thompson, a 64-year-old social conservative, currently appears on US screens as a prosecutor on TV crime series Law & Order.

The actor already has some White House experience-he played President Ulysses S. Grant in the made-for-TV movie Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, released last month.

That wasn't his first brush with the presidency - in 1993 he played White House Chief of Staff Harry Sargent in action movie In the Line of Fire.

While outside the White House, Thompson has made a mark in other authoritarian roles. Perhaps his highest profile movie was 1990's Cold War thriller The Hunt for Red October, in which he played Rear Admiral Joshua Painter.

In 1994 the New York Times said of him: "The glowering, hulking Mr Thompson has played a White House chief of staff, a director of the Central Intelligence Agency, a highly placed F.B.I. agent, a rear admiral, even a senator. When Hollywood directors need someone who can personify governmental power, they often turn to him."

Thompson said he was planning a campaign that will use blogs, video posts and other Internet innovations to reach voters turned off by "politics-as-usual" in both parties, USA Today said.

On Wednesday, a long-time friend and political adviser said Thompson had tentatively decided to run for president and had quit his role on Law & Order.

"His mind is made up to run if interest continues to be as intense as it is," said Tom Ingram.

Thompson, who grew up in Tennessee, and won election twice as a Republican senator from the state, will now begin raising money to gauge support, added Ingram, who serves as chief of staff to Senator Lamar Alexander, also a Tennessee Republican.

Late on Wednesday, Law & Order creator Dick Wolf said Thompson had asked to leave the show where he has played New York District Attorney Arthur Branch for five seasons.

"I've spoken to Fred today, and although he told me he has not made a firm decision about his political future, he felt that given the creative and scheduling constraints of the upcoming season, he asked to be released from his responsibilities to the show," Wolf said in a statement.

Thompson joins a crowded Republican field with no dominant choice. President George W. Bush, prohibited from running for a third term in November 2008, is set to leave office in January 2009.

The current front-runners include former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, Senator John McCain of Arizona and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney.

Ingram said Thompson held a conference call with fund-raisers on Tuesday and it was decided that he would "test the waters" by setting up a preliminary committee.

Ten men are already running for the Republican nomination and former House of Representatives Speaker Newt Gingrich of Georgia also is weighing a campaign.

Thompson was first elected to the Senate in 1994 to fill Democrat Al Gore's seat when he became vice-president. He maintained a solid conservative voting record.

Source: China Daily/ Agencies