Ian McShane Courts Verbal Assaults  4/29/05

Actor Ian McShane is amused at the abusive public reaction to his foul-mouthed character in TV show Deadwood.

The British star has shot to fame in America playing Al Swearengen in the western drama, and his famous use of the word "c**ksucker" in the show is increasingly being screamed back at him when he's innocently wandering the streets.

And McShane's baffled at the number of women who shout the unflattering word at him.

He tells Maxim magazine, "Now that I'm identified with Al, people tend to leave me alone in the street. I do get requests like, 'Can you just sign this, c**ksucker.' Women like to say that word to me.

"A teenage girl came up to me once and said, 'My mother says you say c**ksucker like no one else.'"