BALTIMORE (AP) – Actor Ben Gazzara, whose film credits include “Summer of Sam” and “Dogville,” told a group of mental health professionals that he had more trouble beating depression than cancer.

At a mood disorders symposium Wednesday, Gazzara told how a bout with oral cancer five years ago was easier to deal with than two previous episodes of depression.

“That was nothing,” he said of the cancer. “And that’s a reason to be depressed. I was never depressed when I had cancer.”

Gazzara described how his struggles with depression had stopped him from working. He finished “They All Laughed” while recovering from the first incident in 1980.

“I was in a depression during the whole shooting and I was terrific in that film,” Gazzara told the audience. “And I don’t remember doing it.”

About 5.3 percent of Americans 18 to 54 suffer from major depression each year, according to the Depression and Related Affective Disorders Association, a sponsor of the symposium at Johns Hopkins University.

Many of the millions of Americans suffering from depression don’t know they have it, said J. Raymond DePaulo Jr., who chairs the psychiatry department at Johns Hopkins.

Eighty percent of those who suffer from depression can be treated successfully, he said.

Gazzara said he became depressed again in 1989 after the death of friend John Cassavetes, the actor and director regarded as a pioneer of American cinema verite.

Gazzara, 74, said he became increasingly irritable and drank too much, apologizing to his wife for his bad behavior but then repeating it. In Rome to edit a film, his wife convinced him to return to New York and seek treatment, he said.

“I didn’t know what to do,” Gazzara said, “I didn’t know how to make a cut.”

The actor said a month of therapy and lithium, which he continues to take, helped him get “better, not well.”

Gazzara said he believes less is more when it comes to acting, and cancer and depression – in some way – may have helped his career.

“Maybe, those bouts with cancer and depression just exhausted me so that I can’t do much,” he said.

AP-ES-04-21-05 0535EDT