LOS ANGELES, Oct. 3 – The Los Angeles County district attorney’s office charged a San Jose man Friday with the 4-year-old murder of Hollywood producer and acting coach Laurence Merrick, maker of the controversial film “Manson.”

The murder complaint against Dennis Mignano, 34, came three days after he telephoned San Jose police and reportedly confessed to shooting Merrick, 50, in the parking lot of his Hollywood film school on Jan. 26, 1977.

San Jose police Sgt. Jim Smith, who took the call early Tuesday, said Mignano told him, “I want to tell you about killing a man in Los Angeles.”

He then went on to provide enough details of the murder to convince Smith to call Los Angeles detectives, who flew to San Jose and took Mignano into custody Thursday.

Mignano was booked at LAPD’s Hollywood Division and held for arraignment Monday.

Authorities in San Jose and Los Angeles said they are convinced the murder had nothing to do with Merrick’s 1972 documentary about the hippie clan accused of the 1969 Tate-LaBianca murders. Smith said Mignano told him he had psychological problems that, for some reason, prompted him to hop a Los Angeles-bound bus, shoot Merrick once in the lower back and then dispose of the gun.

Smith said it was not clear from their conversation whether Mignano intended to shoot Merrick before he arrived in Los Angeles or if the movie producer simply was killed at random.

“He feels he’s just about well now,” Smith told The Times, “and wants to get this out in the open so it will be done and over with.”

Law enforcement sources said Mignano has a history of arrests in San Jose for such minor offenses as petty theft and traffic warrants.

Merrick’s film, “Manson,” was nominated for an Academy Award. It was banned in Sacramento to prevent prejudicing prospective jurors in the trial of Manson follower Lynette (Squeaky) Fromme.

By JOEL SAPPELL