Vintage

Question: What place on earth would you love to see before you die?

Lesley-Anne Down: I All of it! I've kind of been around the world a couple of times, but mostly in the middle bit. I haven't been to Alaska, and I'd love to see it.

Question: What magazine do you peek at on the checkout line?

Lesley-Anne Down: I always pick up the cooking magazines, like Cooking Light or the ones that say, 15 Nifty Dinners! or Dinner In A Minute. I'm always practical.

Question: What was the hardest scene you've ever had to film?

Lesley-Anne Down: I find all those bathtub scenes unbelievably difficult, because the bath is really slippery. The bubbles always fade, so they're constantly having to put this pump in to pump the bubbles. The water starts off at the right temperature but gradually gets absolutely freezing.

Question: With which literary character do you most identify?

Lesley-Anne Down: I have always been very much like Cathy in Wuthering heights. She was a tortured person, as well. So, I think of any character, I would say Cathy.

Question: What's your biggest self-indulgence?

Lesley-Anne Down: Facials, but only when I work. If I'm working really hard, I'll have one every single week. If I'm not working hard, then I'll do it every two weeks.

Question: What has been your favorite storyline?

Lesley-Anne: The major ones were Deacon and Owen, but I'd have to say I love what's going on with Owen. There's no comparison as far as what you get to do, even though there were some really nice scenes with Deacon. I also think Eric and Jackie were sort of interested in each other. That's when Jackie started her obsession with the bathtub. All that stuff was amusing.

Question: What book can you read over and over again and never get tired of?

Lesley-Anne: You get tired of all books, but I truly think every time I read one particular book, I see something new. It's a book by Herman Hesse called 'Narcisses and Goldmund'.

Question: Which castmate's diary would you most like to read?

Lesley-Anne: I think I'd like to read Ronn Moss's because he is such an interesting soul, and he is a very deep man. I think his insights into people would be quite revealing. Plus, he is so nice in real life that I wonder if there's another side to him. He's got to be bad somewhere, don't you think?

Question: What would you swipe from your character's wardrobe?

Lesley-Anne: My husband would say the parachute harness, but there was this one black suit that I loved. The back of the jacket was strappy and open, and the trousers fit me perfectly, but haven't seen it in a while. It seems to have disappeared.

Question: How do you lose 5 pounds fast?

Lesley-Anne: To do it quickly. I will go on liquid diet. You can be safe about it by having clear soups. To maintain you eat nothing that is white, like sugar and flour, and replace that with green, like vegetables.

Question: Which of your co-stars do you think is the most tech savvy?

Lesley-Anne: All the young people are. Hunter Tylo is pretty into all of that. She's always got a new phone and a new pressy-thing. I would think Jack Wagner probably is. I really don't know because I'm not into it, but everyone else seems to have the latest little gadget with e-mails and stuff happening. I'm the absolute antithesis of that.

Question: What job would you never do for all the money in the world?

Lesley-Anne: I wouldn't be a gardner. It's backbreaking. I had this dream of being Miss Green Thumb with all my rose bushes and stuff, but I do not have the patience for it.

Question: As an immigrant, what does Thanksgiving mean to you?

Lesley-Anne: It means it's incredibly exhausting. I have such a huge family and we all get together at Thanksgiving and Christmas. And I'm the one who always does it! Hello, Richard, could you come and cater it? It's 45 this year (laughs). I get it cathered. That's my tradition. I did cook it one year. There were 54 of us. It was so exhausting.

Question: Which of your co-stars is the easiest to crack up?

Lesley-Anne: John McCook and I tend to have a bit of the giggles together. I'm the one that tends to get cracked up, not the other way around. Most people can make me laugh.

Question: Where is the strangest place you've ever been recognized by a fan?

Lesley-Anne: Bathrooms are pretty strange, aren't they? I was recognized in Johnny's Pizza in Malibu by a Russian girl who had only been in the country for a week. She recognized me from I think Sunset Beach, which they used to watch.

Question: What is the most mischievous thing you've ever done in your youth?

Lesley-Anne: I used to pretend to be dead quite a lot, mostly with my boyfriend and my mother. I'd scream, and then they'd run up the stairs, and I'd pretend to be dead in the bath, drowned, or I'd put a knife nearby and squirt ketchup all over me. I was dramatic. I used to like to scare people.

Question: If your role was recast, who should play you?

Lesley-Anne: Eddie Izzard. He has many DVD's of his stand up comedy and he's absolutely fabulous. He wears women's clothes rather well and his makeup is far better than mine.

Question: Do you have any strange or unusual eating habits?

Lesley-Anne: Have you ever had a French fry sandwich? It's got to be white bread with lots of butter, homemade salted French fries and another slice of white bread with butter. In England that's what we call a chip butty. A chip butty with a good cup of tea is the best thing on the planet, bar none.

Question: Who's your favorite comedian and why?

Lesley-Anne: Oh it's hard. There's so many. If I were to say who makes me laugh on the screen, it would be Will Ferrell. I just look at him and start laughing. I have Elf right next to It's A Wonderful Life on my DVD shelf. I think he is very funny. And Steve Martin makes me laugh, too.

Question: Who was your favorite teacher and why?

Lesley-Anne: My English teacher, Ms. Hughes, when I was 11 or 12. She was probably in her late 20s. She had a body that men would kill for, and I just remember her always being very well put-together. She was never cross, she never raised her voice and she was such fun. She taught us so much. She was one of those really talented human beings, and I wish I could have seen her again, but I didn't.

Question: What's the funniest or cutest thing (one of) your kid(s) has ever said?

Lesley-Anne: I remember being in a car with a whole bunch of little boys who were discussing where babies come from. There was all the usual: 'The stork, or Mummy gets her tummy open'... all that. My son, George, who's quiet, suddenly says, You are all wrong, I know where babies come from! So all the boys turn their little head and look at him as though he is Einstein and he said, ' from the North, of course!'I just thought that was the best thing I have ever heard in the whole world.

Question: Who on your cast could most likely solve a Sudoku puzzle and why?

Lesley-Anne: Who's good at math? I can't think. That's not something we really talk about at work. I think it would actually be me. I'm pretty good with numbers.

Question: What item have you had in your closet the longest and will never part with?

Lesley-Anne: I have a Zandra Rhodes wedding dress that I actually got married in to my first husband back in 1980. It's white, frilly, gossamer and very hippy-smart. I have still got it, but it's ripped to a million shreds. I ripped it because I had nothing to wear one halloween and I wear it every Halloween when I am, indeed, the Bride of Frankenstein.

Question: What primetime TV show would you most like to guest star on?

Lesley-Anne: The Unit! Because there is not one single guy on that show who isn't adorable. I also wouldn't actually mind being on Without A trace. So either of those two.

Question: What item in your wardrobe do you regret getting rid of?

Lesley-Anne: I have lost things I wish I could get back. My favorite thing was an original 1920s opera coat that was midnight-blue velvet, with little stars all over it and lined in the thinnest of cream velvet. It went to the ground and it was the most perfect shape.

Question: What movie have you seen so often, you can quote the dialogue?

Lesley-Anne: "The movie that I have seen most in my whole life is Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House. My favorite line is when Myrna Loy says,'It is just a little flower room.'She wants her own flower room so she can have a little sink and do her potting things, but it turns into this huge thing because when Gary Grant opens the bill, her nearly dies. I have it on DVD, of course."

Question: Do you have a message to the troops?

Lesley-Anne: "I can't tell you how much I love this country. I feel so proud to be here. I am complete American. I believe that the majority of people here, like me, are truly appreciative of the men and women fighting for us over there. It upsets me to see some people take our freedom for granted. It is our luxury to have this power so we can go in and help other people. We have the bravest and most marvelous soldiers in the world. I love them."

Question: If you had one piece of advice to give someone who wanted to be an actor, what would it be?

Lesley-Anne: My father gave me the most down-to-earth piece of advice about becoming an actor. When I asked him about the film industry being a rat race and whether I should get into it, he said 'Honey, it's only a rat race if you join the rats and start running.' That always stuck with me. It meant that you should keep your own person about you and remain true to yourself.

Question: What is your favorite childhood memory of your father?

Lesley-Anne: I have the most wonderful father. He is an exquisitely kind, understanding and loving human being. He treated me as an adult my whole life, never as a child, so I was always very trusting of him. I knew I would never be punished. He would always talk to me. He is 85 now. We are going to see him in England this summer.

Question: Why won't Jackie stop meddling in Nick and Brooke's affairs?

Lesley-Anne: She's truly concerned for her son and her grandson. She simply wants them happy.

Question: Who on your cast could be a future James Bond?

Lesley-Anne: Bond? I'm trying to think about that one. Well, I think that in another 10 years, Kyle Lowder might make a good James Bond. Give him another 15 years. Jack Wagner could be a could villain.

Question: Other than your husband or boyfriend, who's the sexiest man alive?

Lesley-Anne: John Travolta. He is not thin and skinny, or bony. And he doesn't have stupid muscles bulging everywhere. He's got a twinkle in his eye, and it's perfectly obvious that he loves a really good meal, which I could provide.

Question: Who on your cast would most likely adopt a stray dog?

Lesley-Anne: Me. I have never bought a dog from a pet store. I always go to the pound and ask, 'Who is not going to be here tomorrow?' I find dogs in the street all the time.

Question: Do you have any scars?

Lesley-Anne: I have a lot of scars. I have a big one that goes from below my mouth down across my chin that's quite visible if you really look. It's from a champagne glass when I was 18 month old, which apparently gummed. I have a scar going through my left eyebrow where no hair grows so I have to fill it in. I was 4 and was running around my apartment. I went flying and hit my head on the corner of a wooden chair. I ended up having stiches. I remember lying on my mother and sitting in the taxi and going to the hospital.