When glamorous "Hollywood actress Stephanie Beacham flew into Britain to begin filming Foreign Affairs with Joanne Woodward and Brian Dennehy, the reception at the airport brought her down to earth with a bump.

Jet-lagged after the long flight from her Malibu home, the star of The Colbys and Connie whispered to the porter who was helping her with her luggage, "I hope there are no photographers waiting."

With a typically laid-back British attitude to stardom, the porter replied, "Yes, you do look a bit of a mess."

Stephanie laughs. "What do you say to that? I just burst out laughing. It's the kind of wonderful honesty you don't get in the States, so it was quite refreshing."

One of Britain's most successful exports to Hollywood, Stephanie has lived in America since 1985, preferring the beach resort of Malibu to the film capital, Los Angeles.

She says, "I love living by the sea and LA isn't that great. It's like a fantasy world. No-one is what they seem. Even the taxi drivers are aspiring producers with scripts in their pockets.

"Anyway, when the sun's shining, there's nowhere in the world like Britain. I see it all with new eyes now, like a tourist, and I have to stop myself from taking photographs all the time."

Filming in Britain means Stephanie can spend time with her two teenage daughters, Phoebe and Chloe, who are at boarding school near her parents in England.

She insists that being a mother comes before acting. She explains, "I went to work in the States so that I would have enough money to give them a secure future, but now they need me here. They are both teenagers, taking exams and they need to know I'm around for them.

"Now they can phone me at any time. If it's twelve o'clock for them, it's twelve o'clock for me.

They love me being their mum, but I think sometimes they get sick to death of the actress Stephanie Beacham being their mum."

Both girls have inherited their mother's good looks, but Stephanie is wary of having them follow in her footsteps.

She says, "Being an actor is like being on a roller-coaster ride. There's no stability because you never know when you're going to get work.

"It can be very hard on family life. For instance, I never know if I'm going to be able to go to their parents' night because, if I'm offered work, I have to take it."

Although she has the kind of film star looks most women would kill for, the real Stephanie Beacham feels more at home in her jeans and sheepskin slippers, than Dynasty-style diamonds and furs.

She says, "I do take care of myself. You can't live in California and not be exercise-mad. I enjoy going out on my mountain bike, but I don't spend much time in the gym. I get my exercise walking the dog, or doing the garden.

"It's more important to be happy and to have a positive outlook on life. That's what keeps people healthy."

RADA-trained Stephanie shot to stardom in her early twenties, playing opposite screen legend Marlon Brando. in the film The Nightcomers. Then she turned her back on films to spend time in the theatre.

Stephanie explains, "Suddenly; there were all these men in suits who wanted to be my agent and it was very frightening. I went into theatre to learn my craft, so I've done a bit of everything - from helping out with the scenery to Ibsen and Shakespeare."

It was a case of rags to riches when, fresh from her success in the British TV series Connie, Stephanie was snapped up by the producers of The Colbys, the Dynasty spin-off starring Charlton Heston and Barbara Stanwyck.

She says, "It was so exciting, but I wasn't really nervous until the first day of filming. Then I nearly froze. I thought to myself, 'Good grief, this is really Hollywood and that is really Barbara Stanwyck.'

"You become the Hollywood equivalent of royalty and the studios take care of you. You spend your time wearing the most wonderful clothes and jewellery, but they're all on loan.

"I was sitting at dinner one evening wearing 300,000 dollar diamond earrings and I took them out because they were pinching my ears. I suddenly thought, 'Stephanie, my girl, you're in trouble if you lose these.' The whole thing was like a dream come true, but I had to realise it could be over in an instant."

Stephanie has her family back in Britain to help keep her feet on the ground. Her sister Diana has a healthy disrespect for the trappings of stardom, so she flew out to the States to be with her actress sister.

Stephanie says, "She came onto the set of The Colbys and saw me throwing away the tights I had been wearing during filming. She asked what was wrong with them and I told her they didn't think it was worth their while to wash everyone's tights. She was appalled, took them out of the bin and went away with them."

Divorced in 1980 from actor John McEnery, Stephanie says the worst thing about her Malibu lifestyle nowadays is having no-one to share it with. She says, "I'm moving around so much I find it difficult to keep a relationship going."

Now animal-lover Stephanie shares her Malibu beach home with her dog, Emily - "a King Charles Cavalier spaniel with a lisp."

She laughs. "I'm so ashamed of her. She's so feminine the kind of dog who would never wear jeans. I'm lucky it doesn't rain in Malibu or she'd never leave the house."

With her down-to-earth approach to fame, Stephanie couldn't be less like the scheming women she normally plays. But if there's one thing that makes her blood boil, it's our attitude to the environment.

She explains, "We've already lost such a lot of knowledge. All the so-called witches that were burnt were actually herbalists and there's a lot more to dolphins than just the cute Flipper image. We are destroying our world. We have to understand that. I believe very strongly that what goes around comes around."

July sees Stephanie starting work on the filming of Jilly Cooper's Riders. She says, "People ask me why I keep doing mini-series. I just tell them it's work and it means I can spend more time with my daughters. "

So will it be another scheming character?

"Oh yes. Heroines are victims, but baddies really get the plot going. That's much more fun and you've got to keep your sense of humour. After all, this isn't brain surgery!"