Stephanie
Beacham has never exactly been shy at coming forward over the
years.
Her
romances with attractive, bronzed suitors, usually younger than
herself, have filled as many column inches as her successful
career in Hollywood.
It
seems, though, that finally she is fed-up with seeing former
boyfriends discussing lurid details about her love life to all
and sundry after the event.
Now
as the star of the new BBC blockbuster family saga No
Bananas (starting on TV1, 8.30pm, Sunday, December 1),
Beacham insists she's happy to keep her love life on the back
burner.
"There
is somebody around in California but I'm not going to advertise
him. I had a bad time with that former boyfriend who sold his
soul to a newspaper.
"It
was so painful that I've decided I can't see myself getting
married again and I'm not gong to talk about my boyfriends. I
just think it's not a good idea."
In
No Bananas she plays Dorothea Grant, a self-indulgent
rich bitch in the humorous saga of the working-class Slater
family and the upper-class Hamiltons, brought together by a
hasty marriage.
The
series also stars Alison Steadman, Tom Bell and Dorian Healy.
For
Beacham, the chance to work in England again was a welcome one
following her disappointing starring role in the Steven
Spielberg underwater TV saga seaQuest DSV.
"The
show was so disappointing because it had so much potential as
well as Steven Spielberg's name on it and he's magical. But he
was so busy doing other things like Schindler's List
that he wasn't around.
"We
worked 18-hour days for 15 months. to produce 26 episodes but we
all felt a bit abandoned. It's still going but I managed to get
out after one series.
"They
moved to Florida and I asked if I didn't have to go with them so
I was dropped in a nice way. I think it's found a niche for
itself now as a kind of underwater Baywatch."
No
Bananas was just the break Beacham needed.
"It's
great to be back at the BBC with their marvellous eye for detail
and period. The director is Alan Dossor who was the director on
Connie (the role that first bought Beacham fame). That's
what persuaded me to do it.
"My
character Dorothea is a lot more stupid than Sable Colby, who
was cunning but quite bright. She's interested in good lunches
and shopping and seeing her friends - as women of her means
before World War II
tended to do."
Beacham
speaks with the crisp, clipped sounds that have made her one of
Britain's most successful actresses.
Years
of playing the conniving Connie and then the cunning Sable Colby
in The Colbys and Dynasty have spilled over into
real life, she says.
"Men
are absolutely scared of me. In fact people are in general. I
don't know why but I have always found it," she insists.
"I
like to think I'm pretty down-to-earth and have a sense of
humour, but I've usually had to make all the running. I have to
give the green light all the time.
"I
suppose it's the image I have on screen. People take it
literally which is a shame. I don't know what I can do about it."
Beacham
now prefers to spend much of her spare time with her two
daughters or her two elderly parents.
Phoebe
is following in her mother's footsteps at drama school while
Chloe is about to start at university. Meanwhile her parents are
both in their eighties and not in the best of health.
"I
think your priorities change as you get older," she says. "Life's
been very good to me but at the end of the day, the people you
care about have to take priority.
"I've
chased money all my life so I must have been obsessed with it.
But I've changed now. My parents have been wonderful to me but
daddy's 87 and mummy's 82 and neither of them have been very
well. I think it's called old age, so it's time to see more of
them.
"Phoebe
and Chloe have got their own lives to lead but we have always
been close. They've both got lovely boyfriends who I inspected
beforehand. No seriously, they're lovely and I'd hate to
embarrass them.
"My
friend and I fax each other all the time across the Atlantic but
my family's the most important thing at the moment."
With
homes in Malibu, England and the south of France, she intends
slowing down in future years and not chasing the dollar as much
as in the past.
She
says, "I had a solid middle class upbringing with red
velvet curtains, ballet lessons and pony riding, but I've always
worked hard all my life for what I've got.
"Yes,
I'm comfortably off, but the more you earn the bigger the bills
you acquire, so I think it's time to slow down now.
"I've
just opened up a spiritual bank account where I pay myself what
I think I'm worth. I did some Emily Dickinson's poems on tape
recently and they paid me $300 but I paid $10,000 into my
account because I thought that's what they were worth.
"I
also did some Yeats' poems which weren't so good but I paid
myself seven grand even though I only got $250 for them.
"Hollywood
is a wonderful place for opportunity but you don't want to rub
people up the wrong way because you can get eaten alive. There
is a lot of inbiting and infighting that goes on which you have
to be prepared for.
"I've
had a blast over the years and got some wonderful friends in
Malibu. But the house with all that stuff may have to go. It
takes so much upkeep and I'm beginning to think smaller places
are the future.
"I
want to spend my years clucking with my grandchildren in the
south of France. I want to spend it with people who say 'how are
you' and mean it."
