Search Result 1 
From: AP (C-ap@clarinet.com)
Subject: Dana Delany Savors Life 
View: Complete Thread (2 articles)  
Original Format 
Newsgroups: clari.living.tv, clari.apbl.tv, clari.living.celebrities
Date: 1995-03-07 06:37:09 PST 
 

NEW YORK (AP) -- 

  "Do you agree that the public adores you?"
  Dana Delany gently demurs. " `China Beach' was never a huge
hit," she notes, "and it went off the air almost four years
ago."
  "Adores you not just in connection with that show."
  "Even now?!"
  "Sure," I insist, thinking how adorable she looks right now in
her sweater, tartan miniskirt and black tights. "I don't think I
and our waiter are the only ones who feel this way."
  "I don't know," says Dana Delany, studying her salad. "God,
you embarrass me."
  I savor the moment as much as any happily married man should,
then manage to reply, "I'm glad."
  During its three-year run, "China Beach" treated viewers who
discovered it to Delany, starring as a nurse in this Vietnam
War-era drama set near the big U.S. base at Da Nang.
  As Nurse McMurphy, Delany radiated grit, smarts, passion. And no
matter how glamourless her military duds and the blood she was
often up to her elbows in, she was as lovely and sexy as all
getout.
  "China Beach" might have been the launching pad for Delany as
a major film or TV star.
  Yet it wasn't. Maybe that's because she was unwilling to follow
up McMurphy with the succession of women-as-victim and
women-as-bimbo roles snapped up by actresses bucking for
Hollywood's A-list.
  Or maybe that's because Delany is a stop-and-smell-the-flowers
type who would just as soon take a vacation as take a meeting, who
would just as soon discuss Greek architecture with a reporter than
rattle on about her current acting project.
  But now that it came up, let's don't forget to mention that a
current acting project is "Choices of the Heart: The Margaret
Sanger Story," starring Delany as a woman who changed the course
of the lives of women everywhere. "Choices" debuts on the
Lifetime cable channel Wednesday at 9 p.m. EST.
  It also features veteran actor Rod Steiger and Henry Czerny, who
appeared in the film "Clear and Present Danger" and was recently
seen on A&E starring in "The Boys of St. Vincent."
  The founder of Planned Parenthood, Margaret Sanger was a nurse,
wife and mother in World War I-era America who suffered public
scorn and even jail time for the sake of bringing women access to
birth control information.
  Indeed, she recently appeared on a list of this century's 10
most influential women, along with such towering names as Eleanor
Roosevelt, Katharine Hepburn, Georgia O'Keeffe and Susan B.
Anthony.
  So how come Sanger isn't comparably well-known?
  "Even though she had an ego and a drive, she cared more about
helping women than calling attention to herself," Delany offers.
"Besides, birth-control was a radically new idea, and a lot of
people tried to condemn her for it. She got pushed back into
history."
  Even in the current day, little has been settled on that score.
Just consider that a Cincinnati Planned Parenthood clinic that
happened to bear Sanger's name was firebombed in the mid-'80s by an
anti-abortion activist.
  The as-yet-unresolved debate and pain surrounding birth control,
then, is reason enough to watch "Choices."
  As if Dana Delany starring in it weren't.
  Meanwhile, Delany fans who venture to New York City during the
next few months can see her on Broadway in a new production of
"Translations," a play by the distinguished Irish playwright
Brian Friel and co-starring Brian Dennehy.
  "It's interesting being back here," says Delany, who, although
she grew up in Connecticut, now calls Los Angeles home.
  Chatting with a reporter a few weeks ago, she is on lunch break
from rehearsals for "Translations."
  "I lived in Manhattan in my 20s," she recalls. "It was
lonely, and I have all these old associations with being
unsuccessful that I sort of have to let go."
  Finally, a theater role took her to Los Angeles.
  Then, after lots and lots of auditions, she won the "China
Beach" part over one other finalist: Helen Hunt, now of "Mad
About You." ("I've never mentioned it before," Delany confides.
"But now I can say it, because she's a big star.")
  Delany opens this week in "Translations," to which she is
committed through September.
  "After that, I don't really have a plan," says the foot-loose
Delany, who was celebrating Christmas in Brazil when she got word
of "Translations." "I like being able to take off. Maybe I'll go
to Greece next fall."
  Great, Dana, have fun if you do. But while you're studying the
architecture and munching on souvlakia, don't forget the fans who
adore you.