ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, January 19, 1996 TAG: 9601190020
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 2 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: NEW YORK
SOURCE: SCOTT WILLIAMS ASSOCIATED PRESS
Sweet, funny Cynthia Stevenson, co-star of NBC's ``Hope & Gloria,'' wasn't always the successful, sophisticated actress and comedian you see nowadays in movies and on TV.
Not by a long shot. With self-deprecating merriment, she recalls her arrival in Los Angeles in 1985, fresh from San Francisco's American Conservatory Theater, ready to take on Tinseltown.
``I truly thought, `I'm going to have to be here two, three years,''' she said, play-acting the sweet, guileless optimism she does so well. ``I was just SO ignorant! I had no idea how the business really worked.
``I knew I wanted to do film, but I knew that was not going to happen until the SECOND year,'' she said. ``The first year, I thought, maybe I'd do a series or two.''
Even now, she blushes at her naivete.
``I had this bizarre, completely idiotic notion of what I was going to do that truly helped me keep going - because if I'd had any realistic idea of what it would be like, I don't think I could have done it.''
Stevenson trained with the Groundlings' improvisational comedy workshops while waiting for her big break.
``The first job I ever got was because I was doing an improv performance at a theater and there were four people in the audience,'' she said. One of the audience members called the next day and got her an audition that led to 26 weeks in ``Off the Wall,'' a syndicated comedy revue.
``It was like `Saturday Night Live' with no money,'' she explained.
A scattering of episodic TV roles ensued. She met writer-producers Cheri and Bill Steinkellner, who cast her in ``Cheers'' as the mousy, gumbooted, rain-slickered Doris, Norm's ``affectionally disordered'' secretary.
(``I got a fan letter from a guy who said, `You're the most beautiful woman I've ever seen!''' she recalled. ``In my gumboots and slicker? I think it was a guy with a rubber fetish.'')
In 1990, she got the lead role in the syndicated, late-night comedy ``My Talk Show,'' a cult hit.
``It was like `The Larry Sanders Show' - with no money,'' she explained. ``I keep doing the no-money, too-early version of things.''
She lasted for 51 of the show's 65 episodes. ``We were doing six shows a week!'' she marveled. ``I was just stupid enough not to know that it's impossible to do it.''
Her biggest break finally arrived in 1992, when Robert Altman cast her in ``The Player,'' his mordant comedy about Hollywood and filmmaking. He'd seen her perform.
``To this day, I have no idea how he could have been so brave as to cast me from seeing an episode of `My Talk Show' and talking to me for an hour,'' she said.
``And, again, ignorance is bliss. I had no idea what an incredible opportunity that really was for me. I just thought, `OK, we're doing a movie! La-la, la-la, la-la la,''' she said.
Since then, she has done a series of tasty roles in movies - ``The Gun in Betty Lou's Handbag,'' ``Watch It,'' ``Forget Paris,'' last fall's ``Home for the Holidays'' and the soon-to-be-released ``Live Nude Girls.''
Also in 1992, the Steinkellners recruited her for ``Bob,'' CBS' only short-lived Bob Newhart series. It failed on Friday nights, and Team Steinkellner began developing ``Hope & Gloria.''
The series, which co-stars Jessica Lundy as the feisty Gloria, debuted in March 1995 on NBC's ``Must See TV'' Thursday, but after 13 episodes, it jumped to Sundays. Earlier this month, it moved again, to Saturday night.
``Hope & Gloria'' ranks 58th for the season to date, and Stevenson believes it may not survive the second schedule change.
``Moving the show puts a lot of stress on viewers who have already had to switch once. It's hard for them,'' she said. ``I feel incredibly grateful that people have embraced the show enough that we've got the numbers we have.''
LENGTH: Medium: 75 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: (headshot) Stevensonby CNB