ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, July 6, 1996 TAG: 9607090008
SECTION: SPECTATOR PAGE: S-4 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: HOLLYWOOD
SOURCE: SUSAN KING LOS ANGELES TIMES
The angels seem to be smiling down on Roma Downey.
Last month, the Irish actress and her husband, director David Anspaugh (``Hoosiers''), were blessed with a daughter, Reilly Marie. And on the professional front, Downey's CBS series, ``Touched by an Angel,'' has defied all the odds. A victim of negative reviews, frequent pre-emptions and low ratings in its first season, it performed a miracle in its second year, becoming an unqualified hit in the Saturday night graveyard slot.
Since the series more than earned its wings, the network has rewarded its ``Angel'' by moving it this fall into Angela Lansbury's high-profile time period of Sundays at 8 p.m.
Downey is thrilled with her new role of mother. She and Anspaugh are ``over the moon'' with joy about Reilly - ``She's everything we hoped for and then some.''
Even two months before the birth, she seemed to be floating on a cloud of happiness. ``Isn't it fantastic?,'' Downey, 33, said of her good fortune. ``I could truly say, this is the time of my life.''
Mind you, playing a virginal angel while pregnant was a bit of a challenge. And though exhausted after doing 22 shows, Downey filmed two episodes for the fall season before giving birth, so she could spend more time with Reilly.
``It was either that or come back early in July, which really wasn't an option for me,'' Downey explains over the phone from Salt Lake City, where ``Angel'' is filmed. ``I don't think I could, emotionally and physically. We are trying to get these few in the can so we have a little flexibility, so I hope they can start to ease me back in.''
She is pleased that viewers have responded so strongly to the series, which, like the actress herself, has received little attention in the news media. ``It's been so gratifying,'' says Downey, adding that she and co-star Della Reese receive an enormous amount of mail weekly.
A native of Derry, Northern Ireland, Downey was taught to believe in the existence of guardian angels while attending Roman Catholic convent school.
``At some point along the way, that guardian angel turned into a conscience for me,'' she said. ``A child needed the image of an invisible winged creature and the young adolescent was quite happy to know it was just a voice in her head.''
Not that her childhood was heavenly. Downey witnessed firsthand the violence between the Irish Republican Army and British authorities.
``I think I used the theater in school - the drama society - and even watching old black-and-white American films, as a great form of escape from the reality of the horror I was growing up through,'' she explained.
Named the most promising student of the year upon graduation from the London Drama School, Downey toured the United States in the Abbey Theatre production of ``The Playboy of the Western World'' and appeared opposite Rex Harrison on Broadway in ``The Circle.'' Her big television break came five years ago when she was cast as Jackie Kennedy in the Emmy-winning NBC miniseries ``A Woman Named Jackie.''
Though she's called America home since the late '80s, Downey returns to Ireland every year.
``It was with growing excitement and delight last year that I watched the coming together of the peace process - and then, with equal horror and alarm at the beginning of this year, watched it fall apart,'' Downey says with much sadness in her voice. ``I am just hopeful that they can find a way over there to get back on the road again. I know for the most part that people are so sick and tired of the violence.''
LENGTH: Medium: 70 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: Della Reese (left) and Roma Downey star in CBS'by CNB``Touched by an Angel.''