ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, August 17, 1996 TAG: 9608190015
SECTION: SPECTATOR PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DIANE HOLLOWAY COX NEWS SERVICE
Funny how perceptions and possibilities can turn on a dime.
Brooke Shields, known more for her amorphous celebrity status than anything else, guest-starred on an episode of ``Friends'' last season and suddenly cell phones all over Los Angeles started jingling.
``Brooke has a good reputation,'' said NBC entertainment president Warren Littlefield. ``A lot of people wanted to work with her. We have tremendous faith in Brooke Shields.''
In fact, Littlefield has so much faith in her new-found comedic talent that he decided to place her new sitcom, ``Suddenly Susan,'' in the coveted time slot on NBC's ``Must See TV'' lineup Thursday nights, between ``Seinfeld'' and ``ER.'' Lots of hope and hype based on a lightning quick stint on ``Friends.''
Unlike her sappy romantic roles in teen movies such as ``Blue Lagoon'' and ``Endless Love,'' Shields, 31, played a crazed fan of Joey on the post-Super Bowl episode of ``Friends.'' With a demonic glint in her eye, she was over-the- top and hilarious. It was the first time anybody familiar with the 6-foot tall model-turned-actress had considered her comedic possibilities.
Within a few weeks, studios and networks were plying her with sitcom scripts. Warner Bros. signed her to a development deal, and Shields soon took a liking to a script called ``Suddenly Susan,'' about a 30-ish woman who breaks up with her longtime boyfriend and faces life on her own for the first time.
In the pilot, which was well-received by critics but has since been scrapped for re-tooling, Shields demonstrated an uncanny knack for physical comedy, bumping into furniture and, at one point, falling down drunk.
``I found the physical comedy very liberating and fun,'' Shields told television critics recently in Los Angeles. ``I think it's disarming and makes people accessible.''
Shields hopes some semblance of success finally will come her way with ``Suddenly Susan.'' After toddling onto a runway as a model at the age of 3, Shields shocked many moviegoers when, at 12, she played a child prostitute in Louis Malle's controversial film ``Pretty Baby.'' Her sexual scenes and partial nudity caused many to blame her domineering mother, who was her manager until a few years ago.
Shields insists she wasn't unduly scarred. ``I wouldn't change anything from my past,'' she said. ``None of that is easy. It's not fun. But kids have it tough, whether they're in the industry or not.''
After modeling skintight jeans and starring in a string of indistinguishable movies, Shields surprised people again by going to Princeton University. Anyone who thought she was an empty-headed beauty had another think coming. In 1987, she graduated with honors and a degree in French literature.
Making her Broadway debut two years ago in a revival of ``Grease,'' Shields made it clear that she planned to become a real actor.
``It wasn't until after college that I took acting seriously,'' Shields said. ``When I was young, acting was something that just took my time in the summer when school was out. Becoming an actress is something I've just begun.''
The ``Friends'' stint not only changed people's perceptions of Shields, it also changed her perception of herself.
``That was the beginning of my feeling that I could be comfortable in the sitcom field,'' she said. ``I was lucky to work on `Friends' and really enjoyed the whole process. It's a wonderful marriage of stage and film. I knew I had the work ethic, but I also knew I'd need fearlessness and a long attention span to do a series.''
It's a testimony to NBC's faith in Shields that the network scrapped the pilot, but kept the show in the Thursday lineup.
``We thought the pilot was quite good, but our Thursday audience demands a lot,'' Littlefield said. ``We thought it could be great, not just good.''
To that end, Littlefield hired Steve Peterman and Gary Dontzig, the Emmy-winning executive producer-writer team from ``Murphy Brown,'' who jumped at the chance.
``We saw `Friends' and thought, Wow, here's a woman willing to take risks,'' Peterman said. ``And we had heard from Warner Bros. that she's really delightful to work with. She's been in the business a long time but is unjaded. Savvy and decency are a rare combination. Plus, she has exceptional table manners.''
The main character will remain basically the same - newly single and struggling to adjust. But instead of working for a publisher in Pasadena, Susan will write a column for a ``hip, young magazine'' in San Francisco.
The producers have signed Judd Nelson to play the magazine editor and Barbara Barrie to play the grandmother.
Shields seems calm about the last-minute decision to produce a new pilot.
``It's terrifying but also exciting,'' she said. ``It's a kind of adrenalin I haven't felt in a while, and I'm thriving on it. ... We have a responsibility to be good, considering our time slot. I hope people are surprised. If people can have a little mini-break from the pressure of their lives and have a laugh, that's a wonderful concept to me.''
LENGTH: Medium: 97 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: 1. Brooke Shields will star in ``Suddenly Susan'' thisby CNBfall. color
2. File photo Many critics blamed Brooke Shields' mother and former
manager, Terri, (right) for Shields' controversial movie roles as a
child.