Makeup Aside, Billy
Always Gets Her Goat

Courtney Thorne-Smith gets an in-your-face gig as the newest spokeswoman for Almay cosmetics, a role she enjoys as much as her character on "Ally McBeal." And did we mention wedding bells to boot?

Courtney Thorne-Smith is the kind of famous face a girl could go shopping with. She's fresh faced and unintimidating, kind of a TV star next door. Of course, being unintimidating doesn't mean she wasn't unintimidated when she was courted by a major cosmetics company for a one-year contract.
�����"When I first got a call and they said, 'It's Revlon,' I thought, 'I couldn't stand next to Cindy Crawford in a picture. Then they said, 'It's Almay.' Oh, thank God. Thank God because I could do the pictures alone."
�����Who couldn't relate? (OK, not counting Pamela Anderson Lee.) These days, the "Ally McBeal" co-star really is a girl's best friend. That's because her new gig as the face of Almay means she's a walking drugstore.
�����"I do nothing but yammer at my friends about how they have to try it. Luckily Almay sends me big boxes of stuff so I can hand it all out. I'm very popular all of a sudden among all my friends."
�����That's because there's nothing better on the planet than free makeup. Ask any Oscar winner which was more fun to tote home--her little golden date or her goody bag?
�����"Free makeup is so much better, but it's worth it even if you have to buy it," Thorne-Smith says, batting her Almay mascar-ed eyelashes prettily.
�����The actress has been navigating the halls of L'Ermitage Hotel in Beverly Hills like a foreign potentate who's taken over a wing. For most of the day, Thorne-Smith moves from suite to suite in her Manolo Blahnik kitten heels to meet the press with her Almay handlers.
�����We caught up with her over a morning cup of tea (hers) and high-test coffee (ours). She talked about how women react differently to the two television characters she's known for--Georgia, the cuckolded lawyer on "Ally McBeal" who's married to a guy named Billy, and Alison , the flaky "Melrose Place" resident who dates another guy named Billy.
�����"I get treated differently, which is interesting. With 'Ally,' women treat me almost like a peer, like they relate to Georgia quietly, like they seem to feel her pain. Whereas with Alison, people were yelling at me to get it together, with Georgia, there's just a ton of compassion. Whatever show I'm on, people are mad at Billy."
�����Fortunately, in real life, she's marrying Andy. Thorne-Smith and Andy Conrad are planning a June 2000 wedding. She met the genetic scientist of her dreams on a blind date after she swore she'd never go on another blind date.
�����"As an actress, a blind date isn't a reality. It isn't blind for them. It's blind for me. It's not fair. And my brother-in-law, who is so uninvested in anything romantic, wanted to set me up, and only from him would I do it. Because it was just so odd that he would be trying at all."
�����What does the actress have in common with the scientist? Among other things, actor friends. His.
�����"He grew up in Malibu and he has many more friends who are actors than I do. His best friend is Rob Estes from 'Melrose Place.' I spend more time with actors from 'Melrose Place' now than I did when I was working on the show."
�����After Thorne-Smith sorts out the caterer and the flowers, she has another nuptial conundrum to grapple with. What does a good second-generation feminist do with her hyphenated last name when she's presented with yet another last name?
�����"It's so long, isn't it? Thorne-Smith-Conrad. That's an ongoing debate. My mother gave her maiden name to my sister and me as our middle name, which is Thorne. And then when I became an adult and joined [the Screen Actors Guild], I changed it to Thorne-Smith to honor both families. I hyphenated it. My mother was already hyphenated.
�����"I think it's romantic to take Andy's name, but Courtney Conrad is a little perky. And he calls me Corky. No one can ever call me Corky Conrad. I just can't go there. But I think Smith-Conrad is a really beautiful name. Today that's what I'm thinking. Tomorrow may be different."

Irene Lacher's Out & About column runs Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays on Page 2. She can be reached by e-mail at [email protected].