"Billy"....was probably the mainstay of Courtney Thorne-Smith's dialogue as Alison Parker during her five year tenure
on "Melrose Place." Funny her new gig should find her saying the 'B' word again. The WASP-y beauty plays attorney Georgia
Thomas, wife to Billy Allen Thomas (Gil Bellows) on "Ally McBeal."
It takes a likable sort to make the woman who seemingly replaced Ally in Billy's heart a character you can't possibly
hate. And Smith does just that.
The love triangle in "McBeal" involves Ally (Calista Flockhart) and Billy, who have been an on-again, off-again item
since they were 7-years-old.
They played "doctor" as children, became lovers as adults, and jousted over Law Review during school, especially when
Ally made it and Billy didn't. An especially ironic development, considering Ally claims to have entered law school to be
with Billy.
Ally found out that the love of her life was married the first day she joined the prestigious Boston firm headed by her
law school nemesis, Richard Fish (Greg Germann). Not only was he married, but the woman he married was beautiful, engaging
and hard to hate.
It's a tribute to the writing - David E. Kelley - and to Thorne-Smith that Georgia's reaction was uneasy, yet affable;
she wanted to like Ally and she wanted Ally to like her back. At the same time, she wanted Ally to keep her eyes off Billy.
Thorne-Smith knows about love triangles - she was trained in the Spelling school of relationships, a land filled with
tight clothes, beautiful people, and yes, love triangles. Whether she was making eyes at Jake (Grant Show) or being courted
by an eccentric software mogul (Parker Stevenson) - the embers of Billy were still being stoked. It's an odd reversal that
her next character - Georgia - is at the wrong side of the triangle. Indeed Ally is like Alison, and Billy (Bellows), well,
is like Billy (the wooden, yet handsome Andrew Shue).
The 30-year-old actress, who began her career during her senior year in high school with The Ensemble Theater Company
in Mill Valley, Calif. (a San Francisco suburb), starred in several series prior to "Ally."
Of course there was "Melrose Place," wherein she starred as straightlaced Alison Parker, who endured a drinking problem,
an on-again off again relationship with Billy, a feud with Amanda (Heather Locklear), temporary blindness, memories of being
molested as a child by her father, became the victim of an obsessive stalking, and almost got nuked when Kimberly
(Marcia Cross) decided to blow up the apartment building.
One of her first TV gigs was a recurring role on "L.A. Law," the show on which "Ally" creator/executive producer
David E. Kelley cut his teeth as a writer. 1989 was a busy year. She appeared in the feature film "Welcome to 18," then
the TV movie directed by Beau Bridges called "The Thanksgiving Promise," and the engaging feature "Lucas," which featured
Jeremy Piven ("Ellen"), Corey Haim ("Lost Boys"), Charlie Sheen ("Platoon"), and Winona Ryder ("Alien Resurrection"). In
"Lucas," Thorne-Smith refreshingly played the heroine's rival, the most popular girl in school -- and yet made her character
sympathetic and not the stereotypical "other girl."
Thorne-Smith's first regular role on a TV series in "Fast Times," which was the TV version of "Fast Times at Ridgemont
High." The series lasted about six weeks, from March 5, 1986 to April 23, 1986. Thorne-Smith played Stacy Hamilton - the role
originated by Jennifer Jason Leigh.
After that CBS series folded, Thorne-Smith co-starred in the Mark Harmon epic "Summer School" in 1987 as Pam, the young
surfer chick who had a crush on the teacher. Next came the role of love-bunny Sunny in "Revenge of the Nerds II: Nerds in
Paradise," followed by the 1987 TV movie "Infidelity," which also starred Lee Horsley - aka "Matt Houston" (1982-85, ABC)
and Robert Englund - aka Freddy Kreuger.
Her next series was "Day By Day," an NBC sitcom starring Douglas Sheehan ("Knots Landing") and Linda Kelsey
("Lou Grant"). One in the wave of 'yuppie comedies' that swept TV in the late 80s, the comedy was about a couple of
suburban overachievers who dropped out and opened a daycare center in their home. Thorne-Smith played the earnest, sexy
19-year-old assistant Kristin who helped run the center. "Seinfeld's" Julia Louis Dreyfus starred as a former business
associate with a wry sense of humor. Even now you can catch reruns on TV Land, especially one in which a dream sequence
features Louis-Dreyfus and Thorne-Smith in cheerleading outfits.
Every actress should play C. Thomas Howell's love interest once in their life. Courtney has. She played his
motor-starter in the romantic volleyball film "Side Out" (which co-starred former "Thirtysomething" Peter Horton) in 1990.
Then came "Melrose."
As one of the twenty-something residents of 4616 Melrose Place, a garden apartment complex in Los Angeles, Alison had
plenty to worry about - not the least of which was the sexual sparks flying back and forth between her and her platonic
roommate named Billy.
Some of her exploits have been mentioned, but as the resident Calamity Jane, Alison endured so much. She endured an
affair with a married man, who later became unbalanced and began to stalk her, finally committing suicide. She endured a
job promotion to president of the ad agency, D&D, but had trouble dealing with the pressure and responsibility and became
an even bitchier version of Amanda. She endured what she called her "Spelling"-ized wardrobe and storylines so whacked that
Susan Lucci would gasp.
Towards the end of her days on "Melrose," Thorne-Smith got great reviews for the telefilm "Beauty's Revenge," which was
also called "Midwest Obsession," and gave Thorne-Smith the opportunity to play a psychotic midwestern beauty queen who kills
Tracy Gold ("Growing Pains") in order to be with Gold's character's boyfriend.
Thorne-Smith also has two feature films coming out this year: "Venus Conspiracy" and "Chairman of the Board," starring
Mystro Clark, who was part of the defunct Scott Baio series "Rewind," and comedian Carrot Top.
In real life, the raspy-voiced blonde beauty is single, loves her dogs, and according to her official website, gives a
video party tip reminiscent of "Melrose" antics: "'Showgirls,' with a NC-17 rating. For my birthday I made 25 of my closest
friends watch it with me and we were hysterical. I'd recommend it to a group of funny friends with a open mind."
A recent TV Guide story on the hit show called the actress "the sole regular cast member to have already experienced
instant stardom." In Thorne-Smith's case her instant stardom went hand-in-hand with that wistful, whining sylabbic utterance:
"Billy..."
Now there's a brand new Billy, a brand new love triangle and a brand new hit show and Courtney-Thorne Smith is still
hot.