You probably remember those afternoon meetings at D&D Advertising on FOX-TV's Melrose Place. Paper clips flying, files on the floor and Allison and Billy giving new meaning to the idea of working late. But in reality, those scenes were "painful," moans Courtney Thorne-Smith, who plays Allison, the good girl with bad taste in men. "You're trying to keep your skirt down and not fall off the desk. And the next day, you have bruises on your back."
Courtney, now at her home in Los Angeles, picks up next week's script and winces as she reads it. I feel really sorry for Heather Locklear," she says wistfully reading, "Cut to Heather having sex in a sink." As she's speaking, Courtney's two basen-ii dogs are bouncing from the couch to the floor. "I got one dog because he was beaten. The other dog was spoiled rotten. 1t�s like I�m living in my own mini-soap opera."
And how. Smith's boyfriend, hunky actor Drew Pillsbury (who guest starred on Melrose Place as Billy's best man two years ago) has just left, and their story is its own little saga Yes, they were introduced by Thomas Calabro's who play Michael Mancini) real-life wife! "'Amazing, but true, Liz told me she knew this guy, says Courtney, who at the time was recovering from breaking up with Place's Andrew Shue. "Anyway, she was going to, have a party to introduce us and suddenly I said, 'This is ridiculous. I'm an adult woman.' If I want to meet some guy, I should just call him.'
"So I invited Drew for dinner. Later, he came back to my house to watch Under Siege." You see, Courtney loves action movies. "I thought, 'Oh my gosh, I've finally found a guy who likes action movies. But I've found out it's all a lie - he really hates action movies.
"He dragged me to Sense and Sensibility the other night. I said to him, 'What are you? One of those sensitive guys?�
Courtney laughs and mentions that it isn't a problem. "My life is so boring compared to the series," Courtney frets. And she would like to take this opportunity to correct the biggest Melrose myths...
MYTH ONE: Allison has the worst taste in men.
�That�s not true!� Courtney says defending her TV alter ego. �It�s true
that I'd dated a stalker, a
sex addict and then a broke
millionaire, but let's not pick on Alison�s choice of boyfriends. Daphne Zuniga (who plays Jo) and I tease each other. I say, 'Hey, I just run off and marry these losers.' Daphne says, 'I do something worse. I forgive them!"
MYTH TWO: Heather Locklear is really a word that rhymes with rich.
"I'm sorry to tell you, but I have a great time with Heather," apologizes Courtney. "People so want to believe that she's a bitch and she's not. She's hilariously funny. "When I was blind, Heather would do all these things off camera where she would make faces at me. Whenever we do business scenes, she'll stand behind me and, with her hand, make a motion like she's drinking from a bottle like Allison's drunk. It's very funny."
MYTH THREE: It's impossible to work with your ex.
Courtney and Shue dated seriously for the first season of Melrose Place, broke up and then he married his former press agent, Jennifer Hageney, last October. Now, she has to do love scenes with the guy. "I admit that it's not a smart thing to date your co-star," says Courtney. "We were primarily good friends that first year, and then it turned into a romance. I think that happened partly because of the pressure. You're working 14 hours a day and doing all this press. I don't think I could've made it through that first year without him.
"But at the end of the first season, he wanted to go to Africa during break. I just wanted to hang out with my friends in LA. At that point, 1 realized we really had nothing in common. Now, we're good friends." She even went to his wedding.
Now their love scenes are "hysterical," says Courtney. "Normally, those scenes are so awkward if you're doing them with a stranger. Since Andrew and 1 know each other so well, I'll tease him and go, 'Binaca, Andrew, Binaca. Hey, onion breath, you're killing me.' We're like brother and sister."
MYTH FOUR: Billy and Allison will be getting married.
"I think people root for us to get together, but then, once we do get together we become soooo whiny," says Courtney. "Nobody likes a happy soap couple.
"People always complain to me that Allison whines to which I say, 'Look at her life,"' says Courtney, whose character has suffered from an abusive father, a stalker boyfriend and a sex addict boyfriend. "She whines because she's given in to the horror that is her life.
"But when Allison was drunk and power mad, she did slam Billy down on the desk for sex. That was something," says Courtney. Alas, that didn't last. But Allison has good friends, no? �I�m always laughing whenever I have a scene with Josie [Bissett, who plays Jane] or Daphne and we�re talking about what good friends we are. I say, �Hey, didn�t I testify for you and help you lose your baby?��
So what�s the theme of this show? �Forgiveness,� says Courtney. And sex. Hasn't Allison slept with everyone in the building? "Hey, I've only slept with Billy if we're talking about building guys," says Courtney, pretending to be very upset. "He's the only one. I kissed Jake in Episode Seven, but then the Billy and Allison thing took off.�
She's come a long way from growing up "so horribly, horribly shy," says Courtney, who moved to a suburb of Beverly Hills with her mother and sister when she was a teenager (her parents divorced when Courtney was 7). "1 dressed like a boy and I was really pale. I had buck teeth, and I just didn't fit in."
More than anything, she wanted to be a cheerleader. "I tried out, but I didn't make it. But almost every character I played when I started acting was an ex-homecoming queen or a cheerleader. My first job was as a head cheerleader in the film Lucas. Isn't that ironic?"
Courtney appeared in movies like Summer School and Revenge of the Nerds 11 and had a memorable guest star role as a Laker Girl on LA Law. In 1992, Aaron Spelling cast her in Melrose Place and suddenly, Courtney discovered she wasn't so shy anymore.
Today Courtney will talk about anything. Does she believe in love at first sight? "I believe in lust at first sight," she says, laughing. When she met Drew, she admits, "I was taking time off from men. Mostly I was trying to figure out what I wanted. Does she think they'll get married? "Who knows at this point ... We're doing fine," says Courtney.
"Marriage is Scary to Me"
After experiencing her parents' divorce, Courtney says, "Marriage is scary to me. I don't have all the fantasy around it. I'm more realistic about relationships. I also think kids from divorced families are afraid it won't last.
"All I know is that I'm really enjoying my relationship with Drew. We're just really honest with each other," she says.
Honestly, where does she think Allison will be in 20 years? "She'll be doing exactly the same thing. She'll probably still be living in the apartment, working at the ad agency and thinking tip ways to get Billy back."
And where will Courtney be? "I'll probably be begging for a part in a Melrose movie," says Courtney. "I'll be crying, 'Please, please. I'll play Allison's mother. I'll have sex on a desk. Anything."' Then she pretends to rub her aching back.
