You began working in the theater at just 10 years old. How do you remember those early beginnings?
I was a very shy kid, one of those kids teachers love. I made straight A's and never opened my mouth. But one year, one of the teachers decided we had to give oral book reports instead of written ones. And I stood in front of a class for three days, and nothing would come out. My mother decided no child of hers was going to be that incapacitated, so she enrolled my sister and me in drama classes. My sister loved it. Every Saturday, she would get excited to go, and I would go into the bathroom and throw up (laughs). I was terrified. But at the end of the year, one Saturday morning, my mother was reading the newspaper, and she said, "Oh, the Junior Players Guild is having auditions." And the Junior Players Guild was a really good children's theater in Dallas and did great productions.
Did you go and audition?
We went and sat in the back of the auditorium all day, waiting and watching other kids do little improvisations. And, you know, you're sitting there thinking, "I could do better than that, but I'm not going to go down there" (laughs). But finally, my mother said it was almost time to wind it up. And my sister said, "I want to audition." So I knew if I didn't go down and do it, I'd get yelled at all the way home by my mother. So we auditioned, and this very kind gentleman gave us both little parts. And to be honest, if I hadn't gotten some little thing that first time, I don't know if I would have ever had the nerve to go back. But I always like to say that I have a career today because my fear of the stage was second only to my fear of my mother (laughs).
What do you feel you took away from that experience?
Well, that that's the difference one adult can make in a kid's life — giving you that shot, that little pluck of confidence, saying, "I think you can do this that you don't think you can do." It means a lot when you're a kid. It means a lot any time, but when you're a kid, it really means a lot.
In 1967, you did your first film, which was Bonnie and Clyde, as a double. Which scenes required you to stand in for Faye Dunaway?
Oh, God. Tons of them. Anytime it's far enough away, or it's in silhouette, or it's the back of a head, it's probably me. There's one scene that got a big laugh in the theater, and that's when they're making one of their escapes from one of the bank robberies. And, from the back, they're shooting it as they come toward this truck full of chickens and almost hit it. If you look at the girl, it's the back of my head. And you can see my hair is a different color of blonde and is longer than Faye's. But you're not looking at me. You're looking at the chickens (laughs).
Going forward in time, in 1978 you originated the role of Jenna Wade in an episode of the acclaimed series Dallas. At the time, was there ever any discussion of expanding your character and making you a regular on the show?
Not at the time. The show wasn't even on the air yet when we shot it, so no one knew it would be such a huge hit. Later, they asked me to come back after Flamingo Road was canceled. But at that point, I had a development deal with a partner, where I would have been a producer of my own show, so I turned it down. But, of course, if I'd known it was going to stay on that long, maybe I would have taken it.
Considering the success the role later had with Priscilla Presley's portrayal, have you ever found yourself reflecting on what it might have become had you continued playing the role?
No, I don't. You know, if you make a living like I do as an actress, it doesn't do you any good to sit and look back and say, what if? I mean, that just eats you up. But in that case, I made a decision based on the fact that I had a partner with whom I was writing a script. We were doing a pilot that would star me, but I would also be a producer, so I would have owned my own show. It didn't turn out to work out, but I didn't know that at the time. Also, you have to consider that usually, in America, the lifespan of a show is about seven years, and Dallas was coming up on that time at that point, I think. And so you figure, "How much longer is this show going to be on the air?" But who knew (laughs).
Your memorable role in Flamingo Road embodied all the traits of a sex symbol, a label that's been associated with you countless times over the years. Do you feel comfortable with that description, or do you feel it confines you to a certain stereotype?
Well, there's a certain stereotyping. But, if you're going to be a symbol of something, you might as well be a sex symbol. It's better than some things I can think of. But yeah, in some ways, doing the glamour girls hamstrung me, because people don't really see you as doing other things, although as an actress who grew up in the theater, I see myself in a lot of other things. For instance, I wanted to be a doctor or a paleontologist when I was a kid, but I don't think they considered me for Jurassic Park (laughs). Also, I come from a family with a lot of lawyers, but when they cast me as one on Falcon Crest, they had me sitting on my client's desk, asking him if he wanted coffee. I said, "That's not what they do." I had to stand up for women's rights and for not making lawyers look like idiots.
Is there any anecdote you remember from filming Flamingo Road?
Well, one anecdote I remember very well is that after we did the two-hour movie pilot, we were shooting the first episode where my husband, Mark Harmon, and I were kidnapped at sea. Then we're put in this rowboat and left out in the ocean. We were really shooting it in the Pacific Ocean — that was before they CGI'd everything. The helicopter was overhead shooting us, and the boat was leaking. I was bailing, and Harmon is lying there because he's supposed to be shot. And I said, "Mark, bail!" He says, "No, I'm wounded." I said, "You're going to drown if you don't bail, honey. Bail, because we're sinking." (laughs)
How did you get out of that situation?
I was waving to the helicopter, saying we're really in trouble here, you know, like, "Please come get us." Finally, they came and put one of those rope ladders down and let us climb to safety. But I was actually getting kind of worried because we were very far from shore. A little scary in the land of great white sharks. You don't want to be sinking.