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Joy Behar Page

Interview With Barbara Eden; Interview With Kim Cattrall

Aired April 22, 2011 - 22:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

ANNOUNCER: Coming up on the Joy Behar Interviews, she was the irresistible star of "I Dream of Jeannie". Barbara Eden dishes on the iconic show and her turbulent post-Jeannie Life.

Plus you know her from "Sex and the City" but Kim Cattrall isn`t your average vixen. The actress talks about her new role on PBS`s "Masterpiece" and yes, a little sex, too.

That and more starting right now.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOY BEHAR, HLN HOST: My first guest tonight really needs no introduction so I`m just going to Jeannie-blink her on to the set right now.

Ok. Welcome.

BARBARA EDEN, ACTRESS: Where am I? Where am I? What did you do to me?

BEHAR: I got you here in a magical way because, you know, your show was magical. We loved your show "I Dream of Jeannie". Loved it very much.

EDEN: Thank you. Thank you.

BEHAR: It was a great show. I mean it`s a classic show.

EDEN: You were just a little girl when it was on and you watched.

BEHAR: I was in utero.

But it is wonderful. You are also the author of a new memoir, "Jeannie Out of the Bottle". The one and only Barbara Eden is here with me; I didn`t do the proper introductions.

So I want to be -- you know, I just want to be totally on board with you because you could blink me into oblivion.

EDEN: Thank you.

BEHAR: Now, I want to talk about the book a little because you talk about Larry Hagman in here, your co-star.

EDEN: Yes.

BEHAR: You guys had great chemistry in those days. In fact, we have clips. Do you want to see a clip?

EDEN: Yes.

BEHAR: Ok. Let`s look at the clip.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LARRY HAGMAN, ACTOR: I`d like to ask a favor of you.

EDEN: Oh, thank you master.

HAGMAN: You haven`t heard what it is yet.

EDEN: It doesn`t matter, you never give me a chance to do anything for you.

HAGMAN: Well, this is not exactly for me. It`s for Roger. He has a birthday coming up next week and I want to give him a surprise party.

EDEN: I love surprises.

HAGMAN: I was wondering if you could come up with an idea for the party.

EDEN: Oh, yes. I remember a party that Nero gave.

HAGMAN: No, I don`t want anything quite that extravagant

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BEHAR: You had great chemistry.

EDEN: We did.

BEHAR: What was he like?

EDEN: He`s the most wonderful person to work with, my favorite actor actually to work with. We were just sort of on the same wave length. That`s rare.

BEHAR: I read in your book you say he was a bit of a menace on the set though. Was he playful in the menacing or scary in the menacing?

EDEN: No, no. He was never scary, never scary. Larry was really his own worst enemy.

BEHAR: In what way?

EDEN: Well, I think -- I think you know, he hadn`t worked for a big studio or network before. And I think the fact that he had so little input, so little power; for a man that`s a tough position to be in and he`d get frustrated. He`d want changes in the script; they wouldn`t say maybe, they just say no.

Yes. He didn`t like it.

BEHAR: It wasn`t called I dream of Larry. It was called "I Dream of Jeannie".

EDEN: Well, except that we were -- he was good about it.

BEHAR: Wasn`t his mother Mary Martin?

EDEN: Yes. Yes.

BEHAR: Famous Broadway star.

EDEN: Yes.

BEHAR: So maybe he felt that he was to the manner born perhaps and needed to be the star of it. Maybe, I don`t know. I mean he grew up like that.

You write that about a time that he had a fit in front of some nuns. Tell me about that.

EDEN: Oh, dear.

BEHAR: Some nuns visited the set.

EDEN: We had a covey of nuns that came on the set. And they were all in garb. I mean cute, sweet, fresh little faces and they all came out and so happy to see Jeannie, you know. And Larry was disturbed about something. Something had happened, the script or something and he picked up an axe and started to say every cuss word he knew.

BEHAR: To the nuns?

EDEN: Not to them. Just there in there -- but cuss words. We never had another guest on our set.

BEHAR: Did he drink? Was that what the issue was?

EDEN: Well, I think Larry has made no secret of the fact that he was drinking.

BEHAR: He was drinking. Well, that will put an axe in your hand.

EDEN: Yes.

BEHAR: We could look at Charlie Sheen. He`s on the roof with a machete, you know.

EDEN: Oh, gosh.

BEHAR: Things don`t change that much in showbiz.

EDEN: No. You are right.

BEHAR: But they were going to replace him, weren`t they, there was talk of replacing him?

EDEN: At one point. At one point.

BEHAR: Who were they going to replace him with?

EDEN: They couldn`t. I told them that. I told them that. It was either -- this was a tough spot for me to be in because Gene Nelson was our director and a very good friend of mine and his wife is still my friend. And he and Larry just didn`t get along at all.

BEHAR: They didn`t?

EDEN: Not at all. They both wanted to be the director. They both wanted to be the boss of the set. And so Sidney Sheldon came to me and said, look, Barbara, he said what do you think about replacing Larry and I said you can`t. You can`t replace him. I mean we worked so well together.

BEHAR: But remember, they replaced on "Bewitched" they replaced the Darren with another Darren. All of a sudden the girl was married to another guy.

EDEN: I know. I know. But truly in my heart, there is only one Larry.

BEHAR: Yes.

EDEN: And he did a great job.

BEHAR: Me, too. There is only one Larry, Larry King.

EDEN: Larry King -- that`s a good one.

BEHAR: When Larry Hagman was on my show, he said he was sorry that you two didn`t hook up.

EDEN: Oh, have hanky-panky? Well.

BEHAR: Would you have liked that?

EDEN: I think it might have been nice. I liked him a lot but, you know, we both had husbands and wives at the time --

BEHAR: You did.

EDEN: -- yes, and we were working very hard.

BEHAR: That doesn`t stop people.

EDEN: Joy, when you are working television there`s no time.

BEHAR: There`s no time. You`re too tired to even have an affair?

EDEN: Yes.

BEHAR: Oh, that sucks.

EDEN: Yes.

BEHAR: Does he know about all these things you wrote about him? Does he care?

EDEN: I don`t know.

BEHAR: You know, when you write a book, tell the truth.

EDEN: Well, you know something -- it is one thing, I guess, when he says it. It is another thing when I say it. He has gone public with this a lot. But I don`t know how he`s going to feel about me doing it.

BEHAR: He will write a book about you.

Now, you know, you became a studio contract player at that time in the `50s before Jeannie because Jeannie was when, what years.

EDEN: `60 to `65.

BEHAR: Right. Wow. God, so long ago now.

EDEN: Yes. Tell me about it.

BEHAR: Me too. It is brutal.

EDEN: I look at that cute little thing --

BEHAR: There you are. But you still look great. You look great. Look at you. You`re beautiful.

EDEN: Thank you. I feel good. Thank you.

BEHAR: But you met a lot of Hollywood legends. Let`s talk about some of that because it`s so great to have somebody here who knew Marilyn Monroe for instance. Tell me about Marilyn.

EDEN: I didn`t really know her. We had the same stand in. I had had --

BEHAR: That is a compliment right there.

EDEN: Evie -- Well, she was mine first.

BEHAR: That is beautiful for the two of you.

EDEN: Yes, it was actually. And Evelyn was a very special person. She was mine since the first day I was at Fox. And then half way through my contract, she also had Marilyn and luckily we didn`t work at the same time.

But this one time I was working on a movie for Irwin Allen, and Evie came to me and said, Barbara, she said my other star needs me and I knew who she meant, you know. And I said, "Evie, I need you. I have two more weeks on this movie."

And she said, "No, no, no, honey, you don`t understand she really needs me. Really. You are strong. You don`t need me."

So she left and she went with Marilyn, and they were shooting on the set next to me -- I mean the stage next to me. And one day Evie came. She grabbed my hand, dragged me across next door and said, "Barbara, Barbara, my other star wants to meet you." I said, ok. And I was, at that time, playing a part where I had plaid pants, a big baggy shirt, I was messed up, I had dirt on my face. Grabbed me, ran over to Marilyn. "Marilyn, Marilyn, I want you to meet my other star." Oh, boy.

BEHAR: What happened?

EDEN: She was beautiful.

BEHAR: She was beautiful.

EDEN: She`s so pretty and so gracious.

BEHAR: She was sweet?

EDEN: Very sweet. Very sweet. She was -- what you saw on the screen was exactly what she was.

BEHAR: But this was right before she died, right?

EDEN: Yes, it was. Yes.

BEHAR: It`s interesting about Marilyn because I read Tony Curtis` book -- the late, great Tony Curtis who wrote a book about what went on behind the scenes at "Some Like It Hot". And basically he said she was a nightmare so maybe she was different at different stages in her life.

EDEN: I think probably she might have been a nightmare for people who wanted to be on time.

BEHAR: Yes, like the rest of the two guys in high heels waiting for her to shoot the scene.

EDEN: Yes. Yes.

BEHAR: Ok. Stay right there, Barbara. We will be back with more Barbara Eden including all the Hollywood legends that hit on her. When we come back.

Yes. I want to hear that.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

EDEN: Please, Major Healy (ph). I will do anything you want.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Forget it.

EDEN: Master, I cannot do it.

HAGMAN: Jeannie, you can`t go around turning astronauts into French poodles.

EDEN: Yes, I can.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BEHAR: That was a look at the classic sitcom, "I Dream of Jeannie". And back with me now is the star of that show, Barbara Eden.

Barbara a lot of guys hit on you because you were such a hot number in those days, right?

BARBARA EDEN, AUTHOR, "JEANNIE OUT OF THE BOTTLE": You know, I think a lot of guys hit on a lot of girls just because they`re girls.

BEHAR: Well yes -- yes, but you know, somehow I don`t think Golda Meir got hit on in those days. But -- so let`s start with some of these dogs. Tom Jones.

EDEN: Oh yes.

Well, I was -- I was a guest on his show in London and we sang a duet together. Now my -- I love to sing. I have sung all of my life but my main strength in singing is the acting and to -- and we were singing "The Look of Love" -- the look of love is in your eyes -- we`re walking along the Thames and I gave it all. I just really I meant it every word and we got to the top of some chairs and he looked at me and he said, "Can I show you London, Barbara?" And I said I`d love to see London -- duh.

And -- and --

BEHAR: But London -- London was a little bird in his pants.

EDEN: Maybe. But he -- he kept talking and it suddenly occurred, dumb me, that he didn`t mean really London, and so when we went back to rehearse it once more, I just sang -- a look of love is in your eyes -- and I just walked and he didn`t say anything. When we got to the top of the stairs and I thought, ok, did that.

Got down to the floor and my manager came bursting out of the light and what`s the matter with you, what`s the matter with you? You`re not singing it, you`re not doing anything. What`s the -- I said well, because he thinks I really mean it.

BEHAR: Oh.

EDEN: And Gene, my manager said, it doesn`t matter, just do it. So I did it. And I did it every time we had to rehearse and then we shot it.

And that night I was asleep because I had to get up very early the next morning to do the show. And my -- at 4:00 a.m. in the morning the phone rang. "Barbara, I want to show you London."

BEHAR: Again with the London.

EDEN: Yes, yes. And I said, -- I said, "Tom, I can`t -- I can`t see London at 4:00 in the morning." "Oh, yes, you can, Barbara." I said, "Tom, I have pimple cream on, I`m in bed, I can`t do it. Sorry." Then hang up. And when I went into makeup the next day, he was there and he wouldn`t look at me.

BEHAR: Oh.

EDEN: He wouldn`t look at me.

BEHAR: He got rejected.

EDEN: I finally got him and I said, in the morning like that and he said, oh, well, yes, yes, you know, I was down in the lobby. I was going to -- you were lucky, you know, I was going to come up and knock on your door.

BEHAR: Oh. And if he had knocked, what would you have done with the pimple cream?

EDEN: He would have been -- he would have been horribly disappointed.

BEHAR: I don`t think so. So wasn`t he married at the time?

EDEN: Oh yes. Well, that was one of the lines. I -- I said, "Tom, I`m married." And he said, "Well, that`s all right. I am too." But he was cute.

BEHAR: He is. He was cute and he is adorable --

EDEN: Yes.

BEHAR: -- he`s fun.

EDEN: Yes.

BEHAR: Now, what about Desi Arnaz? Now, Desi was married to Lucy when you -- you did a segment of "I Love Lucy" right?

EDEN: Yes, I did. It was my third job in Hollywood.

BEHAR: Now, Desi Arnaz has a reputation --

EDEN: Yes.

BEHAR: -- for being -- was -- he`s gone now.

EDEN: Yes, yes.

BEHAR: But he was a total hound dog.

EDEN: Yes, well he -- he -- that -- that South American culture, you know.

BEHAR: Oh yes, they also just wear bananas on their head and they`re happy, Carmen Miranda. I mean, you know, they don`t have to sleep with every woman they see.

EDEN: True.

BEHAR: Yes.

EDEN: True. True.

BEHAR: Yes. But I mean, he was a -- he was a hot Cuban --

EDEN: Yes, yes.

BEHAR: And I think that Lucy basically divorced him because of that. Did he come on to you?

EDEN: Yes, he did but -- but I was warned -- I was warned before I ever got there.

BEHAR: By who, Lucy?

EDEN: No. No, by my agent.

BEHAR: What did he say?

EDEN: And so -- no, he said, you know, Lucy, Desi can make trouble on the set --

(CROSS TALK)

BEHAR: Yes, yes.

EDEN: -- and Lucy -- it worries Lucy and I can understand that. So I hid, I literally hid every time I saw him.

BEHAR: Oh, really?

EDEN: Behind him --

(CROSS TALK)

BEHAR: But what -- how did Lucy take it? What was she -- how was her reaction?

EDEN: She was wonderful. Actually Lucy was all business and wonderful. I have -- I -- I just, I love that woman. As I said, it was my third job. I had a very tight dress to wear on the show. And she looked at me and said, "You like that dress?" And I said, "Oh, yes, it`s fine." I would have said anything is fine. Fine, I love it and she said, take it off.

BEHAR: Yes.

EDEN: And I took it off and she took the dress, she and her friend to her room and they made it prettier. They sat there and put those sparkles, you know those punch thing --

(CROSS TALK)

BEHAR: They bedazzled it.

EDEN: Yes. The whole dress to make me look better.

BEHAR: Oh.

EDEN: And she could have given it to the wardrobe group.

BEHAR: Right and also to make you look better in front of Desi.

EDEN: That`s right.

BEHAR: And so she --

(CROSS TALK)

EDEN: And -- and in front of her in the show. Not a lot of women will do that.

BEHAR: That`s all about the show.

EDEN: Yes.

BEHAR: Well, I mean, yes, I heard another rumor. I wonder if this is true. Maybe you know it, I heard that in her contract Ethel always had to be heavier than her, is that true?

EDEN: I don`t know. I think Ethel was heavier, I don`t know --

BEHAR: But Ethel -- in case Vivian Vance felt like going on weight watchers she couldn`t. Ok, if you want your job, stay fat.

How about JFK, this is so interesting to me that JFK when he was a senator --

EDEN: Yes.

BEHAR: Where did you meet him?

EDEN: I was in the airport in New York, in what is now JFK Airport by the way. Yes.

BEHAR: Yes.

EDEN: And I had just signed with Fox and I was doing a series called "How to Marry a Millionaire".

BEHAR: Oh yes.

EDEN: I played Monroe`s part in the TV series. And the three girls were sent -- the three of us.

BEHAR: Yes.

EDEN: On tour -- and this was the end of the tour and I was in front of the candy counter where I usually am. And a man came over to me and said hey, who are you with? And I said 20th Century Fox. I was really wet behind the ears.

BEHAR: Yes.

EDEN: And he said no, no, no who is with you, who is with you? And I said, oh Booker McClay, the PR guy. And so pretty soon Booker came over to me and he said, do you want to meet Senator Kennedy. I didn`t know who he was, I don`t care, I don`t care, you know. I said ok.

And the next thing we know we were in this little room and the man who had come up to me the first time said, "I want you to meet the next president of the United States." We`re in a tiny little room. I said, hello. He said hello. And he left.

And that was Pierre Salinger, by the way.

BEHAR: Oh Pierre Salinger.

EDEN: And so --

BEHAR: I have to take a break. When we come back I want to hear exactly what Senator Kennedy said to you.

EDEN: Ok.

BEHAR: We`ll be right back. Hanging by a thread.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BEHAR: I`m back with the lovely and talented Barbara Eden. Barbara, tell me, so we left with JFK.

EDEN: Yes.

BEHAR: Pierre Salinger. What did he say? Bring us back again; you were at JFK Airport --

EDEN: Pierre Salinger said.

BEHAR: -- which was called Idlewild in those days.

EDEN: That`s right. That`s right. And you must understand I was in a rented mink coat down to my ankles because 20th Century Fox put us all in a mink coat. It was winter.

Pierre Salinger said, "I want you to meet the next president of the United States." And I said hello and he said hello and that was it. That was it.

He left and then as I got on the plane I put my hand in my pocket of this rented mink coat and there was a little piece of paper with a phone number.

BEHAR: Oh.

EDEN: -- with "JFK". I didn`t know who JFK was. I honestly -- I hadn`t a clue. I wish I had that piece of paper today.

BEHAR: Wow, you bet.

But if you had known who he was, would you have called him?

EDEN: Well, I wasn`t married.

BEHAR: You weren`t married.

EDEN: No.

BEHAR: I don`t think he was at that point either.

EDEN: I don`t know.

BEHAR: What year was this?

EDEN: Oh -- shh.

BEHAR: Ok. Never mind. That was before "I Dream of Jeannie". You were very young. You were 8 years old.

EDEN: Right.

BEHAR: Just before we end, I have to just say you had some other stuff in your book that is very personal and very sad. I thought, I don`t want to make you feel bad about talking about it but I just thought -- you have had such an interesting life and everybody thinks it has all been peachy cream and you met all of these guys but in fact you had a hard time, didn`t you?

EDEN: I guess, really, that`s one of the reasons I wrote the book because there were times in my life when I could have used some guidance and I didn`t have it. And I think that women, particularly, because that`s all I know about, should know about it.

Drugs, of course, we`ve discussed about my son.

BEHAR: Your son died of an overdose.

EDEN: Yes, he did. And we didn`t -- you know, at the beginning we had no idea he used drugs because we didn`t know about them. Parents should educate themselves about that.

BEHAR: But your son said that you were one of the strongest people he had ever met.

EDEN: That made me so proud.

BEHAR: Yes, that`s lovely. You also had a couple of stillborns, I believe, or something like that?

EDEN: I -- well, I carried a baby eight months dead.

BEHAR: Oh, my God.

EDEN: Because at that time they didn`t force the birth. And I thought I was fine. I thought, you know -- I went to the hospital where I had Matthew and all the nurses, you know, when I first walked in would say, you are back and then I`d say no and then I`d cry. But then once I had the baby, I thought, ok, on with it, you know, on with the next thing.

I went into rehearsals. I was headlining in Las Vegas. I worked three weeks there, came home. I was to go to the Caribbean to sing and I caught a cold. Thank God I caught that cold, because the family doctor said, "Hold your hand out Barbara." And it was -- I can`t even do it. It was shaking.

It was like someone else`s hands and he said she goes home, she stays home and I went in to a deep, deep depression.

BEHAR: Well, according to your son, you were strong.

EDEN: Well.

BEHAR: Anyway, I really enjoyed this very much with you. Thank you so much for doing this, Barbara.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BEHAR: Up next Kim Cattrall tells me how she went from "Sex and the City" to "Masterpiece Theater" in one fell shtoop. Stay tuned.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BEHAR: You know her as the sexy Samantha Jones from "Sex and the City" but Kim Cattrall is taking a dramatic turn in the PBS "Masterpiece" mini-series, "Any Human Heart."

Take a look.

(VIDEO CLIP, "ANY HUMAN HEART")

BEHAR: With me now is the lovely and talented Kim Cattrall. I love you in "Masterpiece Theater. " I`ve seen you in another one.

KIM CATTRALL, ACTRESS: Yes, "My Boy Jack."

BEHAR: "My Boy Jack."

CATTRALL: Yes.

BEHAR: What is with you and the Brits, Kim?

CATTRALL: Well, I`m actually a Brit.

BEHAR: You are?

CATTRALL: Yes.

BEHAR: You`re not American?

CATTRALL: No, I was born in Liverpool, England. And I grew up --

BEHAR: Really?

CATTRALL: Yes, I grew up in Canada. And all of my family is still -- my immediate family is in Canada, the rest is in Liverpool.

BEHAR: No kidding.

CATTRALL: Yes.

BEHAR: So, how old were you when you came -- went to Canada?

CATTRALL: I was just a baby. But I went back in the late `60s and I lived there for a couple years. And I took exams and I decided at 10 that I wanted to see if I could be an actress.

And my great aunt was -- or aunt -- was an elocution teacher in Liverpool. And she took me to theater. I saw my first theater when I was about 10, 11, 12 at that time. So, that`s where I literally got the bug.

BEHAR: So, you must have been -- maybe you were not poor, but lower middle class, that`s why they moved to Canada?

CATTRALL: Definitely.

BEHAR: Yes.

CATTRALL: There was no work. I mean, after the Second World War, the Great Depression and the Second World War, there was not a lot of work, especially in the north of England, which was basically a port city of Liverpool.

BEHAR: Right.

CATTRALL: That was all shifting, you know? There was a big change. And my father was a construction engineer. So, he decided that he was going to immigrate.

And he didn`t know whether it was going to be Australia or Canada. And the Canadian visa came up quicker than the Australian one did. So, that`s why we came to Canada.

BEHAR: Really?

CATTRALL: Yes. For work. My mom stayed behind, had me. And when she was able to travel, we joined him in Montreal.

BEHAR: That`s nice.

CATTRALL: Yes.

BEHAR: You could have gone to Australia.

CATTRALL: I know. That would have been nice, too.

BEHAR: You would have been a big star in Australia.

CATTRALL: Aw. Thank you.

BEHAR: But here, too, right? Now, you know, I`m a very big Anglophile myself. And I wonder from an actor who works with the Brits whether -- you think that they get better training than Americans?

CATTRALL: I think what they get is and what is part of the culture is theater, and mostly because it`s subsidized. We don`t have subsidized theater.

BEHAR: The National Theater and all that?

CATTRALL: The National Theater, the Royal Court, the Donmar Warehouse, where they`re not just training actors, they`re training set designers, they`re training playwrights, directors, there`s a place to really grow and learn.

BEHAR: Wow!

CATTRALL: It`s very difficult to find that in the United States.

BEHAR: It`s impossible.

CATTRALL: It`s just a part of the culture there.

BEHAR: Yes.

CATTRALL: And I think that when people say they want to be an actor, it doesn`t necessarily mean they want to be a movie star. They just -- they want to -- usually a lot of them, especially for my generation, just wanted to do theater. Because to do television seemed like a dream, it was so far away, from what I was trained to do and what I wanted to do. The one I fell in love with which was the theater.

BEHAR: Look at you, "Masterpiece" and "Sex and the City." You go from one extreme to the other, really.

CATTRALL: It really has been an amazing journey through the last six years after "Sex and the City" ended because, you know, at the end of this seven years that changed all of our lives, I thought, well, what do I do now? And the scripts kept coming, and they were basically to do the same thing that I was already known for in America particularly.

So, I had met Sir Peter Hall. I had done a play called "Wild Honey" with Ian McKellen years ago in Broadway and we had kept in communication. He said, you know, I`d like to work with you. And he sent me a script called "The Royal Family" that Judi Dench was doing in the West End and, unfortunately, the dates didn`t work with the series. But as soon as the series ended, he said to me, I have a play I want to do with you. He said, it`s "Whose Life Is It Anyway?"

BEHAR: Oh, that.

CATTRALL: It was originally written for a man who was writing for the -- who was fighting for the right to die.

BEHAR: Yes.

CATTRALL: He was a quadriplegic.

BEHAR: I know, Mary Tyler Moore was in that.

CATTRALL: She did for a very short period of time on Broadway. And he said, we`re going to rewrite it a little bit. Brian Clark who was the playwright came along to rehearse a room and we did that. And, you know, being a great friend of Christopher Reeve, this was an amazing opportunity to talk about a person`s rights, you know?

BEHAR: You were a friend of Christopher Reeve?

CATTRALL: I was. Yes, I hosted his 50th birthday party.

BEHAR: That was a tragic story, and then his wife, Dana Reeve dies of lung cancer. And the girl -- I mean, she never smoked. She never did anything to give herself lung cancer at all.

CATTRALL: No, no, no.

BEHAR: And died -- it was a tragic story, the boy, I mean, is alone.

CATTRALL: Yes.

BEHAR: But anyway, let`s lighten up a little bit.

CATTRALL: Yes.

BEHAR: You shot to fame in 1987 in this movie -- in this movie "Mannequin"?

CATTRALL: Yes.

BEHAR: And we have a clip from that.

CATTRALL: Oh, God.

(MOVIE CLIP, "MANNEQUIN")

BEHAR: It doesn`t even look like you.

CATTRALL: I know, it was the `80s. Everybody had so much hair and so much make-up.

BEHAR: You were pretty, but you did look too like a different pretty.

CATTRALL: Totally different person.

BEHAR: Yes.

CATTRALL: Well, not totally different.

BEHAR: So, that was your launch?

CATTRALL: Yes, I had done a film called "Ticket to Heaven" in Canada which was about the Moonies; I had been nominated for a couple awards.

BEHAR: Which Moonies?

CATTRALL: It was called -- it was the Moonies. Remember the Moonies from the `70s?

BEHAR: You mean the ones that got married en masse? That group?

CATTRALL: Yes. That group. It was a film based on a book written by a journalist for the "Montreal Gazette," I think it was. It was called "Moonwebs" and he wrote this screenplay and this man called Ralph Thomas who had come from a documentary background.

We filmed it and rehearsed for two weeks, which is usually unheard of on a movie, as you know. And then we shot it in sequence like you would do a play. So, it was a terrific experience. And I played the head of a brainwashing camp.

BEHAR: Oh.

CATTRALL: So, that was -- that, first of all, put me on the map. And then I did a film called "Tribute" with Jack Lemmon and Robbie Benson.

BEHAR: I know that movie.

CATTRALL: Exactly. And then "Mannequin" came from that.

BEHAR: But you`re also -- when you were 17, I understand you worked with Otto Preminger on something called "Rose Bud."

CATTRALL: Yes.

BEHAR: You know, he was a real jerk, Otto Preminger.

CATTRALL: Yes, he was the best that he was. He was the best, best that he was.

BEHAR: So, was he nice -- he wasn`t nice to you?

CATTRALL: No, no, he wasn`t nice to anybody.

BEHAR: What did he do to you?

CATTRALL: You know, what it was, was sort of a form of intimidation, you know? He doesn`t want anybody to feel overconfident in anyway or even confident so he would have controls. So, he was very much a bully. It didn`t matter whether you were in front of the camera or behind the camera, he sort of reigned, it was a reign of terror.

BEHAR: Really?

CATTRALL: Every day, you felt that someone was growing to lose their job, which invariably they did. And after that film, I mean, I came -- graduated from American Academy, this was my first job, and it was a movie, which I never expected. And then I was in the south of France, with five of these other girls, one of them being a great actress, Isabelle Huppert, the French actress.

BEHAR: Oh, I love her. She`s brilliant.

CATTRALL: We became friends over -- we all bonded actually because we were under threat from him.

BEHAR: From him?

CATTRALL: Yes. So, I remember thinking to myself at the time, at 17 finishing the film, I never want to do another film.

BEHAR: Of course.

CATTRALL: I will -- this is -- I want to go back to the theater, people are sane.

BEHAR: You thought all of them would be like him?

CATTRALL: Well, the least -- the thing of least importance was what was going on in front of the camera, it seemed. You know, we didn`t really rehearse, and when we did, he would stop in the middle, and then he would start again. And he didn`t like the way you`re doing and he didn`t like the script. He didn`t like the lights.

BEHAR: And he was nasty about it.

CATTRALL: Nasty.

BEHAR: Maybe a little sadistic.

CATTRALL: No question. I mean, he was really responsible, I think, for Dorothy Dandridge -- I mean, for her having a lot of difficulties in her life.

BEHAR: Really? Wow! That`s dishy.

OK. Get comfortable because we have more with Kim Cattrall on the way.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(VIDEO CLIP, "SEX AND THE CITY")

BEHAR: I`m back with Kim Cattrall, the star of the PBS "Masterpiece" mini-series, "Any Human Heart." Of course, that was a clip from "Sex and the City" the movie number two, right?

CATTRALL: That was number one.

BEHAR: Oh, that was number one.

CATTRALL: Yes.

BEHAR: OK. You`re always on a beach somewhere. So, weren`t you in Saudi Arabia on a beach or Bahrain?

CATTRALL: No, no, we were in Morocco -- Morocco. It was supposed to be Abu Dhabi but it was Morocco.

BEHAR: Abu Dhabi?

CATTRALL: Abu Dhabi.

BEHAR: OK. So, you know, "Sex and the City" is really is in the zeitgeist, you know, at this point. It`s appealing to men, gay men mostly, and women.

Do you think there are straight guys watching it?

CATTRALL: I hope they do. I think especially the series, because there was that aspect of a fly on the wall, which I think men -- especially heterosexual men -- learned maybe a little bit something about the consequences of their actions. I mean, one of my favorite episodes in that vein was when he broke up with the Carrie character on a post-it.

BEHAR: Oh, yes, yes.

CATTRALL: Yes, which is like, guys think, well, you know, it wasn`t working, whatever, you know, I just ended it. And so, a lot of heterosexual men don`t like confrontation, you know?

BEHAR: That`s true.

CATTRALL: They don`t -- it makes them very uncomfortable.

BEHAR: Yes, yes. But they also learned some sexual techniques from you. Which was --

(LAUGHTER)

BEHAR: That`s a very good thing to be putting out there.

CATTRALL: No, you -- that`s very important.

BEHAR: Very important?

CATTRALL: I don`t think they learn -- I think they learned of sexual things. I mean, the crew used to say, Kim, you are woman where no woman has gone there before, especially on television. I think they were right about that.

BEHAR: Well, you taught them to go where most men don`t go. You what I`m saying?

(LAUGHTER)

CATTRALL: True.

BEHAR: OK.

CATTRALL: You`re right about that, yes.

BEHAR: OK. So, now, there are persistent rumors all the time that you girls don`t get along. Now, we get the same --

CATTRALL: You must get the same thing with "The View."

BEHAR: We do. The minute you have women working together, they never say on "The Entourage" show, do you guys get along?

CATTRALL: No, or the "Sopranos," never. Never, never, never. That`s the fate of women working together. They can`t get along.

BEHAR: Is it pure and simple, sexism?

CATTRALL: I think it is. Yes, it is. And I think it makes good copy. Women scratching each other`s eyes out, usually over men or power or whatever it is. No, I think makes good copy, people like that.

BEHAR: Makes good copy, a good cat fight.

CATTRALL: Yes.

BEHAR: Now, you`ve been married three times, Kim? I didn`t know that.

CATTRALL: No, my first marriage was annulled, so I was really married twice.

BEHAR: Well --

CATTRALL: Semantics.

BEHAR: Yes. Samantha`s.

CATTRALL: Semantics. No.

(LAUGHTER)

BEHAR: And I read your book, "Satisfaction: The Art of the Female Orgasm," where you basically, you wrote that with one of your husbands, right?

CATTRALL: My second husband, yes.

BEHAR: Your second husband. And you actually wrote in that book that the orgasm was an art form, to me it was always an accident.

(LAUGHTER)

BEHAR: You know what I mean?

CATTRALL: Well, you know, I think you -- that`s a good reason for a book like that then, isn`t it? Yes, make that accident happen more often.

BEHAR: Exactly.

CATTRALL: Yes.

BEHAR: And how is dating now? I mean, I don`t want to ask your age, but, you know, you`re not under 40 any more.

CATTRALL: No, I`m in my 50s, proudly in my 50s.

BEHAR: You look damn good, so just shout it from the rooftop.

CATTRALL: Thank you.

BEHAR: So, how is the dating scene for women over 50 these days?

CATTRALL: I think that -- I can`t really -- it`s a tough one.

BEHAR: Do men confuse your character with the real Kim Cattrall?

CATTRALL: Not just men, women -- I think most people do. But after spending a very short period of time with me, they realize that I`m not Samantha. I don`t have any of her appetites, so --

BEHAR: Really?

CATTRALL: Yes, maybe for food.

BEHAR: It`s acting, you`re an actress.

CATTRALL: I`m an actress, yes.

BEHAR: I mean, you do "Masterpiece Theater," you`re an actress.

CATTRALL: Yes, I do -- I do Broadway, do the West End, you know? I do a lot of different kinds of things as an actor. I think people had something invested.

And I spoke about this before, I think sometimes at the beginning, you know, when the show hit, people would book me for jobs or interviews like this, and they would expect me to be Samantha. And I always found they were slightly disappointed that I wasn`t because they wanted the bold move. They wanted all of that.

And I thought oh, gosh, this is really terrible. I`m much more complex than this character that I play on television, but nobody seems to be that interested.

BEHAR: I`ve been at dinners with you, one in the Hamptons, you were very quiet. I thought, she`s very shy, she`s like a nun.

CATTRALL: Well, you were talking so much, I couldn`t get a word in edgewise.

(LAUGHTER)

BEHAR: That could be it. That could be it.

Now, what about the term --

CATTRALL: You and Mario, I just --

BEHAR: Mario and also Joe Rappaport, it was at their house.

CATTRALL: There you go. What chance did I have?

BEHAR: And Joan Hamburg was there -- yak, yak, yak, yak, yak. All of us.

CATTRALL: You know, that`s when you sit back and enjoy the ride.

BEHAR: You were so quiet. I said, look how quiet Kim Cattrall is.

CATTRALL: You expected me to be --

BEHAR: I expected you to be like your character a little bit.

CATTRALL: Yes. No.

BEHAR: I expected you to go to the bedroom with the host, as a matter of fact.

CATTRALL: Oh, God.

BEHAR: No, I`m kidding.

CATTRALL: No, no.

BEHAR: Now, but you say that you hate the term cougar for an older woman? Why do you hate that?

CATTRALL: Well, there`s a connotation of a predator which that doesn`t sit well with me.

BEHAR: What`s the equivalent for a man? You know, all these guys --

CATTRALL: You know, called sugar daddy, and that sounds pretty sweet.

BEHAR: Sugar daddy.

CATTRALL: This kind of older guy is going to take care. And it`s -- you know?

BEHAR: Yes.

CATTRALL: But this whole notion of a woman in her 50s, you know, the desperation of it, sitting at a bar, you know, at 11:00 at night sort of eyeing some 20-something boy, it`s just ridiculous. I mean, I have found that young men sort of chase after me, which I`m not complaining about, but it`s not what I`m choosing.

(CROSSTALK)

BEHAR: It makes it sound like you`re going after them, when you`re really not. You`re sitting there looking like your gorgeous self, and they come on to you.

CATTRALL: Well, I don`t really go to bars by myself. You know, I never did that even when I was in my 20s. I`m a sort of a serial monogamist. I meet someone, I like them, I spend a period of time.

I think the most difficult thing with our jobs is distance, time away from home. I mean, you`re lucky your guy`s at home, you`re here. But I spent basically --

BEHAR: I`m agoraphobic lately, I can`t leave the house.

CATTRALL: Really?

BEHAR: No, I`m not really, I`m just saying that.

CATTRALL: Well, I -- you know, last year, I basically spent about three, four months in New York, the rest of the time I was in England working, bouncing all over the place.

BEHAR: So, do you have a boyfriend right now?

CATTRALL: No, no. I`m single.

BEHAR: So, are you on the market? Are you looking? Do you want another one?

CATTRALL: No, I`m really enjoying being single.

BEHAR: You like it?

CATTRALL: Yes. And I really enjoy living alone and having time to myself, which I do -- which I usually had when I had jobs and then would come home and be in a relationship. But I love to cook, I love to entertain, my home is very open, I enjoy that.

But the thought of a relationship where, you know, now, I`m going to be doing a film in England and then we`re doing "Private lives" in Toronto and then back in New York.

BEHAR: You also did "Who Do You Think You Are?" -- that show with Lisa Kudrow. And they found out that your grandfather was a bigamist.

CATTRALL: Yes. You have just given away the whole episode.

BEHAR: That`s OK. She gives away plenty when she comes on here.

CATTRALL: No, I actually didn`t do the American version, I did it in Britain two years ago.

BEHAR: Oh.

CATTRALL: And there, it`s a little bit of a different format in the sense that it`s a 60-minute show, 59 minutes, as opposed to a 40-something- minute show. So, they added it and put it together to make it an American version of it.

BEHAR: I see.

CATTRALL: So, I haven`t seen it, but it`s basically the same story, yes.

BEHAR: Did you know your grandfather?

CATTRALL: No, I never did. He disappeared when my mother was 8 in 1938, and he was never heard or seen again. And he destroyed all pictures of him. So, we never even knew what he looked like, and the show found him. What they do is they ask people in the public eye, would you like to be on this program?

BEHAR: Yes.

CATTRALL: And then they take three months and sort of decide whether there is a story within your family.

BEHAR: Yes, if there`s nothing interesting --

CATTRALL: They won`t do it. Exactly.

BEHAR: OK. All right.

CATTRALL: You got to have drama. Drama.

BEHAR: Definitely.

CATTRALL: Yes.

BEHAR: OK. We`ll be back with a little more from Kim Cattrall. She`s going to talk about beauty secrets now. Yes.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BEHAR: We`re back with Kim Cattrall.

Now, you have this movie "Meet Monica Velour."

CATTRALL: Yes.

BEHAR: And you put on 20 pounds. She`s playing, sort of, over the heels stripper or something?

CATTRALL: Well, she was -- actually the character Monica Velour, she was a big porn star in the `70s, late `70s, early `80s.

BEHAR: I see.

CATTRALL: Then thing goes very, very wrong for her. She gets married. She has a child and now, she`s fighting for the custody of her child. The only way that she can make money is to like strip in these ridiculous clubs.

BEHAR: But whey did you have to get fatter for that?

CATTRALL: Because I think the director and writer of the film, Keith Bearden, wanted very much to have her feeling over the hill.

BEHAR: I see.

CATTRALL: You know -- I mean, she couldn`t be completely out of shape or she wouldn`t be able to strip anywhere, but he said to me what do you think about 35 pounds? I said, you know, Keith, I don`t have enough time before we start shooting for 35, but I can definitely do 15, maybe 20. So, I gained 15 before we started shooting. It was fantastic!

BEHAR: I bet it was. What did you eat? Tell me everything you ate.

CATTRALL: Well, you know, the greatest way, if anything`s fried, anything with dairy products in it, pasta is very high on the list. And I love a drink. You got to drink, you know?

BEHAR: So, how long did it take to you put on the 20?

CATTRALL: It was about a good month.

BEHAR: A month?

CATRALL: A month, yes.

BEHAR: That`s all?

CATTRALL: Yes.

BEHAR: And to take off 20 pounds, how long did it take you?

CATTRALL: It was 15 before we started shooting and another 5 because we were shooting in Detroit, and there`s a lot of good bars in Detroit and a lot of like heavy food in Detroit.

BEHAR: How did you get it off, Kim?

CATTRALL: Well, I dieted.

BEHAR: What diet?

CATTRALL: I used eat right for your blood type because --

BEHAR: Did that work?

CATTRALL: It did work. It has worked for me numerous times.

BEHAR: Really?

CATTRALL: And just cut out certain things. I`m a good dieter. If I can`t have it at all, that`s the best way for me to diet.

BEHAR: Yes, most people.

CATTRALL: If I can have a little bit of something or 40 grams, I can`t do it. I just -- it drives me insane.

BEHAR: They call that the seafood diet. You see food, you eat it.

CATTRALL: Exactly.

BEHAR: You look great, though.

CATTRALL: Oh, thanks.

BEHAR: Tell the audience some of your beauty secrets. Everyone wants to hear this. Everyone wants to know.

CATTRALL: You know, I`m a big sort of shower person. I don`t really bathe too much. But I basically take those gloves and I --

BEHAR: Exfoliate.

CATTRALL: -- exfoliate every single day.

BEHAR: Your whole body?

CATTRALL: Yes.

BEHAR: How do you do your back? You can`t reach that.

CATTRALL: I reach as far as I can and I have this towel. I go like this.

BEHAR: So, you`re an exfoliator daily.

CATTRALL: Daily.

BEHAR: Blood type diet.

CATTRALL: Blood type diet.

BEHAR: Have you ever considered plastic surgery? Or --

CATTRALL: You know, I think that`s something I`m not there yet.

BEHAR: You don`t need it.

CATTRALL: Not yet. I don`t know. I think when I`m there, I`ll ask that question, but I`m not there yet.

BEHAR: Well, nobody`s getting it anymore. They were all getting Botox and the fillers and stuff. The actual cutting is a nightmare. I wouldn`t do it.

CATTRALL: Yes, I mean, why would you? I mean, you look great.

BHEAR: But I have a couple shots here and there. I admit it.

CATTRALL: Hey, so do I.

BEHAR: OK, that`s good.

CATTRALL: Between friends.

(CROSSTALK)

BEHAR: They don`t care.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BEHAR: And that`s our show. Thank you for watching. Good night, everybody.

END