Catherine Bell- Family Stories AW (08 Avril 2010)

Thursday, Apr. 08, 2010


Catherine Bell says viewers relates to family stories on Lifetime's 'Army Wives'


By DAVID MARTINDALE


Special to dfw.com



Catherine Bell isn't sure how military spouses do it.
The star of Lifetime's Army Wives is an absolute mess when separated from her family for even a few days. "I can only imagine how challenging it is to be apart for whole months at a time or even longer," she says.
When Bell is "deployed" to South Carolina to film Army Wives (which begins its fourth season at 9 p.m. Sunday), her husband of 15 years and their daughter, age 6, accompany her. Their presence keeps her sane.
Bell marvels at the strength of her real-life counterparts, who endure their long separations knowing that their soldier husbands might not make it back alive. The stakes don't get any higher than that.
"I think that's why people connect with our show," says Bell, who plays Denise Sherwood, a character whose husband and son are soldiers. "We stay away from the politics and instead focus on universal themes of love and marriage and children and the ups and downs of life's relationships."
We chatted with Bell last week about the show and the new season.
The season opens with a new crisis in Denise's life: Her son, back from a tour of duty, tried to kill himself. Not exactly the feel-good episode of the year. Then again, if everything were smiles and giggles, it wouldn't be true to the reality of what a military wife's life is like, would it?
That's true. Hopefully it's not all tears all the time. But certainly we tackle those issues that they're dealing with on a regular basis. That's something I love about our show. But I cried an awful lot during those first two episodes. It does turn around for Denise at some point, so hang in there. I certainly was very happy when I could stop crying.


What kind of feedback do you get from real-life Army wives? Do they approve of how they're being depicted, even when Denise had an affair while her husband was overseas?
Well, the wives weren't too happy about that story line. But it does happen. Certainly not for all of them, but there are some that unfortunately, on both sides, the men and the women, have trouble keeping that fidelity during so many months apart. Actually, I fought against doing that story line. I really didn't want Denise, of all the characters, to have an affair. But again, it happens. Besides, now it's all good. They're back together and working it out.


After starring for nearly a decade as a Marine colonel in JAG, did you have any misgivings about doing another military-themed show?
Once I got past the word 'Army' in the title, I had a good feeling about it. But my first reaction was to say, 'There's no chance in hell that I'm going to do another show about the military.' But once I got past that and I saw who was involved and I saw the story lines, I thought, 'Oh, man, this is going to be good.' The fact that people responded and we've had the success that we've had has been just wonderful.
Maybe your next TV series can showcase still another branch of the military.
You're joking, but don't think it's impossible. Even now I get scripts in my off time to play some Air Force pilot. I'm like, 'No, no, no.' I love doing the military shows, but I don't want to only do those.
Is it a blow to your vanity that a 25-year-old actor plays your son? Or do you choose to view it the other way, which is to say that, for a woman whose son is a grown man, you look great?
When I first met Richard Bryant, who plays my son, and I found out how old he was, it was a bit of a shock. I went, 'Now wait a minute. Wait one minute! Do I look that old?' But once I got past that, I realized that at my age (now 41) I could easily have a 19-year-old son. His character is 19 now. Still, it's a bit strange for me, because I have an almost-7-year-old daughter. But I think he looks young, which is a saving grace. What's funny is that, on set, Richard and I always joke and I make him blush heavily. I'm always like, 'Come to Momma! Come here!' And I make him put his head on my shoulder and I tease him. And he's like, 'Momma, Momma! Stop it! This is weird!' But I can't help myself. It's too funny.


http://www.dfw.com/2010/04/09/261052/catherine-bell-says-viewers-relates.html