Jacqueline Bisset

I thoroughly enjoyed "Anna Karenina," thanks to the stunning performance of Jacqueline Bisset. She was terrific. Wendy Levin, Laguna Niguel

Inspiration comes in many guises for a performer. Jacqueline Bisset found her muse from an unfortunate incident involving her cat for her latest film, "Death in Love," which opens today. Written and directed by Boaz Yakin, the controversial family drama casts Bisset as the rage-filled, sadistic mother of two adult but emotionally stunted boys (Josh Lucas and Lukas Haas).

In the period piece "End of Summer," Jacqueline Bisset is radiant as a rich, aristocratic turn-of-the-century spinster who unexpectedly has a second chance at love. The hourglass silhouette, the long skirts, the leg o' mutton sleeves of the gowns of the era are highly becoming on Bisset in this 1995 Showtime production now receiving theatrical release.

Towering above other films so far previewed for the Los Angeles Film Festival, which commences Friday at various venues, is Christopher Munch's "The Sleepy Time Gal." Munch first came to attention with "The Hours and Times," in which he sensitively imagined what might have occurred between John Lennon and Brian Epstein during a brief Barcelona interlude, and "Color of a Brisk and Leaping Day," a remarkably evocative account of the struggle to bring rail travel to Yosemite.

Jacqueline Bisset tries to be discerning when it comes to choosing film projects. "If you want a career that doesn't date badly, you have to find things that aren't too trendy," she says. "If you want to get hot, you do things that are trendy."

Inspiration comes in many guises for a performer. Jacqueline Bisset found her muse from an unfortunate incident involving her cat for her latest film, "Death in Love," which opens today. Written and directed by Boaz Yakin, the controversial family drama casts Bisset as the rage-filled, sadistic mother of two adult but emotionally stunted boys (Josh Lucas and Lukas Haas).

"Ever since I got the role, I've been reading up on the subject," said Jacqueline Bisset. "And I have to tell you I can't find a single reference to Napoleon saying, 'Not tonight, Josephine.' " In two weeks British-born Bisset starts filming David Wolper's six-hour ABC-TV miniseries "Napoleon and Josephine" in France. The role of the empress Josephine is one for any actress to covet, and covet it Bisset does.

Jacqueline Bisset, actress, movie star and sometime film producer seemed annoyed at the notion that she was "doing TV." It's not the medium that irks her but the vocabulary. "I hate the word TV, Bisset said, lounging in her cozy Benedict Canyon home the other day. "It's 'television.' That's from my mother: Don't call it TV. Te-le-vi-sion." It's best to clear that up early, because some form of the word undoubtedly pops up in any interview with Bisset these days.

Today we bring you a lesson in do-your-own Americana. If you want to make an apple pie, you must bake it. If you want to make a mom, well, there are several ways you can go. Let's go with one of the more popular routes, the one enshrined by Playboy magazine (which, for those of you who still need help, is not called Test Tube News for a reason). We refer to the four-letter word "sex." But somehow when it comes to mainstream images of motherhood and sexuality, never the twain does meet.

Towering above other films so far previewed for the Los Angeles Film Festival, which commences Friday at various venues, is Christopher Munch's "The Sleepy Time Gal." Munch first came to attention with "The Hours and Times," in which he sensitively imagined what might have occurred between John Lennon and Brian Epstein during a brief Barcelona interlude, and "Color of a Brisk and Leaping Day," a remarkably evocative account of the struggle to bring rail travel to Yosemite.

In the period piece "End of Summer," Jacqueline Bisset is radiant as a rich, aristocratic turn-of-the-century spinster who unexpectedly has a second chance at love. The hourglass silhouette, the long skirts, the leg o' mutton sleeves of the gowns of the era are highly becoming on Bisset in this 1995 Showtime production now receiving theatrical release.

Jacqueline Bisset tries to be discerning when it comes to choosing film projects. "If you want a career that doesn't date badly, you have to find things that aren't too trendy," she says. "If you want to get hot, you do things that are trendy."

I found CBS' interpretation of "Anna Karenina" to be a real disappointment. Levin, the main character of the better half of the book, was not even shown once! Jacqueline Bisset was incapable of portraying Tolstoy's Anna; she looked more like a suffering TV starlet. The only actor who halfway saved the show was Christopher Reeve. I only wish he could have been in a better production. Lynn Stewart, Los Angeles

"Ever since I got the role, I've been reading up on the subject," said Jacqueline Bisset. "And I have to tell you I can't find a single reference to Napoleon saying, 'Not tonight, Josephine.' " In two weeks British-born Bisset starts filming David Wolper's six-hour ABC-TV miniseries "Napoleon and Josephine" in France. The role of the empress Josephine is one for any actress to covet, and covet it Bisset does.

Jacqueline Bisset, actress, movie star and sometime film producer seemed annoyed at the notion that she was "doing TV." It's not the medium that irks her but the vocabulary. "I hate the word TV, Bisset said, lounging in her cozy Benedict Canyon home the other day. "It's 'television.' That's from my mother: Don't call it TV. Te-le-vi-sion." It's best to clear that up early, because some form of the word undoubtedly pops up in any interview with Bisset these days.

The first season of TNT's crime drama "Rizzoli & Isles" featured an episode with the title "I Kissed a Girl. " Its stars, Angie Harmon and Sasha Alexander, played on a softball team, shared some intimate dinners, drank wine over candlelight and hopped into the same bed for girl talk. But this is not a gay show. Series creator Janet Tamaro described Harmon's Rizzoli and Alexander's Isles as a "power couple" — the center of a buddy drama, one that broke cable ratings records in its debut run and returns for its second season July 11. But the women are not together, as in together . Tamaro chalks up the rampant are-they-or-aren't-they discussion to throwing "two gorgeous actresses together who have great, natural chemistry.