Kay Lenz

Kay Lenz, who is a shade under 5 foot 3, is standing very tall these days. One reason is that playing Maggie Zombro--a take-no-prisoners defense attorney who this season is a regular on NBC's "Reasonable Doubts"--makes her feel that way. "I'm this strong-minded, strong-willed, caustic attorney and I feel very tall when I play her," Lenz says. "Dustin Hoffman said when he put on that 'Hook' costume, he became Hook. Maggie is the same.

Kay Lenz, who is a shade under 5 foot 3, is standing very tall these days. One reason is that playing Maggie Zombro--a take-no-prisoners defense attorney who this season is a regular on NBC's "Reasonable Doubts"--makes her feel that way. "I'm this strong-minded, strong-willed, caustic attorney and I feel very tall when I play her," Lenz says. "Dustin Hoffman said when he put on that 'Hook' costume, he became Hook. Maggie is the same.

It's happened before, countless times, albeit under different circumstances. A young man has been programmed to go to college--Duke University in this case--to pursue a profession, possibly to enter politics. The young man has other ideas. Screwing up his courage, he prepares to beard his father. It's a busy day, a work day, and the father, with a trace of impatience, looks up from his desk: "Yes?" The young man clears his throat. "Dad," he says, "I don't think I want to go to college." No?

In your article "Changing Stripes," about Kathy Christian, who turned from animal lover into big-game hunter, she professes to understand and carry "no bitterness" toward us, the anti-hunters, because we "don't get the whole picture." As bighearted as she is and as un-Christian (pun intended) as this sounds, I do get the picture of a person who is evolving backward.

In your article "Changing Stripes," about Kathy Christian, who turned from animal lover into big-game hunter, she professes to understand and carry "no bitterness" toward us, the anti-hunters, because we "don't get the whole picture." As bighearted as she is and as un-Christian (pun intended) as this sounds, I do get the picture of a person who is evolving backward.

Rock 'n' roller John Cougar Mellencamp plays a country singer in his first movie, being filmed in his native Indiana. "Souvenirs," which also stars Mariel Hemingway, Claude Akins and Kay Lenz, is based on a story by Mellencamp. Larry McMurtry, whose credits include "The Last Picture Show" and "Terms of Endearment," wrote the screenplay. Mellencamp plays a country singer who returns to Indiana to celebrate his grandfather's birthday.

Kay Lenz goes undercover as a cop--then uncovers --by posing as a stripper in New Horizon Pictures' "Stripped to Kill," due in February. The former Mrs. David Cassidy spent time in real strip joints to familiarize herself with the profession. "Because I'm a policewoman, I don't have to be a great dancer," said Lenz, who takes it off to music twice in the pic. "In fact, after I win on amateur night, the owner tells me, 'You're the worst dancer I've ever seen, but you're hired!'

A miniseries was unheard of in 1976 when ABC aired the 12-hour "Rich Man, Poor Man." While many experts may have scoffed at the idea, Americans sat glued to their TV sets for the groundbreaking saga, which TNT replays this week. Based on Irwin Shaw's best-selling 1970 novel of the same name, "Rich Man, Poor Man" told the colorful, melodramatic tale of the immigrant Jordache family from 1945 to 1965.

It's happened before, countless times, albeit under different circumstances. A young man has been programmed to go to college--Duke University in this case--to pursue a profession, possibly to enter politics. The young man has other ideas. Screwing up his courage, he prepares to beard his father. It's a busy day, a work day, and the father, with a trace of impatience, looks up from his desk: "Yes?" The young man clears his throat. "Dad," he says, "I don't think I want to go to college." No?

Edward Herrmann is Goldie Hawn's wimpy rich husband who fights for her affections with carpenter Kurt Russell in "Overboard," which shoots next week near Mendocino. . . . Robert Urich and Tommy Lee Jones must decide how they will battle the British on the eve of the American Revolution in the Hallmark Hall of Fame production "April Morning." Tess Harper and Chad Lowe join the cast, which begins shooting in two weeks in Toronto. . . .