"When the make-up comes off you still have to go home and face
your life; make sure it is as satisfying as the one you left at the dressing table.' I think I have." -
Stefanie Powers
If one measures Hollywood stars by such traditional markers as grace, beauty and sophistication, then Stefanie Powers harkens back to Hollywood's Golden Era when stars were the essence of what everybody dreamed to be. And if one measures the quality of a person by their sense of dedication, their concern for the world around them, by their ability to step outside themselves and see the greater importance of community and society, then Stefanie Powers exemplifies the "new Hollywood" -- smart, charismatic, committed and, yes, sexy.
Actress Stefanie Powers, whose charming and thoughtful real-life personality may most closely resemble stunning renaissance woman Jennifer Hart, the character she portrayed on the hit television series "Hart to Hart", has combined a natural curiosity and passion for knowledge, world travel and diverse cultures into both an award-winning acting career and an equally active life of heartfelt philanthropic work.
The cornerstone of that work is the William Holden Wildlife Foundation, a public charity dedicated to the preservation of wild animals, which Stefanie helped to found in honor of the late actor and for which she serves as president. The William Holden Wildlife Education Center, which currently serves 10,000 students a year, is located near the Mt. Kenya Safari Club and the Mt. Kenya Game Ranch started by Holden in the late 1950's before conservation became a popular issue.
"The Foundation is an extremely large commitment," Stefanie admits, "but it's not something I entered into without understanding the full impact of the obligation. It's a lifelong commitment that sometimes monopolizes one hundred percent of my time".
What's perhaps staggering for most of us who would find either acting or extensive social work each full-time occupations in themselves is that Stefanie's life only begins there. She makes the term well-rounded a severe understatement. To begin, she runs her own production company, which always has several projects brewing. Her acting credits include 27 feature films, such as "Experiment in Terror", "The Interns", "McClintock!", "Die Die My Darling", "Love Has Many Faces", "Stagecoach" and "The Man Inside" and the television series "The Girl From U.N.C.L.E.", "The Feather and Father Gang" and, of course, "Hart to Hart". Her many mini-series include "Washington: Behind Closed Doors", "Deceptions", "Mistral's Daughter", "At Mother's Request", "Burden of Proof" and "Beryl Markham: A Shadow on the Sun", which she also produced.
She has also appeared on stage in many musical productions, such as "Oliver", "Annie Get Your Gun", "My Fair Lady" and, most recently, "Matador" at the Queen's Theatre in London. Also, in London's West End, she was reunited with Robert Wagner in the play "Love Letters" for a 4-week run followed by tours of the play in many U.S. cities and Canada, and the "Hart to Hart" pair recreated their weekly series by doing 5 2-hour movies for the NBC-TV and three for the Family Channel.
Travel has always been an important part of her life, and in pursuit of more meaningful experiences, she has taught herself to be conversant in seven languages. "I never travel frivolously," says Stefanie. "There is always some prevailing curiosity or interest which involves me wherever I go." She travelled to new Czech Republic for the Family Channel's "The Good King", a special and enjoyable experience since it was near enough to Poland to visit during filming (she is of Polish descent), but vacationing is not a part of her lexicon. "I don't 'do' holidays well, sitting around drives me mad".
As if that's not enough, she's released two home videos, one on horseback riding and the current "Stefanie Powers' Broadway Workout" from Lightyear Entertainment, a 47-minute fitness workout underscored with Broadway showtunes. She is also involved with several American zoos, (among them, the Cincinnati Zoo and Zoo Atlanta) where she works with species survival programs, and she has become the celebrity spokesperson for the HomeAgain Companion Animal Retrieval System, a new microchip implant designed to track house pets and help return them to their owners when they stray.
"Every once in a while, all these things come crashing together", comments Stefanie on her crowded schedule. "You're obviously going to have those moments if you involve yourself with a lot of things".
What's her solution? Just keep going. "I feel very privileged to have been on the tail end of the Star System", explains Stefanie. "I began at fifteen, and when I was put under contract at Columbia, they still believed in "grooming" their young hopefuls. That process allowed me to learn how movies were made since the studio was my playground. In many ways, the experience of working with such movie greats as John Wayne, Maureen O'Hara, Bing Crosby, Van Heflin, Glenn Ford, Lee Remick, Lana Turner, Cliff Robertson, David Niven and Claudia Cardinale, helped to give me a sense of the importance of balancing career and life. Tahlulah Bankhead and Helen Hayes became friends after our work together and gave me a sense of appreciation and respect for all those greats who set such a high standard for all of us to follow. But they all said the same thing -- 'when the make-up comes off you still have to go home and face your life; make sure it is as satisfying as the one you left at the dressing table.' I think I have."
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