TV Guide
January 19, 1985
Capitolizing While She Can
It was the end of the day in Westwood, the town nestled at the edge of the UCLA campus, when the sexy blonde in the Corvette spotted something she wanted in a store window. She hit the brakes and angled her car into a loading zone. Then she dashed into the shop, pointed to the bridal gown in the window and asked to try it on. "We close in 20 minutes," replied the clerk. "That's all right," Catherine Hickland replied breathlessly. "That's all the time I've got and I'm getting married the day after tomorrow!"
It's been that kind of year for Hickland: frantic. The actress plays Julie Clegg McCandless, daughter of a Washington, D.C., wheeler-dealer, on CBS's daytime soap Capitol. If her real life these days were a soap opera, it would be called No Time to Live. In addition to her new TV role, she also was married to David Hasselhoff, heartthrob star of NBC's Knight Rider, in March 1984. Separately, and as a couple, they're hot. With a new series, new home and new husband (her second), Hickland looks like she's got it all; but she can't relax and enjoy it.
Working on Capitol most weekdays inside the cavernous sound stages of CBS's Television City is just the beginning of Hickland's busy schedule. There's also the hype--the promotion tour with co-star David Mason Daniels, who plays her husband, Tyler, the endorsement of a cosmetic line called "Beverly Hills Dirt"; the appearance at the Lynda Carter Maybelline Tennis Classic; the book of self-help and beauty tips; the guest shots on Knight Rider; the song, "Our First Night Together," recorded with Hasselhoff; the judging of the 1984 Miss U.S.A pageant; and, of course, the requisite sexy poster. On top of it all, she's working hard to create a new life with her equally busy new husband.
The sun is already setting as Hickland pulls into the circular drive of her new San Fernando Valley house. A sweet but corny wooden plaque that reads "The Hasselhoffs--Founded 1984" is plunked in the foyer like the cornerstone of a hopeful new life. "Tehre are no skeletons in these closets!" says Hickland with an impish grin.
Proudly, she gives a tour of the house. "I've seen people who make more money than we do with nothing to show for it," she says. "We're managing carefully and we have three good cars and a house paid for!" Her parents divorced when she was quite young, she recalls unhappily, and then with fierce determination adds, "That's why I promised myself that I would always be independent and that I would have a happy home."
It's no secret that Hasselhoff was quite a playboy and the couple did not have an easy go of it in the three years before they were married. "David was baad," she says with a laugh. The ups and downs lasted until two weeks before the wedding, when the groom got cold feet and tried to call it off. "He said, 'There are hundreds of women out there--I'm not ready to give all that up yet.' I knew some guys had gotten to him and it wasn't him speaking," says Hickland, obviously still upset just thinking about it. "So I just told him that he shouldn't get married if that was the attitude he was going into it with. Then I got in my car and went shopping, crying all the way!" When she returned that evening, thegroom-to-be apologized for a case of pre-wedding nerves and they kissed and made up.
Hickland releases her two parrots from their cage in the kitchen and places them outside in a tree. Appropriately enough, they mimic the gurgling sound of a portable phone: any ringing phone is a sweet sound to an actor's ears. It's now dark and a car door slams in the driveway. "My husband is home," she says confidently.
Hasselhoff comes bounding in like a puppy just let out to play. They are both still "up" from the adrenalin of the day. Tomorrow is Saturday, but he has to do some radio interviews and she has to do a photo layout. "The only time we get to see each other is when we're sleeping," she says.
The next Monday, it's 3pm on the Capitol set, and Hickland looks decidedly unglamorous with her hair in big pink curlers as she sits in wardrobe being dressed for her upcoming scene. The wardrobe man attacks the front of her silk blouse with pins. "You know I wouldn't let you put your hands down there if I thought you were enjoying it," she teases him.
Co-star Bill Beyers (who plays Julie's brother-in-law, Wally) walks over and seizes her in a mock-passionate embrace, interfering with the wardrobe man's work--to his obvious distress. Beyers responds to a question about working with Hickland, who took over Kimberly Beck's role on Capitol. "I love Catherine," he says, "even though Kimberly was my best friend here. If Catherine was just a dumb blonde, she would have been kicked around this place. But she came in with the attitude, 'I'm a pro, so let's get on with it'." (Producer John Conboy has said Beck "is a talented girl, but we needed someone whose working style fit better with the rest of the cast and Catherine's does that. It shows up on camera.")
Hickland is obviously popular on the Capitol set. But her popularity--both professional and personal--has cost her enormous effort. She reveals that on Texas, her previous soap-opera vehicle, she drove herself into a case of anorexia without even knowing it. She got professional help only when she passed out after a talk show appearance.
Hickland feels that her exhausting perfectionism and eagerness to please stem from the childhood trauma of her parents' divorce. Overall, though, her childhood in Florida was happy enough. Hickland's father is a dentist whose patients included Johnny Weissmuller ("He taught me to swim") and Burl Ives ("I blame him for getting me intrigued by show business"). A stint as a flight attendant after graduating from Fort Lauderdale High School provided a steppingstone to an acting career when she was chose as "Fly Me" girl for National Airlines' TV campaign. Back on the set, the next interruption comes from the assistant director, who announces that they're almost ready to shoot.
Does Hickland ever feel herself, well, overburdened by the pressure of events? She pauses and looks up, determination in her eyes. "I've got to work as hard as I can while they want me," she says. "This isn't going to last forever--because my type is ingenue, and nobody wants an old ingenue."
