Checking In

Fred Robbins talked with Kathleen ("Body Heat") Turner in Manhattan, where she lives. Robbins reports: "She wore a clinging dress that showed off her astonishingly attractive legs. And even though I was prepared for it, I was surprise by her vice--as deep, and sultry as Lauren Bacall's.

[Q] Playboy: A lot of successful movie actors now brag that they began on a soap opera. Did playing Nola on The Doctors help you?

[A] Turner: I left the show ore than two years ago, but I learned a lot from it.

[Q] Playboy: Your role in Body Heat is an extraordinary debut. It deals with a man and a woman having an obsessive, impossible love affair. Do you think people are really like that?

[A] Turner: Whether or not they're romantics, people believe in overwhelming love, in something bigger than them selves. People People have obsessions.

[Q] Playboy: Had established film actresses known about the role you play, they would have given their eyeteeth to get it. How did you land it?

[A] Turner: I was out in L.A testing on another film and I met the casting director, who asked me to read. Larry Kasdan, the writer and director, handed me a scene and I read it for him. Finally, after a great deal of silence, Larry said, "When I wrote that, I never thought I'd hear anyone do it exactly as I meant it to be." A few days later, I had to meet some people at the Ladd Company. The meeting took place in a room where everything was white: the couch, the rug, everything. I was terribly nervous. One of the women asked me about playing Nola on The Doctors and I said I loved it because I got to be drunk. And she said "Let's see you be drunk." So I threw my script down on the coffee table and watched a huge ashtray full of cigarette butts skid across spill all over he white rug. I went bright red. Later, my agency called and said, "Well, we don't know what you did, but they called us right after you left and said it's yours." I said it was the ashtray.

[Q] Playboy: What were your most difficult problems in preparing to play Matty in Body Heat?

[A] Turner: Matty had an almost show-offness about her sexuality that I've never really had. She was proud of it.

[Q] Playboy: Has that affected your awareness of your own sexuality?

[A] Turner: I have greater confidence now. I dress a little differently; I'm getting out of the jeans-and-T-shirt stage.

[Q] Playboy: The love scenes are very hot. Were they simulated or did more happen between you and Wiliam Hurt?

[A] Turner: Oh no, no, no. We never made love. It was choreographed.

[Q] Playboy: There's a story going around that involves Tom Berenger ant a well-known actress doing an intense love scene. He's supposed to have said to her, "Darling, if I get excited during this scene, please forgive me. And if I don't get excited, please forgive me, too." Is doing a love scene, even if it's just choreographed, really a turn-on?

[A] Turner: Well, even if it is, there's no greater cold shower than to hear, "Cut!" Yes, I do get excited. But I don't find that extraordinary. If you're doing a comedy scene, it has to be funny.

[Q] Playboy: Do you live alone?

[A] Turner: No, with my boyfriend [David Guc, her manager].

[Q] Playboy: Are you glad he isn't an actor?

[A] Turner: I think so. I see many relationships where it does seem to work, but I think it's an added strain.

[Q] Playboy: You are likely to have an enormously successful career. Will that cause problems with the man in your life.

[A] Turner: No. He's my biggest fan. Matter of fact, even if a man I love wants to quit, whatever work he does and only work in the home, I don't see anything wrong with that, provided we have an income that can allow him to do that. The key is that the guy is productive, not what salary he makes.

[Q] Playboy: Do you believe in strictly monogamous relationship?

[A] Turner: I have been involved in this relationship for four years and intend to continue it for the rest of my life. If making love to another man will cost you the relationship, it's not worth it.

[Q] Playboy: Why does it have to cost the relationship?

[A] Turner: I'm not saying it does. I know people who have had marvelous, steady relationships for years, be they married or not, who find it possible to have relationship with other people as well. And, of course, the temptation for an actor gets pretty intense, because you become very close to people. When you're doing a play or a film, you can build a relationship in a few weeks that would take you years to accomplish on the outside. People who can handle more than one relationship are very sure of who they are, obviously, and they know what want and what they get from the people they care about. Perhaps I'm simply not grown up enough.

[Q] Playboy: Do you insist on fidelity?

[A] Turner: No. I insist that I be absolutely number one in his life as far as other people and other woman go. Knowing how he loves me, I don't believe he would do anything to hurt me.

[Q] Playboy: If he had an affair, would you be understanding, depending on the circumstances?

[A] Turner: I don't think I could ever see it as against me. Because I know how he feels about me. But if it takes away from the primary relationship, then it's destructive. And, as such, I would never stand for it. If he ever made a choice of another woman over me--for example, if I were home and said, "Darling, I need you. Come home," and he said, "No, sorry, I've got to work late," and then I realized that he was with someone else--that would be unforgivable. Because my need must come first.

[Q] Playboy: Was David upset about your Body Heat love scenes?

[A] Turner: Well, yeah, a little. When we saw the film, I think he had a few moments of "Oh, my God!" Because when you see it, it's a different thing. It looks like it's real.

[Q] Playboy: Did he ask you how the scenes were done?

[A] Turner: Oh, Yeah. In fact, he was there when we rehearsed the first one you see in the movie. But when we shot it, we didn't want anybody there; it takes away from your concentration.

[Q] Playboy: What do you like to do when you're not working?

[A] Turner: I love to travel. I lived and grew up overseas. I love to read. I love to eat out. I love cooking, too. I love giving dinner parties; we have great ones. And I love being an actress.