20 Questions Teri Hatcher

While pursuing a math degree at a northern California college, Teri Hatcher didn't imagine that she would work with two of show business' biggest legends, Superman and James Bond. Starting out as a dancer in her native Sunnyvale, California, Hatcher accompanied a pal needing moral support to a casting call. There, Hatcher won the attention of the producers and was signed to play one of the ship's dancers on "The Love Boat." Hatcher had studied at the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco, where one of her instructors was Annette Bening. Hatcher garnered small roles in Christopher Guest's "The Big Picture," "Soapdish" with Sally Field and "Straight Talk" opposite Dolly Parton. Her memorable guest appearance on "Seinfeld" alerted Warner Bros. executives who were searching for the postfeminist lead for the television series "Lois & Clark-- The New Adventures of Superman." The show gradually became a hit during its four year run, and Hatcher was soon appearing on Most Beautiful and Best Dressed lists around the world. She became an Internet star and turned heads with her nude appearance in the erotic thriller "Heaven's Prisoners" opposite Alec Baldwin. She also branched out with roles in the cult hit "2 Days in the Valley" and in David Schwimmer's directorial debut, "Since You've Been Gone." Now she is appearing in the latest James Bond movie, "Tomorrow Never Dies," as Pierce Brosnan's ex-lover and the current wife of a dangerously powerful media mogul.

Robert Crane caught up with the darkly beautiful Hatcher at Shutters Hotel in Santa Monica. He reports: "Teri is so bright, well read and attractive, it's disorienting. Waiters stare, parking attendants drop keys, maitre d's give us the best table. The only way spending time with her could have been better is if I'd had X-ray vision."

1.

Playboy: You were once voted most likely to become a Solid Gold dancer. What went wrong?

Hatcher: The show went off the air. Unfortunately I'm a little too late for everything. I had a pretty extensive dance background as a kid but don't do it anymore. Except in nightclubs. When I moved to Los Angeles, my first job was a dancing role as a Love Boat mermaid. But I realized I wasn't good enough to compete in the dance arena. It was clear that I didn't get the job because I was the best dancer. I slept with all the producers. Just kidding. I couldn't compete, so that's when I started thinking more seriously about acting. I'm sure lots of the big stars sing, dance, do all that stuff, but you mostly see people doing one thing, and doing it well.

2.

Playboy: Your picture on the Internet is one of the most popular hits. What does it take to be big on the Web?

Hatcher: I think the credit goes to the cape. There is something intriguing about that particular shot, having nothing to do with me. A woman naked wrapped in Superman's cape conjures so much. He's the definitive superhero, and she's obviously gotten so intimate with him that she has his cape, and it's sexy and sort of powerful. It was my idea to do that shot. ABC wanted me to do it in a buttoned-up Lois Lane blouse with the cape over it. We shot it that way and I said, "Can we just snap one roll without the blouse?" And of course, that was the picture they used. Cut to the next year, when they're like, "Will she wear a pair of Superman boxer shorts and be naked on the top, covering her breasts with her hands?" I don't think so. But it's nice to see you've caught on.

3.

Playboy: Do you fool around online?

Hatcher: I like having the ability to access information. I love e-mail, especially when I'm working. I often can't finish a phone call in the relaxed manner that I want to. E-mail allows me to sit down with a glass of wine, at two in the morning, and spend as much time as I need saying what I want to say, and send it to somebody without waking them.

4.

Playboy: Have you ever changed in a phone booth?

Hatcher: No, but I'm sure I could. They're big and roomy, practically a hotel. I hate dressing rooms, and in a department store, I'll try on a top while hiding behind a rack instead of going into the dressing room to take off my clothes. I'm either not shy, or I'm really stupid and just think people aren't looking at me. On the set of the James Bond movie, I have this dress that reveals how complicated it is to look glamorous. It's a beautiful dress, but my breasts had gaffer's tape on them, and the sides of the dress were attached to my skin because it was too big and they couldn't take it in because of the way it was made. So, during filming, I'd wear my sweats until the very last minute and then put on the dress on the set. I didn't care if the crew was looking, I just wanted them to get the dress on, put the tape on, get me out. And you're constantly lifting your breasts up and tucking this and that, and you don't think about it because you're there to do a job. If that's what I have to do to look good on camera and to make myself comfortable, then I don't have any modesty about it. But there were moments when I'd think, There are 300 extras staring at me, and I'm touching myself wherever it needs to be touched.

5.

Playboy: We missed the last part of that Seinfeld episode that featured your breasts. What was the resolution?

Hatcher: I told Jerry, "They're real and they're spectacular." I will never forget that line. It goes with me wherever I go. That will be pretty fabulous when I'm 80. I had a ball doing the show. And they didn't write that line until right before we were shooting. Larry David [Seinfeld's co-creator], genius.

6.

Playboy: Are people too hung up on breasts?

Hatcher: The whole country is, both men and women. Women seem to want them to be better or different or this or that. And men feel the same way. It definitely isn't bigger is better, because it's in the eye of the beholder. I think people are too hung up on bodies in general. That's one of the reasons I want to go to Greece. I hear everybody is big and fat and they let it all hang out on the beach and nobody cares. It sounds fabulous to me. Teri Hatcher

7.

Playboy: What's a good reason for breast augmentation?

Hatcher: If that's what it takes to make a woman feel good about herself, then she should do it. I could never do it because I don't understand the concept of putting a foreign object into my body. That's all it's about for me. I didn't even want to take birth control pills. If it makes people feel good, and they feel like it's safe, then they should do it.

8.

Playboy: Would you ever change your breasts?

Hatcher: Ask me after I've had a baby.

9.

Playboy: In TV Guide you posed as earth, air, fire and water. Please comment on other elemental things. Mud?

Hatcher: If you want a comment on mud, you should go to the Flamingo, or whatever the hell the name of that place is, in Hollywood. There's a lot of mud there, spread all over women. Fishing comes to mind because I used to have to put my own worms on the hook. I was so proud that I was nine years old, fishing with my dad, and could hook my own worms and wasn't freaked out by it.

10.

Playboy: Oil?

Hatcher: All over my body, by really good hands, either my husband's or a professional's, whenever I can get it, in as many different scents as I can get it in. Love, love, love oil. Send oil.

11.

Playboy: There are chat rooms on the Internet devoted to your belly button.

Hatcher: Are you serious? How do you know it's mine? I've heard my head is on somebody else's body. I haven't seen it, but that's what I've heard.

12.

Playboy: Would you ever introduce a navel ring to your jewelry collection?

Hatcher: That's personal. They're very sexy, and that's all I'm saying.

13.

Playboy: Which parts of your body would you not pierce?

Hatcher: Anything else.

14.

Playboy: What's the most outrageous cover line you've seen on a women's magazine?

Hatcher: Something like 100 New Ways to Have Sex. I guess that has to be the most outrageous, and of course, I buy it. Sucker that I am.

15.

Playboy: You've said lipstick is sexy. Is it OK to leave it on a guy?

Hatcher: My husband thinks lipstick is sexy, and sometimes I wear lipstick just for him. Can you leave it on a guy? Sure you can, because it's your mark. It's a sign that you've been there, wherever it is. I think the guy will be happy with it too, running around saying, "See this lipstick? Know how it got there?"

16.

Playboy: You're a vegetarian. Give us a sensuous tour of the vegetable kingdom.

Hatcher: [Laughing] Just go to your grocery store and figure it out. Anything long, probably in green or yellow tones. Anything round. Just touch all the vegetables in your grocery store and you'll have an erotic experience. You might get arrested, but that's not my problem. Don't tell them I sent you. And stay away from the artichokes.

17.

Playboy: If women had supernatural powers, would they use them for good or evil?

Hatcher: Any woman would be tempted to use what she could for her own selfish purpose, though not necessarily to hurt somebody. If a guy could actually look at a woman's lingerie under her clothes, I mean, wouldn't he? It's not really an invasion of privacy.

18.

Playboy: Did you ever pretend that you weren't good in math?

Hatcher: No. That was so not me. I was always really competitive that way. I felt the men in class thought I was just attractive and stupid and I wanted to prove them wrong.

19.

Playboy: How interesting a social life can a math major look forward to?

Hatcher: The answer to that is why I'm not doing it. You know, I'm sure they have real exciting lives--she says, rolling her eyes. But it would have been great if I had finished my math major and become a mathematician. It's a great field for women.

20.

Playboy: What would a feminist think of the name Pierce--or Lance?

Hatcher: I guess it depends on how nuts they are. One can interpret anything one wants to any way one wants to. It speaks more of the person who is making the interpretation. I've never even thought about it--that tells you who I am. It hasn't even occurred to me.

But speaking of one Pierce in particular, Pierce Brosnan is great as a James Bond for the modern era. The first time Bond and I see each other on-screen, I slap him across the face. It's such a great entrance.

the newest bond bombshell on undressing in a crowd, the complex nature of breasts and the art of leaving lipstick on a man

Touch the vegetables in your grocery and you'll have an erotic experience. Stay away from the artichokes.