TAMMY WYNETTE TO DEBUT IN ‘CAPITOL’

Tammy Wynette is back waiting tables. But this time, it’s on the set of “Capitol,” a CBS daytime soap opera.

Wynette, who worked her way into the music business after a hand-to-mouth existence as a waitress, barmaid and beautician, joins the cast today. She plays Darlene Stenkowski, the barmaid in Corky’s Club, where she meets her romantic interest, Judson Tyler (Rory Calhoun).

Wynette’s life story was dramatized in a 1981 CBS television movie, “Stand By Your Man.” Her role in “Capitol” is her acting debut.

Wynette’s first record was released 20 years ago in Nashville. Since then, her records have sold 18 million copies and she’s won three Grammys and been chosen top female country vocalist three times by the Country Music Assn.

Her dramatic past influenced her decision to take the “Capitol” part.

“Oh gosh, with all the things that have happened to me (four divorces, unemployment, single motherhood), all the press I’ve had, my life in general has been a soap opera . . . my romantic life, the things I’ve gone through with my children,” she said. “Almost every aspect of my life is a soap opera.

“My traveling alone is a soap opera. Who in the world gets on a customized bus and travels 15 to 20 days a month? It’s a fairy-tale soap opera, and I love it.

With virtually no previous acting experience, Wynette, 43, said she’s “going out there cold” in the soap opera role.

“But I was a barmaid once, so I do know how to carry drinks,” she said, quickly adding that acting the part is more pleasant. In television, “you don’t have all the yells and people screaming that you mixed up their orders,” she said.

Her character is a spunky divorcee in her 40s, a mother-hen type who doles out advice and enjoys being around the younger crowd at Corky’s. Wynette said the motherly characteristic suits her fine.

Wynette thinks it will be a challenge to develop her character and interesting to see how the show’s writers fit Darlene into the whirlwind Washington life of lawyers and politicians in “Capitol.”

“She’ll have a Southern accent if I play her, as long as they don’t criticize or make fun of her talking. That’s one thing I can’t handle.”

“To me, ya’ll sounds every bit as good as youse guys .’ In a joking way, they can make fun of me, but not in a serious way, because I’m very proud to be Southern.”

As to her debut today (1:30 p.m., Channels 2 and 8), she said: “I meet Judson, and sparks kind of fly between the two of us. We kinda like each other. I invite him over to my place the first night. I tell him I have a private little stock of my own even though the bar is closed. It’s starting out as a romantic part.

“When we read the part it was funny,” she said. “The part called for a kissing scene, and Rory said we can skip through that, and I said, ‘Are you kidding? The best part? No way!”

The soap opera stint is set for at least the next few months. But Wynette doesn’t plan to let the weekly flights into Los Angeles cut into her concert schedule.