RAMBETTE NO MORE

With “Rambo III” finally in production in Israel, we thought this was a good time to check in with Julia Nickson, who played John Rambo’s gutsy Vietnamese sidekick--and sort of romantic interest--in “Rambo: First Blood Part II.”

For her role as Co Bao, Nickson (who’s half English/half Chinese) got to exchange a brief kiss with Sly--before being gunned down by the enemy. She died in Sly’s arms.

“Oh, God, I can barely watch that film today,” laughed Nickson, who quickly added: “But I was very serious about that role when I did it. I really was. I mean, not many actors get their start with a movie like that. And to have a death scene, too!”

A one-time model in Hawaii, Nickson broke into the biz with an episode of “Magnum, P.I.” Then came “Rambo”--and, she assumed, offers galore: “But nothing happened for at least six months after the film was released. Nothing. I mean, my career just came to a total standstill.”

She has a theory: “A lot of teen-agers went to see the movie--but not people in the industry. I’d go on interviews and no one had seen my work. It was so strange, since I’d been in this big hit. What I learned was that a big hit can get you publicity but not necessarily jobs.”

Finally, after months of acting classes, she landed an episode of “Airwolf,” followed by commercials.

Then the two-hour pilot “Harry’s Hong Kong,” which wasn’t picked up. “But that show worked out really well anyway,” said Nickson--revealing that she’ll marry her co-star, recently divorced David Soul, later this year.

More recently, she wrapped a starring role in the NBC miniseries “James Clavell’s Noble House,” to air early next year. (She’s second female lead, after Deborah Raffin.) Cast as John Rhys-Davies’ mistress, she’s forced to seduce an American corporate raider (Ben Masters) in Hong Kong.