Bobbie Beautiful

“You always hear actors talking about the roles they’re playing being so difficult, and you feel like saying, ‘Shut up and do the work,’ ” notes Marilu Henner. “But this play is tough . . . . Sometimes I go down to my dressing room and just sob. And when Gregory pins me to the bed--well, I have bruises on my arms, all over my body. I look like a rotten banana.”

Henner is playing the beautiful, busty Bobbie--doomed, devalued and desperately addicted to the self-absorbed, anti-marriage Jonathan (Gregory Harrison) in the stage version of Jules Feiffer’s “Carnal Knowledge” at the Pasadena Playhouse.

“I think Bobbie is a girl who came from the Midwest to the big city, who’s learned to put on layers and layers of glamour,” says the actress probably best known for her role in the TV series “Taxi.” “But underneath is this very frightened girl who loves--and is very needy. I know a lot of women like that. Even in my own life: There’ve been certain men who’ve been Kryptonite to me. But I never crossed the line that Bobbie does.”

What saved her? “Growing up around brothers really helped toughen me up,” she says. “And I’ve always had more self-esteem than the character has. I think having a certain amount of success at an early age gives you that. And I’ve never felt I was where I am in my career because of the way I look--never. Even early in my career, I always thought the jobs I got had to do with my intelligence, my sense of humor.”

Although she steered clear of the film while preparing for her role, Henner fondly recalls going to see it during its original 1971 release. “I think you had to be 18 to get in, and I wasn’t 18. It was like,” she lowers her voice to a conspiratorial whisper, ‘Let’s see “ Carnal Knowledge .” ’ It was very exciting. And I’ve always loved Ann-Margret (the film’s Bobbie). She was my idol growing up.”

A little bit of the play can’t help but rub off in real life, the actress admits. “My boyfriend (director Robert Lieberman) has been kidding me that he’s Bobbie and I’m Jonathan, because he’s the one who wants to get married--and I’m always saying, ‘Yeah, well, maybe next year.’ ”