Calmer Seas Ahead?

When “The Love Boat: A Valentine Voyage” sets sail on CBS Monday night at 9, Lauren Tewes won’t be aboard with her many former co-stars. Tewes, who played cruise director Julie McCoy on the hit series--a lucrative role derailed, in part, by her admitted cocaine addiction--says she was offered only a small cameo on the reunion show. She turned it down.

“I’ve done that,” says Tewes, who says she’s now drug free. “I didn’t want to go back to such a small part. It really didn’t interest me.”

(Fred Grandy, now a Republican congressman from Iowa, is the only other original cast member missing from “A Valentine Voyage.”)

In 1985, Tewes confessed her drug problem to TV Guide. There were also reports of a salary dispute. “Love Boat” co-exec producers Aaron Spelling and Douglas Cramer let her contract run out. Neither producer wished to comment on Tewes’ history.

Although her acting career never fully recovered, she’s been getting work, including a small role in the recent USA Network suspense-drama “The China Lake Murders.” Married to musician Paolo Nonnis, Tewes has also been active in local theater--currently directing “The Head” at the Matrix Theatre.

“I hope and pray that that’s all past now,” Tewes says of her troubles. “I think I made the right choices by trying to stay in the business while it was trying to keep me out, by following my own heart and my own drive, and by making the choice to stick it through.”