Profile : An Actres’s Wishes Come True

Emma Samms says she has been lucky.

Though she worked briefly as a waitress in a Beverly Hills deli 10 years ago, Samms has quickly risen up the Hollywood ladder. At 21, the British actress landed the plum role of Holly, Luke Spencer’s love interest, on BC’s then-hot soap “General Hospital” in 1982. Three years later she was cast as Fallon on ABC’s prime-time serial “Dynasty,” and its short-lived sequel, “The Colbys.” Now, she is rushing from one film project to another.

“I broke out of daytime because of ‘Dynasty,’ ” Samms said, relaxing over an espresso at her hangout, the Hamlet Gardens in Westwood. “I have been incredibly lucky. I would have never left ‘General Hospital’ if I hadn’t had that offer. It has never been my ambition to do feature films. I just like to work.”

And work and work. Samms recently returned to Los Angeles after filming Sunday’s Disney Channel comedy “Bejewelled” in Britain and an independent feature, “Fatal Inheritance,” in Ireland. In between those two projects, she managed to squeeze in “Delirious,” a John Candy comedy due for release in March that satirizes daytime soap operas.

In “Bejewelled,” which also stars Dirk Benedict and Jean Marsh, Samms plays a naive American woman who brings a valuable jewel collection to London and falls victim to thieves. “They are not insured, so it is a drastic thing,” she said. “She’s helped by a Scottish policeman. It’s a lot of fun.”

Samms is now developing a sitcom for herself. “That doesn’t mean you can’t do features, but it means you live in Los Angeles, you have a life and you only wear makeup once a week,” she said with a giggle. “I have been out of the country six months out of the year for the past two years. That’s a lot of hotels and room service.”

Even before she joined “General Hospital,” Samms created the Starlight Foundation, the organization that grants wishes to critically, chronically or terminally ill children.

Each year, 2,000 wishes are granted to children worldwide. “We have seven chapters in the United States, two in Canada, one in England and one in Australia,” she said. “The average wish cost is $1,000; some are a lot more and some are a lot less. We don’t ever say ‘no’ to a child. To match that promise takes a lot of fund-raising. And the No. 1 wish is to go to Disneyland.”

Parents and siblings are always included in the wish. “Very often a sick child feels very guilty about his illness,” Samms said, Rand the financial devastation his illness has cost, so the sick child is giving this trip (to his parents and siblings) with a little help from Starlight. So he is responsible for something nice happening for a change. The dynamics are much greater than you think.”

It was a family tragedy that compelled Samms to create Starlight. When she was 9, her 8-year-old brother died of aplastic anemia. Samms was frustrated she couldn’t help him. “They even tested me to see if I could be a bone marrow donor and I wasn’t right for that,” she said.

As a teen-age actress-a hip ailment ended her promising ballet career at 16-Samms began visiting children’s hospital wards. She became fast friends with a 12-year-old boy who had surgery to remove a brain tumor.

“When I moved to the States, I kept in touch with him,” Samms said. “I helped his family out a bit.” His two wishes were to visit Disneyland and ride a helicopter. When Samms learned he didn’t have long to live, she and her cousin and business manager, Peter Samuelson, arranged for his dreams to come true. And thus was born the Starlight Foundation.

“It was the most amazing 10 days, not only to see the look on his face, but the look on his mother’s face watching him,” Samms said softly. “She hadn’t seen him have a good time for years and years. He died shortly after he went back.

“He was an amazing boy. He used to talk to everyone about being a vet when he grew up. One day he said to me, ‘I am not going to be a vet. I know I am not going to grow up, but I talk about it because it helps my family feel better.’ He saved them the knowledge that he knew he was going to die.”

Samms also has a successful second career as a portrait photographer. Last year she shot 12 portraits for Architectural Digest. Her latest, of playwright Neil Simon, will be featured in next month’s issue.

Samms became a shutterbug by accident. A few years ago, an actor friend needed a new head shot of himself and couldn’t afford to hire a photographer. “I played around and took pictures,” she said. “One of them was decent and he used it.” The portrait impressed the head of advertising for Revlon after he saw it on the office wall of the actor’s agent. Revlon happened to be looking for a female photographer to snap pictures for an exhibition of American men to promote a new men’s cologne.

“On that one photograph I got hired to go where ever I wanted to go and take pictures of whom ever I wanted to, as long as they were male,” Samms said with a laugh.

“I just had the best time. There was a vet in Louisiana, an aerobics instructor in Texas. I would show up in a city, look at the local events that were on, show up with my camera and my assistant and look at faces and say, ‘Hello! Do you mind if I take your picture?’ People were wonderful. I met some interesting, fabulous, fantastic people!”

“Bejewelled” airs Sunday at 7 p.m. on the Disney Channel.

It repeats Friday at 9 p.m., Jan. 31 at 10 p.m., Feb. 6 at 8 p.m., Feb. 16 at 4 p.m., Feb. 22 at 7 p.m. and Feb. 28 at 6 p.m.