Beyond Hope : Mel Harris’ Life After ‘thirtysomething’ Is Non-Stop Work

Mel Harris jokes that when she learned ABC canceled “thirtysomething” last spring she put in a job application at McDonald’s.

“Being the cautious and conservative person that I am, I found myself thinking I would work again,” she said. “I hoped I would work again.” But the former model who played Hope Steadman on the yuppified series hasn’t had the need to serve up Big Macs.

Harris, 34, went from “thirtysomething” (which starts in reruns next week on Lifetime) straight into the NBC four-hour miniseries “Grass Roots,” airing Monday and Tuesday. She plays Kate Rule, the fiancee of a handsome Senatorial candidate (“L.A. Law’s” Corbin Bernsen) from Georgia. The two are forced to keep their relationship a secret because her promotion to a high-ranking position within the CIA presents a conflict of interest with his political ambitions.

After completing “Grass Roots,” she reported to work on an ABC miniseries, “The Burden of Proof,” which aired earlier this month. “Then I did a small part in Brian DePalma’s new film, ‘Raising Cain,’ ” she said. “Now I am off to do something else in Vancouver, a TV movie for CBS for the (May) sweeps. I even turned down a few jobs, which was kind of nice.”

Next month, Harris and her husband, actor Cotter Smith (“Equal Justice”), will head to New York to play husband and wife onstage in a new off-Broadway play, “Empty Hearts,” by John Bishop. The two met while filming the low-budget 1989 horror film, “Cameron’s Closet,” and performed “Love Letters” last year in Beverly Hills.

“We think it will be great (to work together). Of course, maybe we will be divorced by June,” she said, laughing. “We are going to take the whole family (Byron, 7, from Harris’ previous marriage, and Madeline, nearly 2).”

To Harris, acting “is all about adventure and experience and meeting people and getting out,” she said. She had limited professional acting experience when she landed the role of Hope five years ago on “thirtysomething.”

“I had done a few projects,” she said. “I had studied (acting) for a number of years. It was a matter of being confident about what I did and if I was any good. I was a nice Irish Catholic girl from New Jersey and full of doubt.”

“Thirtysomething” was something of a baptism by fire for Harris. She recalled a particularly difficult scene in the pilot in which she had to cry. “I thought I could do it. I had done it in class, but you never know. I did it, and I was really proud of the scene which I thought came out great. From then on it was like a roller coaster. I learned so much in four years from that and other projects I did in between.”

Harris became involved in acting while working in New York as a successful model, a profession she loved. “My career got better and better and better for 10 years,” she said. “I traveled all over the world and people paid me to go places. I made a lot of money.”

She invested in property in New York. “I wasn’t one of those people who spent to the hilt,” Harris said. “I am still a lot like that. (Modeling) gave me the most incredible opportunities and things to do and places to see and people to meet.”

In the evenings, Harris took acting lessons because she started to do commercials. “(Doing commercials) was the best to me,” Harris said. “You worked one day, you made a lot of money if the commercial ran and you could travel all over. That was better than modeling--that was thievery . When I first moved to New York and was starting out in the business I cleaned apartments and I worked the wrap desk at Gimbels.”

Harris, who was never on a plane until she was 18, thrives on travel. “I think it is my fascination with other cultures and other people. I am a great observer of things. I love to eat different foods and see how people live and what kind of toilets they use and customs. I find it completely fascinating.”

Harris often takes her son when she travels on location.

“He comes and meets me and hangs out with me,” she said. “We do school on the road. Otherwise, you will wake up and be 50 or 60 one day and your kids won’t want to be with you at all.”

It’s been a challenge for the actress to balance her professional and domestic lives. “I have always been one of those people that when challenged says, ‘I can so do it.’ I think I am a better parent because I work and that fulfills me.”

“Grass Roots” airs Monday and Tuesday at 9 p.m. on NBC .

“Thirtysomething” begins March 3 at 8 p.m on Lifetime with a four-hour marathon of episodes; the series will air regularly Mondays-Fridays at 2 and 11 p.m. and Saturdays at 3 p.m.