Profile : The Rites of Burton : NBC’S ‘HOME FIRES’ IS A STEP FORWARD FOR DAUGHTER KATE’S TV AND FILM CAREER

Kate Burton grew up in the middle of the most famous show-business family of its era, so it was inevitable that she would keep a low profile during the first years of her acting career.

“There was a time when I would have said, ‘If I could just do theater for the rest of my life, I’d be a happy woman,’ ” says the daughter of the late Richard Burton and actress-producer Sybil Burton Christopher, stepdaughter of Elizabeth Taylor and actor Jordan Christopher.

With a throaty laugh, Burton adds, “But I’m starting to feel the need to have some of my work preserved on celluloid or tape, something that lasts forever. And not-for-profit theater is great, but it won’t pay the mortgage.”

Burton’s foray into series television, a six-episode sitcom called “Home Fires,” premieres this week on NBC. Created by the “St. Elsewhere” production team, the show is loosely based on executive producer Bruce Paltrow’s family life with his wife Blythe Danner, and their two teen-age children (Danner and her daughter Gwyneth acted together last month in the NBC movie “Cruel Doubt”).

“It’s a slice-of-life show about a picture-perfect family that is really, as in every family, completely dysfunctional,” says Burton, who at 34 plays a housewife considerably older than she. “They’re a ‘90s family trying to live a simpler life and get in touch with themselves.” Michael Brandon plays her husband.

The tone of “Home Fires” is suggested at the end of the opening credits, when an apple pie explodes, and in teasers set in a therapist’s office. The series features the kind of TV family in which the 14-year-old son says of his older sister, “Libby only has two (moods)--malaise and ennui.”

Burton, a longtime friend of the Paltrows, defends the show as intelligent and unusual, but she admits, “I felt it was unrealistic that my character didn’t have a job. She was a terrific lady, but if I do another series, I’d rather play someone who is more self-sufficient--a lawyer or a doctor.”

Whatever the fate of “Home Fires,” Burton is on a career high. She received glowing reviews as the ghost of Alan Alda’s first wife in Neil Simon’s Broadway hit, “Jake’s Women,” a role she hopes to recreate in Los Angeles next spring. In theatrical circles, her reputation extends from Shakespeare to Noel Coward to contemporary comedy. And yet, she notes with amusement, her stage experience counts “not a dime” in the film world.

“I’ve done a lot of Broadway, but they’ve been shows no one has heard of. Casting directors ask me, ‘Were you ever in “Cats”?’ I’ve also done quite a few miniseries over the years, but being Dad’s daughter, people seem to expect me to have a British accent. I have to say, ‘Listen, you guys, I grew up in New York!’ ”

Burton, a fresh-faced redhead with an unpretentious manner, credits her mother, “an extraordinary woman,” with helping her through an unusual childhood that included assorted step- and half-siblings on both sides of the family. There’ll be no “Daddy Dearest” memoir from Kate, who overcame her father’s reservations when she went from Brown University, where she earned a degree in history and Russian studies, to Yale Drama School. Just before his death in 1984, Richard Burton played Kate’s father in the CBS miniseries “Ellis Island.”

“I feel very grateful for my siblings,” Burton says. “I’m close to all of them in different ways, but particularly to my stepsister Liza (Elizabeth Taylor’s daughter with the late producer Mike Todd). We’re the same age, we grew up together, and when my dad passed away, Liza and I had each other. It’s such an amazing rite of passage when a parent dies, but when that parent is as famous as my father was, it’s both easier and harder. Strangers would say, ‘Oh, I’m so sorry,’ and it was really intense.”

Of her superstar stepmother, Burton says, “Elizabeth and I are very close. I spoke with her recently because she had sent my son a beautiful Wedgewood portrait of Shakespeare that my dad had received when he played Hamlet on Broadway. I was so touched, but that was typical of her. There’s a reason she’s been married so many times--she’s just an incredible woman, a great lady, and everybody falls in love with her.”

Burton celebrates her seventh wedding anniversary this month with Michael Ritchie, a theatrical stage manager she met on her first Broadway show. Their son, Morgan, just turned 4, and she notes, “I consciously went for Mom roles when trying to get a TV pilot so that I could have another baby while I’m working. It’s tough to find the right time, but I want to do it. One of the great things that has happened since I had my boy is that I’ve realized how much I really do love acting. Before, acting was my work, but I find that being home with Morgan is as exhausting as it is wonderful. Going to work now is like playtime. It’s a chance to do something for me. “

While “Home Fires” was filming, she commuted to New York and flew her son and his live-in nanny in for visits. If a permanent TV role emerges, she foresees having him attend schools on both coasts.

“To be truthful, the real reason I’ve been pursuing TV is that it’s the way to get well-known fast,” Burton says.

“I don’t want stardom, I want choices, and unfortunately, one comes with the other. I would like to work in England more, and of course, I’d love to work in film. Even though the series hasn’t aired yet, I’ve started getting auditions for supporting roles in movies, which is exciting.”

“Homes Fires” premieres Wednesday June 24 at 9:30 p.m. on NBC.