KELLIE GOES ON

Kellie Martin was planning on taking a vacation from acting before beginning Yale University this August.

But she changed those plans after reading the pilot script of the new CBS series “Christy,” based on the late Catherine Marshall’s bestseller.

“When I read the script, I thought, ‘Whoever gets this I’m going to hate because it’s the part of a lifetime,’ ” Martin says with a giggle. “It takes a lot to get me excited.”

Especially because her previous series, ABC’s “Life Goes On,” was so special to her. “It would take a very incredible project to make me as excited as ‘Life Goes On.’ I was thrilled with this and especially thrilled when I got the part.”

Set in Tennessee’s Smoky Mountains in 1912, “Christy” follows the adventures of a well-bred, educated 19-year-old woman who leaves the security of her comfortable home in Asheville, N.C., and moves to a poverty-stricken backwoods settlement to teach its children. The novel, which was published in 1967 and has sold more than 8 million copies, is based on the life of Marshall’s mother, Leonora Wood.

Martin, 18, didn’t read Marshall’s book until she got the part. “It’s such a charming book,” she says with enthusiasm. “They gave the book to me after the audition. It’s such an incredible study for Christy. She’s on every page of it. It just gave me a wonderful grasp of the whole story.”

She also read several books on the Smoky Mountains and Southern women of that era. Filming on location in the Smokys also has helped her get into the part.

“We are basically in the middle of nowhere,” Martin explains. “All the sets and clothes are from 1912 and all the props are from 1912. You put a corset on and you are just there!”

Martin says she put in very long hours on the show, which begins as a two-hour pilot movie Sunday night. “It’s basically like shooting a film. The reason why it’s hard shooting this is that we were on location and everything is shot outside. We don’t have any studios, so we are at the mercy of the sun and the rain and the noise all around us. We basically have to roll with the punches. There are constantly animals running throughout the shoot.”

The Emmy-nominated actress has discovered similarities between Christy and the contemporary Becca, the resilient teen-ager whose boyfriend (Chad Lowe) was dying of AIDS on “Life Goes On.”

“I think they have the same kind of courage,” Martin says. “Christy comes to the backwoods of Tennessee from Asheville. That in itself, to pick up and go on this mission, is just incredibly courageous. Then when she gets there, the people don’t accept her. She is courageous and very joyful. I don’t think Becca was as joyful. Becca has more of a dark side, but they are (both) very accepting and very enthusiastic.”

Martin doesn’t think she could have done what Christy did some 80 years ago. “I could have lived in Asheville in 1912,” she says. “But she’s faced with these horrible situations. She’s been shot at. She’s been in such frightening situations. I don’t know if I could have lived back then. I don’t know.”

There are days when Martin is homesick for her family in Los Angeles. “But I have been so lucky,” she says warmly. “I remind myself every day. I have been blessed with two strong characters and have been given stories to sink my teeth into.

“Everyday on ‘Life Goes On’ I was challenged. Everyday I would think, ‘I am not going to handle this,’ especially the scenes with AIDS. Everyday on this I think, ‘How can I do this? This is hard stuff.’ But you just take it one day at a time. I have been trying to deal with it. I have been rising to the occasion.”