Profile : DeLane's World : 'DAVE'S' WIFE TALKS ABOUT WHAT IT'S LIKE BEING ON A HIT SITCOM--AT LAST

By SUSAN KING

Dec. 25, 1994 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

DeLane Matthews wants to set the record straight: She was cast as Beth Barry on CBS’ popular sitcom “Dave’s World” before Harry Anderson was hired to play her husband, columnist Dave Barry.

“I didn’t audition for this,” says Matthews, over a cup of coffee in the dining room of the cozy Beverly Hills house she shares with her fiance, actor Tyrone Power Jr.

“I was hired before he was. Let’s make that very clear. It just turned out that way. His deal took a little longer to close than mine. I was signed on and he was still making decisions. He lives out of state and I think after ‘Night Court’ he was really interested in not coming to L.A. for a while. So he has either got the bug really bad or he couldn’t pass it up.”

Being on a hit TV series is a real change of pace for the Florida native, who previously appeared in the short-lived comedy series “Joe Bash,” “Eisenhower & Lutz,” “FM” and “Laurie Hill.”

Still, Matthews says, there are pressures involved in being on a hit series. “Obviously, you trade one pressure for another,” she explains. “But I prefer this pressure, keeping the ratings high, maintaining what we have and growing. Previously, it was desperately trying to achieve what I have now. It’s a different pressure, and I pick this one. You don’t really ever truly relax. ...”

The demise of “Laurie Hill” was especially painful for Matthews. The ABC sitcom, the brainchild of “Wonder Years” creators Neal Marlens and Carol Black, premiered in the fall of 1992 in the cushy time slot after “Home Improvement.” Matthews played the title role, a pediatrician trying to juggle career and family. The series, though, didn’t hold the “Home Improvement” audience and was soon canceled.

“What was unique about ‘Laurie Hill’ was that I was the lead in that, but I wasn’t the star,” she says. “Carol Black and Neal Marlens were the stars. I was never consulted about anything. I just played Laurie Hill.”

Still, Matthews says, she was more devastated after it was canceled than she had been with her other series’ demises. “Maybe it was an accumulation of devastation or maybe because I was Laurie Hill and it was hard not to take that a bit personally. It is really great to be on a hit show so people won’t maybe associate failed shows with me.”

After “Laurie Hill,” though, “the issue I was dealing with was how much I had left to give. I don’t have as much to give emotionally to the industry as I used to. It is probably better this way. I am tremendously lucky to have had all of these opportunities, but then to have them fall apart was so disappointing. I wouldn’t have changed anything about it now because if it would have happened sooner, I probably wouldn’t have been ready for it.”

It took Matthews a while to feel comfortable in Beth’s shoes. When she views the pilot episode of “Dave’s World,” she says she’s dissatisfied with her take on Beth. “Now, I feel completely comfortable about it,” she adds, especially since the writers have discovered they “love it when I get angry--when Beth gets a bit miffed. It creates pretty comic situations. They found it works.”

Matthews also believes that Beth may seem more sensible than Dave, but in reality she’s just as much of a big kid as her husband. “I want to make it clear (to the writers) as possible that Beth is a kid, too. What I don’t want to happen is that I find myself being the one who always puts the kids to bed, who always is responsible for the meal being prepared. That bores me to death. I like it that Beth and Dave are equally inept, but in different areas.”

During her break last summer, Matthews made the CBS movie “The Women of Spring Break,” which is scheduled to air Jan. 10. Matthews, Shelley Long and Mel Harris play three friends who reassess their lives when they travel back to the vacation spot where they shared a spring break years before. Matthews plays a recent divorcee.

Making the film was a “wonderful experience” for Matthews. “Shelley and Mel were great to work with. You never know what to expect. The most you hope for is a good working environment, but to work with people that you really like--it is ideal.”

Her character, Matthews says with a laugh, is “the gamut gal. My character goes from stricken grief to exuberant joy and we do that primarily with hairstyles--just really down (in the beginning) to fluffy and high.”

Acting has been Matthews’ life since she was 15. “I remember seeing Sidney Poitier in ‘A Patch of Blue’ at about 12 or 13 and I wanted to be like him,” she says, laughing. “So go figure that one out. When I was 15, the drama coach at high school asked me to play Alice in ‘Alice in Wonderland’ probably because I had long blond hair parted down the middle.”

She quickly discovered that theater was her wonderland. “That was it,” recalls Matthews, who worked several years in off-Broadway and off-off-Broadway theater before Hollywood beckoned.

“I started taking classes in college when I was in high school and couldn’t get it fast enough. I was tremendously focused to the point of being boring for 10 years and found a way to change the subject (from acting) at about 25. I started with the weather and then progressed to: ‘Have you seen any movies lately?’ ”

“Dave’s World” airs Mondays at 8:30 p.m. on CBS.