Since leaving "L.A. Law," Harry Hamlin's career has been, well, spotty at best. He's attempting a comeback in the WB sitcom "Movie Stars," but the days when People Magazine named him the "sexiest man alive" (in 1987) are long gone.
So, what's it like to not be the world's sexiest man anymore?"You'd have to ask Corbin Bernsen," Hamlin said, taking a shot at his former "L.A. Law" castmate -- and then trying to explain doing so.
"When that happened, he just came up to me one day and he said, `Harry, what was that like? Wow!' " Hamlin said. "I just figured he probably wanted to be there."
Hamlin himself maintains that he had absolutely no idea that People was going to bestow this somewhat dubious honor upon him.
"People Magazine had come to me and wanted to do an interview," he said. "And they had wanted to do a cover story on `L.A. Law' and the success of the show. And so I granted them this interview and there was never a mention of it being that cover."
When that particular edition of the magazine came out, Hamlin was in Australia doing publicity for "L.A. Law."
"I was driving down the street with my wife in the car and I saw a huge placard on the sidewalk that said, `Sexiest Man Down Under.' I didn't quite know what they meant," he said. "I looked over at the window of this store and they'd taken hundreds of (magazine) covers and they'd plastered them on the store. And there was my picture, staring up at me.
"I was mortified when I saw that and I told the driver of the car go to right back to the hotel because I had some calls to make."
Far from being flattered, Hamlin said he was acutely embarrassed by the whole thing.
"Not really being aware of the time change between Australia and the United States, I woke up all my friends at 4 in the morning and said, `I didn't have anything to do with this, you know. I want you to still be my friend,' " Hamlin said.
FUNNY MAN? "Movie Stars" marks Harry Hamlin's first sitcom, but apparently not his first attempt at TV comedy.
"On `L.A. Law,' I did try to inject as much humor as I could, but (the producers) were always, `Down boy! Down!' " Hamlin said. "They didn't want that."
But it was comedy that put Hamlin's career in motion some 21 years ago.
"Ironically, the reason I have a career is because the first film I did was called `Movie, Movie,' written by Larry Gelbart, and it caught the attention of Warner Bros. and other studios," he said. "And they gave me the opportunity to go on and keep working, and that was a comedy."
RATHER DIFFICULT: Hamlin built a reputation for himself on "L.A. Law," and it wasn't entirely the sort of reputation that makes for a lot of work. Basically, he was known for being more than a bit difficult on the set -- a fact that he now acknowledges, albeit rather obliquely.
"I had wanted to do something in TV after `L.A. Law' and have been looking for something for a number of years," he said. "But because `L.A. Law' was so special it's a real hard act to follow, in terms of drama, unless I were to find something that David Kelly was writing. Something like `Ally McBeal' or whatever."
(Kelley, a former writer/executive producer of `L.A. Law,'has gone on to create, write and produce "Chicago Hope," "Picket Fences" and "The Practice" in addition to "Ally.")
"But I think David's had quite enough of me, so I don't think that's going to happen," Hamlin said.
HOW WEIRD IS THAT?: Hamlin and Grant have a history together but not exactly the history that his wife dreamed about.
Actually, Hamlin worked with Grant's mother, Dyan Cannon, on the miniseries "Masters of the Game" some 15 years ago. "Dyan is a kick," Hamlin said. "I was thrilled to be working with her then and at that point you were a squirt, I guess," he said to Grant.
Since then, however, Hamlin, his wife, Lisa Rinna ("Melrose Place") and Grant have become close friends.
"Jennifer and I and my wife, Lisa, were seeing each other on a regular basis socially," Hamlin said.
"I was in their wedding," Grant interjected.
But then things got more than a little bit weird. It seems that, about a year ago, Rinna had a dream about Hamlin and Grant. She dreamed "that Jennifer and I were having an affair," Hamlin said. "And so she went to Jennifer and said -- this is really weirding me out -- `Is there any truth to this?' And, of course, Jennifer said, `No, there's no truth to this.'
"But I think it was a kind of premonition, in a way, that a year down the road (Grant) and I would be married on this show."
(So . . . let's get this straight. Rinna dreams that her husband and one of her friends are having an affair, so she confronts the friend about it? Who says Hollywood is weird?)