Date: Fri 17-Apr-1998

Publication: Bee

Author: SHANNO

Quick Words:

Linda-Dano-Gallant-book-author

Full Text:

This Time, The Emmy Award-Winning Linda Dano Helps Your Home Look Good

(with cuts)

BY SHANNON HICKS

They say life imitates art, but can art imitate life? Of course!

Last year, the actress Linda Dano (Felicia Gallant, "Another World") decided

it was time for a little nip-and-tuck. She had been contemplating a minor face

lift for at least three years, but finally decided it was time to do something

when lighting her on the set of the popular daytime soap opera became trickier

by the day. Ms Dano told the writers and producers of the show what was going

to be happening, and last October 20, she had the surgery.

Meanwhile, one of daytime TV's most-recognized characters found herself on the

rooftop of a building, trying to break up a vicious argument between her

fiance, Alexander, and her best friend's husband, Carl. In an episode aired

October 16, 1997, Felicia was accidentally pushed through a skylight.

Felicia survived the dramatic fall, but suffered extensive physical and

psychological damage. Being a soap opera, there was of course the question of

whether the damage could ever be repaired. The flamboyant -- a word used time

and again, but still so perfectly fitting -- romance writer ran away, was

mugged, and was saved by a homeless man. She eventually found the courage to

go under the knife to have massive facial surgery, and of course came out

looking more spectacular than ever.

Linda Dano's own surgery was not quite as dramatic -- the lady was beautiful

to begin with, for one thing -- but the result is just as lovely. And while

Dano's character on "Another World" continues as a novelist, Dano in real life

continues to share her love of writing for another world, this one filled with

real readers.

Dano began her writing career in 1984, when she co-authored a Harlequin

Romance novel, Dreamweaver , with her alter ego Felicia Gallant. Earlier this

month, the multi-talented lady released her latest book, Living Great .

The book works with the same warm, conversational tone that made Dano's first

fashion/design book, 1996's Looking Great... It Doesn't Have To Hurt , a

best-seller. This writing style is also what makes the actress' monthly

magazine columns in Soap Opera Digest and New Choices readers' favorites.

This time, Ms Dano is helping readers find and surround themselves with their

own style right in their own home. Living Great (G.P. Putnam's Sons) was

released April 6. On April 25, Ms Dano will be making her only Connecticut

appearance (somewhat around the corner from the 18th Century Litchfield County

home she shares with her husband, Frank Attardi) on a book tour for Living

Great .

The model-turned-actress, who has also added fashion designer, author and

correspondent to her ever-growing list of accomplishments, called recently

from her New York City apartment. It was a recent Monday morning, and she

wasn't due on the set of "Another World" until later that afternoon. Dano has

spent the last 15 years living as the charming and spontaneous (not to mention

Emmy Award-winning) romance writer with a wonderful sense of fashion, glamour,

charm and a never-ending zest for life.

"I love doing these [books]," she said. "They're great fun. The fact I don't

have the discipline of having to say things in a certain way makes it that

much more fun. I can talk just like we're talking right now. It's fun because

it's a collaborative effort.

"My co-writer [Anne Kyle] keeps me from going to Cleveland. She keeps me

focused on whatever subject I'm talking about."

Forget about hiring an expensive interior designer, Dano tells readers right

from the get-go. A former fashion major at CSU at Long Beach, Dano continues

to maintain a strong affinity for fashion and design. Living Great takes

readers room-by-room, with suggestions and ideas that will fit into nearly

every budget.

In the Introduction, Ms Dano tells readers a few key points she will return to

again. "I can tell you that if you stay with good lines, simplicity, and you

take things slowly and always ask yourself if a particular items speaks to

you, you probably won't go wrong" and "...remember, this is hard. It's time

consuming. It's frustrating. Take it one step at a time; it's a long process."

She's not kidding, either. After deciding which style you are or what you will

develop --thanks not only to definitions and well-presented line drawings of

each style -- Dano has readers completely clean every room of their home.

Right down to the baseboards, literally. The purpose: to begin with a clean,

fresh slate.

From there, the author goes room by room. Once again she shares her own

anecdotes, and even photographs from her apartment in the city, keeping the

reader very close to her.

"It's about putting everything together," said Ms Dano. "It's giving you a

home that, when you want into that door at night after a grueling, hard day

where everyone is looking at you, you take a big sigh and you are in your

place. And that place makes you smile.

"I really believe that having a home that gives you a sense of safety and

comfort and warmth absolutely will affect you."

Although as viewers of "Another World" know, there's always something for

Felicia Gallant to get into. At least for the rest of us, having a comfortable

home is much safer than living in a world of fist-fighting men and skylights.

Linda Dano will be at Hickory Stick Book Shop, 1 Greenhill Road in Washington

Depot (860/868-0525) on Saturday, April 25, from 2-4 pm.