When she made her first acting
mark as Nancy's cancer doctor
on thirtysomething, Patricia
Heaton didn't feel much like
bringing her dialogue home to
her husband, British actor
David Hunt. "'Nancy, your
hair is going to fall out.
Nancy, we have to take your
ovaries.' At least once I
wanted to say, 'Nancy, you're
never going to play the violin
again,'" says Heaton, 32.
Now she can indulge her wicked
wit as the uptight daughter on
ABC's Room for Two, trading
quips and barbs with Linda
Lavin. "I love to
laugh," Heaton says.
"It's better for your
health."
The daughter of Chuck Heaton, a
popular Cleveland sportswriter,
she started college with a
journalism major but
"began thinking I was on
the wrong side of the tape
recorder." Though Heaton
has logged some varied
experiences in her time,
including working as a shoe
model and as a copy clerk at
People, she worried she lacked
the background for her new
role: "I was scared to
tell the producers I didn't
have a mom -- she died when I
was 12 -- since the show is
about a mother-daughter
relationship," she says.
"But Linda said, 'Relax, I
don't have any children.' You
could say we're both completely
faking it."
