CATCHING UP WITH HARRY HAMLIN; ACTOR RE-EMERGES IN NEW SERIES, `MOVIE STARS'.

Byline: Anne Louise Bannon Special to the Daily News

When actor Harry Hamlin was 13, his mother took him from their Pasadena home to New York City and a Broadway show. Her intention was to teach him manners.

Instead, she opened his eyes to the celebrity lifestyle.

They saw Richard Burton in ``Hamlet'' on Broadway, and after the show, Hamlin went backstage and saw the crowds applauding Burton. Then he saw Burton's limousine outside. It was filled with red roses - and Elizabeth Taylor.

``I said, `That's the life I want!' '' he said. ``I want the big limousine, I want the beautiful girl, and I want the roses!''

That's pretty much the lifestyle Hamlin worked to get for himself; he even has the pretty girl. His wife is actress Lisa Rinna.

Now, Hamlin is starring in ``Movie Stars,'' a half-hour sitcom about a Hollywood power couple that premieres at 9 tonight and repeats at the same time Monday, on the WB (Channel 5). (The show will be on two nights to give it more exposure to TV viewers, and therefore a better chance to succeed, according to WB representatives.)

Hamlin, 47, plays action superstar Reese Hardin; his wife, award-winning actress Jacey Wyatt, is portrayed by Jennifer Grant, the daughter of Cary Grant and Dyan Cannon. The couple has two kids, Apache and Moonglow (Zack Hopkins and Rachel David). Reese's mother Francine (Anne Haney) lives in the guest house. And Reese's brother Todd (Mark Benninghofen), an unemployed actor, is his assistant who hangs out with real-life celebrity pals Joey Travolta, Don Swayze and Frank Stallone.

The show unintentionally mirrors Hamlin's life in many ways. In the first episode, Reese's 16-year-old daughter from a previous marriage (played by Marnette Patterson), suddenly moves in with the family. In real life, Hamlin has a 19-year-old son from a previous marriage, in addition to his 1-year-old daughter with Rinna.

``There are a lot of similarities,'' he said. ``The whole point of doing the show was to send up this thing that I've been taking so seriously for so many years.

``It's just a really interesting way to step back and look at the weird foibles of this way of life.''

Hamlin's life is distant from his childhood in Pasadena. He was born at Huntington Hospital in 1951 and remembers Pasadena as a sleepy town.

``I had a great time, swimming and hiking in the poison oak - there was a lot of that in the arroyo,'' he recalled.

It was also a very sheltered existence.

``The group that my parents were in had done a great job of insulating themselves from the vicissitudes of life.''

Two years after moving to New York City, at age 15, Hamlin was sent to boarding school in Pennsylvania. It was the same school his brother, father and grandfather had attended.

``There was a kind of legacy that I was supposed to follow,'' Hamlin said.

That legacy did not include an acting career.

``Now, that was anti-legacy,'' he said. ``That was not appreciated.''

He started his college days at UC Berkeley, then transferred to Yale, where he graduated with a degree in theater. He returned to California and finished his training, earning a master's in fine arts through the prestigious American Conservatory Theatre's (ACT) advanced training program in San Francisco.

Hamlin made his film debut in the Stanley Donen film ``Movie, Movie'' in 1978, after a two-year run as Alan Strang in ``Equus'' at ACT. In 1982, he played Hamlet at the McCarter Theatre Company at Princeton.

But it was in 1986 that Hamlin debuted in the role for which he's still best known: the sensitive lawyer Michael Kuzak on the television series ``L.A. Law.'' He was twice nominated for a Golden Globe Award in that role, and once landed on People Magazine's ``Sexiest Men Alive'' list - an honor that still embarrasses him.

He left ``L.A. Law'' in 1991 (the show continued until 1994), and has been in a host of television movies as well as several stage shows. He returned to the classical stage, winning a Helen Hayes Award for his 1995 turn in the title role of Shakespeare's ``Henry V'' at the Shakespeare Theater (formerly the Folger) in Washington, D.C.

``I would like to go beyond (`L.A. Law'),'' he said. ``And I've been somewhat deliberate about keeping a low profile - and it's worked.''

He recently finished the television movie ``Quarantine'' for ABC, and said he picked the ``Movie Stars'' project because it was a really different sort of script. But he'd also like to do more stage work, particularly the classics. His favorite role, of course, is Hamlet.

``That was the most challenging and the most fun role I've ever done,'' he said. Will he do it again? ``I'm a little long in the tooth for that.''

But other classical roles he'd like to sink his teeth into would be ``Macbeth'' (referred to in proper actor's tradition as ``The Scottish Play''), ``Richard III'' and ``Coriolanus.''

He may do a play in Los Angeles, but he isn't sure. Hamlin says he's not quite in a position to choose his next project, and that's fine with him.

``I don't think there's any actor in the world who's been at that stage,'' Hamlin said. ``Maybe Tom Cruise. ... No, I'm not at that place. I have to sift through a lot of baloney. Maybe doing `Movie Stars' will light a fire.''

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Photo: no caption (Harry Hamlin)