MANDRELL MAKES SWITCH TO ACTING.

Byline: Marilyn Beck & Stacy Jenel Smith

Barbara Mandrell, in her final week of making the tentatively titled ``Cliffhanger'' in Toronto, says she has no regrets about leaving her illustrious music career to focus full time on acting.

``There are moments when I catch myself. I'll see a really good sax player and think, `I could do something with this.' And then I'll remember, `No. I don't do that any more,' '' admits the entertainer, whose life story was dramatized in a high-rated CBS movie this past season - and whose last appearance as a singer was at the Grand Ole Opry last fall.

That swan-song gig came when, after 38 years, Barbara found herself burned out on touring, endless concert dates and such. Now, she says, ``I'm really happy acting. I feel as excited as a young kid learning something new, not knowing all the answers. I'm not saying there is nothing that could make me want to perform musically again,'' she says, ``but I can't think of an example.''

Mandrell's NBC movie has her playing the mother of a young man (``ER's'' Jonathan Scarfe) in love with a messed-up, manipulative, conniving girl, (``Inventing The Abbotts' '' Zoe McClellan) who is leading him on a path to destruction. Barbara laughs, and says that the telepic is making her that much more appreciative of her real-life children by husband Ken Dudney: Matthew, 27, a restaurateur in Nashville; Nathan, 12, who's spending part of his summer at an aviation camp; and Jaime Nicole, 22, the newest cast member of daytime's ``As the World Turns.''

``Her first day on the show was the same day as my first day of shooting this movie,'' reports Barbara. ``I thought, `This is cool!' ''

Any day now

Annie Potts and her husband, director Jim Hayman, squeezed in a Hawaiian vacation with their three sons - ages 2-1/2, 6 and 17 - before she started work this week on her latest series, Lifetime Television's ``Any Day Now.'' The hourlong drama, which premieres next month, follows the relationship of two women - one a highly successful African-American attorney, and the other, a white woman with a husband, children and an average job. The former ``Designing Women'' star, who co-stars with Lorraine Toussaint in the new production, reports that, through flashbacks on the show, audiences will return to the '60s and the civil-rights movement as it was centered in Birmingham, Ala.

Annie's husband, who directed and produced her ``Dangerous Minds'' series, is expected to helm several ``Any Day Now'' episodes. ``We love to work together,'' says the lovable Annie.

With reports by Stephanie DuBois.

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Photo: Barbara Mandrell

Feels like a kid again