RATED G KIM CATTRALL COMES OUT OF THE BEDROOM WITH DISNEY'S `ICE PRINCESS'.

Byline: Evan Henerson Staff Writer

You can take the lady out of the ``Sex,'' but can you take the sex out of the lady?

Not if the lady is Kim Cattrall: actress, author and documentarian who is best-known for her six-year run as sexual swashbuckler Samantha Jones on HBO's ``Sex and the City.'' Series creator Darren Star characterizes the most energetic of his former ``Sex'' quartet as being ``absolutely fearless,'' and chances are he's not simply talking about Samantha's choice of tryst locations.

``In a way, because she is beautiful and sexy, she almost doesn't get the credit she deserves for the risks that she did take,'' Star says of Cattrall, who earned five Emmy nominations during the show's run. ``She took more risks than anybody on the show, where she went with humor, playing a character that was always dancing on the edge of taste and propriety but never crossing the line.''

Cattrall plays a tough-as-nails ice skating coach in Disney's G-rated ``Ice Princess,'' which opens today, but she hasn't let her interest in matters erotic taper off. The author of ``The Art of the Female Orgasm'' has traveled the country researching a new documentary, ``Sexual Intelligence,'' produced through her Toronto-based production company, Fertile Ground Productions.

Yes, you could say that Cattrall likes to talk - both personally and creatively - about sex.

``I think people think I'm Samantha,'' the 48-year-old actress says. ``But I don't know if she was sexually educated. The kind of sexual antics Samantha got into I don't think had a lot of in-depth understanding of what she was about or where she was psychologically, in terms of acting out her fantasies in ways that were very satisfying. Was she of a sexually spiritual nature? I think she could have gone there, but maybe the story lines wouldn't have been as funny.''

Cattrall discounts any claim that she possesses great wisdom where sex is concerned. ``I don't ever purport to be any kind of therapist or expert or anything like that. I just ask questions. Most people's sexuality is not something they're interested in exploring. A lot of men and women are scared to open it up, see what it's about, find themselves in that arena and be comfortable in it. I think that's fascinating.''

And for the record, when Cattrall talks about sensual experiences, she's not restricting herself.

``It can be a very sensual, sexual experience just having a wonderful meal, or going into a beautiful building, or being on a beach,'' she says. ``If you're just really enjoying yourself, enveloping yourself in your senses, that can be sexual.''

Whew! OK, we need a cigarette ...

It's past 11 o'clock on a Friday night in London's West End, the site of Cattrall's latest adventure. The actress has finished a performance of Brian Clark's play ``Whose Life Is It Anyway?'' at the Comedy Theatre and is facing two performances on Saturday. In the updated version of Clark's play - which was a 1981 movie starring Richard Dreyfuss - Cattrall plays Claire Harrison, a sculptor who rethinks her life after a car accident leaves her paralyzed from the neck down.

The role was originally written for a man, but former Royal Shakespeare Company top dog Sir Peter Hall envisioned reconfiguring the role for Cattrall, whom he'd seen on stage as an ingenue in the National Theatre production of ``Wild Honey'' on Broadway back in the mid-1980s. Hall originally hoped to bring Cattrall to London - and later to Broadway - with a new production of Tennessee Williams' ``A Streetcar Named Desire.'' That fell through, and Hall continued his search for the right project.

``I had been trying to catch her between the series and not succeeding until now,'' says Hall. ``It was also a question of finding a play different enough and surprising enough to not be what everybody was expecting of her: the sexy, blond, wisecracking vamp.

``I think people have been surprised to find her locked in a hospital bed, and she's done superbly, I must say,'' adds Hall, who hopes to periodically lure her back to the London stage and says he has a few projects in mind. ``Stay tuned.''

Despite a TV and film career that began in the mid-1970s, Cattrall, a former American Academy of Dramatic Arts student, agrees with Hall's contention that she is a ``creature of the stage.''

``I feel like I'm home,'' she says. ``I love the audience, I love rehearsing. This is why I wanted to be an actor. I saw my first professional show here (in London) when I was 10, and I literally walked out of the show and said, 'This is what I want to do.' ''

Fans unwilling to cross the Atlantic or wait for ``Whose Life ... '' to come to New York in the fall can catch a different Kim Cattrall in ``Ice Princess,'' a film that Cattrall made in part because it was a U-turn from Samantha. Tina Harwood, the disgraced and possibly devious skating coach, tries to guide her daughter Gen (played by Hayden Panettiere) to Olympic glory, even at the expense of plucky and more deserving Casey Carlyle (Michelle Trachtenberg).

According to producer Bridget Johnson, Cattrall was on a short wish list of actresses that the producers wanted for the role. They wanted someone with a mixture of toughness and vulnerability, someone who could play comedy and be credible as the mother of two teenage children. Cattrall, who played Britney Spears' mother in ``Crossroads,'' signed on.

``It's kind of like walking a tightrope,'' says Cattrall. ``Everybody loves Samantha, including me, because she's so brave, charismatic and full of life. This character (Tina) is so shut down, hurt and damaged.

``I've got a lot of empathy for someone who has a dream that has never been realized. I've realized so many of mine, but I have family and friends who haven't.''

The wrapping of ``Sex'' and the immediate filming schedule for ``Ice Princess'' in Toronto forced Cattrall and her newly formed Fertile Ground Productions to delay production on the upcoming documentary ``Sexual Intelligence.'' It also meant that Cattrall would have no time to learn any ice maneuvers of her own for the film.

But that was cool by Cattrall, who enjoyed joining a very different female ensemble that includes Joan Cusack as Casey's mom. Cattrall and Panettiere, it turns out, share an Aug. 21 birthday, while Cusack and Trachtenberg were both born Oct. 11. Major bonding ensued.

And the film's subject matter resonated.

``I've seen so many young actresses and actors where parents want them to succeed and be a big star regardless of what they want,'' says Cattrall. ``They're doing it for the best possible intentions until the kid gets to a certain age and says, 'That's not who I am.' With both Joan's and my characters, there's a different layer from what would come from a Disney movie. Adults can say 'OK, it's not just for kids.' There's a lesson here about relationships and projecting what you want on your kid.''

``Whose Life Is It Anyway?'' runs until the end of April. Then Cattrall, who hopes to reprise the role in the fall, plans to return to her home in New York. There are some finishing touches to be placed on ``Sexual Intelligence'' and the accompanying book before Cattrall takes her first extended break since, you guessed it, the end of ``Sex.''

``I'll be with my cat and friends in the East Hamptons, and we'll sit on the beach, cook, drink great wine and have a nice time,'' says Cattrall. ``I deserve it.''

Evan Henerson, [phone]

evan.henerson(at)dailynews.com

Before she was 'Sex'-ually active ...

Kim Cattrall had a cinematic life before ``Sex and the City.''

Born in London and raised in Vancouver, British Columbia, Cattrall moved to New York at age 16 and attended the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. Director Otto Preminger signed her to a five-year film contract that was eventually bought out by Universal, making her one of the last members of Universal's contract system.

Among Cattrall's early film roles:

``Ticket to Heaven'' (1981). She earned Canada's Genie Award nomination for best actress in this film about religious indoctrination at a summer camp.

``Porky's'' (1982). She played the sexually vocal Miss Honeywell - and did not return for any of the sequels.

``Police Academy'' (1984). The female love interest to Steve Guttenberg. Again, no sequels.

``Mannequin'' (1987). An Egyptian princess (played by Cattrall) is reincarnated in a store mannequin. Store clerk Andrew McCarthy falls in love with her. Kristy Swanson did the sequel.

``The Bonfire of the Vanities'' (1990). A nearly emaciated Cattrall played Judy McCoy, ``social X-ray'' and wife to Tom Hanks' Sherman in the film adaptation of Tom Wolfe's novel.

``Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country'' (1991). Finally, a sequel! Cattrall dons ears and plays a Vulcan.

``Above Suspicion'' (1995). As the two-timing wife of a paralyzed cop, Cattrall played opposite Christopher Reeve in one of the former ``Superman'' star's last film roles before the accident that left him a quadriplegic.

``Live Nude Girls'' (1995). Friends throw actress Jamie (Cattrall) an in- home bachelorette party. Lots of forthright sex talk takes place. Darren Star sees it and thinks Cattrall might be a match for his new series, ``Sex and the City.'' The rest is history.

- E.H.

CAPTION(S):

6 photos, box

Photo:

(1 -- cover -- color) SHE'S HOT

Kim Cattrall proves there's more to life than `Sex'

(2) no caption (Kim Cattrall)

(3) Kim Cattrall as sexy Samantha Jones in ``Sex in the City.''

(4) Miss Honeywell in the cult classic ``Porky's''

(5) Egyptian princess reincarnated in ``Mannequin''

(6) Lt. Valeris in ``Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country''

Box:

Before she was `Sex'-ually active... (see text)