“Melrose Place'”s Courtney Thorne-Smith Recalls Working with — and Dating — Her 'Handsome' Male Costars (Exclusive)
The actress remembers being "charmed" by ex-boyfriend and castmate Andrew Shue and discusses her new rewatch podcast 'Still the Place' with PEOPLE
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Courtney Thorne-Smith in Pasadena, California in February 2019.Melrose Place will always be remembered for its sizzling onscreen drama, but behind the scenes, the hit show was no less engaging.
During a recent interview with PEOPLE, Courtney Thorne-Smith discussed her experience working with her former male castmates — which included Grant Show, Doug Savant, Jack Wagner and Rob Estes — when she was on the show for five seasons from 1992 to 1997.
“In the pilot when Grant opens the fridge [shirtless],” she muses. “I'm like, how did I even talk to him? He's so insanely handsome. How did I talk to him?”
Thorne-Smith, 58, dated one of her costars, Andrew Shue, whom she says she was "charmed" by in the pilot. In one early scene, her character Alison Parker catches her new roommate Billy, played by Shue, 57, practicing his dance moves in their apartment. (Billy was moonlighting as a dance instructor then.) It’s become one of the most memorable scenes from Melrose Place’s first episode.
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Courtney Thorne-Smith and Andrew Shue in 'Melrose Place.'“I didn't remember so much of the pilot,” Thorne-Smith admits. “I did remember shooting with Andrew for the first time. The scene that I remember that we talked about that was so much fun was him dancing. When he's dancing — you can actually see it in my face — how charmed I am. … I was being completely charmed by Andrew in that moment. It was so adorable. So I just remember him and him coming in with this sweet, sweet energy and how much fun it was to do that with him.”
The actress wasn’t the only person to date a fellow costar on the show. Heather Locklear began dating Jack Wagner in 2007 and the two got engaged in August 2011 before splitting almost three months later. Laura Leighton, meanwhile, ended up marrying Doug Savant in 1998 and having two children — Lucy and Jack — with him.
Jokes Thorne-Smith: “Laura and I were making our way through the cast.”
Dating aside, filming the popular primetime drama for seven seasons from 1992 to 1999 meant that the cast grew close, grabbing lunch together at Marie Callender’s almost every day and hanging out in the production office in-between scenes.
“It was a very isolated environment. We were the only ones there, and they had dug a hole in the ground and built a pool for this specific show,” Daphne Zuniga explains. “We were really the only ones taking up sound stages up there. So that's where we hung out. We were family.”
Related: 'Melrose Place' Cast: Where Are They Now?
Wes and Alex
Courtney Thorne-Smith, Laura Leighton and Daphne Zuniga.“I went to that in my twenties, and I had no idea how exceptional, special and cool that was,” she continues. “It's just one of the things I was asked to do.”
Thorne-Smith, Leighton, 55, and Zuniga, 61, launched their Melrose Place rewatch podcast, entitled Still the Place, on July 7, which sees the three actresses revisit the show episode-by-episode, sharing behind-the-scenes tales, sometimes with the help of special guest stars from the cast and crew.
“We are reliving every hookup, every scandal, every back stab, blackmail, explosion and every wig removal… together!” the podcast’s synopsis promises.
Thorne-Smith acknowledges that while some of Melrose Place has held up in the decades since it aired, there are also some “glaring” bits — camera angles, storylines and dialogue — that haven't aged quite as well.
“I think we're going to have lots of opportunities to look at stuff and go, that would never fly today,” she says, describing Melrose Place as a “time capsule.” "I mean I've watched movies from the 80s and 90s that I'm just horrified about now, because I think our perspective has changed: just how we think about things. … [But the show] is fun escapist fare especially as it gets dramatic. I can’t even wait.”
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Still the Place is available to listen wherever you get your podcasts, and Melrose Place can be streamed on Paramount+.
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