Feature for Cold Creek Manor

Glamour, money and power over the opposite sex: What more could a lady want, especially if that lady once worked behind the counter at McDonalds? Sharon Stone has come a long way since she took orders for burgers and fries. And what could have been a difficult time is ending on a high note with Cold Creek Manor receiving critical acclaim, Different Loyalty in the can and Catwoman in the pipeline.

On the down side, her five-year marriage to Phil Bronstein went pear-shaped last year but she insists that she is refusing to be unhappy and is focused on the future.

"We had an amicable parting and hopefully we shall continue to be friends and to continue to give our son Roan as normal a growing up as possible," she said. "His happiness is a priority for both of us. Other than that, I have plenty of work to do so life goes on.

"It try to keep my private life to myself," she said. "I am like two people, the person and the performer. My personal style and my public style are very different. I don't dress up to stay at home but when I go out I like to look the part. I love spending time at home just being a mum. But when I go out I become the performer again."

Sharon has been starry-eyed since she was a little girl, one of a family of four children whose father was a general worker in a factory in Meadville, Pennsylvania...

"I knew what I wanted to do even when I was a little girl," she said. "I loved the movies and I wanted to be like Marilyn Monroe. I thought she was so glamorous and everyone seemed to love her. I wanted to be like that and I told everyone I would be the next Marilyn Monroe.

"Nobody took me too seriously but I was grown up even as a baby. Before I was a year old I walked and talked and I was even potty trained. When I started going to school I think I got on everyone's nerves because I used to ask adult questions rather than settle for the stuff usually fed to kids.

"It was not always easy because I was always an individual and found it difficult to be one of a group. One person who was very supportive was my father. My mother was great but my father really recognised my individuality and supported me in that."

At Saergertown High School, Sharon proved to be a great pupil and later she graduated from the Edinboro State University of Pennsylvania with a degree in creative writing.

"Everyone told me I should go into law," she said. "I'm not sure what that had to do with creative writing. While I appreciated that people were just trying to give me advice that was for my own good as they saw it, I had other ideas. I loved old black and white movies, especially the Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers musicals. I loved everything about them - the songs, the music, the romance and the spectacle. They were real class and I knew that I wanted to be in that world.

"I thought it might be a good move to get into a beauty contest so I tried for Miss Pennsylvania and won. I think that helped me get noticed, at least by the people of Pennsylvania. I tried for modelling work but it was a bit slow and that's when I took a part-time job at McDonalds. It gave me income while I was waiting for my big break and at the very least I could eat."

The modelling work began to flow and as well as still photography she also started to appear in TV commercials and that really was the start of her career as an actress.

"I was in Woody Allen's Stardust Memories in 1980. It was only a bit part and I didn't get to speak but I felt that I was in a real movie and heading where I had always wanted to be."

A year later she had her first speaking role in a horror film, Deadly Blessing and gradually her movie work increased. Sharon was 32 when her big break finally came and she starred with Arnold Schwarzenegger in Total Recall. It was quite a year in 1990 because she also agreed to pose nude for Playboy.

"I thought about that a lot," she said. "Many actresses do that kind of shoot when they are in their early 20s but I didn't think I had anything to worry about so I decided to go for it. I was very pleased with the results and it was also nice to surprise a few people."

The whole world was talking about Sharon Stone after her appearances in Total Recall and Playboy but they were talking even more after she appeared in Basic Instinct with Michael Douglas. She proved that she not only looked great but could act as well. The awards started being handed to her and she then realised that she had indeed fulfilled her ambition. "I don't think you ever think that you have made it but I did take a look at myself one day and think back to when I was a little girl and it was nice to know that I had at least made it this far."

The greatest vote of confidence any actor or actress can receive is when they receive an award from within the business and that happened when Sharon appeared in Casino with Robert De Niro in 1997. She played his wife, a beautiful but drug-ridden woman with mood swings. It was a performance that earned her a Golden Globe.

"I was really touched when I heard," she said. "Some people work hard in this business and become really popular, really big stars but they never receive an award from within the business. Somehow, when your colleagues and friends believe in you to the point of handing you an award it means so much more.I couldn't stop looking at the award when I received it. It was as if my whole career flashed in front of me, from beginning to the moment I was handed the Golden Globe."

It has not all been a path or roses for Sharon Stone. She has had her setbacks as well as her bouquets. As well as being asthmatic and allergic to caffeine, there was also a question over her life when she suffered a brain aneurysm nearly two years ago.

"That was a scary time and led to an amazing experience," she said. "I was told that my life had been in the balance and I had the strange experience of seeing a brilliant, bright light. I felt that I was being met by some of my close friends. Next thing I knew I was back in the room. I cannot explain it. I don't know whether it was a dream, an hallucination or whatever but it was strange.

"The doctor told Phil, my then husband, that my condition was really bad news. They had found an artery tearing and said I could die. They said they could try to patch it up but it could go horribly wrong. It all turned out okay in the end but it was touch and go.

"It affected me very profoundly. I realised my life would never be the same again and it made me prioritise much better and put a new perspective on my career."

That was not the only threat Sharon has endured. She was also being stalked a couple of years ago by Agostino P'omata who allegedly threatened violence against her. A restraining order solved the problem.

"There are a lot of good things about being famous but there are a few not so good things too," she said. "I don't mind being recognised, I often quite enjoy it. I don't mind signing autographs but sometimes it can be just a bit too much.

"I have known for some time that I can meet any man I want but that does not mean that I want to meet anyone. I certainly don't like being forced into situations."

Sharon remains essentially a very feminine lady although she is always prepared to fight her corner and has an obviously good business head. "I like to be treated as a lady," she said. "I like to be bought flowers and taken out for dinner. I like a man to be a gentleman. I don't like to be treated as if I am brainless. I like to be respected and to give respect."

She certainly has respect from the movie business and there has never been a let-up in scripts landing through the letter box.

"As well as the new movies, which I am thrilled about, I would like to do more TV," she said. "I did a guest appearance on The Practice and loved it. TV is so different from the movies. It takes a lot of stamina because you work such long hours. It is really challenging. You are learning the next day's lines while you are shooting today's scenes. I found courage I never realised I had. I hope to do more."

Cold Creek Manor is next up at the cinema and Sharon stars with Dennis Quaid, Stepen Dorff and Christopher Plummer.

"It was great to shoot and to be among such great company meant that I had to really be at my best," she said. "It's a scary movie set in an old dark house so it was fun to make but I think it will startle a few people too."

She is now 45 but still stunning and oozes glamour while maintaining a smile that still comes from the little girl next door in Pennsylvania. What else does she want from life?

"To be happy, to make other people happy, to get into movie production more and probably to give some other people the chances that I had, to carry on enjoying being a mum and never to stop having flowers bought for me. I've still got a long way to go."