FROM SOD ONLINE
Star: CLIVE ROBERTSON

Role: Ben Evans, SUNSET BEACH

Birthday: December 17

Bens Behaving Soaply: Christopher Cazenove, who played Ben Carrington on
DYNASTY, shares Robertson's birthday

High Profiles: PROFILER's Julian McMahon shares Robertson's manager

Par Wars: Castmates Sam Behrens and Peter Barton share
Robertson's golf addiction

Uproots, Downroots: Robertson is the son of an RAF fighter pilot. As a military
child, Robertson was uprooted about every 3 years or so, when his dad's post
would change. "We were always moving, but it did give me a chance to live in
some interesting places, such as Singapore and Cyprus."

Significant Other: Girlfriend of 4 years, Libby Purvis, starred on the Australian
soap, THE POWER, THE PASSION (They met in drama school in London.)

Evans-escent: When he landed on SUNSET BEACH, here's how Robertson
celebrated: "I went out to dinner with my girlfriend and my manager, and we
toasted with a very expensive bottle of champagne."

BEN THERE, DONE THAT

Hollywood newcomer CLIVE ROBERTSON has pitched his tent all over
the world (he even bummed around East Africa for a while), but getting
lost in L.A. nearly cost him his job!

DIGEST ONLINE: How did you happen to wind up on SUNSET BEACH?

CLIVE ROBERTSON: To put it simply, I came over here from England just
briefly on a reconnaissance trip. I wanted to check things out, and see if I'd like
to come out to Los Angeles permanently. I wasn't expecting to be put up for any
part, let alone get a part. So this whole thing was a big surprise.

DIGEST ONLINE: But people don't just get off a plane at LAX and wind up
in Aaron Spelling's office auditioning for a new soap.

ROBERTSON: What happened was, I came over here with my girlfriend,
Libby, and, as I say, we were just sort of checking out possibilities. I had an
agent contact, who sent me up for a couple of roles, and my girlfriend had a
manager out here. I went to meet her manager one afternoon and he said, "Oh,
there's something you could be right for." That's how the whole thing got started.
Then, Libby and I went down to Mexico for a few days; meanwhile, he was
trying to contact me about SUNSET BEACH. So time was pretty short. In fact,
when we came back, I immediately had to get in my car and race halfway across
L.A. and try to find NBC. Of course, I got lost and was two hours late for the
meeting. They sent me on the 101 Freeway, and I was going the wrong way. I
was all over town, everywhere. Well, anyway, eventually I got there. The casting
people had already seen my audition tapes; they were quite excited with my
tapes, and I had a series of interviews. And then came the Aaron Spelling
meeting.

DIGEST ONLINE: What was that like?

ROBERTSON: It was the most daunting meeting I've ever had. I mean it was
funny in hindsight. To get to his office, you walked through thick pile carpet down
this long corridor -- it all looked a little like DYNASTY. I think there were
probably four or five guys there besides myself. I wasn't sure what nationality
they were; I think they were American, actually -- and we all had to wait outside.
You know what that's like. It's nerve-wracking. You just stand around twiddling
your thumbs. Then they opened the door and said, "All right, we're ready for
you." I walked into this enormous office, with a bank of sofas down the left hand
side. It looked like the sofas stretched from one end of the room to the other --
and they were filled with maybe 15 people. There was a little chair in the middle
of the room, where I sat. It was difficult for me, very difficult. Luckily, I had just
happened to be in a bookstore earlier that week. I'd been browsing through a
copy of Mr. Spelling's autobiography, I think, and I'd seen his photograph.
Otherwise, I never would have known which person in the room he was. He was
sort sitting down the end. He wasn't wearing a suit. I think he was in a track suit
or something, just sitting there looking very relaxed and calm. So I sort of
recognized him and made eye contact with him. I did my scene, which went very
smoothly, and he then he asked me a question or two. It was incredibly daunting.

DIGEST ONLINE: What happened after you got the role?

ROBERTSON: I had to go right back to London in order to obtain my visa. I
didn't have a visa at the time to work out here. And I had to get one before I
could screen test. When I came back to L.A., I only brought one suitcase,
because I wasn't sure I'd actually get the part. But I did get the part, and I started
working so quickly that I haven't been back to London since.

DIGEST ONLINE: Are you still living out of a suitcase in a hotel?

ROBERTSON: No, I've rented this big place in the hills [in the Studio City
vicinity] with my girlfriend. I don't have many clothes, but they do buy clothes for
me on the show. So I feel like I have clothes, and when I get home I end up
wearing the same clothes every day. I just haven't had time to go shopping yet.

DIGEST ONLINE: Have you adjusted to the California lifestyle yet?

ROBERTSON: It's my first time in Los Angeles, and I like it a lot. I love the
sun. You must remember, London is very cold. I lived abroad a lot when I was a
child, and I never got used to the cold in England. Living up here in the hills, it's
pretty; I have such a lovely view, and the pace is so relaxed as well. I don't find it
as stressful as living in London. London is much more manic, probably much
more similar to New York. And I love the fact that everyone here has a car to
get places. I love driving. I just hate the idea of driving in London where I never
get a chance to put my foot down, if you know what I mean. In Los Angeles, I
can actually drive and go somewhere and not sit in a traffic jam.

DIGEST ONLINE: Tell us a little bit about your castmates. What's the
backstage atmosphere like at SUNSET BEACH?

ROBERTSON: Well, Susan Ward [Meg] and Sarah Buxton [Annie] are very
different kinds of actresses, basically, but they're both fun to work with. The
more I work with them, the more interesting it becomes. The fact that we all
started on a new show together created a feeling of instant camaraderie. I
worked in theater, where it's the same experience. You start off with a new cast
and nobody knows anybody, but because you have to work with each other,
you're forced to get to know people quickly. On SUNSET BEACH, everyone
-- the cast, the crew -- is trying very hard to make the show succeed, and it's a
nice experience. Everybody is very friendly, and there are no cliques. The whole
medium of daytime is actually new to me. I've never done anything like this
before. I've mainly done theater, so the experience of turning out a new show
every day is simply unique to me. It's a lot of hard work. Susan Ward and I have
probably been on more than almost anybody -- that's a helluva lot of dialogue to
learn. When you're on the show five days a week, you have to go into the studio,
be in all your scenes, do all the work, then learn your dialogue for the next day
when you get home. It's a hard process really. You don't have time to sit down
and relax.

DIGEST ONLINE: You probably start to feel like you don't have a life outside
the studio?

ROBERTSON: It's a question of finding the time. When you start out on a new
project, you're going to put all the time you have to into it -- I'm always like that.
I like to make the work good. So I enjoy putting in as much time as I need to get
it right. But as time goes on, I think one can find the time to do other things. For
instance, I played golf yesterday. I hadn't played in a while, but I went out on this
wonderful course with Sam Behrens, and I beat him! I also play golf with Peter
Barton, and the other day I went to an ice hockey game with Nick Stabile
[Mark].

DIGEST ONLINE: According to your resume, you earned a B.A. from the
Oxford School of Business and worked in marketing. Then, you escaped to East
Africa "to reassess your life." After that, you enrolled in acting school. What
originally prompted you to study business?

ROBERTSON: My father died when I was about 15. Basically, I think my
father had always envisioned me becoming a businessman of sorts. You see,
unlike his father, who was a very successful doctor, my father sort of burned
bridges, if you like, in favor of flying. He went down that route -- and you don't
become a pilot in order to make money. We were never poor, but I think he
wanted me to earn money. So when the time came for me to make choices, I
went toward business, not that I had any particular bent in that direction. It just
seemed to be the right thing to do at the time. I mean the truth is, deep down, if I
had really sat down and listened to my true instincts at the time, I probably would
have gone in another direction, but that didn't happen.

DIGEST ONLINE: Do you ever regret the time spent in the business world?
After all, you could have been out on the audition circuit maybe 5 years earlier.

ROBERTSON: I don't know. I never regret anything I've done. What's the
point? It's funny, isn't it? You do different things. If I hadn't gone to business
school, if I hadn't worked in business, which I did for a couple of years, I may
not have been the person that I am now. Everything grounds you in a certain
way. It's good for an actor to have some outside experience; there are some
actors that have only ever done acting, and they've never experienced much out
there in the real world. I came to acting late, you see; I was 25; so it's different
for me. In a funny way, what attracted me to acting wasn't the fact that I was any
good at it. It was the idea of making something real; that's always fascinated me
and still does. I think I made the right choice ultimately, because almost
everything else I've ever done in my life, including business, sooner or later I got
bored with. Acting is like golf -- it's an amazing challenge. It's never bored me,
but the moment I think I've finally cracked it will be the moment I give it up.