Celebrity Beauty: Sela Ward

She’s gotten to play sucky-face with some of Hollywood’s hunkiest (George Clooney, Harrison Ford and Billy Campbell), but that doesn’t mean that Tinseltown has always been kind to Sela Ward.

Quite the opposite. Ward didn’t even start acting till she was 27. It was a mere 12 years later that she, at the age of 39, was told by the producers of the James Bond flick, “Tomorrow Never Dies,” that she was too old for the part. “We’re looking for Sela Ward 10 years ago” they told her, then turned around and handed the role to Teri Hatcher who was then 32.

“Oh, ouch, that hurt," Sela has said. "I felt incredibly viable and alive, and I was so ready to fly! Besides, I looked damned good at 40!"

Even so, the Mississippi native, whose cheekbones topped a 2002 Beverly Hills plastic surgeon’s “most wanted” feature list, is a former beauty queen, cheerleader and model who was used to having her looks work for her, and when they didn’t, suddenly found herself plunging in to a midlife crisis. "I felt washed-up, desperate."

After sequestering herself at an inn for a few days, Sela pulled her self together. "I decided I wasn't going to run to the plastic surgeon. Sure, I could see some faint lines, but l still looked great. A lot of grown-up sex appeal is about exuding confidence and that comes from having lived a lot!”

These days, the Emmy award-winning actress and mother of two, is poised and ready to turn 50 (on July 11th.) Is she ready? Will she wither away if the phones stop ringing?

As she told More magazine last winter, “I am not cut out to be a stay-at-home-mom. If I weren't acting, I'd be in a painting studio several days a week, or studying or whatever it might be. I paint, and my most interesting landscape painting has come out of trips to Italy, working outside six hours a day.

"The painter in me is a big part of my soul. I feel more balanced when I'm expressing that part of myself." I have to struggle with, "Oh my God, am I going to have a facelift or not? Do I care to jump through all those hoops?" I'm 49; 50 is staring me in the face, a big milestone for everybody, and these are questions I ask myself for which I don't have answers.”

She does know that as she’s gotten older, keeping her style simple suits her. "[I dress] less fussy, not trying so hard and not being trendy. I'm going back to what I know looks best on me: longer hair, softer colored lipsticks, and easy breezy tailored clothes."

Any “big” birthday plans? Sela has told her husband she’d like a jamming bash with The Temptations as musical guests. As for her wish list; a call from a director like Martin Scorsese or Sydney Pollack would be just the ticket. Surely those guys would have enough sense to be looking for a Sela Ward of the here and now.