Bebe Neuwirth On 'Le Divorce'

Bebe Neuwirth has displayed her versatile talents on stage, television and movies, earning two Tonys, two Emmys and widespread acclaim in the process.

In the movie "Le Divorce" opening this Friday, Aug. 8, Neuwirth plays an American art curator living in Paris who is enlisted to assess a painting owned by the family of two American sisters played by Naomi Watts and Kate Hudson.

"Le Divorce" is the 46th Merchant-Ivory production and the story, based on a novel by Diane Johnson, has been updated from the late Seventies to the present day by Ivory and frequent collaborator Ruth Prawer Jhabvala.

The film follows American sisters Isabel (Kate Hudson) and Roxy (Naomi Watts), who come face to face with the complicated social mores of French society. Pregnant and jilted by her husband, Roxy is headed for divorce, while Isabel falls in love with a married French diplomat who is the uncle of Roxy's soon-to-be-ex. Neuwirth plays an art curator who helps to assess a painting Roxy has in Paris.

Being that her role is so small in the film, the costuming was very important, Neuwirth notes, "I loved my clothes. It's just beautiful. And I only actually worked three days, but I got to be in Paris for three weeks. It's great. It was terrific."

The film also stars Leslie Caron, Stockard Channing, Glenn Close, Stephen Fry and "fantastic French actors who we don't know in America who are just brilliant," Neuwirth says.

Though Neuwirth is well known for her sitcoms having received two Emmy awards for her role as Dr. Lilith Stern on "Cheers," she tells The Early Show co-anchor Harry Smith if she had her druthers, she would be on stage.

"I have been on stage since I was 7," she says.

The last number of years she's been in lots of shows. She received a Tony Award in 1997 for her role as Velma in the Broadway Production of "Chicago" and another Tony in for her performance as "Nickie" in Sweet Charity."

She also won a Fred Astaire award (for best dancer on Broadway), something she says she is very proud of.

"I think because I'm a dancer, my first instinct is to express physically. And you do that best on stage in the theater," Neuwirth says, "You have a real energetic exchange between you and the audience that's immediate. It's a very physical experience. I did a Shakespeare play once and it was a very physical experience, although I never danced and I never sang. It's muscular somehow. It makes more sense to me to have that very physical experience."

Asked what she would like to do next, she says, "Probably a Shakespeare play."

For now, besides "Le Divorce," Neuwirth will be seen in the upcoming "The Big Bounce" opposite Morgan Freeman.