Skin-Cream Image Sticks To Actress
If you want to get under Rebecca Gayheart's skin, call her "The Noxema Girl."
The nickname, which grew out of her years as the spokesperson for the skin-care cream, persists even though the actress has taken on many other, more serious roles since her days as a model.
"I have done a lot of other work since then, but I can't knock it because it gave me my start. I'm OK with being 'The Noxema Girl' " she told
Her latest project is the TV movie, "The Chistmas Blessing," a sequel to "The Christmas Shoes," a popular holiday made-for-TV movie. She and co-star Neil Patrick Harris filmed the movie in Canada where they attended the Klondike Festival.
"People were going, 'There's Doogie and the Noxema girl,' " she said. Gayheart says she is particularly fond of this movie because it is something her family can watch together.
"A lot of the time, the things I do aren't up their alley," she said, "but this is perfect. It's a sweet Christmas movie, and they'll love it."
The coal-miner's daughter-turned-actress will be seeing those relatives next week when she returns to her home town of Pinetop, Ky., for Christmas.
"Every Christmas, I go home for the holidays and I look forward to it all year long," she said. "It's great. Usually snows on Christmas. And I'm there with 18 of my family members and it's crying babies and barking dogs and amazing food. My mom cooks for a week before the holidays. It's so great."
This year, she will be taking along her in-laws from New Jersey and she is not sure what to expect.
"You know," she said, "of course my father will take my father-in-law out to the coal mines, maybe squirrel hunting with him, who knows?
Is she treated as a celebrity back home in that small 800-person town?
"Are you kidding? Of course not," she said. "I get told to take out the trash. You go outside and people on the street are like, 'Look, the Noxema girl, take out the trash.' "