The Tampa Tribune from Tampa, Florida • 177

Two Executive 9 Women Sharon Acker BY JOHN N. GOUDAS NEW YORK (KFS) Suite," CBS' glossy prime-time soap opera, hasn't really caught on with the viewers yet, but it is building. It's the type of show that might sneak into the hit status if it gets the chance to stay on the air. The women's movement should be pleased that "Executive Suite" has more parts for actresses than any other TV series of recent memory, and one of the most beautiful and talented members of the fine cast is Sharon Acker, who plays the harried Helen Walling, wife and mother. Ms.

Acker's lovely face should immediately conjure up one of TV's prestigious series from the recent past, "The Senator," in which she co-starred (again as a wife) with Hal Holbrook. SHE DESCRIBES her association with the shortlived but still-remembered "Senator" as a happy and unhappy time. Happy because it was her first starring part in a TV series and unhappy because she was let go in an attempt to refurbish the series which won awards but didn't rack up the high ratings. "I wasn't informed that they were considering minimizing my part, it just began to happen and finally I approached the powers behind the show about it, and they left me no choice but to leave before I was reduced to a voice over the phone," the actress said. Of course, there's no chance of that happening to Sharon in "Executive Suite" since she figures importantly in the plot lines.

JUST BEFORE the series was scheduled to go into production, Sharon got together with her TV family, husband (Mitchell Ryan), son (Leigh McCloskey), and daughter (Wendy Phillips) and the quartet of con- SHARON ACKER scientious and caring actors worked to create the feeling of being a family. Even though Sharon Acker could pass for 30 years old, she's the mother of four teenage daughters in private life. Her husband, filmmaker Peter Elkington, is a ruggedly handsome-looking gentleman who seems to take a special delight in watching his wife's animation as she expounds about her role in the TV series. Madlyn Rime- tm 55 Ml a Vi a a. Is3 00 Madlyn Rhue says she'll do anything once, and has proved it by skydiving, flying (for a movie) with the Blue Angels aerobatic team and racing a go-cart more than 100 miles an hour.

Her latest challenge is a starring role in the new continuing dramatic series "Executive Suite" airing Mondays at 10 p.m. on CBS-TV, Channel 13. She plays Hilary Madison, the only woman member of the executive board. Don't ask if she's just a token woman. "I play the vice president in charge of advertising for a huge conglomerate.

Anyone who reaches that high in the corporate world isn't a token anything," she quickly indicates. BEFORE THE new series began filming, incidentally, Rhue sat in on board meetings of a manufacturing company to get an idea of how business executives behaved. Rhue was born in Washington, D.C., and grew up in Los Angeles. Her first professional job was as a dancer. Next she studied drama, then went into television and movies, and has since played a variety of dramatic and comedy roles.

She was a regular on the "Bracken's World" series. Ft til C5 43 MADYLVN RHl'E.