Other prized animals

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

By Ben Cannon

Jackson Hole, Wyo.-In the 1980s, right smack in the red-blooded heart of the Regan era, actress Heather Thomas was a rather wholesome sexual icon, one whose string-bikinied image covered many a bedroom wall.

Thomas appeared alongside Lee Majors in the mid-80s television series “The Fall Guy.” In the show’s opening credits, Thomas walks through swinging saloon doors in a blue bikini, striking a pose, dropping her hip, emblazoning herself onto the annals of pop memory. The show, now situated next to the A-Team in the pantheon of breezy action series of that time, replayed in syndication for a number of years, though Thomas did not continue to focus on acting, nor did she become a household name like her predecessor, fellow pinup Raquel Welch.

Thomas is now married to Skip Brittenham, widely considered not only a sage and powerful Hollywood attorney, but also a nice guy. For the last 20 years, Thomas, now 50, has lived part-time Jackson Hole, mainly during the summer season. She and Brittenham - both avid fly fishermen - are wrapping up construction of a new home in the valley and will regularly commute here this summer from their Los Angeles home.
But here’s something you might not know about Thomas: She’s a newly published novelist.

As part of the Jackson Hole Writer’s Conference going on this weekend, Thomas will be in the valley to sign and talk about her debut novel, “Trophies,” a book about an oft maligned set of wealthy women: second wives of some of Hollywood’s powerful men.
“You’re blessed if you don’t have to work for a living, so I took that to a very mondo scale,” Thomas said in a phone interview last week. “Mondo” is a word Thomas used several times throughout the interview and, while it was not completely clear what exactly that word means, it could only be gleaned to mean grand or something imbued with a certain largess.

Thomas is an avid hostess and advocate on the Hollywood fundraising circuit, a glamorous scene run by, she said, the “trophy” wives who champion causes and organize the events to help fund them. Her novel, “Trophies,” sets out to simultaneously satirize and humanize these women, who live a life resplendent with mega mansions, personal assistants, designer clothes and, according to the new author, a call to duty.
 “Second wives, in history, have always been vilified,” Thomas said. But for these woman, “ [community] service is the ultimate luxury,” she said.

During a recent interview, the former actress/novelist often spoke stream of consciously - and somewhat disjointedly - bouncing from her novel, to her own experiences and views, to championing environmental causes, particularly global warming.
Her friends say this energetic style is typical Thomas.

“Heather’s one of the smartest women I know,” environmentalist Laurie David, ex-wife of “Seinfeld” creator Larry David, told the Los Angeles Times. “Half the time I have no idea what she’s talking about.”
Thomas said that during the summer, she alternates sometimes as much as every other week between Jackson Hole and L.A.

When asked if she flew between homes on a private jet, and how that boded as the actions of a self-proclaimed environmentalist, she was unapologetic.
“I fly on a private jet if it’s full of people,” she said, adding, “The work we are doing on the environment mitigates the impacts of the jet.”

She then mentioned something about “oil collection things in New York City,” and then, as avoiding a projection of snobbery: “I’m not saying I’m better than anyone else. If I have a housekeeper, I’m going to give them a healthcare plan.”

One chapter of “Trophies” was made into a short film using Barbie dolls with a few human cameos and posted onto YouTube. Though it is a campy piece (it features a censored scene of Barbie doll nudity), Thomas convinced lionized author and social critic Gore Vidal to appear as narrator, pointing to her own high social and, perhaps, intellectual perch among Hollywood’s pampered set.

Thomas will be signing “Trophies” from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. on Sunday, June 29 at the Center for the Arts, 240 S Glenwood St.
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