Hollywood Exclusive by Marilyn Beck & Stacy Jenel Smith

"Desperate Housewives" Emmy-nominee Brenda Strong is thrilled with her nod from the Television Academy, but hard-pressed to come up with a reason why she's been singled out for Outstanding Voice-Over Performance honors this year and not the other six years the series has been on the air. "I have no idea. Did somebody on 'Family Guy' not submit?" she asks wryly. It could be just an accumulation of appreciation, friends have suggested to her, or it just might be her turn.

Strong, who narrates the show as deceased housewife Mary Alice Young, will be appearing in front of the cameras more often as flashbacks begin to reveal more "Desperate" secrets come fall. "Mary Alice is book-ending the season. We have to act like it's the last season because we don't know if it is or not," she says. As for herself, "I would be happy to be Mary Alice Young till somebody sent the cows home and turned out the lights."

If by chance "Desperate Housewives" did continue beyond what's expected to be its final year, Strong would be doing double duty — because she's heading to Dallas this October to begin playing Mrs. Bobby Ewing in TNT's 2012 "Dallas" reboot. But that wouldn't be a problem. As she points out, "Technology is such now that as long as you have an ISDN line, you can record voiceovers from Timbuktu if you want to."

If she does have any concern about work, it's that audiences who still fondly remember Victoria Principal's (late) Pam Ewing will accept her as Ann Ewing. Comments Brenda, "The people on 'Dallas' were bigger than life when I was an up-and-coming actress. I think it's a great idea that we get to reshape it for another generation. I love that we get to explore these real Shakespearean themes with our tongues in our cheeks. Really, it's family drama of Biblical proportions."

Meanwhile, there are the Emmys. Strong is being escorted by her 16-year-old son, Zakery, who is now also an actor. Asked about feeling like her fellow nominees in the category are strange bedfellows, she quips, "Yes, but I won't be sleeping with Porky Pig anytime soon." Porky Pig actor Bob Bergen is among the nominees in her category, as is Seth Green for multiple voices on his "Robot Chicken," Maurice LaMarche for "Futurama," Dan Castellaneta for "The Simpsons" and Christopher Plummer for narrating "Moguls and Movie Stars: The Birth of Hollywood."

"In a weird way, it takes the pressure off, because they're not doing what I do," she says. "But I'm honored to be in a category with these seasoned pros — and to be in the same sentence as Christopher Plummer, who I have so much respect for, that's really a great place to be."

REALITY BEHIND THE REALITY: Leslie Ezelle, tearing through the competition on HGTV's addictive "Design Star" interior design competition show, has already won acclaim and fans — and is a walking testimony to human resilience.

Ezelle, a beautiful, blonde 43-year-old former Dallas Cowboys cheerleader, fought a two-year battle with breast cancer that included a string of serious infections following six weeks of radiation and six surgeries. At the same time, she and her family were struggling with financial problems in the wake of the stock market crash. But then, just four months after her last surgery, she tried out for "Design Star" — on which she's been impressing the heck out of judges and viewers alike.

"It's so crazy now, looking back on it. Cancer was not on my to-do list. I don't do pink," she says scoffingly. However, she adds, "When you reach rock bottom, that's when you ask the soul-searching questions: 'What do you want to be when you grow up?'" She wanted her own design show. "I really, really pushed myself. I wanted to get busy living. It was the best thing I could ever have done, and thank God I had the courage to do it, to put my craziness out there on national TV."

Leslie and her wife, Libby (married in Massachusetts when the state legalized same sex unions), have a blended family of two daughters and two sons, and she admits, "It was a hard decision to be away from my kids so long to do 'Design Star.' But I want to tell them go for it, go for your dreams, having done it myself. Now is the fun part. We had a benefit for Susan G. Komen — they were really there for me," she goes on, speaking of the extremely active breast cancer charity organization. "We raised $25,000. We had this little private viewing party. You would have thought it was like Hollywood, baby! The kids got all dressed up in little outfits and had their friends over. Oh, my God. I'm like Beyonce now. But I turn back into Mommy when I make them mad."

HELLO, AGAIN: Tim Matheson is directing a 90-minute pilot for Fox TV Studios called "Wild Card." Starring Ben Lawson and Jennifer Finnigan, it's about a high-end attorney who finds himself caught up in a situation in Las Vegas and teaming up with a comely law student who moonlights as a blackjack dealer.

THE BIG SCREEN SCENE: Samantha Morton and Rachel Griffiths will be starring in "Decoding Annie Parker," with filming on the low budget feature set to begin in Los Angeles next month. It's a true story about a woman in Berkeley, Calif., who lost multiple family members to cancer and was dealing with the disease herself, and a team of researchers determined to prove a link between cancer and DNA.

To find out more about Marilyn Beck and Stacy Jenel Smith and read their past columns, visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.

COPYRIGHT 2011 MARILYN BECK AND STACY JENEL SMITH

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