By Jim Patterson, Associated Press writer

Barbara Mandrell always fit best on television. And now she's giving up the concert stage to pursue an acting career. Mandrell, who pulled the plug on her hit NBC variety series 15 years ago, makes a cameo appearance Sept. 28 in the CBS-TV movie "Get to the Heart: The Barbara Mandrell Story," based on her 1990 autobiography. Maureen McCormick ("The Brady Bunch") stars as Mandrell. Mandrell, 48, looking smart in a white pantsuit, sipped fruit juice in a conference room at the Country Music Association in Nashville, Tenn., after she met with press to promote the Opry show.

She pleaded guilty to qualities attributed to her in the TV movie: being a complete ham, self-assured to the point of being bossy, and a protective den mother to her extended family. "I-R-L-E-N-E," she spelled, leaning into a tape recorder to make certain her sister's name would be correct. She also worked in plugs for sister Louise's celebrity skeet shoot and the acting career of her daughter, Jaime Nicole Dudney (who plays Irlene Mandrell in "Get to the Heart").

In the past few years, Mandrell has acted on television when not on the road performing 80-100 shows a year. She's appeared in "Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman," "Touched by an Angel," "Baywatch," and has a recurring role on "Sunset Beach."
"Now, I can look at scripts knowing that I really can go for them and try, because I know I will be available," she said. Mandrell's recording career, which generated six No. 1 country hits from 1978-1983 including "Sleeping Single in a Double Bed" and "I Was Country When Country Wasn't Cool," petered out in the late 1980s. The peak of her fame was reached with "Barbara Mandrell and the Mandrell Sisters," a hit variety show with sisters Irlene and Louise that ran on NBC from 1980-82. The show found comedy in the sister's sibling rivalries, and put a gospel music medley on network television each week.

After a farewell performance Oct. 23 at the Grand Ole Opry, Mandrell will quit doing concerts and will devote the extra time to her acting career.  She hopes "Get to the Heart" makes as big a splash. Though listed with her husband as an executive producer, Mandrell says she was too busy performing to meddle. Daughter Jaime was invited to speak up about any inaccuracies, and husband Ken Dudney was around a bit. At first, Mandrell wasn't sure about McCormick -- she originally wanted Jennie Garth of "Beverly Hills 90210" to play her. "In all candor, at first I thought ... when I see her playing me all I'm going to be able to think about is Marcia Brady," Mandrell said of McCormick. "The truth is, when I saw the movie, not once did I think 'Marcia.' I liked that she was strong, kind of self-assured, and not wimpy. Because I'm not." "Get to the Heart" portrays Mandrell's life as mostly a tug-of-war between family and career, with career winning most of the time.

"Within the first few minutes (of viewing the movie), I prayed and thanked God," Mandrell said. "Because it really was miraculous that I liked it because I didn't have anything to do with it." McCormick said she visited Mandrell during a stint in Las Vegas to research the part. "I hung out a day with Barbara just to get to know her and understand her more," McCormick said. "I think it's the hardest thing when you're still alive and your life story is being done. It's a very delicate matter." Mandrell was a child prodigy, performing steel guitar in Las Vegas and local television. She became a country hitmaker in the 1970s, and was voted best entertainer by the country music industry in 1980 and 1981. The variety show made her a star outside the country audience. Two years after it went off the air, Mandrell was devastated by a car crash that also injured two of her children. The event was a major turning point in her life.