In the world of television, Stefanie Powers is an icon. Let’s face it. Perhaps best known for her Hart to Hart days with Robert Wagner, Powers has yet to slow down, continuing instead to shower the world with her talent in entertainment. Her most recent project, Love by the Book, premieres this weekend on the Hallmark Channel. Powers will play opposite John Schneider, Leah Renee, and Kristopher Turner.

As I talk with Powers via telephone about her latest project, she sets the stage, “Hallmark movies are feel-good movies, and Hallmark always has a certain formula. They always have the young star, then they always have the more senior people who have the wisdom and influence to give situations a more experienced perspective. In that formula, I play the older woman who is helping to give salient advice to a young woman who’s building her life based on a bit of a fantasy. A bookstore owner, this young woman is an avid reader who has lived her life growing up with fairy- tale books. She has the image of a prince coming on a white horse to sweep her off her feet. Life, as you know, is not made that way, but yes, happiness is attainable. The story is pretty much along those lines.”

Though Powers has been missing in recent years from the small screen, she has been very busy with her highly successful career in the theatre, where she’s constantly performing. She says, “I can assure you the theatre can be far more demanding than most of the roles on television.”   Powers’ credits in the theatre include Sunset Boulevard, an English production of On Golden Pond (where she starred with an actor from the Royal Shakespearean Company), and The Adjustment (with American actor Michael Brandon).

Powers has worked on several Hallmark projects to date and says, “It’s always nice to be associated with a project that makes you feel good, especially when you can play in something that has a good, wholesome representation. The Hallmark movies come up occasionally and usually the involvement is brief; then we move on. These projects are also usually done in a short amount of time. Therefore, they require that everybody be confident professionals that know how to do their job. And, it’s always nice to work with people behind the camera who are really experienced and who make sure we all do our jobs and that everything comes out well in the end.”

Besides keeping busy in her theatrical and television work, Powers enjoys spending time with a number of special charities that are close to her heart. These charities include The William Holden Wildlife Foundation (http://www.whwf.org) “which,” confirms Powers, “I created after Bill’s death. It’s very consuming work. I’m also involved with Animals Asia (http://www.animalsasia.org) which saves bears from the cruel bear bile industry. Though the government says this is officially illegal, they still haven’t closed the bear farms. I’m one of the great supporters of the organization that’s run by a wonderful woman in Hong Kong (Jill Robinson). And I’ve been there. Over 400 bears have been rescued, though not all of them survive. At least they get out of those horrible conditions where they’re slowly killed. It’s such a diabolical thing. The other thing is that I’m heavily involved with something that I created for Jaguar Motor Company called The Jaguar Conservation Trust that operates in Belize, Guatemala, and Costa Rica and which gives small grants toward the preservation of jaguars.”

Stefanie Powers is obviously quite a remarkable woman. Her latest Hallmark movie Love by the Book premieres January 24 at 9 P.M.