October 6, 1996 By LOUIS B. HOBSON --

BEVERLY HILLS -- There are those in Hollywood who claim Faye Dunaway defines the word diva.

Tell her and she answers slyly that "it depends on what you mean by diva.

"If diva means a strong woman, I am that. If it means someone who makes outrageous demands or insists on being pampered, that has never been me.

"I think Barbra Streisand is one of the few true divas in the business today. She determines her own image. She has found her own sovereignty in Hollywood and that is near impossible for women these days."

Dunaway defined her image in the '70s and '80s through such films as Bonnie And Clyde, Chinatown, The Thomas Crown Affair, Voyage Of The Damned, The Towering Inferno and Mommie Dearest, in which she played screen icon Joan Crawford.

"Crawford was a diva in the classic Hollywood style and I think perhaps having played her, the image rubbed off on me."

Dunaway returned to Hollywood in 1987 after a six-year absence. She had been living in England. "I wanted to be there for my (16-year-old) son Liam (by photographer Terry O'Neill) when he was growing up. It was never meant as a retirement. It was just a hiatus."

She made her comeback in an episode of TV's Columbo called It's All In The Game, earning an Emmy Award which sits proudly beside the Oscar she won in 1976 for Network.

In The Chamber, Dunaway is the daughter of a death row inmate played by Gene Hackman.

Dunaway, 55, and Hackman, 65, played brother and sister in Warren Beatty's Bonnie And Clyde in 1967.

"They aged Gene to play my father. This is Hollywood after all," she says when asked about the irony of casting for The Chamber.

"He is one of the three top actors in the world today. He's right up there with Al Pacino and Dustin Hoffman."

"Dunaway turns modest when reminded that Pacino credits her for his discovery. "I caught him on stage in New York. I phoned all the (Hollywood) contacts I had and told them to go see this brilliant actor on stage. "I'm sure others were doing the same. I'm flattered he singles me out."

Sharon Stone also names Dunaway as one of her strongest supporters.

"Sharon and I are cut from the same cloth. I saw that instantly and I think she did too.

"She's gorgeous. She's loving and she's strong. We met years ago at a fashion shoot when she was still primarily a model."

Dunaway will be seen next month as a blowsy waitress in Kevin Spacey's directorial debut Albino Alligator.

She is starring in the stage play Master Class about opera diva Maria Callas and will recreate the role for film next year.

She has also been signed to star in the Broadway premiere of Harold Pinter's new play Ashes To Ashes and will direct her own first film Psychotropic Virgin.

"It seems as if I am creating a whole new world and image for myself. Maybe I am a diva after all."


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