Tony Winner Joan Allen Also Wins Roles With Jeff and Beau Bridges

Tony Award-winner Joan Allen is one of the few actresses to work with both of the fabulous Bridges boys. She starred opposite Jeff in the 1988 film “Tucker: The Man and His Dream� and now appears with Beau in HBO’s drama “Without Warning: The James Brady Story,� airing Sunday, about the near-fatal shooting of President Reagan’s press secretary and his long and painful recovery. Allen plays Brady’s wife, Sarah.

“I think Jeff is a little wilder,� explains the soft-spoken actress. “I think Beau is a little more pragmatic and down to earth. What would a comparison be? Jeff would be like a scat jazz musician and Beau would be a little more like a classical musician.�

Though cast just 10 days before production began on “Without Warning,� Allen was able to meet Sarah Brady. “I wanted to find out some personal things,� she says. “Sarah was very generous with her answers. I asked her things like, ‘Did you cry when you heard the news?’ Also, I was watching how she sat in her chair and how she held her cigarette and the quality of her voice.�

Allen, now 34, is one of the original members of Chicago’s acclaimed Steppenwolf Theatre. The Steppenwolf production “And a Nightingale Sang� brought her to New York eight years ago.

“The unfortunate thing about Chicago is that you can’t making a living in the theater,� she says with a sigh.

But she has in New York. Allen was the toast of Broadway three years ago when she won the Tony for Lanford Wilson’s “Burn This,� a role she originated at the Mark Taper Forum. She also was nominated in 1989 for Wendy Wasserstein’s “The Heidi Chronicles.�

The last two years, though, Allen has been concentrating more on her film work. “When I do a play it becomes your whole life,� she says. “Life pretty much for me is on hold when I do a play. That’s what makes it hard to commit. It’s a very serious responsibility.�