Sherwood on ‘Murphy Brown’ Is Not a ‘Ditz,’ Faith Ford Declares

Faith Ford says that lovable yet annoying Corky Sherwood on CBS’ “Murphy Brown” is a lot of things, but dumb isn’t one of them.

“Some people have described her as a ditz, but I don’t think she’s that,” said Ford, who plays the blonde beauty queen turned television newsmagazine reporter.

“She’s an unedited person,” Ford said. “She says what comes to her mind. She’s bossy. She loves to throw her opinions at people. She offers advice that no one wants. But she’s not dumb. One thing is she has no sense of humor about herself. She takes everything so seriously.”

“Murphy Brown” centers on a television newsmagazine called “F.Y.I.,” where perky Corky Sherwood is tossed in, over her head. The network selected her for glamour, and there she is swimming among the sharks.

Candice Bergen is Murphy Brown, the wise, cynical, efficient reporter, whose personal life usually is a shambles.

In a two-part episode that begins tonight, Corky marries a former schoolmate, with Murphy serving as the maid of honor. Her new husband, called “Wide Load Willie” in school, is now a slimmed-down and handsome attorney named Will Forrest, played by Scott Bruce.

“We found out Corky’s still a virgin,” Ford said. “She had a tender scene with Murphy. She confides in Murphy, and Murphy lets her know how fond she is of Corky. It adds some depth to Corky. I’ve been praying for her. She’s very funny, but you have to see that she’s a real person. You see that, and you get closer to her.”

Ford, unlike Corky, is not a former Miss America. She was, however, a finalist in a model search by Teen magazine.

“I graduated from high school in 1982, and two weeks later left for New York,” Ford said. “My parents helped me get set up in New York. I had mixed emotions. I wanted to leave for the big city, but I was still nervous. I’d won a modeling contest, and I wondered if that meant they were going to find jobs for me. It didn’t.

“But I did some modeling and I hated it. It was a meat market. Acting is what I loved, but I needed to pay my bills. I was just a girl from Pineville.”

Ford played Muffy Critchlowe on the soap opera “One Life To Live” and later was on “Another World.”

She moved to Los Angeles to find more opportunities in television. She was Lynn Holly Brickhouse, the blonde beauty, on “The Popcorn Kid” in the spring of 1987. Later, she had a role as a secretary on ABC’s “thirtysomething.” She left that show for “Murphy Brown.”