Monday, Oct. 07, 1985

People

By Guy D. Garcia

Mutual traditions of gentility have often provided a bond between Southerners and the British. So no one should gape if the role of a Southern belle seems to fit Lesley-Anne Down better than a custom-made bodice. In the 12-hr. pre- Civil War saga North and South, scheduled to air on ABC in early November, British-born Down, 31, plays the refined daughter of a Louisiana Frenchman who marries a man she does not love. "He turns out to be a fiend," says Down, who draws no parallels to her ongoing real-life divorce from Director William Friedkin. Meanwhile, Down has fallen for the film's Charleston, S.C., location, where she is now working on a sequel. "I love it," she says. "It's beautiful and the people are divine. I think I manage a pretty good Southern accent." Telly ho, y'all.