People Weekly Magazine

April 2, 1990

Cover Story:
Mystery Lovers

by Susan Schindehette,
from bureau reports

As Sir Andrew Aguecheek in last June's Central Part production of Twelfth Night, he was barely mentioned in reviews. But Fisher Stevens, now 26, obviously made quite an impression on the play's leading lady, Michelle Pfeiffer, 32.

A Manhattan stage actor who played a Hindu scientist in 1986's Short Circuit, Stevens is a cancer survivor (he was diagnosed with Hodgkin's disease in his teens) who, friends say, has an appealing exuberance. Short Circuit II director Kenneth Johnson recalls auditioning young actresses: "When I told them Fisher was the lead, they all got knowing grins. He's a terribly endearing person."

So endearing, Pfeiffer just can't help cuddling him in public. He even accompanied her to this year's New York Film Critics and Golden Globe ceremonies, where she picked up her Fabulous Baker Boys Best Actress awards.

Whether this is anything more than a soufflé remains to be seen. But Pfeiffer, who ended an eight-year marriage to thirtysomething's Peter Horton in 1988, falls hard. "I'm the type who meets someone and is just not interested - or I'm under some illusion that I want to marry him," she has said. "There's no in-between."

"Once linked to Michael Keaton and John Malkovich,
Pfeiffer is now smitten with the lesser-known Stevens."