After taming a mechanical bull and winning John Travolta's restless heart in Urban Cowboy, actress Debra Winger went on to conquer Nick Nolte and Richard Gere--the latter in one of 1982's highest-grossing films, An Officer and a Gentleman. Contributing Editor David Rensin caught up with Winger during a rest stop at her Malibu home. His report: "Debra was sick and shot full of antibiotics, but since she typically didn't plan to be in L.A. long, she decided to keep our date. I took her a dozen roses. She gave me the flu."

Q 1

PLAYBOY: You've kissed John Travolta, Nick Nolte and Richard Gere onscreen--some of America's biggest heartthrobs. What are your kissing tips? What are their kissing secrets?

Debra Winger: OK, mauling is out. It's simple: Kiss the one you love. It's worlds away from a movie kiss. The first time I was kissed was at a party in junior high. The guy--who will remain nameless, because he ended up in the movie business--took my chin between his thumb and forefinger and turned me toward him slowly. I knew I was about to be kissed. It remains one of my most exciting memories. There is something very important about the anticipation in the moment before the kiss. And by the time your lips meet, you're in outer space and it feels great. I also close my eyes--unless I'm looking for something, like a sore on the lip. That's just a joke, but somehow, I'm sure I'll see it in print.

I've never asked my co-stars about their secrets. I hate even to lump them together. They are from different planets. Anyway, it's always pretty tense until you know each other, and you hope that any love or kissing scenes will be saved until the end of shooting, when you either are real close or hate each other's guts. The hardest thing--believe it or not--is if you're not particularly attracted. If you hate someone, it's easy to kiss him.

Q 2

PLAYBOY: We understand your talking with PLAYBOY, but you're known for a reluctance to speak with the press. Why?

Debra Winger: I started out in the De Niro school of interviewing. He doesn't do interviews and is successful, so why should I? There was a time in my life when I thought I expressed myself best through my work. I still don't want to be out there as Debra Winger, the celebrity. I have trouble accepting star billing. I remember thinking on Cannery Row, How can I put my name ahead of Steinbeck's? Also, I guess I just have a limited number of things to say. I'm just a regular person. I'm amazed at some people's idea of who I really am. I heard about a studio executive's wife who recently did her impression of me. This normally quiet woman stood up at a restaurant table and said, "Where's the fuckin' waitress? Where's the fuckin' cab?!" It's funny. Maybe I use that word occasionally, but it's not how I would sum myself up.

Q 3

PLAYBOY: You look soft; you act tough. In postmodern America, can a woman have it both ways?

Debra Winger: I'm spitting out tobacco from my Camels. [Coughs] It's true. And thanks for complimenting me. I don't often think I look soft--especially when I'm feeling particularly hard. I think you've got to have some balls. You just do. My poor dog, Pete, found a dog the other day that was neutered. He thought, No balls? I think I'll fuck him.

So you've got to be tough--at least a little bit--if you want to protect the softness.

Q 4

PLAYBOY: Your voice reminds us of someone with an affection for piano-bar lounges, good bourbon and late hours. Does it sound the same at eight A.M. as at midnight? Has it ever opened any door for you when you couldn't get by on obvious good looks and talent?

Debra Winger: There are people who make a point of calling me in the morning, because they think my voice is sexier then. It does change during the day. But when I was 11 years old and walking around with this voice, it was no picnic. It was a grim task. I'll have to live to be 115 years old to grow into this voice. It scares some people off. But it has definitely opened doors for me; I haven't had any open on my good looks. In my orthopedic T-shirt stage, when I said, "Open that door!" it got opened. It also worked against me, because people couldn't figure out how old I was.

Q 5

PLAYBOY: As a teenager, you worked in a troll costume at a Southern California amusement park. You fell out of a truck and were partially paralyzed and temporarily blinded. What did your blindness teach you to see?

Debra Winger: The inside of my body. Literally. It was a rather psychedelic experience but true, nonetheless. Plus, I was stuck there looking at myself. I came away knowing that nothing is as it seems. Like in Chinatown.